It’s almost impossible to get started on business without first mentioning the inferno we’ve been experiencing the past few weeks. That inferno refers to a lot of happenings around the country and at Bluff Manufacturing. The extreme hot temperatures, the heated political debate over the economy, and the heat our welders at Bluff have been creating to ramp up production to meet manufacturing demands says it all!
Texans have been living in an inferno for the last few weeks with temperatures soaring to 110 degrees Fahrenheit on some days with no rain in sight. Then from nowhere, overnight showers paid us a visit on Friday night and cooled temperatures down by about 10 degrees or so and offered us some much-needed relief.
Our next hope is that our political leaders offer us similar relief by working together to get us out of this economic turmoil. To make things worse, talks of a double-dip recession, the stock market swinging up and down, and the growing European debt problem all contribute to a very uncomfortable and unstable financial environment. A wild week of ups and down, and crazy speculation has made us squirm and worry. Are we seeing a remake of 2009 or is this a ‘sky-is-falling’ scenario?
We can speculate all we want as the Dow index dips and rises, and then repeats, but for now we will let the facts speak for themselves. Yahoo Finance reported that in the last week alone, the Dow closed up about 1 percent Friday and finished the volatile week down just 1.5 percent. But according to certain economists and market strategists (such as Robert Doll, money manager of BlackRock in New York), the U.S. Stock Market and the U.S. economy are becoming increasingly unrelated.
And that is something we have been experiencing first-hand at that the manufacturing sector level. Fortunately, the current financial scenario has not made a dent on the MFG sector. So, while the markets are on a rollercoaster ride of highs and lows, Bluff has only experienced an uptick in demand for our products. This week alone, we exceeded our goals by 20%! Thanks to the hard work and perseverance of the Bluff team, we are growing in every way. Our growth has led us to add more people to our team in order to keep up with increasing business demands. Things have definitely not slowed down at Bluff. It is clear that American companies are doing well as requests for Bluff’s mezzanines are on the rise. A demand for increased space that mezzanines bring translates to growing business demands.
So, while the earth and the political debate heats up, our talented welders are creating their own heat by increasing production to meet the demand in the market. To keep them cool, we’ve arranged for flex-time. Our plant workers come into the plant in the wee hours of the morning using less air-conditioning and low voltage lighting. We not only keep our welders cooler, but we also avoid overloading the circuit at peak hours of the day. We are doing our part in keeping our cool (literally) even as things heat up around us. Stay tuned!
