Lessons Learned: An Editor Abroad

It’s hard to talk about Israel without mentioning religion or politics mainly because the Levant region has borne millennia of near-constant strife and shows very few signs of calming down. But I’m going to try … I’m going to talk about cats. Well, cats and innovation.

One thing you will notice when in Israel is that there are cats everywhere. Cats on the streets, cats in the markets, and cats in the patio bars where tourists drink Goldstar beers and swap stories.

In November I traveled to Iscar’s headquarters in Tefen, Israel, as part of a multinational customer seminar. This event brought together machine shop owners and tooling customers from Canada, Italy, Poland, and Romania to witness how the company produces its tooling and to learn from its industry experts.

Technical seminars and tooling demonstrations showed the company’s new tools, but more importantly, turned machining theory into practice.

“One thing in particular that stuck out to me was the discussion about cutter and carbide insert utilization,” said Chris Vander Park, purchaser at Cavalier Tool & Manufacturing, Windsor, Ont. “We are always talking about getting longer life out of an insert or cutter instead of using [Iscar’s] philosophy of taking the optimum tool and finding a way to make a deeper cut, run the cutter faster, and increase feed rates. We get stuck on the longevity of an insert or end mill sometimes instead of optimizing spindle time and increasing throughput on the machine.”

Iscar, which is part of the larger IMC Group, was recently acquired by Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway. It was the first industrial company to be added to his giant portfolio of businesses.

It’s very much a business based on innovation. In fact, more than 40 percent of the company’s estimated $3.5 billion in annual sales comes from products that didn’t even exist five years ago. In addition, 99 percent of the tools produced are destined for the export market.

Israel is a very small land when compared to the wideopen spaces we are used to in Canada. Actually, it’s only about the size of Vancouver Island. It doesn’t have the natural resources Canada is blessed with, nor does it have a neighbor with the pure power of consumption like we do with the United States.

This means innovative thinking needs to be a part of every aspect of business planning in Israel.

“Innovation doesn’t have to happen in one sweeping change,” said Ilan Geri, executive vice president of marketing for Iscar Tools. “Small, incremental steps toward a final goal can be just as effective. Competition is very tight, not just for suppliers like us, but for shops all over the world. Our slogan is ‘Where Innovation Never Stops,’ and we believe in that. It is how you have to work to be successful today.”

It wasn’t all business talk on this trip, however. Stops in ancient Masada, the Old City, and the Dead Sea provided a break from the talk of coatings, carbide, and Q rates … and cats.

I also proved that you can indeed get sunburned at the low elevation of the Dead Sea. Take that, science.