For some, learning welding might just be a hobby, or a way into a new career.  For teens at the Tuscaloosa juvenile detention center, it’s all that and much more.

Welding class keeps peace at juvenile detention center
Students stay out of trouble to attend sessions

By Stephanie Taylor Staff Writer
Saturday, November 21, 2009 at 3:30 a.m.

TUSCALOOSA | Some of the teenagers at the juvenile detention center don’t stop getting in trouble just because they’re behind bars.

Fights occasionally break out between the inmates, who are sometimes incarcerated for crimes as serious as shootings and burglary. They may cause trouble in a classroom or refuse to follow rules.

But fights are occurring less often lately since the facility began offering a welding class on Thursday and Friday afternoons.

“People won’t act up because they don’t want to miss welding,” said a 16-year-old who has been at the facility for three weeks. “Some of them want to have a career in this, and it might be the only chance they’ll have to learn.”

But the program isn’t just to motivate kids to stay out of trouble while at the facility, although that is a positive by-product. The administrators, teachers and businesses who have contributed to the program hope that the vocational skills will benefit the teenagers once they’re released.

CONTINUE READING ONLINE ->

What would you do if you had 10,000 pounds of 42 in. piping?  Why, give it away of course!  And that’s exactly what Rockies Express Pipeline did with the leftovers of their construction on a natural gas pipeline running between Colorado and Ohio; they gave every bit of it away to Midwest Technical Institute’s welding students.

Company donates leftover pipe to MTI’s welding classes

$7,500 worth of material could help students diversify skills

By BLAKE TOPPMEYER
THE STATE JOURNAL-REGISTER

Posted Jul 22, 2009 @ 12:40 AM

The forklift at Springfield’s Midwest Technical Institute had some heavy lifting to do Tuesday.

Rockies Express Pipeline donated an estimated $7,500 worth of pipe that will be put to use in future MTI welding classes.

Much of the donated pipe is 42 inches in diameter and was left over from the construction of the natural gas pipeline that runs from western Colorado to eastern Ohio and includes a portion passing through southern Sangamon County between Auburn and Chatham.

“To have the access to 42-inch pipe like this is pretty unusual. We know that institutions like this are struggling to have access to things like this,” said Allen Fore, director of community relations for the pipeline.

“If this is a little thing that we can to do to assist them with growing their skills and to have access to materials they typically would not have access to, we’re happy to do that.”

Several MTI welding students and a couple of instructors were present to accept the donation. They unloaded some of the smaller pipe off the trailer by hand, but the larger pieces required the forklift. Fore estimated the total weight of the donated pipe to be about 10,000 pounds.

CONTINUE READING ONLINE ->

Then maybe you should come and join the Milwaukee Inventors’ and Entrepreneurs’ Forum.  The meetings, founded by Jill Welytok, are a forum in which inventors and entrepreneurs can work hand in hand, providing important feedback for each other, insider advice, and maybe even an investment or two.

Milwaukee forum brings inventors, entrepreneurs together

Tannette Johnson-Elie | Connections
Posted: July 21, 2009

As a patent attorney, Jill Gilbert Welytok frequently encounters people who come up with clever inventions but lack the resources and connections to launch their products.

Photo By: MaryJo Walicki --- Doug Bartelt stands in a heavy-duty lifter mounted in the back of his truck.

“Many people will go through great expense filing a patent for products that they couldn’t sell or make money from,” said Welytok, a managing partner with Absolute Technology Law Group LLC, a 3-year-old Milwaukee company that specializes in patents, trademarks, copyrights, licensing agreements and due diligence. “Sometimes people have a great idea or product, but what matters most is what the market thinks.”

If the market thinks your product stinks, you’re not going to make money from it. But what if you could test your invention on other inventors and entrepreneurs who have successfully developed and marketed products?

Thanks to Welytok, there now is a place where local inventors can come together to network and share ideas: The Downtown Milwaukee Inventors’ and Entrepreneurs’ Forum. The forum meets monthly at the Germania Building, 135 W. Wells St., and draws 60 to 120 people.

