Machine tool veteran publishes collection of industry insights

Scott Walker, chairman of Mitsui Seiki (USA) Inc., has written the book Rantings of a Machine Tool Salesman, a sometimes funny, sometimes serious, sometimes sentimental selection of the author’s favorite bi-weekly newsletters that were included in each employee’s paycheck envelope over the past 20 years.

The topics include the highs and lows of sales calls, balance sheets, holidays, winning and losing orders, hobbies, manufacturing technology, and business travel.

“It’s about the business of selling machine tools, through my filter, so there’s plenty of philosophy, inspiration, and wine tossed in,” said Walker. “I never planned on writing a book. As a dyslexic growing up in the 1950s and ’60s, before the condition was addressed in the school system, I avoided reading and writing and didn’t study much. What I did was listen and talk and memorize my way through school. Once I started painting in oils, landscapes mostly, something clicked in my brain, and I could read and write exponentially better. I’m always looking for the next good read and essentially kept a work journal in the form of a newsletter for 20 years.”

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