Manufacturing & Technology News articles from February 2008

Manufacturing & Technology News archives from February 2008

U.S. economic prosperity is being hijacked by 'apostles of denial'.(NIST SENIOR ECONOMIST GREGORY TASSEY:)
February 12, 2008... U.S. policy makers are beholden to "apostles of denial," and are not addressing the realities of a U.S. economy that is in long-term decline due to the loss of leadership in technology, according to the chief economist at the National Institute...

U.S. must prepare for its day of reckoning.
February 12, 2008... Asian leaders that dupe American leaders and take advantage of the country's free trade policies with their predatory trade policies are draining the United States of its economic wealth. The communist Chinese leaders take offense to our...

Textile industry suffers deep downturn.(Industry overview)
February 12, 2008... The U.S. textile industry is in trouble. Output from U.S. mills fell by 12.1 percent last year, "the largest since the U.S. government began publishing output data on the topic in 1972," according to the American Manufacturing Trade Action...

NAM files suit to protect its membership from disclosure.
February 12, 2008... The National Association of Manufacturers doesn't want to disclose the names of its largest members. NAM has filed suit in federal court challenging a provision in the recently passed "Honest Leadership and Open Government Act of 2007" that...

National Science Board issues warning on future of Science & Technology.
February 12, 2008... The National Science Board is alarmed over negative trends in research and development and the shift of high-tech manufacturing and research overseas. In a statement accompanying the bi-annual "Science and Technology Indicators" report, the...

President Bush's final budget request: more deficits and more debt.
February 12, 2008... The Bush administration proposed a federal fiscal year 2009 budget of $3.1 trillion, with a deficit of $407 billion, the third largest deficit in history. But the proposed deficit is much smaller than what it actually will be, since the budget...

Another year, another proposed shutdown of Mfg. program.
February 12, 2008... President Bush wants to eliminate the only federal program aimed at making small- and medium-sized U.S. manufacturing companies more efficient and competitive. The 2009 budget request asks Congress to eliminate funding for the Manufacturing...

Aviation groups complain about Bush budget.
February 12, 2008... The General Aviation Manufacturers Association isn't happy with President Bush's budget request. The Bush administration, searching for money to fund the government, has proposed an increase in user fees for the aviation community. "They...

Phyllis Eisen says bye-bye to NAM.
February 12, 2008... Phyllis Eisen, a leading advocate for creating a new generation of skilled manufacturing workers, has decided to leave her position at the National Association of Manufacturers. Eisen, founder and director of NAM's Center for Workforce Success...

Executive order on earmarks.
February 12, 2008... President Bush has issued an executive order (No 13457) that prohibits federal agencies from spending money provided by Congress in the form of pork barrel projects. The January 29, 2008, order "makes clear that future earmarks included in...

Most young men don't go to college.
February 12, 2008... Many young American men in their early 20s are not on a trajectory for success in a rewarding career. Only 38 percent of men aged 20 were attending college last year, compared to 47 percent of women, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics....

Reporter's notebook: President Bush's 2008 State of the Union.
February 12, 2008... I attended President George W. Bush's final State of the Union Address on Monday, January 28, standing 20 feet directly above and behind the president, who looked like he was a former X-Game athlete. George W. had energy, verve, poise. He was...

EPA seeks info on nano chemicals.
February 12, 2008... The Environmental Protection Agency has started a program to study the health and environmental risks of nanoscale chemical products. The EPA's Nanoscale Materials Stewardship Program (NMSP) will "allow the EPA to more quickly assemble the...

DOD creates battery competition.
February 12, 2008... The Department of Defense has created a new prize competition for a portable power system that can be worn by troops. The "Wearable Power Prize" will provide winners with $1.75 million for the best power-generating methods of a wearable power...

Questions to Rep. Marcy Kaptur (D-Ohio) after the State of the Union Address in the U.S. capitol building's statuary hall.(Interview)
February 12, 2008... Question: In his State of the Union Address, President Bush didn't mention steps needed to reviving a hollowed out economy through incentives for investment in U.S. production. Kaptur: Even in his speech when he talked about trade...

NASA tech. transfer report.
February 12, 2008... NASA's "Spinoff 2007" report describes 40 NASA technologies that have been applied in the medical, computer, industrial, environmental, public safety, transportation and consumer sectors. It describes NASA's research, education and innovative...

Lasers focus sound waves; the sun goes around the earth; radiation does not exist in nature.
February 12, 2008... Americans don't do very well in answering basic scientific questions, according to the bi-annual survey conducted by the National Science Foundation. When asked if all radioactivity is man made, 64 percent of females answered correctly, while...

States start feeling budget pinch.
February 12, 2008... After a half-dozen years of fiscal health, states are struggling again with their budgets. At least twenty-five states face severe budget shortfalls for the coming year, with 19 having made specific estimates for combined deficits of $32...

