Nobody is Hiring

“Nobody is hiring” – that’s a phrase that we hear over and over in the news media.

Is it true?  I think in many cases that it is true.  Business owners, especially in manufacturing, are cautious about adding to their workforces after the past two years of austerity.

But it isn’t 100% true.  The myth about the death of manufacturing in the United States isn’t true.  Manufacturing as a whole is growing again, and those companies that have positioned themselves for growth are indeed adding to their employment rosters.

Here at EXAIR, we’ve added two new people in the past couple of weeks, and two more are on the way before the end of February.  EXAIR is growing.  In fact, business is booming.  Brand strength has never been higher.  And the small steps that we take every day, every week and every month continue to position us for future success.  To our knowledge, few if any companies can match our track record of innovative new product introductions.  Our service is second to none.  And our team is the most experienced in the industry by a quantum leap.

Business at EXAIR is good, and we talk to manufacturers every day that are saying the same things.  Those small, individual successes are combining to revitalize an industry long left for dead.  Kind of like the city of Detroit.  I thought this Super Bowl commercial was one of the strongest that I have seen in a long time.

Manufacturers ARE recovering.  Jobs ARE returning.  Companies are picking themselves up, dusting themselves off and getting back to business.  Those that positioned themselves correctly before and during the downturn in order to be ready to take advantage of economic growth are already reaping the fruits of their difficult labor.

And we are proud to be a small part of that resurgence.

To paraphrase Eminem, “this is U.S. manufacturing, and this is what we do”.

Bryan Peters
President
bryanpeters@exair.com

We Are Who You Thought We Were!

Manufacturing is cool, just like this video courtesy of Dennis Green.

EXAIR has been a manufacturer from the day that we were founded back in 1983.  In those days, our founder (now CEO) answered customer calls and took orders during the daytime and then made the parts at night.  From Day 1, EXAIR designed and manufactured our own line of products because we thought it made us more responsive to our customers.  After all, who can relate better to manufacturing companies and processes than a manufacturer?

Today, 27 years later, we still feel the same.  Being the manufacturer of the products that we are selling puts us in a position to get customers what they need like nobody else in the world.  The front cover of our catalog has the phrase “Manufacturing Intelligent Compressed Air Products Since 1983” proudly shown right below our logo.  It is simply who we are as a company.  If you call us today, you can probably have what you need by tomorrow in most cases.  And sometimes even that fast isn’t fast enough.  Sometimes we deliver to customers the SAME day for critical situations.  We’ve been shipping our cataloged products from stock for 15 years and we set the standard for performance and customer satisfaction.

Being a manufacturer also gives us other capabilities beyond just quick deliveries.  We have the capability to customize our products quickly to meet the specific requirements of any customer.  Need a product shorter or longer, with more holes or fewer holes?  We can do that and still deliver quickly.  Because we are a manufacturer.

For years, we were one of the only companies around to offer this kind of service, and we shipped most special products within two weeks of the order, which was unheard of at the time.  But we are never satisfied and we are always trying to improve our products and services.  Back in 2008, we cut our lead times for special length air knives in half.  We simply found a way to improve our processes and raised the bar in order to be even more responsive to customer needs.

Did I mention that we are never satisfied?  Stay tuned for an announcement that dramatically improves our delivery on specialized EXAIR products in the days ahead.

We are who you thought we were!  The best in the world.

Claims are easy.  Proof is hard.

Bryan Peters
President
bryanpeters@exair.com

Everyone is Talking about the HEAT

While sports fans are consumed with Lebron James joining the Heat, the attention of those of us in manufacturing are focused on heat related problems affecting equipment.

I was contacted by a customer who was having problems with his ink jet printing. Throughout the day, as temperatures climb, the viscosity of the ink changes  requiring frequent adjustments. Then on the night shift the settings have to be reversed. The problem with this method is the need for adjustments are not known until defective product prints are observed. This then requires the operator to make adjustments and take defective product produced prior and during adjustments out of the line.

Using a model 4308 cabinet cooler to maintain a consistent temperature around the ink pot eliminated any need for adjustments due to ambient temperature changes. This saved on labor, eliminated defects, and increase productive up time.

Joe Panfalone
Application Engineer
joepanfalone@exair.com