Lohre Industrial Marketing

Barium Ore Processor Finds SWECO Separators Serve Dual Purpose, Process Equipment Marketing

December 27, 2015
Charles Lohre
Business to Business Advertising, Business to Business Marketing, Internet Marketing, Marketing, Process Equipment Marketing

A Northern California, USA, processor in operation since the mid-1920s, processes barium ore into various barium compounds. The mineral is obtained primarily from holdings in Nevada. The company set out to find a more efficient screening operation for barite ore, barium oxide and barium carbonate.

At that time conventional 3 ft. x 5 ft. rectangular screens were in operation. Two different models of the SWECO Vibrating Screen Separator are now in operation at the California Plant.

Using a 48” diameter SWECO Separator the company now screens barite ore weighing approximately 180 pounds per cubic foot at the rate of 10 tons per hour output at minus 10 mesh fraction. The separation is performed on a 6 mesh stainless steel wire cloth (opening of .1318 inches, 3360 microns) and a 10 mesh stainless steel cloth (opening of .0742 inches, 2000 microns). The desired product is taken at minus 10 mesh.

Barium oxide grinding material is fed through a SWECO single-deck unit at the rate of 2 tons per hour. The separation is made on a 40 mesh stainless steel cloth (opening of .0185 inches, 400 microns). The plus 40 mesh fraction is desired.

A single deck unit with dust cover is used to screen lamp black for consumption within the California Plant. A single deck SWECO Unit with 20 mesh stainless steel cloth (opening of .0340 inches, 841 microns) is used and the minus 20 mesh is the desired product used in a closed circuit with mill.

The SWECO Vibrating Screens Separator are gyratory in principle in that the material is tumbled around, across and vertically on a horizontal screen cloth. More than one cloth can be “decked” one above the other. The cloth is mounted especially on tension rings which in turn can be rotated 45 to 90 degrees at intervals. The company thus extends screen cloth life considerably.

See SWECO at the 2016 International Production & Processing Expo (IPPE), http://ippexpo.com/. January 26-28, 2016, Atlanta, GA, Booth 7948.

SWECO technical library for information about the screening, sifting, separating process.

This post was originally posted in SWECO’s LinkedIn Group, SWECO Screeners, Sifters and Separators, strictly an application forum for industrial screeners, sifters and separators. It has over fifty members from around the world. We promote membership with inexpensive LinkedIn ads directed to the over 8,000 LinkedIn members with job titles that fit our audience. Visit the group to learn more.

Market Research Words to the Wise from Friedman & Partners

April 2016

6 Mistakes Exhibitors Make at Trade Shows

April 15, 2016
Charles Lohre
Equipment Marketing and Advertising, Metalworking Equipment Marketing

Are you getting the most out of your trade show presence?

By Jim Beckwith,
Metalcasting Design & Purchasing

Many metalcasters utilize trade show exhibits as part of their marketing plan. Trade shows are a proven source of tangible ROI in the form of leads, and they continue to grow in popularity. But exhibitors often fail to realize the full potential of trade shows.

Below are some of the key mistakes made by exhibitors at trade shows. See if you recognize any.

Substandard Visual Presence. There’s nothing like the feeling that every other exhibitor simply looks better than you. This isn’t usually an issue at Cast in North America, where there are always one or two booths staffed by one person with only a briefcase full of castings and pamphlets. Don’t be that guy.

No Show-Specific Sales Strategy. Many of us have been to shows where a return visit to the same booth gets us completely different information. This confuses and irritates prospects. Coordinate with booth staff before and during the show to ensure everyone is staying on message.

Too much “Hard Sell”. If your company is indexed thoroughly in all show programs and related materials, potential customers will seek you out. You’re unlikely to pick up business from the kind of customers you want by getting out in the aisle and invading their personal space. Encourage booth staff to be approachable without being overly aggressive.

Wrong ROI Metrics. Leads are the most visible and important measure of ROI for your exhibit at the show, but don’t forget about the intangibles. You’re improving your visibility and branding, as well as providing your sales staff with valuable “face time” so they can fine tune their approach.

Exhibiting in a Vacuum. Shows are an important component of a marketing plan, but they can’t be the only thing you do. Your comprehensive year-round marketing plan feeds into your successful trade show exhibit, and vice versa.

