Spectacular structural collapses sometimes happen due to inadequate strength of the material used to make the structure. But machinery components, subject to stresses from rotational motion and/or vibrations, usually break due to fatigue.

Fortune magazine creates several lists each year, including (of course) the Fortune 500. In their list of the world’s largest companies ranked by revenue, at least 10 automakers show up in the first 84 slots. Volkswagen and Toyota are in the top-10. In their list of the top-50 most-admired companies, Toyota and BMW are in the top-50.

The Advanced Casting Research Center (ACRC) at the University of California, Irvine (UCI) is currently working on several digital-manufacturing projects. In this piece, we feature two material manufacturing research projects with far-reaching impact.

Shortly after taking office, President Biden’s Chief of Staff Ron Klain issued a regulatory-freeze memo across virtually all agencies. The action is typical of an incoming administration, especially one from the opposing party. The move allows the President’s team to review pending rules, 11th-hour actions and permanent regulations drafted by the previous administration.

Welcome to my part of “Technical Talk,” where we will discuss brazing, a very important metal-joining technique that continues to grow in usage each year in many industries around the world. Most people are familiar with welding and soldering, but many are not familiar with where brazing might fit into the overall metals-joining landscape.

My last column was a brief introduction to the Reshoring Initiative’s resources and some best practices regarding what companies can do to accelerate reshoring to gain business. Now we would like to discuss in more detail how your company or your customers can use the free online Total Cost of Ownership (TCO) Estimator® to more accurately determine the real P&L impact of reshoring or offshoring. Doing so will probably prove that some work should come back.

It’s hard to believe how much has changed in the past year. When I wrote my annual April column in early March 2020, the COVID-19 pandemic wasn’t yet a reality in the United States.

Every new President storms into office with bold proclamations about what they will accomplish on “Day One” and proposes an aggressive agenda for their first 100 days in office. In reality, however, the President of the United States is limited in what permanent changes they can accomplish on their own without Congress.

I wanted to use this month’s column to update readers on a few newsworthy things. First and most obvious is our new look. With our change to digital-only, this new platform provides a much more interactive experience.

I often say my lifelong job has been to “watch government(s) and report how they screw things up.” Abraham Lincoln said, “We the people are the rightful masters of both Congress and the Courts, not to overthrow the Constitution but to overthrow the men who would pervert the Constitution.”