The Fabricator - August 2009

editor’s corner | Dan Davis, Editor-in-Chief

the fabricator®

All atwitter about social media

For the time-crunched metal fabricator,

Web-based, peer-to-peer communication

might be advantageous

Dan Davis, editor-in-chief of The FABRICATOR, can be reached at dand@thefabricator.com.

William Grinley, owner and operator of Patriot Welding & Fabrica- tion, Pelham, N.H., is a busy guy nowadays. Within a span of seven days, he hired a new employee who wants to learn about metal fabrication, looked at some property to relocate his shop eventually; pored over more resumes for another hire to his three-person shop; and started the search for a new welding rig for the company’s road work. Meanwhile he is still bidding new business and getting feedback on ornamental work that’s been installed, such as a pool fence and gate that a client was “ecstatic” about.

Did I interview him to get all of these details? Nope. Actually, The FABRICATOR interviewed him back in March (The Back Page, “ Fabricating to save lives,” p. 66) about a latch tool he fabricated while deployed in Iraq that made it possible to extricate soldiers from armored security vehicles involved in rollover incidents.

No, these details came directly from Grinley’s Twitter page—the Web site where people post 140-words-or-less updates about what is going on in their personal and professional lives. Metal fabricating has hit the world of social networking.

So what brings Grinley to “tweet” about his day? In the vein of a short-and-sweet Twitter posting, he replied, “We’re on Twitter to GROW our business.”

Is it possible? I’m not sure, but Patriot Welding & Fabrication is going about it in the correct way. The shop isn’t the first fabricator on Twitter, and it may not be the best. But it is one of

the first that came to the attention of The FABRICATOR and that was actually sharing detail of everyday happenings. Instead of posting “We’ve got open time available on our laser cutter” or “Our shop can handle all of your aluminum welding needs,” Grinley is letting everyone know how business is going and what’s happening in the field and on the shop floor.

That’s what all of this peer-to-peer communication is about. We’re getting to know each other, and don’t people want to conduct business with people they know?

LinkedIn ( www.linkedin.com), a sort of social network for business. You’ll find more than 500 people interested in the metal fabricating community. Browse posted questions, and check out the other members. A lot of expertise can be found on the site, and you might get to know someone that can help you out with your own business.

These types of networking may be a lot of hype, but as with many things, you get out of it what you put into it. The best part is that the investment is a little bit of time, which is a lot better than a whole lot of money.

A Follow The FABRICATOR
on Twitter at www.twitter.
com/fabricating.
A Follow thefabricator.com
on Twitter at www.twitter.
com/fabcomlady.

A Join the FMA group on LinkedIn by visiting www.linkedin.com and searching for FMA under “Groups.”

So why the big deal about this? Let’s face it, fabricators always are pressed for time, and as a result they don’t interact with their peers as much as they should. We see the value of this type of networking every year at the Fabricators & Manufacturers Association leadership conference, Metal Matters (at Disney’s Board Walk Resort March 3-5, 2010), and at FABTECH International, but we would like to see more fabricators take advantage of it.

So if you can’t do it in person, reach out to the virtual world. A Twitter account takes seconds to set up and to follow on a regular basis, once you have sought out other parties you want to follow. For those who want more substance, check out the FMA group on

The economy may be in a funk, but we know success stories are out there. We encourage those shops that are making changes to improve their operations to apply for The FABRICATOR’s Industry Award 2010. We’ve honored two businesses—Shickel Corp., Bridgewater, Va., in 2009, and Seconn Fabrication, Waterford, Conn., in 2008—that grew their business successfully over the years, but this year we know that may not be the case for many shops. That’s why we want to stress the case that shops that are making successful changes in their operations are welcome to apply.

The application process is quick and simple. Go to www.fmanet.org/ members/ industry-award.cfm and fill out the form. The application deadline is Sept. 30.

The FABRICATOR would like to congratulate Roger Baroun of St. Nazianz, Wis., on winning a $100 gift card for participating in the magazine’s readership survey. His and other respondents’ feedback lets us know what we are doing well and in what areas we can improve.

We take all comments under advisement, except for the one asking for the swimsuit edition. I’m flattered, but my Speedo is at the cleaners.

Editorial Advisory Board Charles Caristan, Air Liquide America LP Greg Cornett, Tennessee Stampings LLC Matthew Gehman, Metal Locking Service Joseph Griffin, Aerofab Div., Tube Processing Corp. Matt Kalina, LAI International Muammer Koc, Virginia Commonwealth University Subramaniam Manivannan, Rolls-Royce Gary Morphy, Vari-Form Inc. Jim Poe, American Athletic Inc. Roger Schulz, Monroe Truck Equipment

FMA Officers and Directors Chairman of the Board Mike Pellecchia, MC Machinery Systems Inc. First Vice Chairman John Koschwanez, Independence Tube Corp. Second Vice Chairman Tom Nederpel, VGAN Inc. Secretary/Treasurer Dave Barber, Consultant

Immediate Past Chairman of the Board Steve Heim, Brenco Industries Ltd. Directors Bruce Benedict, Production Tube Cutting Inc. Tom Connell, Main Steel Polishing Co. Inc. Burke Doar, TRUMPF Inc. Vivek Gupta, Texas ProFab Corp. Jeff Knauf, Medalist Laserfab Inc. Dan McLeod, A.J. Forsyth– A Div. of Russel Metals Inc. Carlos Mendizábal Pérez, Industrias Sekbir S.A de C.V. Carlos Rodriguez, Acero-Prime S. de R.L. de C.V. Paul Russo, George A. Mitchell Co. Ed Severson, Wilson Tool International Edwin Stanley, The Gas House Inc. Al Zelt, ASKO Inc. President & CEO Gerald M. Shankel Fabricators & Manufacturers Association, Intl.

FMA’s Certified Education Centers British Columbia Institute of Technology Burnaby, BC, Canada www.bcit.ca College of the Canyons Santa Clarita, Calif. www.coc.cc.ca.us College of DuPage Glen Ellyn, Ill. www.cod.edu Illinois Central College East Peoria, Ill. www.icc.edu Kalamazoo Valley Community College Kalamazoo, Mich. www.kvcc.edu Kirkwood Community College Cedar Rapids, Iowa www.kirkwood.cc. ia.us Lincoln Educational Services Grand Prairie, Texas www.lincolnedu.com Long Beach City College Long Beach, Calif. www.lbcc.edu Louisiana Technical College New Iberia, La. www.ltc.edu/greateracadianaregion Manufacturing Technology Academy Traverse City, Mich. www.mta.tc Minuteman Regional Technical High School Lexington, Mass. www.minuteman.org Moraine Park Technical College West Bend, Wis. www.morainepark.edu Pell City High School Pell City, Ala. www.pellcityhigh.net Renton Technical College Renton, Wash. www.rtc.edu Rock Valley College Rockford, Ill. www.rockvalleycollege.edu Thomas Nelson Community College Hampton, Va. www.tncc.edu