Manufacturing & Technology News articles from April 2006

Manufacturing & Technology News archives from April 2006

Organizational structures must change in order to capitalize on 'massive shift' offshore.(Stampede To Fast Growing Markets Has Only Just Begun)(Company overview)
April 4, 2006... "A large portion of global commerce is in the process of quickly migrating from established markets to rapidly developing economies," according to the Boston Consulting Group. "A massive shift is under way in the world's economic center of...

U.S. machine tool consumption is about half that of China's.
April 4, 2006... China's installation of machine tools was almost double that of the United States last year, despite having an economy that is about one-tenth the size as measured by GDP, according to the annual tally from the Metalworking Insiders' Report....

Nanotechnology is not quite ready for prime time.
April 4, 2006... A lot more companies have started research and development efforts aimed at applying nanotechnology to their products, according to a survey if 600 companies conducted by the National Center for Manufacturing Sciences (NCMS). But there are...

Electronics technology roadmap preview.
April 4, 2006... The International Electronics Manufacturing Initiative (iNEMI) will hold a workshop on May 17 to provide companies with a preview of key findings in its 2007 Technology Roadmap. The event, at consortium headquarters in Herndon, Va., will...

Republicans on science committee vote in favor of commerce department's snub of Congress.
April 4, 2006... The House Science Committee last week clashed, at times colorfully, over whether to bow to a Department of Commerce decision to deny the panel's Democratic members access to material generated during a congressionally mandated study of...

Productivity of U.S. shipbuilding industry is closing in on foreign rivals.
April 4, 2006... The six major naval shipyards are catching up to their international rivals in productivity and efficiency, according to a benchmarking assessment recently commissioned by the Department of Defense. When compared to seven international...

Revolving door at tech administration; will NIST hire 600 researchers?
April 4, 2006... Only a day following a March 27 announcement by the Technology Administration of Robert Cresanti's confirmation as Under Secretary of Commerce for Technology--the head TA post--came word that Dan Caprio, who has served as Assistant Deputy...

NAM wants to get tough on trade enforcement.
April 4, 2006... The National Association of Manufacturers has created a new "trade compliance working group" to work with U.S. government agencies alerting them to unfair trade practices and to make sure foreign countries are complying with trade rules. NAM is...

Goldman Sachs: spending on IT to post modest gains.
April 4, 2006... Corporate spending on information technologies should pick up modestly this year, according to the latest IT spending survey conducted by Goldman Sachs. "We are seeing further signs of less constrained IT budgets, some improving vertical end...

Manufacturing extension program receives ringing endorsements.
April 4, 2006... A record number of U.S. senators has signed a dear colleague letter to the appropriations committee chairman who controls the budget for the Manufacturing Extension Partnership program asking for full funding for next year. The Bush...

A rare Mfg. executive tries again at Congress.
April 4, 2006... A manufacturing company owner from upstate New York has decided to run for Congress, targeting a powerful House Republican for his seat. Jack Davis, who ran two years ago against Rep. Thomas Reynolds for a district that stretches from the...

Pentagon finds that defense industrial base is mostly healthy, but some areas pose challenges.
April 4, 2006... The U.S. defense industrial base is generally healthy and appears to be "well positioned to supply the most critical technologies enabling 21st century warfare," according to the annual assessment conducted by the Defense Department's...

Are there too few engineers? Enough of the shortage shouting.(Guest Editorial)
April 4, 2006... "When my colleagues get a letter from a constituent who has been displaced by foreign workers, they should write back to them and say, 'It is the policy of this government to displace you, to move you into a lower economic income category,...

WTO applauds U.S. trade policies.
April 4, 2006... The willingness of the United States to keep its markets open has led to robust economic growth that has benefited both U.S. consumers and its trading partners, says the World Trade Organization in an assessment of U.S. trade practices....

New D.C. think tank will think about innovation.
April 4, 2006... A new think tank has opened in the nation's capital focusing on issues involving innovation, productivity and the digital economy. The Information Technology and Innovation Foundation (ITIF) was launched last week by its newly appointed...

Letters to the editor.(Letter to the editor)
April 4, 2006... Here are letters received concerning the article that ran on the front page in the last issue of Manufacturing & Technology News titled "China Trade Will Considerably Boost U.S. Wealth, Argues U.S.-China Business Council." Your March 17...

