In an article posted on June 3, “An Upside to the Downturn,” I mentioned a piece by Jeff Klingberg, President/CEO, Mountain Stream Group, Inc. in Product Design & Development entitled “Wake Up Fluid Power Industry Or Prepare For Extinction.” In that article Klingberg suggested electric actuators are making strong inroads into the U.S. fluid power industry largely because that industry has failed to embrace new technology. Environmental considerations (leaking and spilled hydraulic fluid) and energy conservation are the chief drivers, he said.

Klingberg emailed to thank us for the mention, and in replying I mentioned an article I wrote in PD&D for Feb 3, 2006 entitled “What Lies Ahead For Hydraulics?” At that time, I also cited Klingberg as having said the fluid power business seemed to be on a long slide, particularly at the low-power end. The article also pointed out that environmentally friendly hydraulic fluids like water and vegetable oil were little used, and cited Klingberg as saying they had received little publicity.

Well, not much seems to have changed in the past three years: fluid power is still declining. In Klingberg’s words, “The issues are exactly the same for the fluid power industry, but worse. This economic recession has really caused a lot of heartache for many manufacturers in the industry, especially at the mobile hydraulic end. There are a few that are at 1/16 of their sales from just last year. Employees who are being laid off are fed up with decisions of the corporate leaders.”

“If something radical doesn’t happen within the industry in the next 5-10 years,” he predicts, “especially from the pneumatic side of things it will be an extinct industry.”

We have three questions for readers: Is the industry really doomed? Can it be saved? And if so, how?

Email your answers/comments to pcleaveland@earthlink.net

You may have come here because you just read the article I wrote (VMA Seeks to Fill Education Void with ‘Valve Ed’). If not, why not give it a read now? We welcome your thoughts, ideas and insight into the topic of valve industry education. The more we know about what those working in the valve industry need, the better job we can do as we develop Valve Ed.

I just received a letter from a reader named Jeff Roberts about an article I wrote (posted Dec. 15, “Green stands for $$”) and would like to take this opportunity to respond.

Roberts said:

“People in the Midwest states say California is full of people that do not have a good grip on the cost of all their mandates. Then we see California look to the federal government to bail them out.

“Now people are [whining] because other states do not buy into their restrictions and the businesses move to those states, costing California jobs and state money. Well, the same is true for the whole USA verses the world.

“Look at Wisconsin, the DNR has slowly driven manufacturing out of the state with regulations.

“Why don’t you write an article on the biggest scam of all. Green energy, wind turbines and the credits (I mean the subsidy money every American pays to whoever may own them) and carbon credits.

“I really do not see the USA industry surviving this next good idea.”

Response:

I agree, Californians don’t have a good grip on their mandates, and it’s not just in the pollution area. The state’s constitution allows citizen-sponsored initiatives to be put on the ballot, and if they pass they become state law. Many of these mandate certain levels of spending in specific areas, and limit taxation levels, which means the state government is in real fiscal trouble. The regulatory environment is much the same, with too little attention paid to cost-benefit analysis. Yes, complying with the new green regulations will be expensive. But the eventual cost of doing nothing would probably be greater, as I’ll discuss in a moment.

Many jobs have been moved overseas, and that’s a real problem. Manufacturing in the U.S. has been badly damaged by lower labor costs and lax (or nonexistent) environmental and safety standards in other countries. Have you tried to buy a pair of U.S.-made shoes lately? I won’t even get into the car industry.

But then again, look at the ship-breaking industry: Ships are no longer scrapped in the United States; instead many have been towed to places like Bangladesh, where they’re cut up on the beach by workers making a dollar a day with no protection against asbestos and other hazardous substances. Not a pretty picture. Perhaps in response to adverse publicity, a high court in that country recently ordered the closing of all ship-breaking yards that do not have environmental clearances.

We are told to recycle our e-waste, but much of it is shipped to third-world countries where it’s burnt or otherwise stripped for valuable materials by untrained people with no protection against chemical hazards.

