Manufacturing & Technology News articles from April 2003

Manufacturing & Technology News archives from April 2003

Electronics sector loses 20 percent of its mfg. workforce in two years.(Industry Not Yet Addressing Problem)(Industry Overview)
April 1, 2003... Employment in the U.S. electronics industry has crashed over the last two years, with the industry shedding 10 percent of its workforce, a drop of more than 500,000 jobs, according to the American Electronics Association. The story was far...

Lean is a winning strategy during economic downturn.
April 1, 2003... Lean production and management techniques are becoming more popular among U.S. manufacturing companies, if the Shingo Prize for Excellence in Manufacturing is any indication. This year, the prize received 35 applications and made 15 awards to...

NACFAM sees window of opportunity for presenting a national manufacturing strategy.(National Coalition of Advanced Manufacturing )
April 1, 2003... The National Coalition of Advanced Manufacturing (NACFAM) held a meeting of its leadership council last week in Michigan to position itself for the approaching public debate about what to do to improve U.S. manufacturing. "When our Advanced...

Europe and Russia to join forces in space development.(Brief Article)
April 1, 2003... The European Union and Russia are working on joining forces in the space industry. EU research commissioner Philippe Busquin and Yuri Koptev, director general of Rosaviakosmos, the Russian space agency, met together on March 19 to discuss the...

Manufacturers need to educate Congress and public on the importance of making things, says congressman.
April 1, 2003... Manufacturing companies and their trade associations have not done a very good job of getting the message across to Congress or the American people about the importance of manufacturing to the economy, says Rep. Vernon Ehlers (R-Mich.)....

Michigan manufacturers call on U.S. to create a secretary of mfg.
April 1, 2003... A group of about 30 manufacturing companies in western Michigan have called for a sweeping change in the way federal and state governments approach the manufacturing sector. The Manufacturers Council of the Right Place Program, a regional...

Defense companies are burdened by growing foreign demand for offsets.(industrial compensation )
April 1, 2003... U.S. defense companies are getting pummeled by international governments requiring that they provide them with "offsets" for any new weapon system they buy. Offsets, which are industrial compensation practices required by foreign governments as...

French government funds semiconductor R&D center.(includes membership of STM Microelectronics, Motorola and Philips)(Brief Article)
April 1, 2003... A large new research and development center for nanoelectronics and semiconductors has opened in Grenoble, France, with a budget of 3 billion euro and strong support from three big international semiconductor companies. The new "Crolles 2"...

Demographics: longer life.(Brief Article)
April 1, 2003... Americans are living longer than ever. Life expectancy hit an all-time high in 2001 of 77.2 years, up by almost two months from 2000, according to the Centers for Disease Control. For men, life expectancy increased from 74.3 years to 74.4 years...

Is the Air Force Mantech program anything more than background noise?
April 1, 2003... As the budget for the Air Force lifts off the tarmac, the Air Force's Manufacturing Technology (Mantech) program has not fared nearly as well. Those working with the program are concerned about the course of manufacturing technology development...

War to squeeze R&D spending in 2004.
April 1, 2003... Federal science and technology programs could get squeezed, due to dwindling resources for non-defense domestic spending, complain democrats on the House Science Committee. President Bush's budget request for R&D had already drawn criticism...

EU worries about R&D gap.(research and development spending falls behind that of the United States)(Brief Article)
April 1, 2003... There is a widening gap between research and development spending in the European Union and the United States, says EU Commissioner for Research Philippe Busquin. In its third "Science and Technology Indicators" report, the EU finds that the...

Build-up to war saps U.S. investors of $1.1 trillion.(Brief Article)
April 1, 2003... The war in Iraq "may torpedo America's wealth," says a Stanford Business School study. During the buildup to the Iraq war starting in September 2002 until the eve of the conflict on March 20, the S&P 500 lost 15 percent of its value and U.S....

House Manufacturing Task Force.(People)(Brief Article)
April 1, 2003... Michael Beckerman, formerly a legislative assistant with Bart Stupak (D-Mich.), has become the new director of the House Manufacturing Task Force, replacing Olwen Huxley who has taken a job on the House Science Committee.

Michael McGrath, who was in charge of DARPA's manufacturing programs during their heyday in the early 1990s.(Brief Article)
April 1, 2003... Michael McGrath, who was in charge of DARPA's manufacturing programs during their heyday in the early 1990s, has left his position as vice president of government relations for Sarnoff Corp. to become the new deputy assistant secretary of the...

National Coalition for Advanced Manufacturing (NACFAM).(Rusty Patterson assumed chairmanship)(Brief Article)
April 1, 2003... Rusty Patterson, former president of the now defunct Agility Forum at Lehigh University in Bethlehem, Penn., and now the vice president of Six Sigma at Raytheon Electronic Systems, has assumed the chairmanship of the National Coalition for...

Miller Bonner, the public relations man who represented the Semiconductor Manufacturing Technology (Sematech) consortium in its early days, died on March 15 from injuries he received in an automobile accident at the age of 52.(Brief Article)(Obituary)
April 1, 2003... Miller Bonner, the public relations man who represented the Semiconductor Manufacturing Technology (Sematech) consortium in its early days, died on March 15 from injuries he received in an automobile accident at the age of 52. Bonner was a...

