August 2008 Edition
INDUSTRY NEWS
The Strategy and Tactics of Hiring
Tips to find the best candidate for the job
North American manufacturers consider the U.S. the most
desirable country for expansion during the next three years, according to a
survey released by the National Association of Manufacturers – NAM, The
Manufacturing Institute, the Canadian Manufacturers and Exporters – CME, and
Deloitte.
The largest number of North American companies – 44 percent –
reported they intend to expand production in the U.S. over the next three years;
57 percent of U.S. manufacturers say they will become more globally competitive
during the next five years across the supply chain from sales, marketing, and
customer service to engineering and information technology.
The news, however, is not all rosy. The survey shows concerns
that manufacturing companies want government to address.
Nearly 80 percent of respondents identified tax cuts for
manufacturers as the key factor promoting innovation and research and
development.
The survey, Made in North America, reflects the views
of 321 top-tier executives in a broad range of North American manufacturing
companies of all sizes. The majority of companies represented in the survey – 45
percent – are based in the U.S.
The survey is available at www.nam.org/northamericansurvey .
In other news from the National Association of Manufacturers,
association representatives said expanding America’s nuclear capacity is
critical to creating essential, high-wage U.S. manufacturing jobs and will help
meet the nation’s growing energy demand.
A white paper, Job Creation in the Nuclear Renaissance,
examines the potential for job growth for existing and future nuclear power
plants in the next decade. It was released at a joint news conference held by
NAM and the Clean and Safe Energy Coalition.
"The U.S. has not built a nuclear plant in decades," John
Engler, NAM president and CEO, said at the news conference. "The technical
knowledge to construct and operate plants and to design and manufacture key
nuclear components is retiring with the baby boomers, and America does not have
the necessary skilled workers to replace them. A nuclear renaissance can not
happen without robust investment in the education and training of America’s
current and future workforce."
The white paper can be downloaded at www.cleansafeenergy.org.
Rising fuel prices are changing company work policies in
order to fight gasoline and diesel prices. A mid-size manufacturer is asking its
employees to shift from a five-day, eight-hour work week to a four-day, 10-hour
day.
The cost of their daily commute to KRC Machine Tool Services,
Independence, KY, was eating up employee paychecks. Managers decided to change
the company’s work schedule to help workers deal with rising fuel costs.
The new shift arrangement helps both the employees and the
company save on energy costs as well as overtime.
"It’s working out great," Kenny Booth, of KRC, said. "I get
an extra day off, save gas money, and avoid two hours of travel."
Company managers said productivity has risen as well.
According to the June 18 "Snapshot" by Lawrence Mischel, of
the Economic Policy Institute, pay inequality in the U.S. continues to worsen.
Huge gains at the top of the income scale have been fueled by, among other
things, a surging inequality in wages. The ratio of the wage income of the top
one percent of earners to that of the bottom 90 percent more than doubled
between 1979 and 2006, increasing from a ratio of 9.4:1 to 19.9:1. In contrast
there was relatively little change in the earnings disparity from 1947 to 1979,
when wages at all levels of the economy grew apace.
When it comes to the wage income of the highest of the high
earners, the gap has become a chasm. In 2004, the upper one-tenth of one percent
earned 70.4 times as much as the average person in the bottom 90 percent of the
income scale. Just 25 years earlier in 1979, the ratio was only 21:1. In 1979 it
took the highest-paid earners 12.4 days to make what most other earners did in a
year; by 2004 that was accomplished in 3.7 days.
Latin America, once thought as a growth area for
manufacturing but overwhelmed by competition from the Far East, will soon see a
manufacturing revival, according to comments published by Chris Kuehl, Ph.D.,
economic analyst for the Fabricators & Manufacturers Association, International,
Rockford, IL, in Fabrinomics, the FMA newsletter.
"The benefits provided by manufacturing in China, India and
other Asian states are eroding," Kuehl, wrote. "The most important factor is
cost of transportation, and it’s feeding what’s being referred to as ‘near
shoring.’ This means hauling cargo across the ocean isn’t as cheap as it once
was. It’s now more cost-effective to be closer to the U.S. market, which has
sparked a wave of relocation plans.
"Chinese labor isn’t as cheap as it once was, especially in
the fast-growing coastal cities."
According to Kuehl, these developments point to a return of
the manufacturing sector to Mexico, Central America, South America, and even
sections of the U.S.
April U.S. manufacturing technology consumption totaled
$396.47 million, according to The Association For Manufacturing Technology – AMT
– and the American Machine Tool Distributors’ Association – AMTDA. The total, as
reported by companies participating in the U.S. Manufacturing Technology
Consumption program, was down 27.6 percent from March, but up 29.2 percent from
the total of $306.86 million reported for April 2007. With a year-to-date total
of $1.58 billion, 2008 is up 19.9 percent compared with 2007.
Manufacturing technology consumption was also reported on a
regional basis for five geographic areas of the U.S.