As for direct costs of pollution to Americans, let’s consider increased healthcare costs due to air pollution (without trying to put a dollar value on quality of life). A recent report, The Benefits of Meeting Federal Clean Air Standards in the South Coast and San Joaquin Valley Air Basins by the Institute for Economics and Environmental Studies at Cal State Fullerton, puts the annual cost to California at $28 billion a year. Other areas (Houston and Texas City, TX, for example) have similar problems.

But perhaps the most important long-term problems are climate change and sea level rise. The March 16 edition of Science Daily reports that a number of studies predict rising sea levels will have an especially bad effect on New York City, with increased susceptibility to damage from hurricanes, among other things. The EPA has a whole section on line dealing with the effects of sea level rise on the United States. A 2008 MIT report entitled Estimating the Economic Cost of Sea-Level Rise puts the cost of a one-meter rise in sea level over the next century to the U.S. at several hundred billion dollars for the loss of wetlands, loss of capital, and the cost to provide protection (dikes and so forth).

Other areas at risk include low-lying areas in Florida, Western Europe and various third-world countries. Several island nations in the Pacific are making plans for the time when their countries will cease to exist.

What about climate-related problems, like the loss of farmland due to worsening droughts and related effects? Parts of the Midwest just experienced severe flooding due to unusual weather conditions. How unusual will those conditions be in the future?

The solutions, if they can be found, will be very expensive. Béla Lipták, long-time process control guru and winner of an ISA Lifetime Achievement Award, recently wrote “If Global Carbon Emissions Were Cut by 15% by 2050 by the Increased Use of Nuclear Power, 1,070 Plants Would Need to Be Built at a Cost of $5 Trillion.” That’s expensive, and it has environmental and security issues that have still not been dealt with adequately.

The windmills you dismiss may turn out to be a good investment. On April 6 the Associated Press reported that Interior Secretary Ken Salazar said there is enough wind energy available off the East Coast to equal 3,000 coal-fired power plants, although fossil fuels would still be required. Oilman T. Boone Pickens has been advertising his Pickens Plan to cut U.S. reliance on imported fossil fuel and make more use of wind energy. Boone may be old, but he’s no fool.

Bottom line: Yes, pollution abatement is, and will be, expensive. The alternative is worse.

You really can find everything and anything on YouTube.

This clip is from a British show called The Secret Life of Machines. Here, a man uses several solenoid valves to spell out the word: UTOPIA.

The internet is an invaluable source of information for manufacturers. It's importance can't really be measured, but that doesn't mean you can't get lost. For news, resources, and other information, you've got the essentials like Industrial Info or the Houston Chronicle. But blogs pick up the slack by finding some great stories that often fall through the cracks. For example...

VMA member Emerson Process Control has their very own blog called Emerson Process Experts.

For smaller businesses, try the aptly named Small Business Trends.

Fabrictor.com has their very own, what else?... Fabricator Blog.  

ThomasNet is maybe the best resource on the World Wide Web for manufacturing and industrial information. Their official blog, Industrial Market Trends, doesn’t disappoint.  

If you want to keep up to speed on lean manufacturing, check out the Operational Excellence Tools Blog and Lean Blog.

US News & World Report keeps tabs on what goes on inside the beltway at Capital Commerce.

NAM has a blog that’s recently undergone a renovation, Shopfloor.

Association Inc is a site that’s all about the world of, you guessed it, associations.

If it’s a search engine you’re looking for, a “Google” for manufacturers, try Global Spec.

The ARC Advisory Group does comprehensive research on sensor technology, automation, production, design, and business systems. They have tons of info on manufacturing, energy, and supply chains.

Control Global gives you the who, what, when, where, and how of everything in the world of process automation.

And when you go to VMA.org, you have to check out our Valve Product Finder and Valve & Actuator Industry Online Guide to Suppliers.

Unresolved Economic Crisis Could Destabilize Governments

That was the ABC News headline that summed up a warning Hillary Clinton delivered while on her first trip overseas as Secretary of State. But if you look at other headlines, both here and abroad, one has to wonder if these words of caution are too little too late.