(Non-Exhibitors) Ignoring the Show. If you’ve made the decision not to exhibit this year, don’t simply ignore this year’s show floor. The best way to learn do’s and don’ts for show exhibits is to see what your competitors are doing.

For more tips on how to get the most out of your trade show exhibit, take a look at this excellent article from Entrepreneur Magazine. As a veteran of many relevant industry trade shows, I’m always happy to provide feedback on anything from best practices to comprehensive marketing strategy. If I can be of assistance, feel free to reach out!

Jim Beckwith
[email protected]
847-803-2908

Moonshot Thinking & the Age of Innovation

Wed, 03/09/2016 - by Kaylie Duffy, Associate Editor, @kaylieannduffyThis blog originally appeared in the March 2016 issue of Product Design & Development.The media often portrays the present world as a war-torn planet on its way to self-destruction. Images of poverty,…

Food industry forecast to grow through 2022

April 25, 2016
Charles Lohre
Food Process Equipment Marketing, Industrial Marketing, Industrial Process Equipment, marketing agency, Process Equipment Marketing

Article snippit from April 2016 VALVE Magazine. By Kate Kunkel, Senior Editor. Greg Johnson president of United Valve also contributed.

The U.S. food industry is forecast to grow at a steady rate of 2.9 percent compound annual growth rate through the year 2022, according to a recent report from PMMI, the Association for Packaging and Processing Technologies. The fastest growing two segments are meat and snack foods.

The 2016 Food Packaging Trends and Advances also reported that the U.S. trails the global market-global growth is forecast at almost twice the U.S. rate. The report says overall growth of the food industry, including food packaging, is driven by emerging markets such as Argentina, Brazil, China and India. It also says that the most innovative food industry segments (snack food, meat, fruits and vegetables, and pet food) are using tools such as films that keep products fresher longer, recycled or biodegradable materials for packaging and single-service portioning.

(Lohre & Associates specializes in marketing food processing equipment, this new product release for our client Roto-Disc is appropriate for this topic so we added it to this post. Currently we are researching economic predictions for future posts on the food, chemical, primary metals and warehousing industries. They will be posted during the Powder Bulk Solids Conference in Chicago next week.)

New Process Transitions Solve Dry Processing Equipment Installation Problems

Roto-Disc, Inc., now offers a full-range of process transitions that make the task of mating equipment and piping with non-matching dimensions easier and quicker. Now the dry process industry has a selection of piping, flange and duct transitions available from stock, eliminating the time, expense and hassle of specifying, designing and fabricating transitions from scratch.

Among the many options available are round-to-square pipe transitions, square and conical reducers, flexible stub adaptors and sanitary pipe/tube extenders with clamp ferrules. Transitions are available with flanges on one or both ends as are flangeless/weld stub transitions. The entire line can easily be adapted to meet custom take-out space requirements and flanges can be drilled to suit. Custom shapes such as offset/oblique, rectangular and double-cone types can also be provided upon request.

Typical materials of construction include type 304 & 316 stainless steel, abrasion resistant steel (AR400), mild steel and Hastelloy but many other materials are also available. Various finishing options are also available including mechanical & electro polish, nickel, chrome & tungsten hardfacing, polymer coatings & glass-bead blast.

Roto-Disc, Inc., www.rotodisc.com, 513-871-2600

The Breakdown of Trust in Manufacturing

June 23, 2016
Charles Lohre
Equipment Marketing and Advertising, Metalworking Equipment Marketing

(Thanks to Reva Russell English of MakeTime “Buy & Sell Machine Tool Time Service Site” for some good thoughts on the state of manufacturing today. Go to their site. As part of the scavenger economy, buying and selling spare machine tool time is a great idea. At least there are no barriers to entry as AirBnB has. Every time I stay at someone’s home, they tell me to say “I’m a friend” if anyone asks. My sister-in-law stopped making $1500 a month because their insurance company wouldn’t insure their home if they continued.)

If all you knew about U.S. manufacturing were gleaned from today’s pundits and presidential candidates, you’d think the entire sector was being fitted for its coffin. While it’s true challenges exist, things are not as grim as they’re made out to be.