Europe takes step to create a defense armaments agency.
April 16, 2003... The willingness of the United States to wage wars without the consent of many of its allies in Europe has spurred the European Union to start the process of creating a new defense organization. By a vote of 33 to 15 on March 27, the European...

Nanotech emerges from the laboratory.
April 16, 2003... Nanotechnology is making positive financial contributions to companies in traditional industries, says Alan Marty of JP Morgan Partners, a San Francisco-based venture capital firm. "America's store shelves have sunscreens, tennis rackets and...

Students, teachers, mayors--you name them--they just don't care about manufacturing.
April 16, 2003... There are not many students, parents, educators, governors, mayors, policy makers or anybody in the U.S. society for that matter who have a positive impression of manufacturing jobs and the potential they hold for a new generation of workers,...

Newport news pushes lean down into its supply chain.(Brief Article)
April 16, 2003... Northrop Grumman's Newport News division will introduce lean techniques to its supply chain. The Virginia navy yard has signed an agreement with the A.L. Philpott Manufacturing Extension Partnership to provide lean training and rapid...

Big questions Hover over U.S. space industry.
April 16, 2003... U.S. space policy is at a turning point. At the 19th National Space Symposium held in Colorado Springs last week, the nation's top space policy officials outlined many of the challenges confronting the space industry. Presentations by NASA...

More overseas ports adopt customs service oversight program.(Brief Article)
April 16, 2003... An increasing number of ports shipping containers to the United States have signed up with the U.S. Customs Service for its Container Security Initiative. The program entails U.S. Customs Service officials being deployed in the host nations'...

Product analysis software market to grow.(Daratech market research firm predicts growth)(Brief Article)
April 16, 2003... The digital prototyping and analysis software market will grow considerably over the next five years, due to pressures on manufacturing companies to develop digital prototypes of new products that do not require any testing, says Daratech, the...

The inside story of Wiremold's success.(Better Thinking, Better Results: Using the Power of Lean As a Total Business Solution)(Book Review)
April 16, 2003... Better Thinking, Better Results: Using the Power of Lean As a Total Business Solution By Bob Emiliani with David Stec, Lawrence Grasso and James Stodder. The Center for Lean Business Management, Kensington, Conn.; 305 pages; $31.50 at...

AFL-CIO weighs in on reviving manufacturing.
April 16, 2003... The AFL-CIO has begun its own campaign to restore America's manufacturing base, which it says is in "crisis" and its poor health "could have serious consequences for the nation's economy." To revitalize manufacturing, the U.S. must pursue fair...

Laser shipments follow economic downturn.(Brief Article)
April 16, 2003... Industrial laser shipments last year fell by 15 percent to $423 million, according to the Laser Systems Product Group (LSPG), a division of the Association for Manufacturing Technology. C[O.sub.2] laser sales remained level and Nd:YAG lasers...

Feds to study steel tariff impacts.(International Trade Commission initiates study to examine the U.S. steel consuming industries and steel tariffs)(Brief Article)
April 16, 2003... The International Trade Commission has initiated a study to examine the competitiveness of U.S. steel consuming industries due to the cost impacts of steel tariffs. Steel consumers are hopping mad at the Bush administration for adopting the...

Morgan Stanley analyst expects a double-dip.(chief economist Stephen Roach)
April 16, 2003... A double-dip recession is at hand, thanks to the war in Iraq, continued global uncertainties and the scare of severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) in Asia, says Morgan Stanley chief economist Stephen Roach. The economies of Asia, Europe and...

Semi equipment makers in tailspin.(semiconductor industry)(Brief Article)
April 16, 2003... Companies making wafer fabrication equipment had a tough year in 2002. The industry recorded a 31.6 percent decline in sales last year, dropping from $24.1 billion in 2001 to $16.5 billion in 2002. It is the second year in a row sales have...

New Jersey embraces nanotechnology.(New Jersey Nanotechnology Consortium open for business)(Brief Article)
April 16, 2003... The New Jersey Nanotechnology Consortium (NJNC) has opened for business at a former Bell Labs nanofabrication facility in Murray Hill, N.J. With corporate, academic and government participation, the consortium hopes to develop and commercialize...

Calendar of upcoming events.
April 16, 2003... April 22-23 Center for Advanced Polymer & Composite Engineering Technical Review Meeting, Tallahassee, Fla., www.iucrc.eng.fsu.edu. April 23-25 International Security Challenges and Strategies in the New Era, Albuquerque, N.M. Sponsored by...

Should tool & die industry look to feds for help?
April 16, 2003... The U.S. tool and die industry is facing unprecedented challenges, but if it started getting involved with government programs in place to help it, the industry could benefit, says a new Commerce Department "Tooling Industry White Paper." ...

Rep. Manzullo offers replacement for the Foreign Sales Corporation.
April 16, 2003... The Foreign Sales Corp. could soon be replaced with a tax credit for manufacturers committed to producing products in the United States. House Small Business Committee chairman Don Manzullo (R-Ill.), a champion of manufacturing in Congress, has...

Firms must position themselves for turnaround.(business looks at ways to retain their workforce)(Brief Article)
April 16, 2003... Companies that will prosper after the economy begins to brighten are finding ways to retain their workforce rather than cutting staff and hoping to rehire when the economy revives, says John Challenger, president of Challenger, Gray &...