Success: Despite and because of

March 1, 2022  |  Editorial

The marine fabrication business often seems like a business of nothing but problems. Supply chain bottlenecks, a lack of employees, demanding customers and too little time to address the ever-growing waitlist. But it’s also a business filled with problem solvers. That’s the beauty of working wit…
Read More
Control Issues

January 1, 2022  |  Editorial

If 2020 was a rollercoaster, 2021 was more like a Zero Gravity amusement park ride where spinning forces beyond anyone’s control pinned us to the wall making movement impossible. Businesses experienced a centrifugal maelstrom of surging customer demand, labor shortages, price increases and supply …
Read More
Community connections

September 1, 2021  |  Editorial

With or without COVID-19 restrictions, many fabricators spend a lot of time alone. Aside from interactions with clients and employees, fabrication work itself is often performed solo, either onboard or in the shop. Given the solitary nature of this profession, finding ways to make industry connectio…
Read More
Efficiency artists

July 1, 2021  |  Editorial

Marine fabrication businesses are an interesting mix of custom and ready-made. On the one hand, much of the work is manufactured to order, and each project requires unique tweaks and adjustments to the design and fabrication processes. But there are also times your shop becomes a mini factory and th…
Read More
Gentler negotiations

May 1, 2021  |  Editorial

I watched an online presentation recently about how to keep your personal feelings from intruding on professional situations. I followed it with a discussion about how to deal with difficult people. I was trying to keep myself calm during thorny contract negotiations with a publisher over a book I w…
Read More
Obstacles to success

March 1, 2021  |  Editorial

In a former life I managed a large team of writers and editors. My job, as I saw it, was to remove obstacles that prevented the team from being successful. These obstacles were the same for every person on the team: a lack of focus, perfectionism, poor time management, difficulty with conflict and a…
Read More
Fundamental Change

January 1, 2021  |  Editorial

A recent Inc.com article described the months since COVID-19 hit as, “15 years of behavior change in 30 days.” Indeed, the amount of change and adaptation our business and personal lives have undergone would have been unimaginable less than a year ago. The changes have been a mixed bag; some pos…
Read More
Leaning into uncertainty

September 1, 2020  |  Editorial

Business author Stephen Covey said, “If there’s one thing that’s certain in business, it’s uncertainty.” That’s true in every facet of our lives right now, thanks to the coronavirus and economic and social turmoil. Some part of us may hope that things will eventually calm down and get ba…
Read More