Wall Street Journal: Russia's Industry Slows Far Faster Than Expected

Financial Times of London: Manufacturers Blame Woes on Demand Not Credit

The Globe and Mail: U.S. Crisis Batters Canadian Manufacturing

Los Angeles Times: Japanese Downturn Is Worst In 35 Years

The people of Japan have their work cut out for them. While in the Land of the Rising Sun, Secretary Clinton, like the rest of us,was informed that the country’s Financial Minister was resigning amidst scandal.

In related news, President Obama will visit Canada tomorrow to discuss trade issues.

The Associated Press is reporting that several large labor unions could be on the verge of putting aside past differences, with the political winds currently at their backs:

Union leaders are talking about reuniting under a single, more powerful federation, nearly four years after a nasty breakup split organized labor.

Leaders from 12 of the largest unions, along with rival federations AFL-CIO and Change to Win, have held three meetings since January aimed at setting aside differences and taking advantage of the most favorable political climate for unions in 15 years.

This comes days after the U.S. Senate officially confirmed Hilda Solis as Secretary of Labor. Solis’ past support of organized labor has excited many activists on the left the way no other cabinet member appointed by President Obama has. During her long, drawn-out confirmation process, BeyondChron wrote:

Hilda Solis would be the greatest Labor Secretary since FDR’s Francis Perkins. She has spent her career fighting for economic justice, and now deserves progressive support.

As for the Employee Free Choice Act? President Obama has a lot on his plate, to say the least, and he’s going to have to choose his battles. There’s a good chance that card check won’t make it to the floor of Congress this year, in part because Democrats aren’t totally convinced they have the votes to overcome a filibuster in the Senate.

With cabinet nominees to confirm and a stimulus package to negotiate, one of the most contentious upcoming fights in Congress has, temporarily, been put on the back burner; The Employee Free Choice Act (EFCA). Labor unions, and their Democratic allies in the Senate, will need 60 votes to avoid a Republican filibuster and make “card check” the law of the land.

Democrats have a 58-41 seat advantage in the Senate, with the Minnesota Senate race still tied up in the courts. If Al Franken, who leads by 225 votes, prevails in that race, then the 59 Democratic Senators would only need one Republican to pass the EFCA. That one Republican who might break ranks is Pennsylvania’s Arlen Specter, a longtime ally of organized labor in the Keystone State. Specter is up for re-election in 2010, and some anticipated that he might have to vote with the rest of his party in order to avoid a primary challenge on his right. In 2004 Specter narrowly defeated Club for Growth President Pat Toomey 51%-49% in the GOP Senate primary. But recently Toomey decided to run for Governor in 2010 instead. That means that Specter might be free to vote with the Democrats without fear of alienating his base. But odds are some other Pennsylvania Republican will step up in the coming months.

But even if Specter votes for the EFCA and Franken gets seated, there’s still hope. There’s one Democratic Senator who has refused to say where he stands on the issue, and that’s freshman Sen. Mark Warner (D-VA). NAM President John Engler spoke very highly of the Senator when Warner addressed the association last month. On Jan. 19 Warner spoke to NAM members about the importance of lean manufacturing. The former Governor has a reputation as a savvy business man and under his leadership, Virginia flourished economically from 2002-2006.

The other Democrat who’s expressed some reservations over card check is Sen. Blanche Lincoln (D-AR). But if Maine’s two GOP Senators, who voted with Specter and the Democratic Caucus on the stimulus package, once again cross party lines, even Warner and Lincoln won’t stop the EFCA from being signed into law.

The world economic paroxysms since October have more than upset the prices of commodities. These had begun to sink before the major U. S. banking crisis but since have slumped into steep decline. The Commodities Metals Price Index was around 192 in May and 132 in October. Such shifts have caused headaches. The mining company Rio Tinto announced it is moving away from long-term contracts with customers and instead selling iron ore through the spot market or hybrid securities contracts. The commodities drop brings relief to purchasers of metals, but no one is saying we are entering months of good fortune.

Indeed, one of the reasons given for the drop in commodities prices is the prediction of world recession, meaning lower demand, meaning lower prices. But metals prices, and commodities in general, are still high by historic standards, and analysts are divided on where they think commodities   prices are headed from here. The Economic Times was reporting that analysts believed if copper dropped under $3,100/tonne - the average cost of production -- then the "the copper economy around the globe would go into a tailspin." The London Metal Exchange price on Nov. 19 was $3,500/tonne. Much of last year, and as recently as July, copper was trading at close to $9,000/tonne. Gayle Berry, base metals analyst for Barclays Capital, predicted that base metals prices will continue to slide into the first quarter of next year, but that there they might find a bottom.