No, American manufacturing does not directly employ 20 percent of the country’s labor force like it did during the late 1970s, but it’s output has never been higher. The planet is full of “Made in the USA” products, and if U.S. manufacturers and suppliers play their cards right, it will get fuller still. In order for that to happen in a sustainable way, however, the breakdown of trust between American manufacturers and suppliers must be addressed.

TRUST IS A PRACTICE …

Trust first began to falter between U.S. suppliers and manufacturers during the 1980s when offshoring went mainstream. While American companies had long engaged in foreign direct investment to be closer to foreign markets and materials sources, the ‘80s ushered in offshoring as a cost cutting measure. By outsourcing manufacturing to countries with cheap, unregulated and non-unionized labor, fatter bottom lines were almost immediately achieved.

Back stateside, U.S. machinists and factory line workers lost their jobs. Factories and shops closed. In some instances, whole towns were basically gutted and left for dead. The suppliers still standing funnelled their little remaining power into making the RFQ process even murkier in order to ensure they made as much money as possible when jobs did come their way. The breakdown in trust was well underway, and it would only get worse in the coming decades.

… SO PRACTICE IT WE MUST

Of course, believing U.S. corporations and suppliers should have — or could have — acted otherwise given the circumstances is to misunderstand the nature of business. The pursuit of revenue and the complementary cutting of costs are always a company’s first order of business, regardless of its mission statement or on which side of the manufacturing coin it finds itself.

Instead of expecting CEOs to choose lower profit margins by keeping costly shops and factories open across America’s heartland on principle, manufacturers and suppliers could have joined together to lobby for policies that incentivized the making of U.S. goods in the good ol’ U.S. of A. Instead of expecting shops and factories to willingly price themselves into the basement in order to get jobs they’d only lose money on, manufacturers and suppliers could have worked together to increase overall domestic competitiveness and productivity.

If that sounds like a pipedream, consider how high the costs of offshoring actually are.

Beyond the domestic job loss, as an executive from a large corporation put it in an article for the Harvard Business Review, “I don’t think people realize when they make the offshore decision that it is really a commitment to freeze the product. There is no way to make rapid design changes and product updates at a remote location.”

That’s a quote from 1988.

THE DISTRIBUTED DIFFERENCE

In today’s fractured, fast and just-in-time marketplace, offshoring as a cost cutting measure makes even less sense than it used to. Why cut costs making products in China today if the market you’re serving in the U.S. changes its mind about what it wants to buy tomorrow? From fluctuations in shipping expenses to a regional coup d’etat that disrupts your supply chain, offshoring can actually cost thousands — if not millions — of extra hours, dollars and customer complaints.

With a well-executed distributed manufacturing model that moves beyond the RFQ with visibly aligned prices and costs, both U.S. manufacturers and U.S. suppliers stand to win and win big. Thanks to America’s skilled and highly productive suppliers, manufacturers can bring products to market just-in-time, no matter how fickle the consumer gets. Thanks to that ongoing investment in real dollars and cents, the skills and productivity needed to keep bringing products to market just-in-time will keep being available, too.

At long last, it’s become clear that U.S. manufacturers’ and suppliers’ goals are in alignment. Today’s consumer wants it now, in slate gray or coral —no jade — with 20-inch rims and an already-charged battery. Without a network of suppliers able to handle that kind of quick and granular manufacturing on-demand, manufacturers will lose, and if that happens, they’ll take even more jobs with them.

It’s time to bring more manufacturing jobs home — not because of sentiment, but because it makes good business sense for everyone involved. What’s good for the goose is localized and distributed manufacturing. It also happens to be good for the gander. Finally, everyone is starting to realize it.

MakeTime is a distributed manufacturing platform for U.S. manufacturers and suppliers. To find out how MakeTime can benefit your manufacturing company, contact us today.

Here’s an excerpt from another blog post about one of our clients that have also successfully navigated the tough times in manufacturing.

