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Foreign competition has made the US steel and automobile industries effect decentralization operations to the middle south and west — to rural, low‐paid, non‐unionized labor, and thus maximising profits and increasing management control. All this has led to a reruralization of the US workforce and by selling off operations, profit levels can be enhanced.

This lesson uses Steel Town to explore the making of steel and life in a steel mill town during the Great Depression. Moving through four centers, students explore resources such as photographs, first-hand accounts, recipes, and songs from the era to learn what life was like at a steel mill, in a steelworker’s home and neighborhood, and throughout the town. Based on their analyses of the resources provided, students compare the benefits and drawbacks of technology to answer the ultimate question regarding steel production: “Is it worth it?” This lesson was created for use in a second or third grade classroom but can be adjusted for older students with the extensions provided.

Purpose – The chapter seeks to broaden the literature on narrative identity by focusing on the processes by which collective, or group, identity narratives develop over time.

Methodology/approach – The chapter combines a “netnography” approach (i.e., ethnography using the Internet) with traditional ethnographic procedures in order to develop an in-depth case study of the collective identity narratives of a selected community that is undergoing rapid economic change.

Findings – Over the course of approximately one century, there have been six distinguishable identity narratives in the selected community. We show that three of these, covering most of the period under investigation, have historical value, while three others are currently competing to become a new narrative identity adapted to the community's altered situation.

Research limitations/implications – The online survey used in the research elicited responses from a broad range of persons nationwide, including both current and former residents. The total number of responses, however, was relatively limited, and we cannot be certain to what degree they represent the views of all current members of the community.

Practical implications – The findings of the chapter may prove useful to local citizens, as well as elected officials and business leaders, as they seek to develop strategic plans for the community's future.

Social implications – The research reveals significant differences in attitudes among older and younger residents, as well as between those who had some association with the community's steel mill and those who did not.

Originality/value of paper – The chapter seeks to make theoretical, methodological, and empirical contributions. On the conceptual level, the discussion raises the seldom explored issue of collective narratives. Methodologically, the analysis adds to the literature on “netnography,” which has thus far been largely dominated by scholars in management. Empirically, the chapter identifies specific stories emerging in a deindustrializing community.

AFTER cutting oils, rolling oils probably constitute the next largest overall offtake of metalworking oils although the proportions for any individual supplier may be very different, since much of the business is in the hands of specialists and some of the largest companies may do little.

The paper is the result of an investigation into the pricing practices of large steel manufacturers in the European Community. From mid‐1993 to early 1994, steel prices in the community rose substantially. The unity of purpose displayed in an industry that has high fixed costs and chronic overcapacity caused some concern among steel users and policy makers. Research undertaken to ascertain whether or not collusive pricing had occurred indicated that steel firms priced their products to achieve long‐term survival. There was nothing to suggest that their pricing was collusive. The implication of this is that while certain practices may smack of collusion, a case by case investigation is always necessary to establish the presence or otherwise of any suspected anti‐competitive conduct.

In milling of stainless steel materials, various cutting tool failures such as flank wear, crater wear, cracks, chipping, etc. can be observed because of their work hardening tendency and low thermal conductivity. For this reason, this paper aims to develop some coolants and coatings to reduce these formations. However, further research should be performed to reach the desired level.

In this study, the initial flank wear rates of uncoated and titanium nitride-coated tungsten carbide cutting tools were investigated during the milling of AISI 430 ferritic stainless steel. The milling experiments were conducted under dry and minimum quantity lubrication (MQL) conditions. Nano graphene reinforced vegetable cutting fluid was prepared and applied by the MQL system. The mixture ratios of nanofluids were selected as 1 and 2 wt.%, and MQL flow rates were adjusted at 20 and 40 ml/h.

It was observed that MQL milling with nano graphene reinforced cutting fluid has advantages over dry milling and MQL milling with pure cutting fluid in terms of the initial flank wear.

This paper contains new and significant information adequate to justify publication. MQL is a new method for vegetable cutting fluid containing nano graphene particles.

