A Bit about CrossWind

With new technology comes change in the way we do everyday things.  For instance I spend about 5 minutes, before I even get out of bed, checking the weather for the week, reading through my emails and texts, checking my Facebook updates, and maybe even playing a word or 2 on Words With Friends.  Sometimes I’ll text my husband or one of my sons about something that needs to be taken care of or to ask co-workers if they need anything for the shop on my way in and then update my shopping list.  I haven’t even left my bed yet and I’ve already done so many things that I couldn’t have done, from the comfort of my bed, without my smartphone.  Now I did have to spend a few hundred dollars on this phone so that I would be able to do these things, but it saves me a lot of time searching the internet or reading a newspaper (which hardly anyone does anymore anyways) for the exact same information.  Not to mention, when I show up at work I won’t have to turn around and head back to town to

Do Our High Schools Teach Students the Real Basics of Life? A couple of months ago my 18 year old son had to mail a letter off to request his high school transcripts.  Before it went into the mailbox I took a look at it and realized that he had the “to” and “from” labels backwards.  It never occurred to me that my son wouldn’t know how to mail off a letter properly.  When I was younger, in elementary school and even higher, we had to send off letters to pen pals, government officials, and even some companies seeking correspondence.  Everything is done digitally now so my son had never had to learn.  At the same time, I’m seeing credit card offers coming for him in the mail.  He’s almost 19, so legally he can get one if he wanted to, but what a huge mistake that would be for him at this point in his life.  He’d have $10,000 racked up in debt in no time.  We’ve sat down together and discussed how credit cards and other loans work so I know he has some basic knowledge, but I would re

5 Ways to Keep Your Employees Happy Without Breaking the Bank I’m sure most of us have had a “lousy” employer or two in their life.  You know, the boss that expects everything and gives nothing.  You’ve probably also worked for companies that you really enjoyed.  What made you like where you worked?  Was it financial incentives?  Maybe you had good benefits or was it just the atmosphere of the place?  What keeps employees showing up day to day, being productive, and not looking for employment elsewhere? About 15 years ago I worked for a company that published a magazine for the higher education market.  They also put on a tradeshow annually.  When I started the job the pay wasn’t great, but I saw potential in what my job could eventually become and I really liked some of the people working there.  I got along very well with almost everyone and the benefits were decent too.  I quit after 6 months.  Why?  My boss was a jerk.  He lied to me repeatedly about introducing me to c

             Recently I have been looking into 3D printing for Crosswind Machining.  There is so much buzz all over the news and internet about it and I wondered if we could benefit from adding it to our shop floor. I think companies need to always be open to change.  Not only so that we make quality products with the machines that we already have, but also looking for ways to improve our capabilities to serve our customers with new ideas and new technology. As a matter of fact our Quality Policy states ”… to consistently surpass customers’ expectations in both quality and delivery scheduling.  We make every effort to continually maintain and improve our system.” That includes looking at newer technologies like 3d printing.  After doing quite a bit of research I have no doubt in my mind that this technology will play a large part of the manufacturing industry in the next 10 years.  Additive manufacturing is being utilized in multiple fields already such as medical, manufacturing,

What exactly is the IoT ( Internet of Things )?  How does it work?  Will everything eventually be part of it?  How will it benefit me?  Will it make my life easier for hackers to take advantage of?  These are all questions that I was trying to get answered recently.  I read probably a half of a dozen articles without really getting a clear picture of what it was and how it would affect my life.  Don’t get me wrong, I got a fairly decent idea of what it was, but not fully.  I realized that it meant that physical objects, such as my washing machine, would have sensors on it that could communicate with a repair guy when it broke.  I thought that was nice, however, what if it wasn’t the repair guy I wanted?  Did I have to set that up beforehand?  Would the repair guy just call me out of the blue to schedule a time to come out and fix it before I even knew there was a problem? Or if I’m out of dish soap will Amazon send me some without me ordering it? I didn’t really like that.  I didn’t l

         It’s that time of the year again, graduation.  High school students are ending a huge part of their lives and making decisions that will shape their future.  Some teens know from a young age what they want to do with their lives, but most are still figuring it out as they go.  Should they go to college?  Should they go directly into full-time work?  Maybe join the military?  What should they major in if they do go to college?  At 17 or 18 these are life altering questions that many aren’t’ prepared to answer.  Or, if they do have an answer, they don’t know how to go about accomplishing their goals as college can be very expensive.  Most people can get college loans, but do you want to start of your adult life with huge debt already hanging over your head?  This is where a career in manufacturing comes in.               Long gone are the days where a career in manufacturing meant long hours in a dark and dirty shop doing manual work for little money.  Today’s jobs require

E ffects on the body Effects on your mood Effects on Behavior    ·    Heart disease    ·     Asthma    ·     Obesity    ·     Diabetes    ·     Headaches    ·     Gastrointestinal          Problems    ·     Alzheimer’s Disease    ·     Accelerated Aging    ·     Premature Death ·     Anxiety ·     Restlessness ·     Lack of motivation or focus ·     Feeling overwhelmed ·     Irritability or anger ·     Sadness or depression ·     Overeating or undereating ·     Angry outbursts ·     Drug or alcohol abuse ·     Tobacco use ·     Social withdrawal ·     Exercising less often      What do all of these ailments have in common?  They can all be caused by stress.  We, as a nation, have decided that if you’re not living a stressed life, you must be lazy.  If you’re not working 40+ hours a week, taking kids to their after school athletics, involved in your local community, keeping a spotless home w

This week, as I was searching around for inspiration for our blog, I was feeling extremely uninspired.   I really do try and find a subject that relates to CrossWind’s field (swiss screw machining,  manufacturing , medical device components, etc), but also to blog about things that are interesting to people that aren’t in those fields themselves.   Nothing was calling out to me this week and I was feeling very frustrated.     Then I happened to hear a conversation between 2 employees about needing skilled workers and how hard it is to find one that has experience working with the tight tolerances that we do and I started thinking about where other companies find their skilled workers.   Do they take years to find what they’re looking for like CrossWind has?   Do they try staffing firms?   Do they start looking overseas for talent?   This isn’t something that is just limited to our field.   This is a problem that almost all industries face at one point or another.   What is the solutio