“Heinz Loosli, CEO of Feintool International Holding discusses the strategic advantage of Feintool in this interview for its customer magazine. In response to a question about the company’s recovery from the automotive industry decline in 2009, he answers, “We brought new, innovative products to market, we have played more to our strengths and in doing so achieved some great successes in the market. We have also improved our ability to complete by implementing measures to increase efficiency. It is important to appreciate that it is not a case of one-off actions but ongoing commitment that will ensure our company has a successful future. The motto is: achieve more with less. We are constantly working on this…” This statement reflects both the company’s equipment’s strategic advantages but also good business practices. Feintool’s metal part-making equipment takes plate steel and produces parts that are assembly ready without post machining. Their machines achieve more with less material and processing — Loosli is using the same analogy for the company’s management practises. You can download the entire Feintool magazine here. For the North American edition, Lohre & Associates wrote two articles, edited and printed the publication here in Cincinnati. We are honored to work with Feintool’s Cincinnati offices and we feel the company’s marketing communications are equal to Deloitte’s.” Read the entire post .

U.S. Chemical Process Industries: Catching the Capital Spending Wave

May 22, 2016
Charles Lohre
B2B Marketing, Industrial Marketing, Marketing Strategy, Process Equipment Marketing, process industries

From Chemical Engineering Magazine, Webinar June 14, 2 p.m. EDT, $95

This webinar examines the current status of the U.S. chemical industry as well as its outlook over the next several years. We will start with examination of the economic environment, with further emphasis on housing, light vehicles and other important end-use markets. We will then focus on: 1) basic chemicals and synthetic materials; and 2) specialty chemicals.

Our premise is that fortunes of the former segment represent a supply driven gain in output, the result of the shale gas revolution and the renewed competitiveness of the U.S. industry. Changing energy dynamics are playing a role and we will analyze the effects of low oil prices are having on competitiveness, uncertainty and the wave of announced investments. Our premise is that fortunes of the latter segment represent a demand driven gain in output, the result of the manufacturing renaissance currently underway.

We will analyze the effects of the current soft patch in manufacturing and how it affects the various specialty chemical segments. Of particular interest to those in process engineering and chemical company capital programs we will assess the unprecedented wave of capital spending (and capacity expansion) by segment, by asset, and by geography.

HEAR FROM THIS EXPERT

Kevin Swift, Chief Economist, American Chemistry Council

Dr. Swift is the chief economist at the American Chemistry Council (ACC) in Arlington, VA where he is responsible for economic and other analyses dealing with markets, energy, trade, tax, and innovation, as well as monitoring business conditions, identifying emerging trends, and assessing the economic and societal contributions of the business of chemistry. Prior to joining the ACC, Dr. Swift held executive and senior level positions at several business information/database companies. He started his career at Dow Chemical USA.

Dr. Swift is a member of the National Association for Business Economics (NABE), the Harvard Discussion Group of Industrial Economists, and the National Business Economics Issues Council (NBEIC). He is a member of The Wall Street Journal Forecasters’ Survey panel, NABE’s panel of forecasters, and a participant in the Philadelphia Federal Reserve Bank’s forecasters’ survey. He chairs the NABE Education Committee and for his service as a professional economist and contributions to the profession, he was elected a NABE Fellow. He was also one of the first to achieve NABE’s Certified Business Economist (CBE) designation.

Dr. Swift is a graduate of Ashland College with a BA degree and a graduate of Case Western Reserve University with an MA degree in Economics. He is also a graduate of Anglia Polytechnic University with a doctorate in business administration (DBA) degree and has completed studies at Harvard University and the University of Oxford. Dr. Swift is an adjunct professor of business economics for the MBA program at the University of Mary Washington. He is also a member of the Heritage Council of the Chemical Heritage Foundation.

VIEWERS WILL LEARN

The current status and outlook for the U.S. economy

The current status and outlook for the U.S. chemical industry and where opportunities lie within specialty chemicals and basic chemicals and synthetic materials

The current status of the wave of U.S. chemical industry capital spending

WHO SHOULD ATTEND?

Process engineers

Plant manager

Product managers and decision-makers

Market, planning and other analysts

About Lohre & Associates, Inc., Marketing Communications

Mission: To continually put in front of our clients the most cost effective methods of marketing communication.

Company Overview: Agency has provided clients with marketing strategy and execution since 1935. Whether it is through media and publicity, print media and advertising, trade show execution, photography, video or web site design, Lohre & Associates successfully integrates client needs and results.

