JESSE JAMES TO DEBUT NEW CREATION AT LEGEND OF THE MOTORCYCLE

Jesse James has announced that his newest creation, a glistening aluminum-clad motorcycle and sidecar combo for client Airstream will make its first public debut at the Legend of the Motorcycle Concours on May 3rd.

As reported recently in Forbes* magazine, “James and his welders machined, riveted and hammered 18-gauge steel and razor-thin aluminum into a space-age-looking vehicle, applying some of the same construction methods Airstream uses in its shiny luxury trailers.” The result is “One of the most elaborate masterpieces James’ shop has ever produced.”

This is not the first time the West Coast Choppers founder, Monster Garage host, and Baja 1000 competitor has chosen to unveil a bike at Legend of the Motorcycle. At the inaugural Concours in 2006, James debuted his Radial Hell aero bike powered by a 7-cylinder Rotec radial aircraft engine (photo attached). The response from attendees was awe.

Other legendary custom builders displaying bikes at this year’s Legend of the Motorcycle include Japanese minimalist master Shinya Kimura, Choppers Inc. founder Billy Lane, and Brooklyn’s Paul Cox. Last year Cox and partner Keino, in addition to displaying two bikes by late friend, business partner and legend Indian Larry, debuted When Push Comes to Shove - a bike the pair built for client Brad Pitt - whose intricate and painstakingly detailed metal engraving was something typically only seen on handmade European shotguns. All three builders plan to unveil
something new at the May event as well.

The third annual Legend of the Motorcycle, including the Bonhams & Butterfields auction of motorcycles from the Mike Corbin Collection, takes place the first weekend in May, Saturday the 3rd, on the lawns of the ocean-side Ritz-Carlton in Half Moon Bay, California, just south of San Francisco. Tickets can be purchased, and additional information can be found, on the official website: LegendoftheMotorcycle.com

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Joe Welder willl be there! will you?

Is it me or are there more and more internet crooks out there? I’m not talking about phishing schemes to steal your personal information, or the technically savvy computer hackers, but I am talking specifically about companies — people — stealing copyrighted material from our website. And it’s frustrating.

In the last year we’ve had several companies grip pictures and copy — words written by our technicians — and claim the content as their own. It has cost us several thousand dollars, not to mention hours of our time, to have the stolen material removed from competitors’ websites.

The first time we found our copyrighted information on another company’s website (brwelder.com) I contacted the company president directly by letter. When I got no response, I called him up and asked him, as a fellow small business owner, to remove the copyrighted material. First he told me everything on the internet was free for the taking and when I informed him it was actually a violation of copyright laws, he said, “So what. Sue me.”

Suing, and paying hefty legal fees was not the route we wanted to go, so instead we filed a DMCA Copyright Infringement Claim with the major search engines and with his web host company. The result was his websites were banned. When he received the notifications from Google and Yahoo, he called me crying about how tough business is.

So tough apparently he couldn’t take the time to write his own copy or take photos of the products he sells.

Not too long ago we noticed that Weldingsupply.com gripped some pictures and copy. They didn’t even remove our custom logo from the part! Then they posted it on their own website with a prominent copyright disclaimer. Of course it’s listed for less than our selling price… but we actually had the part to shoot the picture in the first place!

Our most recent find was at the aglevtech.net website. You may be familiar with Aglevtech as a low cost eBay seller. The site features two pages of content written by our technical experts, including a list of links to professional welding associations and manufacturers around the world in addition to a list of links to online welding articles. Now I’m not saying they couldn’t have found that information, however, what they did was replicate, word for word, the descriptions and the links. They didn’t even try to hide it because they obviously don’t think they did anything wrong.

Companies like those listed above are not really competitors, more like followers that can’t think for themselves. I would not buy from any of those companies.

When you’re looking for a company to do business with, be sure to consider: is there a phone number on their website? An address? Will you know who to contact if you have questions before you make a purchase? How about if you ordered the wrong part? Or it’s defective? Are the warranty and exchange terms clearly stated? How do they handle shipping? Do they know anything about the parts they are selling? Do they even stock the parts they are selling?

Conducting business with integrity is part of the culture that we encourage at Arc-Zone.com. We may not always be perfect, but we are honest and we don’t steal. Arc-Zone.com®, has a prominent Contact Us form and our contact information is on EVERY page of our website, including a toll free number. And, our return policy and shipping terms can be easily found as well. To me the key to business is to have repeat customers — people that would refer their friends and co-workers.

Hopefully you won’t have the same problems we have had, but in case you do, here are some links to resources so you can protect yourself:

United States Copyright Office.
Copyright Law of the European Union
World Intellectual Property Organization
Filing a DMCA Copyright Infringement Claim with Google
Filing a DMCA Copyright Infringement Claim with Yahoo
Chilling Effects Clearinghouse

We get asked all the time “what is the proper stick-out for the tungsten electrode on a TIG / GTAW / HeliArc torch?”

