Forge Fair 2021 will be upon us later this month, and it may be a good time to consider some regulations and rules regarding trade shows. Legal Ease touched on this very subject in 2019, concentrating on unscrupulous acts by competitors at and away from the trade-show floor.

As a business owner, you have limited options when seeking capital to start or grow your company. Essentially, there are three sources of cash: your own cash investment or that of other investors, your bank and cash from the daily operations of the company.

In late July 2021, an announcement was made by the U.K.’s Ministry of Defence (MoD) that it would launch an offer to acquire Sheffield Forgemasters International Limited (SFIL). The agreement was to allow the government to refinance and take control of the company to secure the supply of components critical to the military and security interests of the MoD, as well as to secure future defense programs.

As you’re well aware, FORGE publishes six issues a year – now digitally. And I’m sure you’ve visited our website, www.forgemag.com, on a regular basis for news and technical content. But do you know some of the other resources FORGE has to offer?

Any student of world history can tell you that the concept of democracy is handed down to us by the culture and governance of ancient Greece. The word democracy is derived from two Greek words: “demos,” or people; and “kratos,” or rule.

My last column in February targeted some politico/economic factors that could affect the global and domestic forging industry through 2020. What wasn’t on that list was any mention of COVID-19, the virus-induced petroleum price war between Saudi Arabia and Russia and the U.S. stock exchanges plummeting toward the earth’s molten core.

With the new year freshly underway, it seems a good time to gaze in the crystal ball and consider what trends will likely impact the climate for manufacturing in the U.S. and abroad during this year.

Employee engagement is quite the buzzword in today’s society. As leaders, we know it is important, but do we really understand how to engage our employees?

Welcome to the inaugural installment of this new column in FORGE. It will be dedicated to the financial issues facing manufacturing businesses, providing guidance on financial matters to those who may not have a dedicated CFO on staff and providing additional financial insight to those who do.

As was reported in this column in October 2019, the National Safety Council reports that Americans became more likely to die from an accidental opioid overdose than from a motor vehicle crash at some point during the past three years.