Category Archive: Year in Review

New Year, New Opportunities

It’s that time of year again—the holidays are upon us, and the New Year is just around the corner. We’d like to start by wishing all of our friends and customers a very happy holiday season, and thank you for making our 83rd year in business another great one!

We think our country and our industry have a lot to be thankful for this year. The economy is picking up, and reshoring brought a significant amount of business back to North America. Companies of every size realized the value in manufacturing closer to home. Because of that, even small manufacturing businesses in North America can be relevant and competitive, while expanding and offering more employment opportunities.

But there are challenges—especially when it comes to employment. While those opportunities do exist, and businesses are growing, there aren’t enough qualified workers to fill positions and meet demand. We’d like to see more time and effort put into training workers, pointing kids in the direction of the trades, and showing students the value in a manufacturing career. After all, if we are going to compete at the highest level and stay successful, we need qualified people to take on the available roles.

While this seems to be the biggest challenge the industry faces right now, we’re sure there are ways to address it. After all, we’re coming off of a very successful year—we’ve just bought two new machines to keep up with the growing demand—and one of our goals for 2015 is to continue meeting those demands and getting the volume out the door. We’re also investing in new technology and computerizing all operations while reducing labor requirements and we’re confident it’s going to be another great year for us.

We wish everyone the best of luck meeting the challenges and demands, and more than anything, a happy, healthy, successful new year!

Looking Back: The Year in Review

With the holiday season now officially upon us, before we know it, it will be 2014. At BLM Automatic Clutch, we’ve had a busy and fruitful year! As this year comes to an end, we’d like to take a look back at some of the many applications centrifugal clutches were used in 2012-2013.

  • Clutches in mining: In this previous post, we discussed “gold [mining] fever”, with opportunities and excitement being seen throughout the world, from the U.S. to China, Thailand, and the Dominican Republic. Centrifugal clutches are an integral part of the gold mining process, keeping the conveyors that move the raw materials running smoothly throughout the entire process.
  • Clutches in pumping systems: Natural disasters—including hurricanes, typhoons, and floods—are an unfortunately common and often tragic occurrence around the world. While most can’t be predicted and none can be prevented, thankfully there are technologies in place that aid in the cleanup and backup power. Pumping systems, standby diesel engines, chippers, rider trowels, and more help communities during and after these disasters, and all rely on clutches. When flooding occurs following a storm, pumping systems remove the excess water, and the clutches make these systems work reliably.
  • Clutches in go-karts: From team-building exercises in corporate America to family-bonding experiences, go-karting is an extremely popular, thrilling activity that, as we pointed out in this post, “brings people together, encourages collaboration, and breaks down departmental barriers.” Centrifugal clutches are used in commercial go-karts, keeping them safe and dependable.
  • Clutches in the agriculture industry: From sprayers and wood chippers to crop conveyors, clutches are an important part of agricultural machines that spray crops, and they have surprising “green” benefits. They help keeps these machines running more efficiently and consuming less power, while increasing motor life. These machines are also an alternative to spraying seeds prior to planting, which has been shown to be harmful to honeybees. See this post on why this is so important.
  • Clutches in construction equipment: America’s housing and construction market is finally seeing a recovery, with homebuilding and renovating increasing significantly. All this construction relies on a variety of equipment—tampers, chippers, mixers, curbers, etc.—and each of these machines relies on a good, dependable clutch. Each of these tools is an important part of the building of American streets, towns, and cities, and each clutch is equally important.