Quotable.
April 4, 2006... "As London is the market of England, to which the best of all things find their way, so Rome was the market of the Mediterranean world; but there was this difference between the two, that in Rome the articles were not paid for. Money, indeed,...

NAM says the time has come for China to re-value its currency.
April 17, 2006... It has become "imperative" for the Department of Treasury to declare that China is manipulating its currency, says Pat Mears, director of international commercial affairs at the National Association of Manufacturers. Further evidence of China's...

DOD's 'innovation fund' falls by the wayside.
April 17, 2006... The Department of Defense's Office of Industrial Policy has decided not to pursue a $100-million program aimed at helping small- and medium-sized companies overcome the "valley of death" in commercializing innovative technologies that can be...

Energy programs could see big boost in spending.
April 17, 2006... President Bush's Advanced Energy Initiative (AEI) will replace "more than 75 percent of U.S. oil imports from the Middle East by 2025," according to the President's Office of Science and Technology Policy. The goal sounds lofty, but it really...

Changing of guard at DOD industrial policy office.
April 17, 2006... William Greenwalt has been chosen to be the next Deputy Under Secretary of Defense for Industrial Policy. Greenwalt joins the Pentagon from the U.S. Senate, where he was a professional staff member on the Armed Services Committee and was...

NCMS: to get in the swing, cooperation is the thing.
April 17, 2006... Manufacturers in the United States have to find ways to work together on common problems and opportunities or they won't be able to compete with overseas rivals that are applying the benefits of collaboration, says Richard Pearson, president of...

Cleveland Mfg. center embraces innovation.
April 17, 2006... WIRE-Net, the Cleveland, Ohio-based manufacturing assistance and lobbying center, is expanding its operations to provide services to manufacturers needing to embrace innovation in order to survive. The group's new "Total Innovation Initiative"...

Aerospace lobbyist opens his own shop.
April 17, 2006... Jon Etherton, a well-known and respected executive in the Washington defense and aerospace community, has left his post at the Aerospace Industries Association to start his own consulting firm. Etherton, who was with AIA for seven years as vice...

Congress demands release of doctored report on outsourcing.
April 17, 2006... House Science Committee Chairman Sherwood Boehlert (R-N.Y.) on April 13 signed a request for documents produced by the Technology Administration (TA) in the course of its controversial 2004 study of offshoring, thereby obliging the Commerce...

Senators try to save advanced technology program.
April 17, 2006... Two dozen senators have signed a letter circulated by Sens. Carl Levin (D-Mich.) and Mike DeWine (ROhio) that calls on the Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Commerce, Justice & Science to provide $140 million for the Advanced Technology...

Senators seek funding for defense manufacturing research program.
April 17, 2006... Four U.S. senators are asking the appropriations committee to fund the newly created "High-Performance Defense Manufacturing Technology Research and Development" program. The senators want $5 million to be added to the program created in last...

National academies' manufacturing board runs out of work to do.
April 17, 2006... The National Academies' Board on Manufacturing and Engineering Design (BMED) is running out of projects, and its management recently changed. After five years on the job, Toni Marechaux has left her position as director of the board. She has...

Excessive CEO pay promotes outsourcing and the loss of the American middle class.(Interview: Former TCI & Global Crossing CEO Leo Hindery)(Interview)
April 17, 2006... Leo Hindery, a former big-time CEO, has some bones to pick with the nation's corporate culture in general and the conduct of its chief executives in particular. It's not that the system has been unkind to him personally--on the contrary. By all...

Conference board hosts big outsourcing conference.
April 17, 2006... "Making Sure Outsourcing Pays Off " is the theme for the Conference Board's annual Strategic Outsourcing Conference, scheduled for April 27-28 in New York City. Among topics to be addressed are "Successful Practices of Highly Effective...

U.S. government funds industrial tech. development program in India.
April 17, 2006... The U.S. and India have agreed to contribute a total of $30 million to a Bi-National Science and Technology Endowment Fund whose income will support joint R&D projects that are to be chosen competitively and show "potential to jump from the...

In research & development, China is on the rise.
April 17, 2006... In the race for global dominance in science and technology, China is surging forward while Europe and Japan are losing ground and the United States "is maintaining its position across a variety of measures," according to the latest "Science and...