Greg Burns has a great post in the Chicago Tribune.  He writes that all aspects of manufacturing in America have declined.  That’s the bad news.  The good news is that there are smart, small, agile manufacturing companies in the U.S. that can compete with China’s low (slave) wage alternative.

One company Burns does not mention is Finkl Steel, which like many other American mills is proving that small and smart beats big and traditional (the great plants of the 1950s were smart; however, they could not change).  Finkl moved with the times, and it is growing in its new location on Chicago’s South side.

Only companies that can adapt will survive.  Only workers who have the skills need to operate computers and precision machinery will have the opportunity to work at these companies.  The days of simple tasks fueled by muscle and sweat are over.

David Farr is the CEO of Emerson Electric, a $1.7-billion-dollar company heavily involved in manufacturing. What does he think about the job that the Democrats are doing in Washington?

In this Bloomberg article, he explains:

Emerson Electric Co. Chief Executive Officer David Farr said the U.S. government is hurting manufacturers with regulation and taxes and his company will continue to focus on growth overseas.

“Washington is doing everything in their manpower, capability, to destroy U.S. manufacturing,” Farr said today in Chicago at a Baird Industrial Outlook conference. “Cap and trade, medical reform, labor rules.”

Emerson, the maker of electrical equipment and InSinkErator garbage disposals with $20.9 billion in sales for the year ended September, will keep expanding in emerging markets, which represented 32 percent of revenue in 2009. About 36 percent of manufacturing is now in “best-cost countries” up from 21 percent in 2003, according to slides accompanying his speech.

Companies will create jobs in India and China, “places where people want the products and where the governments welcome you to actually do something,” Farr said.

The unemployment rate in the U.S. jumped to 10.2 percent in October, the highest level since 1983. Emerson, which Farr said employs about 125,000 people worldwide, has eliminated more than 20,000 jobs since the end of 2008 to lower expenses.

“What do you think I am going to do?” Farr asked. “I’m not going to hire anybody in the United States. I’m moving. They are doing everything possible to destroy jobs.”

[...]Mature markets such as the U.S., Western Europe and Japan continue to decline in importance and the company will keep investing in emerging markets, Farr said during the presentation.

“We as a company today are putting our best people, our best technology and our best investment in these marketplaces to grow,” he said. “My job is to grow that top line, grow my earnings, grow my cash flow and grow my returns to the shareholders. My job is not to shrink and roll over for the U.S. government.”

[...]In renewable and alternative-energy markets, Emerson had 2009 sales of $50 million and plans to increase that to more than $800 million in five years.

“But you are not going to see Emerson going out there with fancy commercials or sitting at the right hand of some president, talking about this,” Farr said. “We do it.”

When it comes to manufacturing jobs, the only person whose opinion counts is the CEO of the manufacturing company, because he makes the hiring decisions.

Why Obamanomics will not improve the economy

I noticed the Bloomberg article because it was linked to this American Thinker article, which was linked at Marshall Art’s blog.

The American Thinker article analyzes why Obamanomics will not improve the economy.

Excerpt:

The reason that Obamanomics will not and cannot work is because an economy cannot be managed from the top. Economics is a bottom-up process that depends upon individual incentives. Critical incentives have been diminished or destroyed by recent economic policies. Fear, uncertainty, threats, tax increases, penalties, and violations of the rule of law are but some of the conditions anathema to entrepreneurs, small business, and large business. Businesses will not hire, invest, or expand in a climate of disincentives. No commands from on high can force economic activity. That was a lesson that should have been learned from Eastern Europe and the former USSR.

If these disincentives are left in place, our economy will continue to shrink and our standard of living will continue to diminish. Capital has no nationality, and it will start to flee our shores. Talent will follow. We will not recover from this economic downturn until businesses and individuals have a more favorable incentive structure.

You can’t argue with the 10.2% unemployment rate, and it’s only going to get worse. Everything that Obama has done has been bad for business, and has contributed to raising unemployment. Democrats, (and the people who voted Democrat), know less about economics than my keyboard.

There was a comment to a blog about unemployment disaster by Adrianna Huffington. A person, nicknamed as Gatormouth, commented as below:

“ This obsession with pushing job creation as the central problem by pundits and politicians is a possibly deliberate distraction. The problem has been with retention of domestic investment capital and the exportation of existing and newly created jobs. Fair and reciprocal trade has been slandered as “Protectionism”. But “Free Trade” as practiced amounts to the equivalent of unilateral disarmament, a form of National suicide.”

My answer to this person is as below:

“Your comment is interfering with my Thanksgiving meal preparation and doing other fundamental living/bear- necessities.

This obsession with “Caring only for reducing Budget Deficits and Costs of doing whatever,” and “Having Nothing To Do /Doing Nothing” for “Recovering Economy and Helping with Unemployed People” as the central problem by “Misguided” politicians and people is a “Deliberate distraction for this country”.

The problem has “NOT” been with retention of domestic capital investment and the exportation of existing and newly created jobs. It has been the wrongly structured Economic Activities / Industrial Structure of this country, in which the major economic activities and growth have occurred in trading money in financial sector and having people enjoy good lifestyles via service and retailing sectors while US competitiveness in marketing and production of manufacturing goods have been staggeringly, delusively deteriorated by continuously producing goods that less and less people get interested in buying. Keep investing on businesses, production capacities or financial services, in which the executives keep producing products that nobody wants to buy, or legally robe investors’ money, does it help?

As far as I remember, the US government’s imposing “Tariffs” on international trade around the 1930s was one of the main causes of “Great Depression” !!! (apology if I were mistaken; there’s a saying that dog trainers don’t train female dogs because they forget their learned tricks after delivering puppies)

(Reference: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/arianna-huffington/will-the-unemployment-dis_b_368329.html?page=2&show_comment_id=35184189)

Jason Kelly, freelance marketing and public relations consultant looks at why the UK marketing and public relations sector is suffering because of its growth during Britain’s service industry boom – when did Britain become blue collar allergic? 

