Metal Construction News Blog

By Mark Robins, Senior Editor

We recently completed our 2012 editorial calendar. (Check out MCN here and MA here.) If we learned anything from this, it was that planning six months in advance forces you to resolve short-term details. It is the same for any company.

By Paul Deffenbaugh

Our industry and our country are in new territory. We are beyond the borders of our experience, especially for our current generations, and trying to figure out the right course to avoid danger and where to discover success. We have been under the yoke of a slow economy for nearly four years, and prospects for a rapid recovery and job growth seem dim.

By Paul Deffenbaugh

We are in the middle of a communication revolution. New technologies are altering the way we interact with each other at a speed of change that is almost impossible to keep up with. Telephone conversations have become as quaint as writing letters.

By Paul Deffenbaugh

I have been in my position as editorial director for Metal Construction News for nearly four months now. During that time, I've had the opportunity to meet a number of people in the industry and compare my experiences to those I've garnered in the last 20 years of construction. Interestingly, in the course of one week, I encountered both the best and the less than best in the industry.

By Paul Deffenbaugh

What is the mission for the members of the metal construction industry? Sell more products? Build more buildings? Yes, of course, both of those. But the mission is also greater than that. The mission for any business or industry is greater than that.

On Monday afternoon executives from the American Iron and Steel Institute provided an update on the state of the steel industry. After Thomas Gibson, president and CEO of AISI, welcomed everyone, Dan DiMicco, AISI chairman and CEO of Nucor Corp., began with the latest industry data.

By Paul Deffenbaugh

I've been around construction companies for a long time-going on 30 years now-and the best ones continually improve, look for opportunities to become more efficient, serve their customers better, reduce costs of sales, install improved technologies, hire more engaged people. They improve in a thousand different ways.

By Stefan Schumacher

By Paul Deffenbaugh

After years of just trying to survive, the positive signs in the economy indicate it's time to move to profitability.

By Stefan Schumacher

Working in the construction field, serious injuries are a real possibility, and workplace safety has to be of the utmost concern. The contractors, suppliers, manufacturers and steel producers we talk to tend to take the issue very seriously. That being the case, it may be worthwhile to know more about the Occupational Safety and Health Administration's development of an injury and illness prevention program (I2P2) standard.

By Brendan O'Neill

Construction and manufacturing are significant economic indicators to determine the health of our country, and recently a trade group reports that both of these important sectors continue to move in the right direction...a good sign for the metal construction industry:

By Stefan Schumacher

A recent research study from FMI, which provides consulting to the engineering and construction industry, brings up an interesting question for contractors. Just how low are you willing to bid to earn a project? The study suggests that since the recession owners have been under more and more pressure to get low prices for their projects.