Manufacturing & Technology News articles from August 2003

Manufacturing & Technology News archives from August 2003

How China is quickly capturing the world's semiconductor industry.(Industry Overview)
August 4, 2003... In a few short years, the semiconductor industry has decided to change its plans for building dozens of major new fabrication plants in Taiwan and instead locate them in China. In 2000, half of the fabs under construction in the world were in...

Manufacturing gains momentum in Congress; new causus tells multinational to put 'Americas' jobs first'.(initiative to improve support for Manufacturing Extension Partnership (MEP) program)("Buy American" campaign)
August 4, 2003... A new Manufacturing Caucus has been created in the House of Representatives aimed at saving the U.S. manufacturing sector. Organized by Reps. Don Manzullo (R-Ill.) and Tim Ryan (D-Ohio), the caucus hopes to broaden the scope of issues being...

House to consider bill creating a new federal manufacturing agency.
August 4, 2003... The House of Representatives may soon be deliberating legislation to create a new Under Secretary of Commerce for Manufacturing and Technology. Currently, no office within government pursues manufacturing as its primary focus. Reps. Mark Udall...

Printed circuit board industry endorses Buy American provisions while other trade associations fight the measure.
August 4, 2003... The U.S. printed circuit board industry has endorsed the controversial "Buy American Act" provisions in the House Defense Authorization Bill. The PCB industry has contracted by more than 30 percent over the last two years, leaving U.S. national...

Defense Mantech Coalition offers an alternative to Buy American provisions.
August 4, 2003... The controversy over the "Buy American" provisions in the Defense Authorization Bill could be alleviated in part by providing additional funds to a proven program aimed at improving the U.S. defense industrial base, says the Coalition for...

Europe pursues common patent system.(European Commission community patent regulations)(Brief Article)
August 4, 2003... Europe is closer to having a single patent system. The European Commission has achieved a "breakthrough in the development of a Community Patent that is expected to give inventors the option of obtaining, with just one application, a single...

Reverse auctions befuddle suppliers.(Industry Overview)
August 4, 2003... The growing use of reverse auctions in the material handling equipment industry is benefiting buyers of equipment but is raising serious concerns from sellers about declining business, profits and service. In a survey of 1,265 users of...

Deflation takes its toll on wholesale distributors.
August 4, 2003... Deflation of manufactured goods is taking a bite out of the profits of wholesalers. "Deflation wreaks havoc with the income statements for wholesale distributors," says Adam Fein, president of Pembroke Consulting. "Product price deflation...

U.S. retains title to world's highest per-capita income.
August 4, 2003... The United States has the highest per capita income among 19 of the world's leading economies, according to a new report from the Labor Department's Bureau of International Labor Affairs. Per capita income in the United States in 2000 converted...

RFID to make market inroads after standards are developed.(radio frequency identification tags )(Brief Article)
August 4, 2003... Radio frequency identification tags will grow in popularity as their price declines and as standards are created that enable companies to integrate the tags into their operations, according to a survey of RFID users. Thirty-three percent of...

Big Three have no presence in Japanese auto market.(Brief Article)
August 4, 2003... The Big Three automakers continue to strike out in the Japanese auto market. Sales of the Ford, GM and Chrysler nameplates continue to plummet in Japan, according to the Japanese Automobile Manufacturers Association (JAMA). For the first three...

New environmental supplier consortium created by GM & EPA.(General Motors and the Environmental Protection Agency )(Brief Article)
August 4, 2003... General Motors and the Environmental Protection Agency have created a new supplier consortium to share best environmental practices. The "Suppliers Partnership for the Environment" will enable lower-tier suppliers to "continuously improve...

China takes a big bite out of Illinois industry.
August 4, 2003... Illinois manufacturers are starting to feel the brunt of imports from China. More than 60 percent of manufacturers surveyed in the state say they are losing market share to Chinese competitors and 46 percent say they expect sales this year to...

eBay experiences rapid growth in industrial sales.(Brief Article)
August 4, 2003... Online auction firm eBay is experiencing growing success in the industrial supplies marketplace. The San Jose, Calif.-based company says buyers of industrial supplies accounted for more than $46 million in annualized gross merchandise sales on...