Description: Full service advertising agency specializing in mechanical, chemical, food, electrical and sustainable building technologies. On May 5, 2011 Lohre & Associates’ offices was awarded the U.S. Green Building Council’s Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) Platinum Certification. The office is in the top 4% in the world in their category and included in a GreenBiz post on the top ten Green Building projects in the world. The certification represents the company’s commitment to be a leader in advanced and sustainable building materials and services marketing. Learn more at http://www.gbig.org/activities/LEED-1000001850

Thank You Vac-Con for Your Tribute to Dave Berube

I was very touched by this tribute of Vac-Con’s about of the loss of their dealer, Dave Berube.

Those of us that grind out as relevant content as we can, day in and day out, need to take a step back and realize that industries are made up of people. People that have families, friends and business associates. I feel that way about my clients and it’s a privilage to have their sincere interest in my family and interests.

My most recent revelation about marketing is that all those digital clicks and links are real people so treat them like real people. Sure the analytics make it all seem like a bunch of robots but you need to filter that out and pay attention to what matters.

I’m lucky to have some great employees and my wife who polishes my copy and keeps me from being silly. I might be over stepping my bounds now but thank you sincerely Vac-Con, your message shows you’re a great company and care deeply for your associates. Thanks for helping keep all of us grounded and reminding us to take pride in our communities and thank them for what they mean to you.

The World As We Know It

June 17, 2016
Charles Lohre
Cincinnati Marketing Agencies, Industrial Marketing Agency, Industrial Marketing Handbook, Marketing, marketing agency

(Thanks to Bob for an always thoughtful editorial. As I read David Eagleman‘s new textbook on the brain and delete anybody who has ideas I don’t like from my social media, Bob brings up some great points, but I don’t think we are a computer program simulation. We’re just on or off, black or white, positive or negative. Now quantum mechanics is something else. Until we know more about the universe, we’re just winging it. I’m praying for the scientists to figure it our before we make a boo-boo like the Egyptians, Easter Islanders, Mayans, etc. Those guys that couldn’t deal with climate change.)

By Robert Brooks, from FOUNDRY MANAGEMENT & TECHNOLOGY, June 2016

“Customization” simplifies things so that the world will seem to meet each of us on our terms. That doesn’t make us exceptional, and it doesn’t change the truth.

A constructed, programmed universe
Watch, and wait
Responsibility of being human

We select a channel, lower the volume, and check in occasionally to see what’s happening. At that moment, it doesn’t seem to matter if there is some artificial intelligence controlling the universe. Some of us might prefer that.

Visionary industrialist and omni-genius Elon Musk recently let forth his belief that all of us are all living within a constructed and programmed universe, powered by computers and guided by some form of intelligence. It’s a startling claim, even from one who seems to have a propensity to startle, but it’s also a remarkably familiar theory about the place of humanity in the universe. Allowing for obvious distinctions, 16th Century Calvinists had a similar view of the human condition, and it’s a beguiling argument now for anyone who wonders about the sources of knowledge, or who is challenged by all the vital and trivial information that connects us to each other, or stressed by the changes we sense happening to us and to the world around us

How could anyone not wonder about all this? Understanding and managing the universe we inhabit is the mission of humanity, and as a species we have made extraordinary progress in that effort. If we never seem to satisfy the initial curiosity it’s perhaps because each of us has a different starting point. I know where my understanding of the universe started, but lately I’ve begun to think we have altered it in some fundamental way.

We moved to new offices a few months ago and among of the improvements offered in our new ‘space’ are several large flat-screen monitors. Being somewhat recusant about new technology and the gadgets that go with it, these are not especially impressive to me but I am reminded by colleagues that we are professional communicators, and the screens allow us to conduct videoconferences, or to watch different informational or instructional programs. All true. Usually, though, the screens are showing a Web-only channel now offered by a traditional network news division. What’s on view doesn’t seem to be news as much as a looping review of political and financial commentary, dishing over and over again something some candidate or office holder has said or done in the past 12 hours. In form and content, it’s gossip, though I cannot state this categorically because the displays here usually are muted (we’re working, after all.)