That’s a tough question because there are many variables based on the type of front-end parts being used on the torch — and — the welding application. As we all know high-quality, consistently good looking and strong TIG welds are a combination of art and science.

With this new tungsten electrode stick-out tool you can reduce some of the variables by accurately measuring the tungsten stick-out by 1/16″ (1.6mm) increments up to 1″ (25.4mm).

It’s constructed of CNC machined brass with knurled locking sleeve and includes a key ring holder with nylon strap and spring type aluminum hook loop… and is available online at Arc-Zone.com!

At the AWS/FabTech show I had the opportunity to attend the Executive Forum Breakfast, featuring Michael P. Collins, author of Saving American Manufacturing.

Collins discussed “The Chinese Threat” reminding us that they are not invincible… Remember in the 1980’s we were all learning Japanese, and training on Kaizen and other Japanese manufacturing principals? Then the Japanese manufacturers had trouble, and the U.S. once again became a world market leader.

In his presentation and his book, Collins cites good U.S. manufacturing innovators. However he warned of the upcoming labor shortage — that is happening now and the coming shortage when the majority of the Baby Boom generation retires. Good manufacturing jobs need to be filled from shop floor welders and fabricators to managers, and engineers. Sound familiar?

He suggested that U.S. manufacturers need to change their focus and look outward. We have been focusing on internal process improvement, lowering costs as a way to improve profitability. The successful companies he outlined have shifted to a marketing approach. They market to everyone – and have opened up non-traditional channels around the globe.

What Collins didn’t mention was that recent studies show that Baby Boomers are staying healthier, and staying in the game, retiring later than workers in previous generations. According to an AARP survey, about 79 percent of baby boomers don’t plan to stop working at age 65.

Maybe the impending labor shortage is not as bad as many predict. And maybe recruitment needs to be part of you marketing plan.

Everything you do should be focused on looking for new customers and looking for new workers with better skill sets. That’s my thoughts what are yours?

Many of us read the 2006 Wall Street Journal article, “Where Have All the Welders Gone, As Manufacturing and Repair Boom?” it certainly made the rounds at all the online forums and blogs and got everyone talking.

At the FabTech/AWS show the subject for the Leadership Summit was Addressing the Shortage of Skilled Labor in U.S. Manufacturing. The panel included representatives from the Department of Labor, the Workforce Development Office for the City of Chicago, and Director of Manufacturing for Caterpillar.

They called on everyone in the metal working business to become more active in spreading the word about metalworking and the opportunities it can provide for young people to earn a ”family wage” – that’s important there are a lot of jobs that pay a living wage, but you can’t raise a family on that.

The upshot was that many of these good paying manufacturing jobs are becoming harder and harder to fill because of the lack of skilled labor. The local high schools, trade schools and colleges don’t refer kids to these types of jobs as they did in the past. Many of the apprentice programs go largely unfunded as our current administration places no emphasis on manufacturing.

All the speakers pointed to many agencies where manufacturers can get the skilled labor they need to build a competitive company. They encouraged companies to reach out to their local trade schools and high schools by hosting open houses and other events to make educators, counselors and students aware of the good paying jobs.

At Arc-Zone, we’ve already made one step towards raising awareness in our own community. You may recall we are working with Cal State San Marcos on a couple of projects. I can tell you that not only were the students surprised to learn about the welding industry, so were the professors!

Going forward, we’ll be profiling different skilled labor jobs on this blog in the upcoming months… what will you do?

well you know the rest. While Jim Watson is at the AWS / Fabtech trade show in Chicago we’ve been busy here at Arc-Zone.com launching a new webstore.

We’ll be making an official announcement in the next day or so, and we’re still making some modifications, but it is working, it is secure, and it looks pretty good. We’re so excited– the new store will make it easier for us to bring new, innovative products online more quickly.

If you stop by the Arc-Zone.com store, let us know what’s working and even what’s not working… continual improvement only happens when we know what needs to improve!

Arc-Zone’s own Joe Welder, aka Jim Watson, is on his way to Chicago for the Fabtech/AWS (American Welding Society) Trade Show.

Jim didn’t have much time before he left to write about the show, but he did shoot me an email and asked me to post it:

For the longest time the AWS (American Welding Society) staged their own stand alone welding trade show in April of each year and it rotated primarily around the cities in the midwest.

With the continued acquisition of many small specialty manufacturers, the show’s attendance diminished and lost its luster. Recently the AWS and Fabtech shows merged to combine one big metal working extravaganza!

