Technology is a great thing, right? It makes work easier and it allows salespeople to be available all day, every day, no matter what. Cell phones and laptops enable an employee to work from the comfort of his or her home or do business from the driver’s seat of their car. But at what point does this technology become too invasive? Where do we draw the line between our working life and our personal lives?
Two recent lawsuits have sought to establish this line. Employees of T-Mobile USA filed a suit against the company, claiming they were expected to respond to messages outside of work hours using company cell phones. It raises the question of when employees should be paid for what they are doing.
As the workplace has changed, so have the rules that govern what constitutes “work”. It used to be simple: if you’re in the office, you’re working. If you’re not in the office, it’s personal time. Customers in this day and age, however, expect service around the clock, and if your company wishes to remain competitive, it is often necessary to provide that service. This may not be a huge issue for salaried workers, who are accustomed to late nights without extra pay, but it carries heavy consequences for hourly workers seeking overtime pay.
More and more companies are adopting stricter policies concerning cell phone usage outside of the office. What’s your company’s policy? Do you have one?
In less than a month, Calgary, Canada, will play host to the world’s largest vocational skills competition. Workers from around the world will journey to the event for a week of trade and craft skills competitions that will display the technical and vocational prowess of each country’s representatives. And, of course, one of the skills that is put to the test at the event is welding.
A major goal of these games is to promote awareness of and education for skilled vocational trades throughout the world. Welding, along with other trades such as plumbing, IT networking and mobile robotics, is a skill set that will always continue to be necessary in the U.S. and throughout the world. WorldSkills hopes to promote the development of these skills from a young age. Participants in the competition must be under the age of 23.
These games seem like a great way to get young people interested and involved in such an important part of worldwide industry. Not only do they promote a unified international workforce, but they champion skills that are vital to the vitality and prosperity of our country and the global economy.
I’ve been busy all week finalizing the text for the August edition of GAWDA Edge. Being a roller coaster enthusiast, my favorite story is the piece on gases and welding work in roller coaster design and construction. However, the issue also includes stories from mentors and mentees in the gases and welding industry, a look at GAWDA’s upcoming Convention in San Antonio, some social networking tips and much more. With this issue off my desk and out of my way now, it’s time to begin work on the September issue. I’ll be sure to include stories related to the issue in the blog whenever I come across them and continue to keep my readers updated on the status of the publication. For now, I bid everyone a good weekend and look forward to hearing your thoughts and opinions on the August GAWDA Edge which hits inboxes everywhere on the 20th.
I’ve spent the last few weeks researching the engineering and construction of roller coasters for a story in the upcoming issue of GAWDA Edge. I’ve found a lot of interesting information in that time and I’ve decided that being a roller coaster engineer should be every child’s dream job (they get to ride roller coasters all day).
I came across an interesting story this morning about a man who was tired of waiting in hour-long lines for a 30-second ride on a roller coaster. Therefore, John Ivers took it upon himself to build his own roller coaster in his backyard. He built a 180-foot-long coaster called Blue Flash that is both safe and exhilarating, and he did it all thanks to his background in auto mechanics and welding.
Most of the metal used to build Blue Flash was scrap that Ivers took home from work (he builds grain elevators). He did all the welding and metalwork himself in his barn and pieced the ride together one section at a time. Ivers is currently working on building a second coaster that will circle his garden. The frame for his latest attraction will be a welded box frame which will make the ride smoother and sturdier.
Ivers’ creation is a fascinating example of what a person can do with a little bit of welding knowledge (and in this case some engineering and physics experience doesn’t hurt either). Be sure to check out GAWDA Edge on August 20 for more roller coaster excitement.
I wrote recently about how compressed gases are used in the creation of artistic jellyfish sculptures, but now I would like to take a look at a more traditional form of art that involves this industry: welded sculptures.
The Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) in NYC has announced a planned retrospective of artist Ron Arad’s work from October 2 to October 19, 2009. Many of Arad’s works are composed of stainless steel which he cuts and welds into massive, magnificent pieces of art. The majority of them will be displayed in a Corten and stainless steel cage called the Cage sans Frontieres. The cage is 126.5 feet long and 16 feet tall and was designed and built by the artist.
Since I’m not exactly an art connoisseur, I figured I’d include an excerpt from artdaily.org to best describe Arad’s work:
This exhibition celebrates Arad’s spirit by combining industrial design, studio pieces, and architecture…The structure [Cage sans Frontieres] is in the shape of a twisted loop and consists of 240 square cut-outs lined with stainless steel that act as shelves for the objects in the exhibition. The dramatic installation relies on the scale of the structure and on the reflectivity of the inner walls of the cut-outs which creates a ricocheting effect.
Arad uses a combination of sophisticated automated manufacturing techniques and low-tech welding devices to fabricate his works of art. These welded pieces will be displayed at the MoMA for two weeks as the museum’s featured exhibit.
To artists like Arad, a welding torch might as well be a paint brush or a chisel. Many artists, therefore, depend on their welding supply distributors to provide all their artistic supplies. Art work of this nature can often be found on display at gases and welding distributorships as an example of what is capable with welding. A welded sculpture adds a decorative touch to any distributor’s showroom.
Electronics retail giant Best Buy recently posted a job listing for a senior manager in Minnesota. The job requirements were a Bachelor’s degree, two years of social media marketing experience, a year’s worth of active blogging experience and at least 250 followers on Twitter.
The company seems to appreciate the importance of Internet marketing and social networking sites as business tools. No longer are these resources classified as minor projects that are delegated to entry-level employees with nothing else to do. Too often, upper management doesn’t want to concern themselves with something as seemingly trivial as Twitter or blogging. Best Buy’s approach, however, is a clear indication of the emphasis they place on online marketing.
