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PowderandBulk.com publisher Joe Taylor suggested it would be fun to do one of those year-end articles, maybe predicting what will happen in the New Year. Like, "Ohio State's football team won't be humiliated in the 2008 BCS bowl the way it was in 2007." (Joe couldn't help reminding me of how wrong I was in taking his dinner bet on the OSU-Florida game at the beginning of this year).

"Those who live by the crystal ball end up eating glass," an economist friend once warned me. So while I feel it's way beyond my limited powers to predict 2008 sports winners or the economy, I'm a bit more comfortable reflecting on what I've learned this year. In thinking over 2007, one thing stands out: the number of outstanding manufacturing facilities I've seen across the U.S. I've visited the manufacturing facilities of Gundlach Equipment Corporation in Belleville, Illinois, Pennsylvania Crusher's manufacturing plant in Cuyahoga Falls, Ohio, Jeffrey Specialty Equipment Corporation's plant in Woodruff, South Carolina, and Premier Pneumatics in Salina, Kansas. 

Every one of these facilities is dedicated to producing capital equipment that in turn is used to add significant value to the processes where they are employed. Two of them, Jeffrey and Penn Crusher, have been manufacturing industrial equipment for more than 100 years. All have skilled workers, excellent engineering, design and production capabilities, and all have experienced steady growth over recent years.

There was a period in these post modern times when manufacturing was in decline, but it's been a growth business for these manufacturers. Talk to Mark Kohler at Gundlach or Marty Bates at Penn Crusher, and they'll tell you about how they've worked to increase production and shorten lead times for their parts and equipment. Since becoming part of K-Tron International's Size Reduction Group, Mark and Marty, along with their counterparts at Jeffrey, and most recently Rader, have begun collaborating to develop best practices and share production resources.

At a recent visit to Penn Crusher in Cuyahoga Falls, a suburb of Akron, Ohio, Marty Bates talked about how Penn Crusher has begun working with Jeffrey to improve the manufacturing capabilities of Rader, which was acquired in September of 2007. It doesn't take long in talking to Marty, or in walking through the factory and talking to the people you meet on the floor, to come to the conclusion that these folks in Ohio like making things. And they're good at it, too. So here's my observation for 2007 and fearless prediction for 2008: for those who have the skill, there's a very good future in manufacturing.

As for Ohio State: whatever happens, Buckeye fans had a better run than expected this year. No one picked OSU to be in the BCS, and if they can stay off the cover of Sports Illustrated they have a shot this time. Joe Taylor wouldn't bet a dinner on the game this time; so that's a good sign. I'm sure I'd find some folks at the Penn Crusher plant in Cuyahoga Falls who'll be rooting along for Ohio State on January 7, 2008, when they meet LSU at the Superdome in New Orleans.

Happy New Year to all and "Go Buckeyes."
Don Dunnington
Blog Moderator

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