Inbound Marketing

I have heard the term “Inbound Marketing” a lot over the past week. It might be because I attended a meet & greet seminar at my business bank and the topic was using social media for B2B and this caused me to do some more research on the topic. The topic of social media marketing for B2B is an interesting and comical topic when you are looking at the pros & cons without a passionate vested interest (passionate vested interest is trying to sell your marketing service). 

What is the value of social media and does it have a place in the B2B market? I have been dabbling at it for the past few years and believe it has a place combined with the traditional approaches to marketing. This past week the value shot up when Criterion started thinking about upgrading or replacing our business software system.  We posted a message on a local users group site for our current system asking for feedback on the current version and people's thoughts about the upcoming version due out this fall. The good news for us is the user group participants were not shy.

I went to our Twitter account and looked up the people following us who are associated with the software industry and sent them a direct message inviting them to contact me.  We contacted other people who could possible help after doing more on-line research and invited them to participate. None of this is really new, we have all done research on what to buy and gotten references from others. What is new is the speed at which we can accomplish all of this.

After doing all of this the light bulb came on brighter, “Inbound Marketing”is not the “New Wave” of marketing. It is part of the current business model used by both consumers and businesses alike. I have said this before and I hope it continues to remain true "I hope my competitors don't figure this out before I do."

Enjoying Trade Shows

Many people make a living from teaching others how to correctly exhibit products at trade shows. You can learn the proper way to greet visitors, the dos and don'ts of booth etiquette, what you should do about handouts along with many other topics. I am not sure you can ever be totally prepared for what can happen at a trade show.

I have always enjoyed trade shows because it gives me a chance to catch up with friends in the industry as well as meet many new people. I can talk face to face with a customer or potential customer about why I believe Criterion's products will do the job for them. I get to hear how people envision making their products and the challenges they face making them. It gives me greater insights into the current world of manufacturing.

It is also extremely interesting watching visitors as they walk by in the aisle. They will casually walk by and then bang! something catches their attention. They may make a bee line directly to it or they may stand and stare for a while trying to figure out what it is or how they can use it. I must confess this is where I fail the classes on how to properly work a trade show because I give you time to ponder your thought before asking you any questions and trying to engage you in conversation.

Conversation at Westec 2012

Over the many years I have done trade shows always leaving with more knowledge than I began because so many people want to talk about what and how they think they can use a product. This year was no different at Westec and it makes the thought of IMTS even more exciting because manufacturing in the US has seen a nice recover from the recession. If you didn't make it to Westec, I certainly look forward to seeing and talking with you at IMTS.  

Since 1943 Criterion has Participated

I was reading through the original draft of "The First 50 Years of Criterion Machine Works" and came across the paragraphs describing the first time Criterion exhibited in a trade show. The date was 1943 and the event was in Los Angeles. Criterion displayed their skills at manufacturing defense industry products as well as some of tooling applications they used to make the products. Criterion has continued to exhibit in local, national and international events every year since 1943.

This year will be no different. We will be exhibiting at Westec in March and IMTS2012 in September. What is different is Criterion now concentrates on just products being used in boring applications. You will see some of our new ads in the coming months with the theme "Criterion IS Boring" and we don't particularly feel bad about it. In fact, we are proud of what we have accomplished over our 76 year history. We stopped being a job shop and have concentrated on being boring. We originally made 1-1/2", 2" and 3" square boring heads and now we make boring heads as small as 5/8" in diameter to as large as 6" in diameter. We also developed a modular system to compete in the world market place. These are the products we will be showing at Westec and IMTS2012

One of the products we will be showing at Westec is our Cri-Tip Modular Boring System. Criterion developed the Cri-Tip product we can be connected to modular boring systems.

Cri-Tip Modular Boring System

The Cri-Tip Modular Boring System connects to either ABS connections or KA connections and will be shown at Westec in March. We are expanding the connections to meet the growing market of modular systems. You will be able to see what  other connections are being added at IMTS2012 in September.

Being 76 years old does not mean we can't keep up with those companies that are younger than us even if we are boring. We look forward to seeing you at either Westec or IMTS2012.

Is an Economical Solution One that Saves Money?

CBER32 Boring System in a CT40 Holder

The CBER boring system is an economical solution according to a customer I worked with the other day.