Northeast
April manufacturing technology consumption in the Northeast
Region stood at $46.47 million, down 35.2 percent when compared with March’s
$71.70 million, and 10.1 percent less than the April total a year ago. The
$221.71 million year-to-date total is 4.3 percent higher than the 2007 total at
the same time.
Southern
At $49.37 million, April manufacturing technology consumption
in the Southern Region was 59.8 percent less than the March total of $122.72
million but 26.8 percent higher than the April 2007 tally. Compared with 2007 at
the same time, the year-to-date total of $271.61 million is up 69.6 percent.
Midwestern
Midwestern Region manufacturing technology consumption rose
to $154.14 million in April, down 10.4 percent when compared with March’s
$172.02 million, but 81.5 percent higher than the total for April a year ago.
The 2008 year-to-date total of $534.69 million is 46.0 percent above the
comparable figure a year ago.
Central
With an April total of $79.88 million, Central Region
manufacturing technology consumption was down 31.7 percent from the March total
of $116.92 million and 6.1 percent less than in April a year ago. The $351.00
million year-to-date total is down 5.8 percent when compared with 2007 at the
same time.
Western
Western Region manufacturing technology consumption in April
rose to $66.61 million, 3.4 percent higher than March’s $64.45 million, and up
44.1 percent when compared with April 2007. At $208.26 million, year-to-date
2008 is off 1.9 percent when compared with 2007 at the same time.
Wheelabrator Group, LaGrange, GA, celebrated its 100th
anniversary. It was founded in Pittsburgh in 1908. The company is a provider of
surface preparation and finishing answers.
Hypertherm, Hanover, NH, a company specializing in plasma arc
metal cutting technology, celebrated its 40th anniversary. The company began in
1968 when Dick Couch, then a 20-something engineering graduate, and Bob Dean,
working out of a small two car garage, discovered that by radially injecting
water into a plasma cutting nozzle, they could create a narrower arc. That
discovery made it possible to cut metal with a speed and accuracy, nearly
eliminating dross and a phenomenon called double-arcing.
CNC Software, Inc., Tolland, CT, has noted its 25th
anniversary. Brothers, Mark and Jack Summers, incorporated the company in 1983
with a programming concept for CNC machine tools. They developed a PC-based
CAD/CAM software package with an emphasis on the CAM side. During that time,
most of the programs were more CAD-oriented and expensive.
They called the software program "Meghan", named after Mark’s
eldest daughter, and then changed it within the first year to "Mastercam" as a
clearer descriptive of the software’s primary function. A third brother, Brian
Summers, joined the company and now serves as vice president. Jamie Summers,
Mark’s wife, is chief financial officer.
Shortly after CNC Software started in Massachusetts, the
company moved its base of operations to an office in Vernon, CT. After a brief
move to an industrial park, CNC Software built corporate headquarters in
Tolland.
MFG.com, Atlanta, an online marketplace for the manufacturing
community, announced results of its Buyer MFGWatch survey conducted in
May. More than 500 respondents completed the sourcing survey targeting buyer
members of MFG.com.
The results revealed that the weakness of the dollar has
affected where buyers, both nationally and internationally, have decided to
source. Survey highlights include:
- 40 percent of the participants stated the current value
of the U.S. dollar had an effect on where they choose to source their
business;
- 47 percent of the buyers stated they were sourcing more
business in the U.S. as a direct result of the declining value of the
dollar; and
- 41 percent responded that they source for made-to-order
parts in the U.S.
Additional survey findings include:
- 55 percent of survey respondents source solely to US
suppliers;
- 92 percent of survey participants conduct a portion of
their sourcing in the US;
- 38 percent of international buyers surveyed are currently
sourcing to U.S. suppliers; and
- 53 percent of Canadian buyers surveyed revealed they are
sourcing to U.S. suppliers.
The Modern Applications News Industrial Average – MANIA – tracks 34 publicly-traded companies in the metalworking field and compares the companies’ 30-day trend to the corresponding trend of the Dow-Jones Industrial Average
Phoenix Mars Lander Robotic Arm being installed and tested on Lander Deck Section
Some Muskegon, MI, machining assisted the Phoenix Mars Lander
scoop samples of the Martian soil. Reali-Slim thin-section bearings made by the
Kaydon Corp. Bearings Division in Muskegon were part of the lander’s robotic arm
built by Alliance Spacesystems, Pasadena, CA, for NASA’s Jet Propulsion
Laboratory which headed the Mars exploration project.
The 7' 7"
arm is attached to the deck of the lander, with a
garden-sized trowel and camera mounted at the end of the
arm. The arm is designed to pick up surface samples of the
Martian soil and deposit them in the craft for
electrochemistry and conductivity, as well as thermal
analysis.
The arm has four types of motion: up-and-down,
side-to-side, back-and-forth, and rotation. Three of the
joints that accomplish these movements feature sets of
Kaydon’s custom-engineered Reali-Slim thin-section bearings.