As the decade ended, we continued to have plenty of work. But that’s the way it is in the machine tool business. The usual sequence of our employment is out of sync with the national trends (I.E. we were busy working on our order backlog when the general economy is down, and when the economy picks up, we are in a decline due to lack of orders). And that is the way it was in 1979; there was a recession going on, which would last into the early 80’s. Inflation was into the double digits, and unemployment nationally was worse than during the Great Depression.

The large machine order from New Departure had really tied up our resources, both in engineering and manufacuring. Our quoted delivery times for “standard” machines had lengthened, sometimes to 12 months or more. As a result, many of our potential customers were forced to buy their machinery from other sources. And the Japanese were poised to take advantage. Once you lose a customer to another brand, it is very hard to reverse the situation. The J&L design philosophy had always been to create a very robust machine, with a long service life, and support it with a dedicated service department. In effect, these machines could remain productive for decades. But as the electronic controls became more and more sophisticated, it wasn’t the mechanical design of the machine that was the weak point, it was the electronics. There were several NC control manufacturers vying for market share at this time. Allen Bradley, General Automation, GE-Fanuc, and others. The evolution of the controls drove the marketplace; and as we all know, the rate of change accelerates with time, especially in the electronics field. Early NC units required battery backup to retain programming information; as time went on, the battery requirement disappeared. Todays hand held electronic calculators are a good example of just how tiny the package has become. Also, as time went on, the servo drives and their feedback devices (which control the machine tool slides) have become phenomenally accurate.

As the 80’s dawned, we inherited a new Operations manager from Bell Helicopter / Textron. He came out of Texas with his Lincoln and cowboy hat, and never really connected with our people. We launched a new MRP system that would theoretically help us get a hand on future parts ordering. Based on previous ordering history, we launched into  procuring long-lead parts based on future forecasts. But due to the recession, these orders never materialized. We ended up spending a huge amount of money on parts we couldn’t use. Being in engineering, I remember being asked to use any in-stock items if possible on future designs.

The recession hit all the shops hard. There were 1200 people working at J&L at the end of the decade; but the decline had begun. Our success with New Departure caused a loss of customers, our internal problems began to accumulate, and in just a short time, a monumental decision by our parent company would signal the end.