Britain may have started the industrial revolution, but as normal we stood back smiling at our industrial landscape whilst other nations took it to the next level of evolution! Just like the England Football Team when they score a goal, industry sat back to admired its skill and success,  and then  decided engineering and manufacturing was no longer in style.

For the past twenty years or so Britain’s industries have become more service-based than production-based, manufacturing was sent overseas to nations who now have a stronger economic prowess then we do. Instead Britain decided the white collar looked smarter than the blue collar and so the service industry established itself – so much so that the creative industry evolved. Employing thousands of people across Britain the creative industry is made up of marketing and communications firms offering online and offline services to support finance houses, customer service management organisations and the retail and leisure industries.

Already countries who are more dependent on traditional-based industry are claiming they are either out of a recession, or are seeing sunnier days ahead; accept for the UK that is. While other nations are preparing for good times, the UK is still swimming uphill trying to trade anything it can find to drive revenues back into the UK economy.

It’s not all bad, some larger agencies are managing to hang on to clients, but other businesses with smaller balance sheets are seeing staff numbers cut and even firms closing – will the UK creative industry go the same way as the UK manufacturing industry?  

The UK Government needs to support traditional based industries by offering incentives, such as fiscal-based packages (that work) – to support UK-based manufacturers, whilst at the same time making Britain an attractive location for overseas firms to set up operations. More investment needs to be given to attract the entrepreneur – I know there are programmes already available, but the Government needs to make this a priority. Government-based business support organisations need to ditch their current thinking processes that both start-ups and established-based firms only need help with producing business plans or promotion during overseas trade fairs.

Maybe the Government should support traditional-based industries and the creative sector by commissioning the creative agencies to reenergise  ‘blue collar pride’!

As judged by the balance of trade expressed in per capita terms, thus adjusting for the sheer size of each nation, the effectiveness of the United States’ trade policies ranks near the very bottom of the nations of the world.  (See U.S. Trade Policy Ranks Among World’s Worst.)  Since the near-total collapse of the global economy last year, most economists who once shrugged off the effects of global trade imbalances now admit that these imbalances were the root cause of the collapse and can’t be sustained. 

The biggest trade imbalance has been between the U.S. and the rest of the world.  In spite of the best efforts of American manufacturers to get leaner and become more competitive, the trade deficit has been worsening for decades.  It begs the question whether there are factors at work that make these trade imbalances inevitable in a free trade environment. 

In Five Short Blasts,  I used U.S. trade data to argue that disparities in population density are a major (if not dominant) factor behind the U.S. trade deficit in manufactured goods.  But if population density is a factor, then the same impact on trade should be evident in the trade data for all nations of the world.  Densely populated nations should tend to have trade surpluses in manufactured goods while more sparsely populated nations should tend to have trade deficits.   To test my theory on such a global scale, I’ve completed a study of trade data for all nations of the world, using trade data provided by the CIA in its World Fact Book.   I began by breaking down the trade balance into exports and imports.  The following spreadsheets rank the exports and imports of all nations* in per capita terms:

Exports Per Capita, All Nations    Imports Per Capita, All Nations

You can see that the U.S. ranks 46th out of 154 nations in terms of exports per capita, and 118th in terms of imports.  But I soon realized that the top of the exports chart and the bottom of the imports chart were dominated by wealthy, developed nations.  That’s why I included the per capita Purchasing Power Parity (PPP, roughly equivalent to per capita GDP) for each nation in the charts.  To determine whether wealth was a factor, as logic would seem to suggest, I plotted x-y scatter charts for each:

Exports vs PPP Chart    Imports vs PPP Chart

As you can see, the wealth of a nation has a powerful influence on the volume of its exports and imports.  It makes sense.  A wealthy oil-producing nation, for example, may export oil in exchange for imports of manufactured goods.  A poor nation, on the other hand, has little to sell and, thus, has little money to buy.  That’s why this effect wasn’t evident when we looked only at the overall trade balance.  A poor nation is just as likely to have a balance of trade because it has nothing to sell or buy as a wealthy nation that exports and imports a great deal while maintaining an overall balance.

Therefore, it becomes necessary to confine our analysis of trade to developed, wealthy nations in order to avoid having other influencing factors muted by the wealth effect.  So I chose to confine my analysis to those nations with purchasing power parity (PPP) per capita (roughly a measure of GDP per capita) of $25,000 or greater.  (For reference, the U.S. had PPP in 2008 of $47,500.)

The following spreadsheet ranks the balance of trade of the 31 nations with a per capita PPP greater than $25,000. 

Trade Balance Per Capita, PPP GT 25K

I included a column with each nation’s balance of trade in oil and natural gas because I noticed what seemed to be a strong correlation.  High-lighting the net oil-exporting nations in yellow, it becomes easy to see the effect.  Like the effect of wealth, the effect of oil isn’t surprising either.  Naturally, those nations that export huge volumes of oil and gas are going to have favorable trade balances.  (As an aside, I found it interesting that, among developed nations with a deficit in oil and gas, America’s deficit, when expressed in per capita terms, is rather mundane – about the same as other nations.)