Short-term versus long-term stimulus.
February 12, 2008... Following on the heels of the unusually steep and rapid cuts in policy interest rates by the Federal Reserve Board, the Washington political establishment is apparently shedding its partisan animus to pass an economic stimulus package before...

Manufacturing optimism takes a dip.
February 12, 2008... Industrial manufacturers are not very optimistic about the U.S. economy, according to PricewaterhouseCoopers. Only 29 percent of American industrial companies expect the economy to grow this year, down from 64 percent one year ago and the "the...

DOD broadens 'trusted' foundry program to include microelectronics supply chain.("PUTTING A BAND-AID ON A BULLET HOLE")
February 28, 2008... The Department of Defense is developing a broad strategy to deal with the growing migration of semiconductor fabrication plants and electronics assembly operations offshore. The strategy will encapsulate DOD's "trusted" foundry access program,...

U.S. trades dependence on foreign oil for dependence on foreign batteries.
February 28, 2008... The national laboratories have helped create some of the world's leading edge electric vehicle battery storage technologies, but most of the companies that are commercializing batteries for plug-in hybrid vehicles are building their factories...

Hunter and Ryan hope press corps can help convince Congress to take on China.
February 28, 2008... Legislation aimed at addressing currency manipulation as an unfair trade subsidy is trying to be resurrected by its two main proponents: Reps. Duncan Hunter (R-Calif.) and Tim Ryan (D-Ohio). The two members of Congress were joined by four...

Expiration of wind and solar tax credit could be costly.
February 28, 2008... If the renewable energy tax credits are not renewed by Congress, then 116,000 U.S. jobs could be lost in the wind and solar energy industries, according to a report commissioned by the Solar Energy Industries Association and the American Wind...

Barack Obama talks trade.
February 28, 2008... If Democratic Sen. Barack Obama becomes President of the United States, the free trade agenda that has been pursued since the end of Ronald Reagan's presidency might be tossed out. The likely Democratic Party presidential nominee voted...

U.S. goods imports exceed U.S. industrial production.
February 28, 2008... The United States imports more goods than it manufactures. Imports of goods last year grew by $100 billion to $1,964 billion, or 14 percent of total U.S. GDP of $14,080 billion. Manufacturing as a percentage of U.S. GDP was 12 percent, or...

Update: U.S. biofuels industry.
February 28, 2008... The biofuels industry is in a massive growth spurt. There are currently 68 ethanol biorefineries under construction that will add 5.4 billion gallons of new production capacity when complete, according to the Bob Dinneen, president of the...

High oil prices suck wealth out of American households.
February 28, 2008... The doubling of the price of gasoline at the pump is sucking hundreds of billions of dollars out of the U.S. economy. At $3.00 per gallon, the average household is now spending $3,000 a year on gasoline to power its cars for 21,000 miles of...

Semiconductor applications explode.
February 28, 2008... Worldwide revenues from the sale of semiconductor chips increased by 3.2 percent in 2007, to $256 billion, up from $248 billion in 2006, according to the Semiconductor Industry Association. Demand was driven by a 14 percent increase in sales of...

Manufacturing educator pleads with industry to help recruit students.
February 28, 2008... The metal casting industry has to address a major manpower challenge in order for it to survive and prosper, according Prof. Robert Tuttle of Saginaw Valley State University. Universities like his that have traditionally recruited young...

Fermilab physicist runs for Congress.
February 28, 2008... It's not often a scientist from a national laboratory runs for Congress. Bill Foster, a Fermilab physicist, is in a close race to fill the seat that was recently vacated by former House Speaker Dennis Hastert in Illinois. Foster, a Democrat, is...

Global manufacturing wage gap impacted by falling dollar.
February 28, 2008... Wages paid to manufacturing workers around the world are catching up to those paid in the United States, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Wages paid in Canada to manufacturing workers jumped beyond those paid in the U.S. for the...

Deemed export report rankles industry.
February 28, 2008... The recent recommendations made by the Commerce Department's Deemed Export Advisory Committee will have a "significant negative impact on U.S. technological leadership" and should not be adopted, according to a group of 12 large business...

Commerce rules in favor of U.S. magnet industry.
February 28, 2008... Thin flexible magnets that are commonly used on refrigerators imported from China are being dumped into the U.S. market, according to a Feb. 20 "preliminary" determination by the Commerce Department. Chinese producers have received subsidies...

Engineering Academy identifies grand challenges.
February 28, 2008... The National Academy of Engineering has identified 14 "grand challenges" that need to be tackled by the global engineering community. A committee of engineers from around the world met over the past year and received input from the general...

Year of mass layoffs.
February 28, 2008... The number of mass layoff events involving more than 50 employees increased in 2007 to 5,170, up from 4,885 in 2006. Layoffs impacted 931,053 workers in 2007, down from 936,000 in 2006, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Manufacturing...