Most conferences = sales pitches, no learning. PDX = hands-on learning and solving real world problems

What you WON'T find at PDX:

❌ Vendor sales pitches disguised as "education"
❌ Theoretical presentations you'll forget by Monday
❌ Networking events where everyone exchanges the same business cards

What you WILL find:

✅ DfAM best practices taught by Impac Systems
✅ Mastering GD&T presented by R. Dean Odell
✅ Sick 3D Robot Guidance by Clayton Controls
✅ 30+ other vendor experts ready to help solve your hardest problems

The catch? We’re limited on attendees. And we’re giving you exclusive access to some of the remaining available seats.

Mesa, AZ | October 21-22, 2025 | $295 (while space remains)

P.S. As subscribers of this newsletter, use code “WBH50” for $50 off registration!

P.S.S. Enter to win one of two free expo passes by filling out the survey.

Last week I mentioned that there will be changes coming to newsletter formatting. This is still in the works, but future editions will read similar to what I’ve presented today. More current events, more stories from history, and more highlight the human aspects of engineering that often get overlooked.

I also wanted to mention that we’re cooking up something special @Pipeline Design & Engineering. You’ll be the first to know and hear about our upcoming launches and projects.

For now, keep being curious, be a leader of yourself, and hug a family member.

-Brad

Industrial production weakened across major economies in July, but China's comprehensive economic slowdown emerged as the most concerning development for global manufacturing supply chains.

US industrial output slipped 0.1% month-over-month, with manufacturing matching this decline as companies adjust to post-tariff operating conditions. Despite monthly softness, American production maintained 1.4% year-over-year growth, suggesting underlying resilience.

European manufacturing faced steeper challenges, with June's 1.3% production drop exceeding the 0.9% decline economists anticipated: reflecting the exhaustion of pre-tariff stockpiling effects.

China's economy, however, showed broad-based deceleration. Industrial output grew just 5.7% annually - its weakest pace since November 2024 - while retail sales rose only 3.7% versus 4.6% forecasts. Most alarmingly, fixed-asset investment expanded just 1.6% year-to-date, sharply down from 2.8% in the first half, with July alone seeing a 5.2% year-over-year decline, the steepest since March 2020.

Property investment plunged 12% in the first seven months, while unemployment edged higher to 5.2%. Beijing's "anti-involution" policies targeting excessive competition compound these headwinds.

Link to original article.

A more detailed analysis is on The Wave.

I have been fascinated by reading and learning about the thinking and ingenuity that birthed everyday tools and techniques that we, as modern engineers, take for granted. I am currently exploring the history of the CNC - starting today with the godfather, John Parsons. Find the full length article on The Wave.

In 1942, when most machine tools were controlled by craftsmen's hands and intuition, a furniture factory owner in Traverse City, Michigan faced an impossible problem. John T. Parsons had just landed a contract to build helicopter rotor blades for Sikorsky Aircraft - components so complex and critical that traditional manufacturing methods simply couldn't deliver the precision required. Within six years, his solution would trigger what the Society of Manufacturing Engineers would later call "the second industrial revolution".

When one of the first 18 blades they produced failed due to a design flaw in the spar, killing the pilot, Parsons realized that the stakes demanded a fundamentally different approach to manufacturing. The traditional method of creating templates involved marking just 17 points along a blade's complex curve, manually drawing contours between them, and filing the piece to specifications. Even skilled craftsmen couldn't achieve the consistency that aviation demanded.

Parsons' genius lay in recognizing a connection others missed. In April 1946, he hired Frank L. Stulen as his Chief Engineer and Vice President of Engineering, poaching him from his position as head of the Rotary Wing Branch of the Propeller Lab at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base. Stulen brought critical insight: his brother worked at Curtis Wright Propeller and mentioned they were using punched card calculators for engineering calculations.

The breakthrough came when Stulen adapted this concept for stress calculations on helicopter rotors; the first detailed automated calculations on helicopter rotors . But Parsons saw something bigger. He asked Stulen to compute 200 points along the edge of the contour using the IBM calculator, rather than the traditional 17. With holes drilled at each of the 200 coordinate sets, the holes were close enough to overlap, eliminating the need for additional tracing or cutting.

The next leap was revolutionary…

Engineering is about solving, innovating, and connecting ideas to make a difference. Progress is a collective effort and your curiosity is what drives it forward. Thank you for exploring the dynamic world of engineering with all of us at Pipeline Design & Engineering and The Wave.

If you found value in this newsletter, share it with a friend or colleague who might enjoy it too. Don’t forget to subscribe so you never miss a new perspective, idea, or breakthrough.

“Creativity is just connecting things. When you ask creative people how they did something, they feel a little guilty because they didn’t really do it, they just saw something. It seemed obvious to them after a while.” - Steve Jobs

In collaboration and creativity,
Brad Hirayama
Blueprinting tomorrow, today