Since natural resources tend to be distributed unevenly around the world, trade in resources is vital and beneficial to all.  What’s really important is how nations use trade in manufactured products to offset deficiencies in natural resources and to maintain an overall balance of trade.  Unfortunately, no data for manufactured goods is available.  (If it is, I haven’t found it.)  However, I know from my experience in analyzing U.S. trade data that oil and gas tend to dominate trade in natural resources.  Subtracting them from the overall trade balance usually yields a pretty good approximation of trade in manufactured products.  So, using the CIA’s data and subtracting oil and gas from the overall trade balance, the following is a ranking of developed nations’ balance of trade in manufactured goods:

Manf’d Good Trade Balance, PPP GT 25K

Because my goal in analyzing this global trade data for manufactured goods was to determine whether or not there is any evidence of population density having an effect, it was here that I included the population density data.  And a relationship seems to jump out at you when you compare the population density of the nations at the top of the list (those with the most favorable balance of trade in manufactured products) to those at the bottom of the list.  (Here I should note that the overall population density for this group of 31 nations combined is 30.4 people per square kilometer.  The United States is almost right on this figure, at 31.3.  But the only proper way to determine whether a relationship exists is to plot the data on an x-y scatter chart and then have the computer generate a trend line.  A flat line indicates no relationship while a sloping line indicates the presence of a relationship.  Here’s the chart:

Manf’d Goods vs Pop Density

There is a fairly strong relationship evident.  But the slope of the line is somewhat muted by the presence of what is known in statistics as an “outlier” – a data point that is so far out of the range of the other data points that it’s statistically insignificant.  In this case it’s Qatar, the world’s champ in oil exports, at least in per capita terms.  Qatar exports so much oil that it has no need whatsoever of producing anything else.  They simply kick back and enjoy the good life with a PPP that far exceeds that of any other nation, net oil exporters included.  So, if we delete that data point, the chart changes as follows:

Manf’d Goods vs Pop Density2

Now the trend line conforms more to the data.  And if we were to eliminate Ireland, the data point at the other extreme end of the scale, but not quite an outlier, it’s easy to see that the trend line would conform to the data even more closely. 

It’s also important to note that by confining this analysis to developed nations – those with per capita PPP exceeding $25,000 – I excluded the most dominant player in world trade today:  China.  If China’s data point were included, it would fall right on the trend line, with a population density of 140 people/sq km and a balance of trade in manufactured goods of $351. 

It’s impossible to overstate the significance of this relationship.  Because economists adamantly refuse to give any consideration to the role of population growth in economics, they have completely overlooked the relationship between population density and per capita consumption, and its ramifications for trade.  (To learn more about the relationship between population density and per capita consumption, see “the theory explained” category on this blog.)

Finally, it’s worth noting here that population density also plays a role in driving trade imbalances in oil.  Very densely populated nations tend to be net oil importers, forcing them to export even more manufactured goods in order to maintain a balance of trade, combining with the effect of population density on their low per capita consumption.  High oil consumption and low domestic consumption of manufactured products team up to make such nations heavily dependent on exports of manufactured products. 

Summary and conclusions:

1. The balance of trade of the U.S., a nation with a low population density relative to most other nations, ranks near the bottom of all nations.
2. Global trade is dominated by oil and gas.  Oil exporting nations use their profits to purchase other natural resources and manufactured goods.  Oil importing nations export manufactured goods to fund their purchases of oil and gas.
3. How successful a nation will be in using manufactured goods to maintain a balance of trade is heavily influenced by its population density.  The effect is real and significant. 
4. The practice of free trade between two nations grossly disparate in population density is very likely to result in a trade deficit in manufactured goods for the less densely populated nation. 
5. Failure to account for the population density effect in global trade policies will likely result in sustained trade imbalances. 

—————————————–

* Small island nations, whose economies are dominated by tourism, are excluded.  Tiny city-states are included in their surrounding or neighboring countries.  (Example:  Hong Kong is included in the data for China.)

Cambridge Industrial Design has set up a group on LinkedIn for those interested in Manufacturing Abroad.  The group is for everyone involved in product development and manufacture.

Maybe you have experience of manufacturing in China or elsewhere in Asia.  Are you are looking for a new sheet metal supplier in Europe and don’t know where to start?  How do you control quality and design changes?  If you have some great tips for manufacturing abroad join here and get involved.

ReadWriteWeb is a must-read blog for many people interested in social media, and its coverage of corporate adoption of Web 2.o is excellent for those looking at its use in business (so-called Enterprise 2.0). Today, I read a post, Enterprise 2.0: Study Shows Adoption is Real, by Alex Williams that reported survey data from the 2.0 Adoption Council revealing social media adoption in some of the world’s largest organisations.

It shows, unsurprisingly, that high tech companies are leading the way in uses of Enterprise 2.0 technologies, although most are still at the ‘early adopter’ stage, with manufacturing businesses also bringing social computing into the work of their employees (post). But adoption by engineering/construction organisations apparently lags a long way behind.

It looks depressing, but I figure this probably has a lot to do with the small size of the Council’s sample – probably only one AEC firm figured in the survey, so the snapshot is little more than anecdotal as far as construction organisations are concerned. But even if the sample was extended to encompass more AEC businesses, I expect the industry would still be seen as lagging behind, not least because many firms actively block social networking by their employees (a recurring topic in this blog – see Why social media bans won’t work, for example), and have people, systems and processes that are often almost anti-collaborative (Not Invented Here).

Groups and individuals speaking out about forthcoming world oil supply challenges are frequently stereotyped as a fringe element with little knowledge about the oil industry. But their warnings are increasingly supported by some surprising allies: senior petroleum industry officials, consultants and analysts. Call these serious-minded critics the Harsh Realists.

Most prominent are CEO’s from several large oil companies. Christophe de Margerie, CEO of France’s Total SA, said earlier this year, “world oil production may plateau below 90 million barrels a day (mb/day)” — marginally more supply than today’s 85 mb/day rate. Last month, CEO’s James Mulva (ConocoPhillips) and John Hess (Hess Corp.), sounded similar warnings, though with less specificity about the numbers, at the Oil & Money Conference in London. At ASPO-USA’s October conference in Denver, Ray Leonard, CEO of Hyperdynamics Corp., said, “world oil was nearing peak oil at 90 mb/day, and that isn’t changed by recent events.”