If your like me and love to see all the good stuff this is the palce to be!
Plan on it this weekend in Chicago!

See you there!
–Jim

There’s an impressive list of exhibitors at the show, and some great welding seminars and other programs, including the 2007 PROFESSIONAL WELDERS COMPETITION where you could win $2,500.

Expect a full report and maybe even some information and pics of some great innovative products from Jim when he gets back.

More and more consumers are looking to do business with companies that are environmentally responsible. This article from the LA Times (free registration required to read the whole thing) points out some of the difficulties consumers have in choosing companies that are responsible.

It’s not easy being a green consumer: With no unified product standard, what constitutes ‘nature-friendly’ depends on the group doing the certifying. Buyers can be fooled.

By Abigail Goldman, Los Angeles Times Staff Writer
September 5, 2007

Reliable household products get the Good Housekeeping seal of
approval. Safe electronics earn Underwriters Laboratories’ UL mark.

But consumers and investors looking for environmentally responsible
products and services have to trudge through a swamp of seals,
claims and certifications — only some of which designate
independent, verified environmental accomplishments….read more..

Even though we are a California company, as a welding supplier, Arc-Zone doesn’t offer any certified organic products… There are, however, several things that we do that we hope makes a difference.

1. We recycle.
Sounds simple enough, but believe it or not, like in many business districts, recycling is not mandatory as it is for residential zones. Our building does not offer recycling, but we don’t let that stop us. Our company founder Jim Watson, aka Joe Welder, actually collects all the plastics and cans from the warehouse and even from our lunchroom and hauls it home. We’ve even seen him picking through the trash. For every recycled item found in the trash the guilty party has to pony up a dollar for the office kitty.

2. Re Purposing.
Also known as re-using. I can’t tell you how old some of our file folders are! I swear some of the folder labels are layered an inch thick! And the scrap paper we generate…. We shred it and use it for packing material.

3. The Internet.
Our website is our catalog. I don’t know why more people don’t use online catalogs. We can update information- including pricing– regularly, and we can add an element of interactivity (audio, video) that you just can’t get in a print catalog.

To showcase our efforts, we made a company video– thanks to Filmmaker Manny Manatad, our new “Shipping Guy.” We’ve entered the video into the Ecospot contest over at Current TV. We’ll keep you posted if we make the finals!

Arc-Zone.com was fortunate to be selected by the Cal State San Marcos Business School to work with two teams of their best and brightest graduating seniors on two vital areas of our business –

Marketing: What our customers think of our service to date, and where the growth opportunities are, and

Operations: Internal processes and procedures

Jim Hamerly, the professor overseeing the marketing project, came into the Zone first for a visit – He is awesome – his educational background includes extensive study in Electrical Engineering and Computer Science– BS from MIT, MS from UC Berkeley and a PhD from Carnegie Mellon! His impressive in-the-field training includes stints at Xerox, Netscape, AOL to name a few.

Our student team is an impressive group as well, bright and professional. They enthusiastically jumped in and began an analysis of our current customer base, and a survey! So don’t be surprised if you get a call.

Our Operations Team is headed up by Professor Gary Oddou. His education includes a BA in French, an MA in English as a Second Language and a PhD in Organizational Behavior from Brigham Young University. He also has an impressive academic background, which includes a long list of publications and honors.

The student team, another group of eager professionals, has been in our office interviewing us and culling through our in-house how-to manuals with the goal of helping us formalize our procedures.

We’re very excited about working with these groups. Continuous improvement is important to the culture at Arc-Zone.

Lot’s of exciting things happening at Arc-Zone.com…

We are up to speed with many of our internet properties, Joewelder.com, and CarmenElectrode.com, and adding new products to our webstore (we’re launching a new site in October, look for details in your Inbox and on the web soon)!

Additionally, we are preparing to expand our facility, which will allow us to stock more new products, and provide even higher levels of service to our customers.

And in the middle of all this action, I was featured on a local radio talk show, BISTalk Radio!

I’d never been interviewed on the radio and like any first timer I was nervous and rehearsed over and over in my head how to answer questions and interesting things we might talk about. The production staff told me that based on our phone screen I would do great.

I arrived early and talked to the host who asked me some basic questions about Arc-Zone.com – I handed him our corporate presentation binder which is filled with the nuts and bolts of the business, financial ratios, sales growth charts, organizational chart, marketing plan, industry overview etc. That dude was blown away – and that was the topic of the show – How many companies have an up-to-date Business Plan? And I got to share a bit of the history of Arc-Zone.com.

I’ve always said “Luck is when preparedness plus method meets opportunity!”

Take a listen:
Click the Play Button > of this embedded audio player and NOTE: the audio has been edited for the sake of brevity!

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