The Board of Directors at Clippard announce the career promotion of William A. Clippard, Vice President of Operations; Jennifer Clippard-Caunin, Vice President of Human Resources; and Robert S. Clippard, Vice President of Sales and Marketing.

Founded in 1941 by Leonard Clippard and incorporated in 1946, Clippard Instrument Laboratory has long been recognized as a world leader in manufacturing miniature pneumatic components and devices. Mr. Clippard’s sons, William L. Clippard III, President, and Robert L. Clippard, Executive Vice President, have provided the leadership of the company for the past 38 years. The current promotions will set the stage for the third generation to continue to provide manufacturers throughout the world with quality pneumatic products.

William A. Clippard (Bill, Jr.) joined the company in 1992 serving as an apprentice in various production departments and later as a buyer in the purchasing department. In 1998 he became the Purchasing Manager and also served as General Manager of the Fairfield plant at the beginning of that operation in 1997. In addition to establishing purchasing procedures resulting in numerous cost savings, Bill has been instrumental in establishing many international supply channels. Bill has also been influential in originating new production procedures while reducing manufacturing costs.

Jennifer Clippard-Caunin joined the company in 1998 working in the personnel department. In 2004, she was promoted to Human Resources Manager where she has been instrumental in establishing many new company policies in recruiting, preventive health care, education, vision program, and health insurance resulting in cost reductions while increasing the number and value of the benefit program. In addition to her duties as Vice President of Human Resources, Jennifer will also serve as Corporate Secretary.

Robert S. Clippard joined the company in 1998 working in the IT department. Known for his creativity, Rob is credited with developing the company’s new website, developing the company’s e-commerce business, and developing the company’s Value Added department. In addition, Rob has also held positions as Regional Sales Manager and International Sales Manager. As Vice President of Sales and Marketing, he will continue to be involved in numerous aspects of the company from application engineering to value added assemblies and distributor sales.

Officials from ESI International announce the release of its top 10 trends in project management for 2013. The 2013 trends reveal that expert leadership is lacking in all areas of project management, portfolio management and program management.

“This year’s trends bring a murky problem into specific light,” states J. LeRoy Ward, executive vice president, ESI International. “Leadership skills are lacking within the project community, and until project managers learn how to properly lead teams and their projects, project execution will continue to be a problem.”

ESI’s top 10 trends for project management include:

1. Organizations will continue to call for strong project leaders but will focus on investments in hard skills
2. Agile implementation will be viewed in some organizations as a failure, but for the wrong reasons
3. Project management is not just for project managers anymore
4. Large projects pose unique challenges that are increasingly tough to overcome
5. PMOs will focus on proving their worth and driving innovation
6. The U.S. government will upgrade its PM certification in the face of rising criticism
7. Improving vendor management practices will top the list of skills for project managers
8. Continued poor project performance in many organizations will result in more PMOs being terminated
9. Portfolio management will take on a greater role as funding continues to tighten and the number of projects grows
10. Organizations will adopt Agile to accelerate time to market but what they ultimately achieve may be a different story

“Many of this year’s trends focus on the need to improve project skills, process and the overall management of our initiatives,” said Ward. “It is clear that it is no longer possible to hire project managers and expect results. We need our PMs to be experts, and take control of our projects to get maximum results.”

ESI’s top 10 trends in project management is put together annually by ESI senior executives and subject matter experts.

In conjunction with the release of the trends, ESI has released a top 10 trends in project management video, recorded by Mark Bashrum, ESI vice president, corporate marketing & strategic intelligence. This video offers a discussion of the trends, including original insight and information about the trends and their impact on projects.

The overall economy grew for the 43rd consecutive month, say the nation's supply executives in the latest Manufacturing ISM Report On Business.

The report, issued by Bradley J. Holcomb, CPSM, CPSD, chair of the Institute for Supply Management Manufacturing Business Survey Committee, states, "The PMI registered 50.7%, an increase of 1.2 percentage points from November's reading of 49.5%, indicating expansion in manufacturing for only the third time in the last seven months. This month's PMI reading moved manufacturing off its low point for 2012 in November. The New Orders Index remained at 50.3%, the same rate as in November, indicating growth in new orders for the fourth consecutive month. The Production Index registered 52.6%, a decrease of 1.1 percentage points, indicating growth in production for the third consecutive month. The Employment Index registered 52.7%, an increase of 4.3 percentage points, indicating a resumption of growth in employment following only one month of contraction since September 2009. Both the Exports and Imports Indexes registered 51.5%, returning both indexes to growth territory following consecutive periods of contraction of six and four months, respectively. Comments from the panel this month are mixed, with some indicating a strengthening of demand and others indicating a continuing softness in demand. Additionally, many respondents express uncertainty about government regulations, taxes and global economics in general as we approach 2013."

Performance by Industry
Of the 18 manufacturing industries, seven are reporting growth in December in the following order: Furniture & Related Products; Paper Products; Petroleum & Coal Products; Wood Products; Primary Metals; Computer & Electronic Products; and Food, Beverage & Tobacco Products. The nine industries reporting contraction in December — listed in order — are: Nonmetallic Mineral Products; Chemical Products; Miscellaneous Manufacturing; Plastics & Rubber Products; Fabricated Metal Products; Transportation Equipment; Machinery; Electrical Equipment, Appliances & Components; and Apparel, Leather & Allied Products.

Officials from Ganesh Machinery announce the release a new YouTube video highlighting the benefits of using their CNC Swiss Style Lathe Cyclone 32CS machine. The video is designed to display the real world benefits of utilizing the groundbreaking parts machine. This comes as good news to parts manufacturers of all kinds throughout the country seeking best-in-class technology to enhance their ability to produce complex parts.

In this latest YouTube addition by Ganesh Machinery, a representative of Clippard Minimatic, the Ohio based manufacturer of pneumatic and electronic control devices, discusses his success with the CNC Swiss Style Lathe Cyclone 32CS. Through the aid of Delcam Partmaker software and Ganesh Machinery’s machine, Clippard Minimatics is able to make more complex parts than they otherwise would have been able to produce. The quality of both Partmaker and the CNC Swiss machine has allowed Clippard to expand their operation in new directions with immediate and significant results, according to the video.

Ganesh Machinery is a leader in the machine tool industry. They offer high quality, state-of-the-art multi-axis machines, manual lathe, 3-5 axis VMC, CNC turning and milling machines for machine shops throughout the country. They have sold and serviced machines for thousands of companies in a wide spectrum of industries. This latest YouTube video is designed to display the benefits of utilizing Ganesh Machinery’s high quality CNC Lathe machines and how they can help transform a company into a more diverse and competitive force within their industry and more.