Custom Carbon and Graphite Machining Blog

25 Apr

Inflation, Rising Gas Prices, and Graphite Fabrication

2021 was not a great year to move graphite blocks (or any commodity, truth be told) around the globe. Supplier bottleneck issues, freight costs going up 4, 5 and even up to 10-fold, containers of graphite blocks coming from China costing up to $18000 to ship (that’s up from $2000 a year earlier): the news was bad across the board for graphite fabrication businesses when it came to shipping. Businesses that did not think strategically in 2021 face another very tough year as graphite blocks aren’t getting any cheaper to move around the globe, nor is it getting any cheaper...

28 Feb

Graphite Manufacturing Issues with Supply

As a graphite company, Semco pays a lot of attention to trends in graphite manufacturing. Of great interest to any company in the graphite field is the expected ramp up of electric vehicle production both domestically and internationally. The fastest growing car company in the world exclusively makes electric cars (do we need to say who it is?), and most major auto manufacturers have plans to transform their petrol-burning fleets to electric vehicles. When they begin putting those plans into action (as many already have--see the new electric Ford F-150s, for example), the need for battery components will ramp up,...

27 Dec

Capital Investment in Graphite Production at Semco Carbon

In graphite machining, as in all things in life, you get what you pay for. Semco Carbon is in the business of manufacturing the highest quality graphite applications for our customers. That means that we invest in the best graphite production equipment. We do not skimp on technology. Our strong capital investment in our machines means long-term benefits for our customers and our company. In order to maintain and increase our productivity and quality, Semco is in the process of purchasing a brand new milling machine and lathe. This equipment upgrade represents a capital investment in excess of half a...

06 Dec

Five Graphite Manufacturing Lessons

If good things come in 3s, then great things must come in 5s. We took a short break around Thanksgiving from what we usually do (buy graphite, machine graphite components, etc) to take stock of what we have to be thankful for, and the following are 5 graphite manufacturing milestones that Semco is proud to have accomplished. First things first: we managed to grow the level of our graphite manufacturing business in 2021 while keeping all our workforce employed. In fact, we have even managed to add employees, no small feat in this very tight job market we currently find...

16 Nov

Continuing China Tariffs and Tight Labor Market

Semco is a graphite company deeply connected to the national and world economies. As the American economy heats up, and the American consumer’s appetite for things like the graphite solutions that we offer increases, some issues we have signaled in the past are amplified. While demand grows, supply chain disruptions, lack of shipping containers, and green initiatives in China have stretched our ability to continue some of our relationships with Chinese vendors of graphite raw materials. The Trump administration’s tariffs, instituted a few years ago, seem to be here to stay under the Biden administration. This is unwelcome news for...