CONTINUE READING ONLINE ->

I am so impressed with what these guys are doing in North Carolina.  It’s not every day that a company  is willing to reach out and hire someone who’s been in, or is in, prison.  But Rickey McCoy and Danny Conaway are doing just that with their metal fabrication business, and it’s fulfilling for them and their employees in ways that none of them could have ever imagined.

 NW Greensboro firm helps employees build new lives
Rickey McCoy (left) and Danny Conaway have built a successful business employing people most companies are afraid to hire.
by Alicia Cosgrove

­­NW GUILFORD COUNTY – In March 2003, Rickey McCoy and Summerfield resident Danny Conaway started their metal fabrication business with a handful of portable tools, two office chairs and a cell phone.

They really didn’t have much choice. They had been talking about starting their own business but were only in the planning stages when their employer found out and fired them both.

Money was tight, and the pressure was high; both men had to put their homes on the line to finance their endeavor. It took a healthy dose of determination to make the business, and their lives, work during that first year.

Then they found a way to help build their business by reaching out to other men who also were determined to make their lives work: convicts who had learned from their mistakes and wanted to change their lives.

CONTINUE READING ONLINE ->

Mariah Power is the greenest company I’ve heard of in a long time.  They’ve got the three R’s down to a science.  For one, they’ve set up shop in what once used to be a auto parts manufacturing plant, modified to fit their needs.  Their employees?  Workers from the previous plant.  Their product? Windspire vertical-axis wind turbines, which will “recycle” wind on a small scale to provide power for homes and businesses.

Wind Turbine Company Opens New Manufacturing Plant 

Edited by: MHM Staff

MANISTEE, Mich.—Mariah Power, a wind technology company, just opened its first high-volume manufacturing site in Manistee in partnership with MasTech Manufacturing’s material handling specialists. 

The new facility, a retrofitted auto parts manufacturing plant, will produce Windspire vertical-axis wind turbines. Mariah Power will employ former automotive workers who have experience working with steel, assembly lines and robotics.

The plant will produce 100 Windspire turbines per month, and executives foresee that number growing to 1,000. Steel and aluminum required to make the turbines will be supplied to the 30,000-square foot facility by companies located in Michigan.

The Windspire is Mariah Power’s first official product line. It is a small-scale, vertical-axis wind turbine that can power homes or businesses. Standing 30 feet tall, Windspire features a “plug ‘n produce” design and connects directly to the power supply of a building. 

The above logos are now being included on all Lincoln Electric Products that meet its new Green Initiative Awareness Program standards.  The upper label highlights Lincoln’s products that now utilize interverter technology which can cut energy consumption by a full 10 % or more by using higher frequencies.

The lower label (another is available for EPA Tier 4 Compliant) has been placed on all of Lincoln’s diesel engine-driven welders, which have been modified in compliance with the EPA’s upcoming 2011 emission standards.  Lincoln Electric hopes that their program will benefit both their customers and the environment by reducing costs and making their products a bit more “green”.

Read more about Lincoln’s Green Initiative Program at:

Lincoln Electric Announces Green Initiative Awareness Program

and

Lincoln Electric Green Initiative Awareness Program website

I have always been an outlaw. When I was a chief mechanic on a winning World of Outlaw Sprint car team my huge silver belt buckle was inlaid with turquoise letters – O U T L A W .

Even when I started Arc-Zone.com I was a bit of an outlaw, and a bit of a pioneer. We were the first to sell welding accessories online– I started with an eBay store, then we moved to a customized webstore built on open source code. We sell direct to consumers, and we sell to distributors. We have some items manufactured for us, to our specifications. And we don’t just sell product in California, or even some pre-defined western region, we sell worldwide. That really confuses manufacturers that have a regulated, pre-defined distribution system– a system that is sometimes hard to break into. In other words, some of the vendors we have dealt with have not really known which box to put us in.