The human and financial resources leveraged over decades to achieve all this are impressive by any standard, and I accept the practical value of such a connection, but I wonder why people seem to want that linkage available all the time. The office TV (sorry, that’s what it is) is not the only example; people keep smartphones and tablet devices in position so they can be informed at a glance, checking in to what they’ve missed. Others move about with the Bluetooth clipped in place for some immediate update, or they keep an IM or mail window open in the background, ready to receive. Similar arrangements are seen in homes, stores, on the street, in cars and planes, everywhere. Always.

Let me make clear that I am not discounting the value of data networks or intelligent systems, and I know that life as we know it now depends on machinery and information technology. At the risk of contradicting Musk though, I am reaffirming the central role of humanity in this universe: we built this complex of devices and systems, we filled it with information, and we can manage it if we accept the responsibility, even though we seem to be losing enthusiasm for that role.

True, the system is vast, and it grows ever more complex. What it reveals about our circumstances is often unwelcome or disturbing. Of course, it’s preferable to keep some distance, and let the system do whatever it’s designed to do. We select a channel, lower the volume, and check in occasionally to see what’s happening. At that moment, it doesn’t seem to matter if there is some artificial intelligence controlling the universe.

“Customization” — currently a craze in manufacturing as it has been in tech and consumer products for decades — allows us to simplify ideas and messages so that the universe will then seem to meet each of us on our individual terms. Then, there is no pressure to acknowledge facts or conditions we don’t find welcome, and we can choose to believe that makes us the center of it all. That doesn’t make it true.

The falsity may be found, as ever, in the temptation to see oneself as a distinct being able to subsist in that customized environment, rather than what we are: individuals charged with improving the civilization we have been provided.

Learn more about our marketing philosophy at our Marketing Handbook page.

Food Engineering Magazine Field Report Preparation Guide

Here are some pointers for preparing a Food Engineering Field Report—also known as an application story, success story or an application brief for our Dry Processing Technology section.

A Dry Processing Technology Field Report describes a problem and its solution. It may involve any product used in the food processing industry; for example, feeders, screening equipment, size reduction equipment, mixing/blending, bulk bag filling & discharging, mechanical conveying, pneumatic conveying, dust control, weighing systems, storage systems, micro and macro ingredient handling systems, thermal processing equipment (ovens, dryers) packaging equipment, metal detection/magnetic separation, process control system hardware and software, and so on. If you’re not sure whether your product, application or service applies, please call and we’ll brainstorm it. See sample Dry Processing Technology Field Reports attached.

Absolute requirements for publication

A submittal must contain the following or it will not be used.

Body copy of 500 to 700 words

At least two end user (food processor) quotes: perhaps one describing the problem and one suggesting that he/she is pleased with the solution, which should be quantifiable. That is, for example, it saved xx amount of time, reduced energy costs by xx percent, or the process improvements increased OEE by xx percent.

If you are unable to get end user (food processor) quotes, we may still have interest in the application story. We use this version online and in our bi-monthly eNewsletter. Think of these stories coming from a well know cereal manufacture or leading snack producer perspective. We require the same information, without the processor quotes or references.

Name of user company and name and title of person being quoted at the user Company

Quotes from supplier companies will not be used, and will be turned into straight text when appropriate.

Photograph of product, service, software at the food processor’s site—not a straight

product shot! Photograph must be print quality; that is high resolution jpg at 300 pixels per inch (ppi). Recommended physical size is at least 5×7 inches. Do not send Web quality. Don’t forget a suggested caption and photo credit. You may send more than one photo. Do not save screen dumps as jpg files! Use a non-destructive format (tif). Call for instructions!

Real name of a person, phone number and email at the supplier for more information

(sales contact)—no web addresses or [email protected] addresses!

Your contact info: Name, phone, email, address.

Please advise as to where this story may have already been published. If it has been used on a

competing publication’s website or in a printed magazine, we won’t be able to use it. If it’s been

published on a supplier’s website, we can use it as long as it’s not more than a year old. Obviously, if exclusive rights to use the story have already been given to someone else, please don’t send it to us. Please make sure of this first. Also, be sure you have cleared the story with the processor.

Please note: These stories are used on a FIFO basis (first in, first out). Publishing dates cannot be guaranteed, but complete submissions, of course, will be published before incomplete submissions.

Contact Debra Schug for more information: Debra Schug, Features Editor, Food Engineering,

[email protected], 847-405-4068.