David Croson, associate professor of strategy and entrepreneurship at the Cox School of Business at Southern Methodist University, believes the drop in metals prices does not bode well for U. S. valve makers - in two ways. "The drop owes to a decline in demand, which means there will be less demand for valves, which means lower revenue. Second, lower metals prices means valve purchasers will be looking for lower prices, which will tend to lead them to offshore producers whose labor and overhead costs are lower than those of U. S. manufacturers. It's a psychological but very real effect on how buyers make decisions."

Where are prices headed? A posting on Mineweb early in November noted that most analysts believed the world economy would continue to grow, even if just barely [the "western" economies in recession being offset by the "developing country" economies growing] and that this being the case, "when the real picture is understood, there could be a fast and dramatic rise in commodity prices - perhaps not back to the recent bubble-driven highs, but high enough to pull the mining sector out of the current gloom."

Frank Hemsley writing in the Contrarian Profits believes commodities are merely in a correction that is part of a secular bull market. He believes much of the selling of commodities was forced owing to the need to "finance the mess in other sectors." He sides with legendary commodities investor Jim Rogers, who he says, believes this sell-off will only make the commodities bull market longer.

Ultimately, much depends on the Chinese and Indian economies. And China recently announced a two-year $586 billion economic stimulus plan to boost domestic demand. If China can keep growing despite a fall-off in exports to the United States, then commodities prices will remain under pressure to stay high.

I’d like to introduce you to Peter Cleaveland, who you’ll be hearing from on a regular basis. Pete is a new contributing editor to Valve Magazine and ValveMagazine.com. Some readers may recognize Pete’s byline—he was a senior technical editor with Instrumentation & Control Systems (which later changed its name to Control Solutions) from 1982 to 2002. Since then he’s written articles for magazines including Chemical Processing, Control Engineering, Food Engineering, Food Manufacturing, IAN, Industrial Maintenance and Plant Operation, In MFG, Medical Design Technology, Pharmaceutical Processing and Product Design & Development. Before embarking on a writing career, Pete was an engineer in defense electronics and later in industrial (CNC) control manufacturing.

Feel free to post comments about Pete’s articles in our Valve Industry Blog, or contact editor Judy Tibbs if you have ideas for topics you’d like us to explore on this website and in the pages of Valve Magazine.

There seems to be plenty of bad news to go around. The fall 2008 issue of Valve Magazine had several predictions of an economic downturn, and it seems to have arrived. The Institute of Supply Management’s October Report on Business put the PMI at 38.9%, a sharp drop from September’s 43.5%.

It didn’t help the valve industry that the only two industries that showed growth were not big users of valves: Apparel, Leather & Allied Products; and Computer & Electronic Products. Click here for more details.

The Federal Reserve reports that industrial production and capacity utilization had been flat to down on a month-to-month basis for most of 2008, with the decline accelerating in September. The car companies have gone hat in hand to Washington to beg for money, and consumer spending is down.

Yet not all companies are reporting bad news. For example, Flowserve Corp. announced record third-quarter performance including earnings per share, sales and bookings. On Oct. 10, Frank Vargo, Vice President for International Economic Affairs of the National Association of Manufacturers (NAM), said that the trade figures released by the Commerce Department showing that manufactured goods exports continued a rapid growth pace in August, up 15% over August 2007, offers “a positive counterpoint to the otherwise grim economic news from Wall Street.”

And so far things aren’t all that bad for valve makers. The VMA State of the Economy Survey for October 2008 reported that 84.6% of respondents to the latest member survey report an increase in shipments over the previous month, and 65.4% expect to see more business this year.

And remember that the price of crude oil is down, which may help reduce some manufacturing costs, and seems to have changed its relationship to the stock market. When crude was above $100/bbl the Dow tended to follow it in an inverse way, falling as crude rose and rising as it fell. Now the two numbers run in the same direction, perhaps showing that crude has reverted to being a commodity, rather than the plaything of the speculators and hedge funds.