During September, ASPO-USA representatives interviewed numerous oil industry experts from the UK, Ireland and the Middle East. Links to those online videos are below. Featured is Sadad al Husseini, former exploration and production VP with Saudi Aramco and currently a consultant. Said Husseini, “There is not enough new capacity coming on line, within say the next five to six years, to make up for global declines. And that’s assuming a very moderate level of declines.” For groups that remain in fundamental denial about upcoming world oil supply constraints, Husseini said, ” these centers of information or knowledge that try to pacify people — telling them there is no challenge, with good intentions — are probably compromising the solutions. They’re not helping.”

Talisman Energy’s former CEO James Buckee wonders why major oil companies “aren’t more forthcoming on the peak oil issue.” He then opines, “if Exxon were to come out [about peak oil], it would be world-shaking, and political, and maybe they don’t want to go there.”

Jeremy Gilbert, former Chief Petroleum Engineer with BP and now a consultant, stated “I find it hard to believe that the [oil] companies cannot see that the exploration record suggests that there’s a real problem with new discoveries.”

Jeremy Leggett, former petroleum geologist and lead author of the UK’s Industry Task Force on Peak Oil and Energy Security, worries that “we’re dealing with dysfunctional culture in the energy industry in the same way the world had to deal with the really dysfunctional culture in the investment banking community. It’s different [from the financial crisis] in that this time, there are many people warning. Many people in and around the oil industry…But most governments are not listening.”

Related links

IBISWorld industry reports:

-Oil Drilling & Gas Extraction in the U.S.
-Global Oil and Gas Exploration and Production
-Mining, Oil & Gas Machinery Manufacturing
-World Production – Oil
-World Price – Energy – Crude Oil

Manufacturing of the dog bags has commenced.  We have officially launched DogParkCommunity.com.  So much to be grateful for, a brilliant partner, an awesome supportive family…. and a great dog, Timmy!

On it's way to becoming a dog bag masterpiece

Hello Friends here we come up with the Latest News round up from Indian Economy and various industrial Sectors of the country.

News Round Up

Economy

·  Wholesale price of food items rose 14.55% for the week ended November 7 from a year earlier due to dearer cereals, dairy items as well as mutton and eggs.

However, wholesale prices of fuel-related products dipped 1.51% in the week under consideration, compared to the corresponding period of the previous year.

Oil & Gas

· Cairn India and its joint venture partners have decided to take up 4 dimensional (4D) seismic survey of Ravva field in the Krishna-Godavari Basin to further explore oil and gas reserves.

· Liquefied gas importer, Petronet LNG Ltd (PLL), is keen to acquire up to 10 per cent stake in ONGC Petro-additions Ltd (OPaL), which is setting up a cracker complex in Gujarat.

OPaL is, a Rs 12,440-crore petrochemicals project, being set up by ONGC at Dahej in Gujarat.

Infrastructure

The Adani group-promoted Mundra Port and Special Economic Zone (MPSEZ) is all set to develop a non-LNG port at Hazira.

Hazira Port, which is a joint venture of Shell Gas BV and Total Gaz Electricite Holdings France, issued a letter of intent to the Adani group for developing the port in the booming southern Gujarat industrial belt.

Capital Goods

· State-run Bharat Heavy Electrical (BHEL) has set up a new transformer manufacturing facility at Bhopal in Madhya Pradesh.

This new facility would enable BHEL to produce an additional 12,000 MVA (mega volt ampere) of transformers per annum.

· Pollution control equipment maker Thermax bagged an order worth Rs 477.77 crore from an Orissa-based company for construction of a captive power plant.

Aviation

· The Vijay Mallya-led Kingfisher Airlines led the chart of the loss-making carriers by reporting a massive Rs 1,602 crore in losses in 2008-09, followed by Jet Airways with a loss of Rs 1,032 crore.

Oil Drilling

· Jindal Drilling & Industries has bagged an order worth Rs 635 crore from Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC) for hiring a drilling unit for five years.

Metal

· Tata Steel, the world’s sixth largest steel maker, is raising its annual iron ore production by 55 per cent to 17 million tonnes in India over the next two years.

The expansion is expected to cost about Rs 1,100 crore.

Information Technology

·  Satyam Computer Services (rebranded Mahindra Satyam) has received legal notices from 37 companies claiming a refund of $265 million (approximately Rs 1,230 crore), allegedly given as temporary advance.

Automobile

· Mahindra & Mahindra, India’s largest manufacturer of sports utility vehicles, is believed to be in advanced talks with the Tamil Nadu government for establishing an integrated auto facility in the state.

Forging

·  The Kalyani Group’s flagship company Bharat Forge is planning to make a big foray into the power sector with an investment of up to Rs 50,000 crore and a targeted generation capacity of up to 10,000 Mw, over the next 10 years.

Note : For More Latest Industry, Stock Market and Economy News and Updates, please click here

Solar-Powered Plane Makes Runway Debut

by Ariel Schwartz, 11/23/09

Biofuels are often touted as the next big thing in airplane fuel technology, but solar power shouldn’t be discounted — as was recently proven by the team behind the Solar Impulse. The solar-powered plane just took its first test down the runway, and eventually the plane is expected to take a 20 to 25 day trip around the world.

see http://www.inhabitat.com/2009/11/23/solar-powered-plane-makes-runway-debut/

Today, President Obama announced a new national science fair for young inventors. He wants to show kids how “cool” science is and give them the same treatment as sports stars when they win a championship. A noble goal, but one that doesn’t get the point. Obama decries the lag in science scores, but ignores the more important reality, a culture of innovation. As a lawyer and politician, he just doesn’t get it.