Here is his story:

A new Criterion customer called asking about the proper use of his CBER boring system. He had just received it and was preparing to bore his first .875 +.0002/-.0000" in diameter bore. I asked if he had purchased a collet nut with it or was going to use one he already had in his shop. He had purchased a collet nut but his operator had not used it. He had put an existing collet nut on the system. The existing collet nut had to be replaced with the purchased collet nut as the extractor lip interfered with the CBER system fitting in the ER collet holder properly.

We then talked about how much material was left to be bored out. He had left .010" per side put it was not enough because the nose radius of his insert was .015". I explained that he would not get the proper cutting action with the insert and if he could leave .020/.025" per side it would make it easier for him to produce the bore and the finish he required. He was going to change that for the next production run of parts he had to make.

We went on to discuss how to set the tool and make small diameter adjustments using the flat on the insert side of the boring head. We also discussed the appropriate RPM and feed rate he should be using for the material he was cutting.

The next day he called back to let us know the CBER system was exactly what he needed to do the job and was easy to use. He decided he is going to leave it set for the .875" diameter size and purchased additional systems for the other 4 or 5 size bores he makes. His reasoning was the cost of the CBER system being 1/4 of the other system he had looked at he could leave them set and reduce the cost of his set-up every time he set-up a production run. Truly, an economic solution for him.

Old Dog - New Trick

One of the most difficult aspects of boring is attaining the correct RPM for the cutting tool. Boring heads are design to move off center so you can enlarge the ID of a hole. This movement creates an imbalance which requires a slower RPM to ensure the bore can be produced. There are a number of approaches for correcting the imbalance. Some manufacturers restrict the amount of off-set so the boring head has minimal imbalance and others have some form of movable weights.

CB-202B Boring Head with Balance Kit
US Patent 7,309,194 B2

Criterion had a unique situation because we had been producing boring heads for over 65 years. Our philosophy was to give our customer as large a boring range as possible with one boring head.  Time has changed manufacturing technology and higher speeds have become important. We did not want to limit the range but we did want to meet the needs of today's manufacturing. Our solution was to develop a unique balancing system for our 202 series of boring heads. The US patent office agreed and issued a patent for the system. So by looking up your bore size, selecting the correct components and settings a boring head made over 50 years ago can spin at 5,000 RPM. This was unheard of when the boring head was first made but very achievable today.

So I would say the adage of "you can't teach and old dog new tricks" is not true.

What is the value of a balanced boring head? First and foremost is increased productivity. Another benefit is improved  tool life because the cutting tool now can operate at its optimum speed.

50 Years of Service - Is it Time to Retire?

For over 50 years Criterion Machine Works has produced the DBL series of boring heads. These boring heads were designed for manual milling machines that predominately used R-8 shanks. The mounting end was chamfered to match the spindle diameter of the R-8 shank. 

DBL-202B Boring Head
Designed for Manual Milling Machines

In its day this was one of the most popular boring heads available. It offered the user a large range from .250” to 6.687” in diameter. The .001” on diameter dial adjustment was equal or more precise than other models available at the time. It was not uncommon for machine shops to be started with the purchase of a Bridgeport Mill, a set of R-8 collets, a Kurt vise and a Criterion DBL boring head.

CB-202B Boring Head
Designed for CNC Machining Centers

As CNC machining centers grew in popularity, we introduced our CB Style Boring Head. The CB series boring heads were designed with a larger mounting face to be compatible with the tool holders used on CNC machines. The larger mounting surface also gives a more rigid and stable connection for performing a boring operation. All the ranges and adjustability features of the various DBL models were maintained in the CB design.






The CB style boring heads will perform equally as well as the DBL style in a manual milling machining operations. Unfortunately, the same is not true of the DBL style the smaller mounting surface is a disadvantage in CNC machining center operations.

IMTS2010 Generates a lot of Interest in CBER

IMTS Visitors discussing CBER applications

IMTS 2010 generated a lot of interest in the CBER product line. The ability to convert standard ER collet holders into precision boring systems was exciting to many of the visitors to our booth. In the past modular boring systems required special tool holders most of which we unique to the manufacturer of modular system. The special holders increased the cost of the boring systems and limited the ability of the user to use different systems because of these costs.

CBER on Display at IMTS 

A number of our visitors wanted to discuss using the CBER products in their swiss machine as well as in live tooling applications for the mill/turn centers. Precision boring in these applications has not been common in the past because of the physical limitations of the holding systems. This is no longer the case because so many of these machines are tooled for ER collet holders.







We thank all of the visitors to our booth and look forward to working with you and meeting the needs of your precision boring requirements,