Predictions of how long it will take for the economy to begin growing again vary from 2009 to 2010 and beyond, but we’ve been through rough patches before ,and we’ll do it again. And right now would be a fine time to look for ways to save money in normal operations. We’ve been asking executives at VMA member companies for suggestions on that very topic. We’re putting their responses into an article for the winter 2008 issue of Valve Magazine, so keep an eye out for it.

'You Don't Want to Meet Bill' is the name of a new ad paid for by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce that's airing in key states during the runup to election day.

In addition to trying to influence the presidential race, the CoC is also worried about the numbers of votes they'll have in congress next year. Most everyone agrees that the GOP has virtually no chance of taking back the majority until 2010 at the earliest, but now Democrats are increasingly optimistic about achieving a 60 vote "filibuster-proof" majority in the Senate.

Many agree that 57 or 58 seats is the likeliest scenario for the Democrats next year, but more and more races have become competitive in recent weeks. In Minnesota, Al Franken has been maintaining a narrow lead over incumbent Norm Coleman according to Real Clear Politics average. Jim Martin and Saxby Chambliss are neck-and-neck in Georgia. The race in Mississippi between Ronnie Musgrove and Roger Wicker is very close (Wicker was appointed to the seat following Trent Lott's retirement late last year). Even Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell is having a tough time fending off businessman Bruce Lunsford in the heavily-Republican state of Kentucky.

For a long time, political analyst Charlie Cook scoffed at the notion that the Demcrats could control 60 seats after the '08 elections. But these days, he's singing a different tune:

National Journal (09/27/08):

The bottom line is that things have gotten worse for Senate Republicans over the past few weeks, so much worse that a magnitude of losses that seemed impossible just a few months ago now seems entirely possible.

In 2007, the people at Scott Paper Co. figured out that 90,000,000 toilets flushed during halftime of the Colts-Bears Super Bowl. While experts disagree over how much damage this so-called "Halftime Flush" does to water infrastructure on Super Sunday, Scott recruited legendary coach Mike Ditka to put their two cents in:

That's the advice Jim Cahill was giving this week in Washington D.C. at the annual Emerson Users Exchange. Cahill runs Emerson Process Management's official blog: Emerson Process Experts. Blogs are, of course, one of the most popular ways in the internet to express yourself and get information on a variety of topics. But blogs are just the tip of the iceberg.

Sites like Google Reader, Delicious, Linkedin, Twitter, and FriendFeed are changing the way we communicate on the world wide web.

Google Reader is Google's "web-based feed reader." Actually, they do a good job of explaining it themselves:

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Delicious is described as a "social bookmarking web service."

From wikipedia:

Delicious uses a non-hierarchical keyword categorization system in which users can tag each of their bookmarks with a number of freely chosen keywords

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Linkedin, according to their website:

...is an online network of more than 25 million experienced professionals from around the world, representing 150 industries.

When you join, you create a profile that summarizes your professional accomplishments. Your profile helps you find and be found by former colleagues, clients, and partners.

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If you haven't caught wind of the Twitter phenomenom, you will soon. "Tweets" are fast becoming a national obsession.

wikipedia:

Twitter is a free social networking and micro-blogging service that allows its users to send and read other users' updates (otherwise known as tweets), which are text-based posts of up to 140 characters in length.

Updates are displayed on the user's profile page and delivered to other users who have signed up to receive them.

Click here to follow Emerson blogger Jim Cahill on Twitter. 

________________________________________

FriendFeed is similar to Twitter. It allows you to keep tabs on your friends and family.

From their site:

FriendFeed enables you to keep up-to-date on the web pages, photos, videos and music that your friends and family are sharing. It offers a unique way to discover and discuss information among friends.

You don't need to install anything to use FriendFeed. But if you already use Facebook, you can add our Facebook application to connect your Facebook profile to all the other products you use around the web.

Improving Plant Safety, Reliability and Efficiency, by Curtiss-Wright Flow Control Corporation, a Feature of "Industry Today" on Industrialinfo.com

Industrial Info Resources will host special guest Curtiss-Wright Flow Control as part of this week's "Industry Today" webcast.