Cutting fluids despite playing an important role in metal cutting have considerable environmental impact. Inert gaseous metal cutting environments were investigated with the aim of removing soluble oil cutting fluids from metal cutting operations.Design/methodology/approach – Industrially reproducible cutting tests were devised, where an austenitic stainless steel and En32 low carbon steel material was milled in a range of different cutting environments. Tool life was measured for tests carried out in a number of gaseous environments and results were then compared with test results from conventional flood cutting environments.Findings – Low oxygen gaseous environments were compared with conventional cutting environments and a considerable flank wear reduction has been recorded using CVD coated tooling. Additionally flood coolant environments have been seen to promote chemical wear after the initial breakdown of coatings leading to rapid flank wear during milling of both En32 and austenitic stainless steel.Research limitations/implications – Only a limited number of work/tool material combinations have been investigated. A more detailed and exhaustive investigation is required to ascertain the scope of the improvements for a range of tool work combinations. This will assist in understanding the underlying reasoning for the tool life enhancement reported.Practical implications – All experimentation carried out is industrially reproducible. This work, therefore, proposes an environmentally clean alternative to the use of emulsified oils in metal cutting operations in order to exploit cost savings and improved operator working environments.Originality/value – Distinct operational performance improvements have been demonstrated in the form of extended tool life for metal cutting operations performed in a non‐polluting cutting environment. These findings could herald widespread advantages within the metal cutting community.

The impacts of information technology on business relationships have been of interest to managers for decades, and this stream of research has also steadily gained recognition among academics. However, the emergence of mobile technologies and the use of mobile solutions within business relationships is a less well studied area. Thus, the purpose of this research is to show how mobile solutions can be deployed within industrial buyer‐supplier relationships to enhance processes, coordination and overall value creation.

The empirical part of the research presents an in‐depth case study in the context of the steel industry.

It is shown that mobile technology usage has a central role in key business relationships to improve internal and inter‐organizational coordination. Mobile technology usage grid was conceptualized from the literature to categorize the possible impacts of mobile technology deployment on coordination.

As a practical result, this research shows that a wi‐fi infrastructure based system that uses handheld devices like PDAs can be used to shorten and cut costs of internal and interfacing processes between buyer and supplier. In practice, the steel hardness test report measurements and transmissions from one organization to another are made more effective.

The limitation of the research is the use of only one case study and the resulting lack of generalizable results. Future studies could include case studies in other contexts, and later a quantitative study could be conducted to validate and broaden the findings.

The paper presents how mobile technology is used in a business relationship and what kind of impacts the usage has on the relationship. The paper contributes to the evolving bonding discussion in business relationships as well as indicates ways to use mobile technology effectively in a business relationship.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the efficiency of cutting fluids when end milling AISI 304 stainless steels.

Two groups of cutting tests were conducted, one with the application of a coolant (wet machining) and the other – without (dry cutting), using multilayer coated carbide inserts. The findings of tool life and tool wear mechanisms are compared.

Coolant application proves to be efficient at low‐cutting speeds. With increasing the cutting speed, the coolant effect on improving tool life becomes less significant. Built‐up edge and nose wear are the dominant failure mechanisms in dry machining, while in wet machining, the dominant mechanisms are found to be notch wear and cutting edge grooving.

This paper provides useful information for manufacturing engineers dealing with end milling of stainless steel components. It helps select beneficial cutting conditions for dry and wet end milling operations.

The steel industry in the U.S. has been experiencing declining revenues and rising losses. Over half the steel mills have filed for bankruptcy. To remedy the situation, the industry asked the federal government for help with the retirees’ pensions and protection from steel imports. The government imposed tariffs of 8 to 30 per cent to last for three years. Reaction to the tariffs from U.S. trade partners has been negative. The government hopes the industry will take advantage of the break to modernize and become more efficient. The history of the industry, however, sheds doubt on the industry’s ability to overcome past inefficiencies.