Someone else who didn’t get it and lost her job because of it is Carly Fiorina, now running for the Senate seat occupied by Barbara Boxer of California. Ms. Fiorina came out of the marketing and sales group at ATT/Lucent. When she began at AT&T, it was one of the country’s crown jewels of technology and included Bell Labs.  Cutting edge innovation in microcircuitry and telecommunications took place there every day. It was exciting and amazing. Over the years since it was started by Thomas Edison, Bell Labs invented radio astronomy, the transistor, the laser, the photovoltaic cell,  and the UNIX operating system and 100 other basic technologies. There was no specific brief on where they could go, and a lot of the “pure” research that was done ended up paying huge dividends.

With outsourcing and offshoring, the MBA’s, including Ms. Fiorina, decided that the scientists and engineers and lab techs were too expensive and that emphasis should be placed on applied research. Thus began the downsizing and dismantlement of much of Bell Labs. Today it is a shadow of it’s former self.

Ms. Fiorina led the spinoff of Lucent from AT&T to “enhance shareholder value”. From there she leapt to Hewlett Packard, where she again cut back on the R&D side. Agilent, the scientific instrument business, was spun off in 1999 and she was the center of it. She then proceeded to purchase Compaq Computer, a commodity computer manufacturer to go with what was left of HP. All of these bad decisions have been reflected in the price per share of these companies for years afterwards. HP had effectively lost its soul. From the days of Bill & Dave using Stanford as their minor league system and creating the ultimate engineering culture, it went to Ms. Fiorina’s infamous  “does anybody have a good idea for a new product?” memo.

What neither Mr. Obama nor Ms. Fiorina understand is that invention and science spring from a certain culture. Tinkerers, designers, machinists, basement chemists, slide rule jockeys, and geeks are all a part of this. But management has quite successfully outsourced most of this to a point where even leading technologists no longer have a fundamental understanding of the means of production, which is essential to invention and manufacturing. Today, we have some of the smartest people in the world working in the labs with almost no understanding of how biotech and nanotech and all sorts of other tech translates into the real world.

There is a certain joy in making something faster or watching a chemical reaction or putting things together in new ways. But you have to have the ability to translate those ideas into reality effectively. and this we have lost.

We don’t have the factory floors to prowl or the conference rooms to BS in or the processing lines out back to see “what if”. Even DARPA is a closed loop devoted to “applications” oriented research instead of the blue sky “let’s fund this crazy idea for $1,000,000, Dick” organization it was 20 or 30 years ago.  Management and government thought of maximizing shareholder value and COTS (Commercial, off the shelf) instead of optimizing manufacturing, and the cross-pollination of ideas that creates breakthroughs. The bureaucrats and MBA’s are firmly in charge now.

Now, when a lot of the infrastructure is gone, the President wants to encourage invention once again. It’s a noble cause, but the horse is to a good degree out of the barn. Ms. Fiorina wants to be a Senator well, just because she wants to. Kids can’t even access a proper lab these days because of liability issues and the fact that chemicals and electricity and making things can be “so dangerous”. Gouges and scrapes and burns used to be badges of honor in the manufacturing/engineering class. Now they are causes for lawsuits.

American exceptionalism was defined by the opportunity to fail or make it big. Opportunity of outcome doesn’t work in science and technology. There were over 100,000 people on the Apollo program who were dedicated and failure truly was not an option. With  millions of parts on a Saturn rocket, 99.99% reliability still meant that hundreds could fail, any of which could lead to disaster. The miracle was that we got any rockets off the ground and that we had so few failures. Instead, as a counterpoint, today we are presented with a climate research scandal in which results may have been tainted and data faked. The deterioration of the scientific culture itself is an issue.

MBA’s and lawyers are probably the least qualified to address these issues. Both Ms. Fiorina and Mr. Obama are of the type who think that steaks come from the supermarket rather than cows. This is not getting out there and addressing our country’s desperate need to regain our mojo. The old guys are still out there. Technology has not changed so that we are irrevocably behind, but we must act now. As the government blows trillions of dollars propping up decrepit companies and paying off political allies, our country must once again focus on what made us great. On so many levels, the clock is ticking. We should really be taking those billions and investing in manufacturing and technology rather than things like cash for clunkers and make work highway projects.

TITLE: Electrical Controls Manager  Job 534

LOCATION: Winchester, VA    

Salary range: $90k plus Bonus up to 15%

PURPOSE:

Develop, design and implement electrical controls systems.  The primary objective will be to build electrical controls competency throughout the organization in support of manufacturing and quality in pursuit of operational excellence.

 ESSENTIAL FUNCTIONS:

• Provide recommendations for controls solutions for manufacturing equipment as well as peripheral systems support.
• Define and build controls knowledge at the plant locations within the plant engineering structure.
• Research and present new technologies targeting improved process control and automation.

SUPERVISORY RESPONSIBILITIES:

Responsibilities also include the indirect supervision, coordination, and management of multiple employees as they are engaged in Engineering,  6-Sigma, Quality, Maintenance, and TPM. 

 QUALIFICATIONS:

To perform this job successfully, an individual must be able to perform each essential duty satisfactorily. The requirements listed below are representative of the knowledge, skill, and ability required.

            Education, Experience and Skills

• B.S. degree in electrical engineering.  A master’s degree or higher is a plus.
• Must have a demonstrated history of successfully leading projects and facilitating teams in a plant environment that involves all levels of employees with measurable results.  Multi-Plant Experience is required.
• Require experience in PLC’s, Drives, Servos, Robotics and support systems ( HMI, SCADA…)
• Prior TPM and lean certification and experience is a strong plus, however individuals that meet the other skill requirements will receive the appropriate training.
• Ability to learn new concepts and pass the knowledge along to others in classroom and practical experience.
• Proven ability to lead associates through coaching and mentoring.
• Candidates should be highly energized and self-motivated with experience working with teams to implement change and be adept at communicating with all levels to get everyone on board.
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills are required.
• Track record of successful project management across multiple sites.
• Personal computer skills in a networked environment, Microsoft products (Word, Excel, Outlook, and Access) required.
• Designing automated control systems is desirable.