The gases and welding industry is no exception to this trend. It’s easy to scoff at the retail industry and assume that you don’t need this social networking stuff because your business is different. This isn’t a trend that is going away, though, and the sooner you get involved, the more successful you’ll be in the long run. This doesn’t just involve telling an intern to start a Twitter account and make posts every now and then. Management should be involved and should have some sort of strategy. This should be a policy that permeates the company. All employees should be encouraged to blog and tweet and join LinkedIn in an effort to promote and publicize your company. The best part is, it’s all free.
While social media will never replace a face-to-face sales call, it can be used to augment current marketing efforts and give an edge over competitors. Even if you aren’t wild about doing business on the Internet, you can be sure that your customers are on there looking you up and looking up your competitors. Will they be impressed with what they find? It’s your job to make sure they are.
Most of us are probably aware of the role welding plays in modern art. Welded sculptures are a hot ticket item at any museum of modern art and many distributors have probably sold equipment to an aspiring Michelangelo at some point or another. Recently, however, compressed gases have begun to make their name more prevalent in the realm of sculpted art.
Artists have begun taking jellyfish that have died by natural means and preserving them in sculptures using liquid nitrogen. The jellyfish are arranged in the desired position then frozen using the nitrogen. They are then preserved in a resin mold where they harden. The natural phosphor within the jellyfish causes it to glow in the dark. They are typically lit from below with an LED light to add to their radiance. These sculptures have become a trendy art form in Hawaii and are gaining popularity across the rest of the country.
So next time someone comes into your distributorship with a dead jellyfish in a jar, don’t be alarmed, simply find them some compressed nitrogen and help them on their way. Who knows, if you cut them a deal you might even get a free sculpture to spruce up your showroom.
This weekend thousands looked on as Rickey Henderson and Jim Rice received baseball’s greatest honor: induction into the MLB Hall of Fame. Both men worked extremely hard to become all-stars on the baseball diamond, and are now being recognized for their acheivements.
The last issue of GAWDA Edge highlighted All-Stars in the gases and welding industry, and this weekend’s events got me to thinking about what makes someone an all-star. One of the biggest similarities I found between the speeches made by the ball players and the interviews I conducted with industry members was an appreciation for the organization the person was a part of.
The players spoke highly of their teammates, their teams and all the people who helped them get to where they were. Similarly, GAWDA members were very quick to praise their companies and the people who had inspired them and helped them succeed in their career. It became clear to me that all-stars only reach the levels they reach with the help of a strong team and support from those around them.
The GAWDA All-Stars may not have received any grand ceremony and there was no crowd of adoring fans to commemorate the publication of the Edge, but they embody many of the same hardworking characteristics as the men who were honored at Cooperstown this weekend.
After reading my last blog post about compressed gases and Jaws, one of my colleagues recalled something he learned on the Discovery Channel a few years back. He immediately called me to alert me that the final scene, while extremely exciting, was not realistic. According to MythBusters, a popular Discovery Channel program, a compressed air cylinder will not explode when shot. Rather, it will simply decompress by expelling the air through the hole created by the bullet. While the tank may move around due to the pressure of the exiting air, it will not explode.
I realize that this is extremely disappointing to Jaws fans everywhere (myself included), but ultimately, for gases and welding distributors, this is a good thing. I’m hoping that none of you are firing off guns in the warehouse or around cylinders, but it’s reassuring to know that if a stray projectile does happen to pierce a compressed oxygen cylinder, it won’t blow your facility to bits. This doesn’t detract, however, from the importance of proper cylinder handling within any organization. Just because a cylinder might not explode doesn’t mean someone can’t still be hurt or product can’t still be lost. And of course there are always OSHA regulations to take into consideration (although I’m sure some of us would rather fend off a 3,000 pound shark than deal with Big Brother).
I was flipping through the channels last night when I came across one of my favorite horror movies of all time: Jaws. While the shark doesn’t seem quite as large or as scary as it did when I was young, it still gives me shivers when that music starts to play, “duh-duh. duh-duh.” It was the ending of the movie, however, that got me to thinking about compressed gases.
*Warning: The next paragraph gives away the ending of the movie. Readers beware.*
While on their epic shark hunt, Chief Brody (played by Roy Scheider) knocks over a compressed aircylinder. Richard Dreyfuss’s character scolds him and warns him of the dangers of handling compressed gases (a warning I’m sure most of us have either given or received at some point in our careers). In the final showdown with the great fish, Chief Brody gets the shark to bite down on one of these compressed air cylinders as his boat is sinking. He shoots the cylinder which explodes immediately, blowing the shark to bits.
Moral of the story? Be careful with your cylinders. Cylinder safety and cylinder handling are critical themes in the gases and welding industry, and will be discussed extensively in the upcoming issue of Welding and Gases Today along with a host of other topics surrounding cylinders. Be sure to check it out when it reaches your desk in September.
I wrote recently about how 
Most of us are probably aware of the role welding plays in modern art. Welded sculptures are a hot ticket item at any museum of modern art and many distributors have probably sold equipment to an aspiring Michelangelo at some point or another. Recently, however, compressed gases have begun to make their name more prevalent in the realm of sculpted art.
I was flipping through the channels last night when I came across one of my favorite horror movies of all time: Jaws. While the shark doesn’t seem quite as large or as scary as it did when I was young, it still gives me shivers when that music starts to play, “duh-duh. duh-duh.” It was the ending of the movie, however, that got me to thinking about