Australians develop method to produce magnesium sheet.(Brief Article)
August 4, 2003... Scientists at the Commonwealth Scientific & Industrial Research Organization (CSIRO) in Australia have developed a "breakthrough" industrial scale pilot plant producing near-net shape magnesium sheet. The sheet casting plant "demonstrates large...

Why are some cultures wealthy and others not?(Book review)(Book Review)
August 4, 2003... The Mind and the Market: Capitalism in Modern European Thought By Jerry Z. Muller. 487 pages, Knopf $21.00 at Amazon Capitalism is the world's most powerful idea about political, economic and moral relationships between people,...

NCMS chairman recommends triage to save what's left of U.S. industry.(National Center for Manufacturing Sciences )
August 4, 2003... People in the United States have to get used to the fact that manufacturing is gone and in order to survive economically the country must now make sure it does not lose the high-value added sectors that are based upon innovation, says Dick...

World executives differ on strategy.(survey conducted by Harris Interactive for Dow Corning Corp)(Brief Article)
August 4, 2003... Online purchasing and total quality management have been the most significant business innovations for global companies over the past three years, according to a survey conducted by Harris Interactive for Dow Corning Corp. "These results...

Letter to the editor.(Letter to the Editor)
August 4, 2003... There will be no basis for a meaningful economic recovery with the current free trade programs in place. The American economy is driven by consumer spending. Seventy percent of the economy is based on consumer consumption. The sad fact is...

National Coalition for Advanced Manufacturing (NACFAM).(People On The Move)(Brief Article)
August 4, 2003... Egils Milbergs, a common face in Washington manufacturing policy circles, has left his position as president of the National Coalition for Advanced Manufacturing (NACFAM). NACFAM founder Leo Reddy will remain as an active CEO and plans to...

National Institute of Standards and Technology.(People On The Move)(resignation of Karen Brown, deputy director)(Brief Article)
August 4, 2003... Karen Brown, deputy director of the National Institute of Standards and Technology, has left her position and moved to Texas to do consulting work. Her first client is JMAR Technologies, a manufacturer X-ray lithography stepper systems for the...

Minnesota Technology.(People On The Move)(Manufacturing Extension Partnership (MEP) center)(Brief Article)
August 4, 2003... Jacques Koppel has resigned from his position as president of Minnesota Technology, one of the country's most respected Manufacturing Extension Partnership (MEP) centers. Koppel will become an independent consultant and stepped down to allow...

United States Trade Representative.(People On The Move)(Whitaker Group, Rosa Whitaker's lobbying firm )(Brief Article)
August 4, 2003... Rosa Whitaker, the former Africa Director in the office of the United States Trade Representative, is raising the ire of some industrial trade specialists in Washington. Whitaker's new lobbying firm (the Whitaker Group) has signed contracts...

L-3 Communications.(People On The Move)(Michael Andrews leaves U.S. Army)(Brief Article)
August 4, 2003... Michael Andrews, chief scientist at the U.S. Army and one of the architects of that service's renewed thrust into technology development and the creation of a lightweight force, has left his position to become the chief technology officer at...

Microelectromechanical System Industry Group.(People On The Move)(Brief Article)
August 4, 2003... The Microelectromechanical System Industry Group has a new executive director. Cleopatra Cabuz, director of global technology at the Honeywell Sensors Laboratory has taken over the Pittsburgh-based trade association, whose membership has more...

National Science Foundation's Engineering Directorate.(People On The Move)(John Brighton becomes director of Engineering Directorate)(Brief Article)
August 4, 2003... The National Science Foundation's Engineering Directorate has a new director. John Brighton, provost of National-Louis University, will run NSF's $540-million engineering division. Brighton has served as provost at the Pennsylvania State...

Applied Materials Inc.(People On The Move)(Brief Article)
August 4, 2003... Jim Morgan, one of the country's most respected manufacturing CEOs, has handed over the reins of Applied Materials Inc. to Michael Splinter, who joins the Santa Clara, Calif.-based firm from his position as director of sales and marketing at...