If you are interested and qualified, email your resume to:

bnations@lucasgroup.com.

I’ve got to follow this one up, but I believe I just heard President Obama, speaking after today’s Cabinet meeting say something like, unfortunately the rise in Productivity was a result of businesses find ways to build the same amount with fewer people.

Unfortunately???????  That’s the concept of productivity, for land’s sake!  The whole idea is to produce more with less driving the cost to a competitive level and sell more goods, thus expanding and hiring more people because the company is profitable.

I’d like to think that was a simple slip of phrase and not representative of his thinking, but to be honest …

African-American males struggle with unemployment

The unemployment rate has hit an ultimate high for male-dominated industries, like construction and manufacturing.  The Labor Department reported construction is down 62,000 jobs and manufacturing is down 61,000 jobs.

The recession is affecting African-American men especially.  According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, the unemployment rate for all African-Americans is about 50 percent higher than the entire nation.  Recently, it reported that 17.1 percent of African-American men over the age of 20 lead the country’s jobless unemployment rate.  Just last month the government stated the nation’s unemployment has hit 10.2 percent and has been the highest since 1983, and economists expect it to rise 9.9 percent. 

Randolph Smith

NPR covered a story about a 53-year-old African-American who is suffering from the job cuts due to the poor economy.  Randolph Smith use to manage logistics, inventory and supplies for large companies.  He is still jobless and has had no success in finding a new job, since he was laid off last year. 

Smith said he still continues to job search.

“[I spend time] going through a lot of the search agents that have brought information or leads to me,” he says. “Following with phone calls, just following up with any new connections that I can.”

Smith has had to cut back on costs such as vacations and going out.  He also noted stretching a simple meal, like rice and beans, will go a long way to saving a few extra dollars.  Smith says he is making ends meet off unemployment.

Even though Smith is highly educated with a college degree, he used to attend a workforce class run by the Chicago Urban League. 

CEO of Chicago’s Urban League, Herman Brewer, says regardless of race, several of men have lost jobs during this recession.  However, many black men face many challenges, which have led to their high rates of unemployment. 

Challenges

• high-paying manufacturing jobs
• high rates of incarceration
• limited schooling
•  discrimination

Chad Stone Chief economist at the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities explains the importance of the bill Congress needs to pass regarding the extension for jobless benefits.   

“We’re in a really deep jobs hole,” said Chad Stone,. “The recovery legislation was really important in getting us to the point where a recovery seems to be starting, but we’ll need the additional support for the recovery that will come from renewing the unemployment insurance benefits for next year.”

The bill will add up to 20 extra weeks of aid to prevent almost 2 million recipients from running out of unemployment insurance.

Opinion

I feel this is a great opportunity for public relations practitioners to communicate and increase the awareness of not only the bill that is needed to be passed to increase unemployment benefits, but the issue surrounding African-American men.  More support groups could be developed targeting African-American males, similar to the Chicago’s Urban League.  I find it rather interesting how much minorities have been impacted by the recession.  Why do you think different ethnic groups have been affected in specific job fields?  For instance,  many Asian journalists have been laid-off, while African-American men have been suffering from lay offs in construction and manufacturing.

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Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) survey said India’s manufacturing sector showed firm indications of recovery and was on a higher growth trajectory in the first half (H1) of the current fiscal (2009-10).

However, the survey compared results for April-September 2009 with April-September 2008 and showed that growth rates in the majority of sectors had positive trends in the first half of 2009-10.

Meanwhile, there is also a significant shift in the trends, from the negative and moderate growth category to the high and excellent growth one, as 12% of the sectors registered such a shift in H1 2009-10 compared with all of 2008-09.

The buoyant manufacturing growth in the first half is led by a rise in production of basic goods, intermediate goods and consumer durables while around 10% of the sectors surveyed registered an excellent growth rate in H1 2009-10.

On the other hand, the share of the sectors registering moderate growth declined to 35.8% in H1 this year while Q2 witnessed substantial decline in the share of sectors recording a negative growth rate, to 19.4% from 40 per cent in the first quarter of the current year.

Sectors showing a greater growth rate increased to 35.5% of the total in July–September 2009 while sectors registering an excellent growth rate of above 20% include nitrogen gas, phosphate, motor starters, industrial gasses, and construction equipment.

A high 10-20 per cent growth rate was registered by pumps, light commercial vehicles, cars, scooters and other consumer durables like electronics and home appliances.

Moreover, 20 of 29 sectors have reported negative growth rates in the first half of 2009-10 and with the exception of soda ash, machine tools, cars, multipurpose vehicles and biscuits, all other sectors reported negative and moderate growth rates.

I received communication from Sage recently regarding the library of Extended Solutions for MAS 90/200, and wanted to share it with you.

Sage is continuing to take steps to simplify our product portfolio. We’ll now begin to phase out Sage MAS 90 and 200 Extended Solutions, which were created to address specialized needs of unique businesses. This phase-out process includes incorporating the main features and functionality of many of the top Extended Solution titles into the core product. That additional functionality will be delivered over the next several releases and product updates. This benefits our customers in many ways:

• Adds more value for Sage MAS 90 and 200 customers — most popular features and functionality will continue to be incorporated into core products over the next few releases and product updates
• Reduces “nickel and diming” — customers will see reduced maintenance charges on their annual renewal date when their Extended Solutions titles are no longer added in, resulting in a lower cost of ownership

Customers who own titles that will be retired, and not incorporated into the core product, will begin to see those Extended Solution title(s) drop off their renewal notices. As of November 1, 2010, we will no longer support any retired Extended Solutions titles. Please make note that the 2009 year-end updates will be the last year-end updates for those titles.