Whether you’re an outlaw or a pioneer, or a little bit of both, one thing you’ll need when you have a business is a lawyer. Now I know everybody throws down on lawyers – but like it or not, if you plan on starting a business, or you are in business now, you will eventually need one.

I was lucky to find a good law firm early– Branfman and Associates. Before I even launched the company I asked advice on trademark and domain name issues, learned where I needed to start with preliminary name searches, what the difference is between a ( TM) and ( R) in terms of trademark, and how to protect your intellectual property.

And they are not just your stuffed shirt attorneys either. We had lunch the other day, and I discovered that Mark has a custom chopper. “It’s pretty fun and loud as all get out,” Mark says… and it should be fun, it’s a 2003 Bourget Pro-Gets Classic. A highly engineered bike with no oil tank! The oil for the entire bike circulates through the frame. It’s an awesome idea that improves performance by adding more oil and utilizing the surface area of the frame to dissipate the heat, keeping the engine running cool and efficient.

I have been with Branfman for 10 years and they have helped me in many ways. The more your business grows, the more people (vendors, customers, employees etc.) you deal with — the more you will need a GOOD Lawyer, one you have a solid relationship with.

Recently we were jacked around by a vendor…. This company has a reputation in the industry for being jerks but when we were just starting out, trying to establish resources for quality product we put up with their shenanigans. We were trying to build a reputation for ourselves as a company that puts customers first. I’m not saying we haven’t made mistakes, but hopefully we’ve handled them with integrity. And so we put up with this vendor for longer than we should have, but we documented each incident along the long road.

Recently they not only cut us off (after we have spent thousands of dollars with them), they had some rinky dink lawyer of theirs send us a childish letter. When we didn’t respond, they got their big guns fancy Beverly Hills attorney involved and made all kinds of ridiculous accusations trying to scare us. The fact is, they are jealous of the reputation we have built, the customer loyalty and the solid relationships we now have with quality manufacturers and our position in the market.

Now if we hadn’t already had a good solid relationship with a reputable and knowledgeable law firm, we would have been in a panic. As it stands, we’re able to let the attorneys deal with it and we can get on with the business we are in– delivering precision welding products, value-added services and technical solutions to customers worldwide.

If you have a business, make sure you have a good attorney on your side. Start early and build a relationship with him/her so they get an understanding of who you are and what you are trying to do. A good lawyer can direct you away from potential landmines that can derail your business and waste time and money – and in business both are very valuable!

Document your business dealings – and most importantly – don’t let people push you around – Push back and if you’re prepared – push back hard, then move on to growing your business!

A lot of times companies don’t add new vendors to their line up because there’s a lot of work involved in getting set up to do business. The vendor requires paperwork, the customer requires paperwork, sales staff needs to be trained… and of course in the case of Arc-Zone.com® we need to add products to our website. Then there’s the “getting to know you” period when the vendor and the customer adapt to each other’s way of doing business.

Arc-Zone.com® just hooked up with Revco Industries to carry their line of high-quality safety apparel. From quality leather safety apparel and BSX Xteme protective wear with style and welding gloves galore, we’re adding to our webstore daily.

One of the most exciting lines is the Women’s Welding Wear, offering protective gear that is tailored for a woman’s body.

In addition to offering great quality welding safety products, and information about Leather Quality and finding your Glove size, Revco is easy to do business with!

When we placed our first order, within minutes we received a confirmation indicating availability and ship date. And the best part is, they delivered!

We hope our customers are as excited as we are about this new line of welding safety gear. Not only will you stay protected, you’ll look good.

I got a call the other day from a prospect who was researching the benefits of using a tungsten grinder verses a wheel grinder. He came across our site, read our tech articles and then called.

He said “We’re a couple of farmers that have been trying to do TIG welding for a couple years and have never gotten good at it.”

A friend told them about Arc-Zone.com and the Sharpie Tungsten Grinder.

He told me they had a little fabshop and a small dirt track in southern Indiana.

“What’s the name of the track?” I asked.

“You probably never heard of it– TriState Speedway,” he said.

(more…)

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