Click Here to listen (subscription req'd)

The Employee Free Choice Act has been a hot button issue for more than three years. With control of the White House up for grabs, both sides are going all out in an effort to sway public opinion on the card check issue.

According to the National Assocation of Manufacturers: 

Currently, the preferred method for determining whether or not employees want a union to represent them is a private ballot election overseen by the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB). The NLRB, an independent government agency, provides detailed procedures that ensure a fair election, free of fraud, where employees may cast their vote confidentially without peer pressure or coercion from unions or employers. However, union bosses find secret ballot elections an impediment to unionization. They prefer "card check" elections, where employees are forced to cast their vote in front of union organizers and fellow employees who support unionization. We strongly urge all members of Congress to oppose this “Employee Forced Choice Act.”

This is from America's favorite source of "fake news," The Onion:

Bush Told To Sign Birthday Treaty For Someone Named 'Kyoto'

Enlisted by members of the House and Senate, presidential aide Rebecca Tandy brought a copy of the international climate-change treaty to President Bush's desk Monday and asked him to sign a birthday document for a Japanese dignitary named "Kyoto Protocol."....

If you like that, check out this gem from our friends at ShopFloor.org, the official blog of the National Association of Manufacturers (NAM).

What's on your mind? Share your thoughts here about industry education and training, controlling quality in a global environment, recent editorial you've read about in Valve Magazine or any other issues of interest to the valve community.

Now that Barack Obama and John McCain are the two major parties’ choice for President of the United States, manufacturers and other business leaders have plenty of time before Election Day to get to know the candidate’s positions on issues important to them.

For example, on Obama’s website you can download an extensive report on his Energy Policy which, among other things, proposes an 80% reduction in carbon emissions by 2050 and converting manufacturing centers into clean technology centers:

“Obama supports implementation of a market-based cap-and-trade system to reduce carbon emissions by the amount scientists say is necessary: 80% below 1990 levels by 2050. Obama's cap-and-trade system will require all pollution credits to be auctioned. A 100% auction ensures that all polluters pay for every ton of emissions they release, rather than giving these emission rights away to coal and oil companies. Some of the revenue generated by auctioning allowances will be used to support the development of clean energy, to invest in energy efficiency improvements, and to address transition costs, including helping American workers affected by this economic transition.………

Obama will establish a federal investment program to help manufacturing centers modernize and Americans learn the new skills they need to produce green products.”

On McCain’s site you can review his Economic Plan, which includes his intention to promote competitiveness and lower the corporate tax rate by 10%:

“Ninety-five percent of the world's customers lie outside our borders and we need to be at the table when the rules for access to those markets are written. To do so, the U.S. should engage in multilateral, regional and bilateral efforts to reduce barriers to trade, level the global playing field and build effective enforcement of global trading rules. These steps would also strengthen the U.S. dollar and help to control the rising cost of living that hurts our families.……..

John McCain believes the taxes we impose on American companies should be no higher than the average rate our major trading partners impose on theirs. We currently have the second-highest combined corporate-tax rate in the industrialized world, and it is driving many businesses and the jobs they create overseas.”

What about the VPs?

We may know what we’re getting out of Obama and McCain, but what about their prospective running mates? Throughout history vice presidents have, for the most part, had little influence on a president’s decision making. However in the last 7+ years, Dick Cheney has almost single-handedly redefined the role VPs play. Some even consider him to be a “co-president” of sorts with George W. Bush.

In 1980, GOP presidential nominee Ronald Reagan briefly pondered giving former President Gerald Ford that sort of influential role as vice president in his future administration. But the two men couldn’t work out the details, and the deal fell apart.

Several months ago on the campaign trail, Sen. McCain said that, “The issue of economics is not something I’ve understood as well as I should.” That admission has led many politicos to envision someone with a strong economic background winding up as the GOP vice presidential nominee. Former Massachusetts Gov. and business leader Mitt Romney (NAM President John Engler’s original choice for president in ‘08) may be the favorite right now due to the current state of the U.S. economy. Former Ohio Congressman Rob Portman has also generated a lot of buzz. Portman has recently served as director of the Office of Management and Budget and U.S. Trade Representative.