Customers who own the select group of titles that contain features and functionality that will be phased into Sage MAS 90 and 200 ERP over the next few releases will continue to see their title(s) on their renewal notices. Also, they’ll continue to receive support until such time as the features and functionality are incorporated into the core product. Once their title has been incorporated into the core product, they will see that title drop off their renewals.

To Summarize:

• Sage will continue to sell a select group of Extended Solutions titles that are compatible with Sage MAS 90 and 200 version 4.3 (contact Amy Shaver for a list of these titles).
• When the main features and functionality of those titles are incorporated into the product, the customers will no longer be charged M&S.
• Customer’s who own the retired Extended Solutions titles will see them removed from renewals.
• For new sales of the retired Extended Solutions titles, customers will purchase them directly from their reseller, working with a Source Code development partner, and not from Sage.

Feel free to contact Amy Shaver with any questions regarding your Sage MAS 90/200 Extended Solutions.  We will continue to keep customers updated as we receive information.

It is imperitive that the aim is to reduce the Resource Intensity of systems, not the ‘efficiency’ of individual processes

dd

IBM Launches Consulting Service for Sustainable Assets

ARMONK, N.Y. – 18 Nov 2009: IBM (NYSE: IBM) has introduced a consulting service to reduce the costs and environmental impact associated with managing property, equipment and business activities.

Sustainable Asset Analytics is designed to help clients manage real estate, supplier performance, carbon data collection and analysis, asset lifecycle maintenance, and all processes and systems used to support these activities. The service can be applied to everything from buildings to information technology and other office equipment to manufacturing tools and warehouse machinery to business travel. 

Property, other assets and business activities of all types can be areas of waste and unnecessary greenhouse gas emissions. Culprits include poor planning and maintenance, inadequate energy management, the heating or cooling of unused space, and the inability to collect and analyze operational information. But by creating a comprehensive plan to manage and measure these activities and assets, clients can reduce energy and water use, lower greenhouse gas emissions and waste, and improve efficiency. ………………

Full press release at http://www-03.ibm.com/press/us/en/pressrelease/28836.wss

Great source for up to the week assessment of manufacturing

This series of posts coincides with a session I’m going to be involved with at Leadership Clark County.  The entire day is going to be devoted to economic development, but here is my charge, as spelled out by Dr. Ed Hasecke, Associate Professor of Political Science at Wittenberg and co-chair for Leadership’s curriculum committee:

My task for today (11/19/2009)

The class is starting off with an introduction to Clark County.  Afterwards, they divide into groups to learn more about specific industries.  This is where you come in.  We would like you to provide insight into the nature of manufacturing in Clark county.  We also plan to have experts that represent agriculture, health care, and higher education.  There will be four 20-30 minute sessions where you will talk with the group about your industry.  This means that you will have 4 separate conversations about your industry with four different groups.  We have found these small group discussions to be much better at helping the class engage the topic and feel like they have met key leaders in the community.  

For your discussion, each group is interested in general trends that your industry faces both nationally and in Clark County.  What challenges face the industry?  If you could provide a brief introduction that describes these trends, that would be a great way to start the conversation.  The class will probably ask you questions like: How does Clark County help your industry?  How does your industry help Clark County?  Are there unique advantages or challenges that you face in this community?  Hopefully, these questions will spark an interesting discussion with the participants in the class.

National trends – recovery, productivity, but no job gains

Let’s look nationally first.  When you look at the economy as it stands now, there are a lot of interesting trends.  A fabulous source I go to is the Weekly Industry Crib Sheet from Industry Market Trends (ThomasNet news).  The following information was gleaned from articles at IMT over the past two weeks:

• The US unemployment rate rose to 10.2% in October, the first time it has been over 10% in 26 years.  Ilya Leybovich writes that this fact is “reaffirming concerns over a jobless recovery and highlighting a growing disconnect between a recovery in economic output and continued job losses.”
• The overall rate of job loss is going down. From IMT (ThomasNet): “The New York Times notes that the economy lost an average of 645,000 jobs per month between November 2008 and April 2009, while the average for the last three months has fallen to 188,000.  ‘People are hurting, but if you can get past the sticker shock of the unemployment rate and look at the guts of the report, they are still very consistent with a recovery. We’re getting very close to the peak unemployment rate,’ Michael T. Darda, chief economist at financial research firm MKM Partners, told the Times.
• US labor productivity is skyrocketing.  “U.S. labor productivity in the non-farm business sector grew at a 9.5 percent annual rate through the third quarter of 2009, the largest gain in productivity since it rose 9.7 percent in Q3 2003, the Bureau of Labor Statistics reported last week. Output increased by 4 percent and hours worked decreased by 5 percent at a seasonally adjusted rate.” 
• Record-setting productivity gains: “When combined with the second-quarter non-farm business productivity increase of 6.9 percent, the U.S. had its strongest productivity growth rate over a six-month period since 1961, the Wall Street Journal reports. As companies continue to cut costs while revenue recovers, employers are able to generate more output from the existing workforce.”
• Manufacturing is leading the productivity gains.  “The largest gains were in the manufacturing sector, in which third-quarter productivity rose by 13.6 percent, with output increasing by 7.7 percent and hours worked falling by 5.2 percent. This was the largest quarterly gain in manufacturing productivity since 1987. Unit labor costs, which measure the cost of the labor needed to produce one unit of output, fell at a 7.1 percent annual rate.”
• It looks like a recovery. ”Big productivity gains are common at the end of recessions and the beginning of recoveries. The usual pattern is productivity grows first, then employment rises, and finally wages increase,” the Wall Street Journal notes.
• For first time in over a year, credit is more available for manufacturers.  This is according to the latest monthly survey of credit professionals from the National Association of Credit Management (NACM).  “The data showed that in October: 1) debt payments improved, 2) the amount of credit being extended rose to its highest level in more than 12 months, 3) fewer applications for credit were being rejected and 4) fewer firms were falling into collection or bankruptcy.”
• Ford and GM posting good results.  Ford’s sales in October are 3.3% over last year; October sales are up 21% over September.  Ford’s share of the US market rose to 14%, highest in 3 years.  GM’s total sales up 4.7%, according to WSJ, and its auto sales in China doubled from last month.  Chrysler’s sales in October were 6% over September but still represents a decline every year for the last 30 years.
• Manufacturing unionization continues decline.  ”In 2008, only one in 10 union members worked in manufacturing, down from nearly three in 10 in 1983. Five in 10 union workers were in the public sector last year, and the remaining four out of 10 were in the private sector outside manufacturing, according to the CEPR” (Center for Economic Policy and Research. 
• Unionization in general continues decline.  “The union membership rate in the U.S. has fallen from 20.1 percent of employed wage and salary workers in 1983 to 12.4 percent in 2008, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics’ (BLS) latest union members summary, which reports that there are 16.1 million workers belonging to a union in the U.S., down from 17.7 million in 1983.”
• Real GDP rose in Q3 2009 for first time in over a year. ”Real gross domestic product (GDP) in the U.S. rose an estimated 3.5 percent (at an annual rate) in the third quarter, following four consecutive quarters of decline. “Most forecasters anticipate another moderate gain in the fourth quarter,” Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke said in remarks to the Economic Club of New York today.”  Note: “The Commerce Department attributed much of the gain to an increase in consumer spending, which added 2.36 percentage points to the increase, while exports accounted for 1.5 percent and sales of motor vehicles and parts constituted 1 percent.”
• Manufacturing equipment orders up in September.  “Consumption of U.S. machine tools and related technologies totaled $153.55 million in September, up 17.8 percent from August, according to the latest monthly U.S. Manufacturing Technology Consumption (USMTC) report from the American Machine Tool Distributors’ Association and the Association for Manufacturing Technology.”
• Midwest purchasing 34% more equipment; South’s purchases declining.  “On a regional basis: Northeast region manufacturing technology consumption in September rose 50.8 percent from August; consumption in the Southern region dropped 42.8 percent; Midwest region consumption rose 33.8 percent; consumption in the Central region increased 8.5 percent; and Western region manufacturing technology consumption in September was up 39.7 percent.”
• Majority of manufacturers predicting positive growth.  “In the latest edition of the PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP Manufacturing Barometer, released last week (this quote from Nov. 2 article), 57 percent of U.S.-based industrial manufacturers said they expect positive growth over the next 12 months, with 12 percent predicting double-digit growth and “45 percent expecting single-digit growth.”

IMS’s October Report on Business

Another great source is the monthly Report on Business by the Institute for Supply Management.  Here is the summary table of activity in manufacturing: 

I find most interesting the fact that (1) the manufacturing sector is trailing a bit in the recovery (3 month lag); (2) exports are growing faster while imports are declining; (3) employment has shifted from contracting to growing; and (4) the PMI increased to above 55.  If you’re not familiar with PMI, here is a quick synopsis from Investopedia:

• What Does Purchasing Managers’ Index – PMI Mean?
  An indicator of the economic health of the manufacturing sector. The PMI index is based on five major indicators: new orders, inventory levels, production, supplier deliveries and the employment environment
• Investopedia explains Purchasing Managers’ Index – PMI
  A PMI of more than 50 represents expansion of the manufacturing sector, compared to the previous month. A reading under 50 represents a contraction, while a reading at 50 indicates no change. Prior to September 1, 2001, the acronym (PMI) stood for Purchasing Managers’ Index. The Institute of Supply Management (ISM) now uses only the acronym, PMI.
• Although the ISM publishes several indexes, the PMI is the most widely followed and is sometimes referred to as the ISM index.

Most industries are expanding

From ISM’s report: “In October, 13 of the 18 manufacturing industries reported growth. The industries — listed in order — are:

1. Petroleum & Coal Products;
2. Apparel, Leather & Allied Products;
3. Furniture & Related Products;
4. Chemical Products;
5. Computer & Electronic Products;
6. Transportation Equipment;
7. Plastics & Rubber Products;
8. Machinery;
9. Food, Beverage & Tobacco Products;
10. Printing & Related Support Activities;
11. Fabricated Metal Products;
12. Electrical Equipment, Appliances & Components; and
13. Paper Products.

The three industries reporting contraction in October are:

1. Nonmetallic Mineral Products;
2. Primary Metals; and
3. Wood Products.

Comments from around industry

These comments, also in the report, are interesting:

• “We are beginning to be affected greatly by lead-time increases on semiconductor components.” (Computer & Electronic Products)
• “Still a very difficult environment — commodity increases threaten recovery and don’t seem to correlate with any supply/demand fundamentals.” (Food, Beverage & Tobacco Products)
• “Automotive demand still remains strong even after ‘cash for clunkers.’” (Fabricated Metal Products) [indicated for the second month]
• “After several rather busy months, we are seeing the order intake for early next year soften.” (Transportation Equipment)
• “The improvement seen earlier is not holding.” (Primary Metals)

I am a Sri Lankan by birth, and write this thought on my phone as someone who’s spent a considerable amount of time living in the island.

I have been engaged in many businesses, either in some form of management or technical capacity, including the role consultant.

During a period of 9 years I’ve observed Sri Lanka make a slow but very steady move in tech and business landscapes. Without doubt,