Other names being floated on the right include Florida Gov. Charlie Crist who, like McCain, now favors offshore drilling; and former Hewlett Packard CEO Carly Fiorina, once considered the most powerful woman in the business world. Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty, arguably THE frontrunner right now for the job, is another name to keep an eye on.

On the Democratic side, expect more of the “co-president” talk to heat up if Obama chooses Hillary Clinton as his running mate. Clinton, unlike her husband, has taken more pro-labor, anti-free trade positions. Among the other names being mentioned: Virginia Gov. Tim Kaine, who’s recently angered some on the left with his pro-business stances and repeal of the estate tax. Kansas Gov. Kathleen Sebelius is someone with whom Obama has a very good rapport. Sebelius’ popularity in her home state has caused many Republicans to jump ship for the Democratic Party.

In the end though, many politicos feel the safest thing for Obama is to shore up his national security credentials. That’s why you hear a lot about former Marine Corps Gen. Anthony Zinni or Rhode Island Sen. Jack Reed, himself a former Army Ranger.

Chris Guy is co-editor of the Valve Manufacturers Assocation’s monthly e-newsletter and is the web coordinator for ValveMagazine.com and VMA.org. He also co-founded and writes for a blog about central Virginia politics.

We know that more and more visitors have been checking out the new ValveMagazine.com, and we’d love to hear from you. How about giving us your thoughts on some of the content we’ve been posting? For instance, our contributing editors have been writing articles about topics we think would be of interest to the valve community. Have we succeeded?

In the first 6 weeks since relaunching ValveMagazine.com, we’ve posted four original articles (all still available for viewing):

·         Manufacturing Woman—Colleen VanderVelde

·         There’s More to Ethanol Than Corn

·         Our Deteriorating Water Infrastructure

·         No Sign of Rollback on Steel Prices

What do you think of these articles? Are you interested in the topics we’ve selected? Do you have some points you’d like to make about one of these subjects? How about sharing some ideas for future content?

And, of course, feel free to give us your feedback on the website as a whole. What are your favorite parts? Is there a feature you’d like to see us add? ValveMagazine.com is a work in progress, and your comments will help us improve the site and further expand our growing community of valve professionals.

ValveMagazine.com has joined the Web 2.0 generation with a new website designed to create a community of valve professionals, complete with the latest news, web exclusive articles, a blog and other resources designed to inform you about the North American industrial valve, actuator and control industry.

Feel free to check out this site and let us know what you think by responding to this post, part of our new Valve Industry blog. Members of the Valve Manufacturers Association will post comments on a wide range of subjects of interest to our community, from the pressing need for basic valve training, to the growing problem of copyright infringement. Perhaps they’ll share an anecdote from a visit to a customer’s plant, make an observation about new product demands, explain why they think a particular industry is poised for further growth, or help explain how a sticky valve problem can be alleviated through preventive maintenance.

This is also a good place to comment on an article you’ve read about in Valve Magazine or give your opinion about one of our web-exclusive articles. Or you can suggest future topics like you’d like to see us cover. Whatever you want to talk about, if it’s related to the North American valve, actuator and control industry, we’d love to hear from you! (Of course, this forum is not designed to promote your company’s products and services, so please, no sales pitches.)

Recently my company, which makes actuators, completed a display trailer with a number of functional products. The trailer has been on the road for a total of 6 weeks, with excellent response from those who have seen our presentations. I recall in years past that many companies had mobile displays and that the benefits appeared to be worth the cost. On the road, I hear stories from distributors about how they and their principles “used to have” a similar display, and they were always very effective. The key phrase is “used to have,” which brings me to ask if others in the valve and actuator industry are still using such displays or if they have all been abandoned.

I understand that arranging mobile display visits is much more complicated than visiting users with simply a catalog in hand, but the user interest seems so much greater. Are valve and actuator manufacturers collectively missing a great opportunity to fully educate valve industry users? I am interested in learning about what others in the industry are doing and hearing about their experiences. And if you’re a valve user, what do you think of this concept?