Manufacturing & Technology News articles from June 2004

Manufacturing & Technology News archives from June 2004

Common success strategy among industrial giants is keeping manufacturing secrets in a 'black box'.
June 1, 2004... CERNOBBIO, Italy--Samsung, the Korean electronics giant, has achieved rapid growth in recent years by embracing a strategy of in-house production and investment in manufacturing research and development. The company, with sales last year of...

A breakout event for a global manufacturing R & D program.(IMS Celebrates Ten Years of Success)
June 1, 2004... CERNOBBIO, Italy--The Intelligent Manufacturing Systems (IMS) program will soon be completing its first 10 years of research and the general feeling among those involved is that it has been a success. Interest in the world's largest...

The party of fiscal restraint has become a party of spendaholics, says McCain.
June 1, 2004... The Republican-controlled Congress is facing a budget deficit this year of $521 billion, yet it continues to "spend and spend and spend," says Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.). Republicans and Democrats in Congress have found unity in one area amidst...

Textile industry at odds with NAM over CAFTA.
June 1, 2004... The National Association of Manufacturers loves the Central America Free Trade Agreement (CAFTA), but textile and apparel manufacturers hate it. "This is the highest-quality trade agreement yet," says NAM vice president for international...

U.S. companies favor first world over third world for new investment.(U.S. Investment into China Drops Substantially)
June 1, 2004... U.S. manufacturers are reducing their direct investment overseas, especially in low-labor-wage countries like China. Instead of investing directly in emerging markets, U.S. companies are favoring contracting out their manufacturing or forming...

Market continues to flourish for high-volume luxury items.
June 1, 2004... The "new luxury" trend of consumers buying the highest quality, highest priced goods continues to grow, reports the Boston Consulting Group. Companies that are able to produce high volumes of luxury items continue to outperform their...

Maytag CEO questions whether manufacturing can remain in America.
June 1, 2004... Maytag is struggling to stay competitive, says company chairman and CEO Ralph Hake. Having 96 percent of the company's workforce in the United States "is not an advantage for Maytag," he told the Maytag annual meeting in mid-May, as reported by...

China is Asia's vortex from which the exports to America flow.
June 1, 2004... China is attracting a vast amount of manufacturing investment from other nearby Asian nations, which then export their production to the United States, according to the Progressive Policy Institute. A new "Asian union" is forming that combines...

Sujeet Chand, Rockwell Automation's CTO.(Interview)
June 1, 2004... Rockwell Automation, one of America's leading manufacturing technology providers and service companies, is beginning to feel the positive effects of an improving market for industrial automation. The company, which includes divisions...

NACFAM will change its mission and become a Washington think tank.
June 1, 2004... The National Coalition for Advanced Manufacturing (NACFAM) is preparing to change its name and alter its mission. The board of directors of the 15-year-old Washington-based group is expected to approve a new charter for NACFAM on June 10 that...

Semiconductor Industry unveils 'Sematech II'.(Nanoelectronics Research Initiative)
June 18, 2004... The Semiconductor Industry Association (SIA) has proposed the creation of a large-scale consortium to research and develop a new generation of microprocessors based on nanotechnology and nanofabrication techniques. The Nanoelectronics Research...

Defense Science Board wrestles a political hot potato.
June 18, 2004... The Pentagon's Defense Science Board (DSB) is tackling the ideologically contentious issue of the future health of the U.S. semiconductor industry. The august group is gathering data in response to growing concern over the shift of...

Big decline in industry R&D.
June 18, 2004... U.S. industry reduced its investment in research and development by a record amount during 2002, reports the National Science Foundation. Private-sector R&D fell 3.9 percent, from $198.5 billion in 2001 to $190.8 billion in 2002. "This...

Wal-Mart's imports dwarf those of U.S. manufacturers.
June 18, 2004... U.S. imports of manufactured goods packed in containers and moved via ships skyrocketed last year, with Wal-Mart alone increasing the number of 20-foot equivalent containers it imported from 292,000 in 2002 to 417,000 in 2003, according to the...

Chinese auto suppliers are not IT savvy.
June 18, 2004... China is home of the world's fastest growing automobile market, but suppliers there are expecting a "battle royal" that will put a great many of them out of business, according to a survey done of Chinese suppliers by the Automotive Industry...

AMR projects a loss of 800,000 IT jobs to India.
June 18, 2004... The United States will transfer 800,000 information technology jobs to India by 2008, according to AMR Research in Boston, Mass. "The growth in India-supplied resources for IT work is a train that can't be stopped," says AMR Research analyst...

Bush names members of Mfg. Council.
June 18, 2004... The Bush administration has named 13 members to its newly created Manufacturing Council. The council will give manufacturers "a permanent seat at the table" to advise the federal government on policies to improve the competitiveness of...

If Bush won't be more aggressive with China, then Congress must step in, says commission.('Trends are Moving in the Wrong Direction')
June 18, 2004... The Bush administration has left a void in its policies toward China that Congress must fill, says the U.S.-China Economic & Security Review Commission. The congressionally mandated commission in its latest summation of the bilateral...

Dearth of nanotechnology venture capital funding prompts industry to turn to government.
June 18, 2004... A majority of manufacturing industry executives believe the federal government has a major role to play in funding pre-commercial research in nano-manufacturing technologies, according to a survey conducted by the National Center for...

How many jobs are lost due to imports?(Quotable:)
June 18, 2004... "The decline in manufacturing employment is in turn linked to the trade deficit. In 2003, the non-petroleum goods trade deficit was $415 billion, versus $375 billion in 2002. This represents an increase of $40 billion. Using an input-output...

A lot of attention is being paid to Manufacturing Extension program.
June 18, 2004... Constant pressure on politicians and Bush administration political appointees from thousands of small manufacturers to restore funding for the Manufacturing Extension Partnership (MEP) program is beginning to pay off. The House Appropriations...

Vietnam benefits from export trade to U.S.
June 18, 2004... Exports from Vietnam to the United States have been exploding since the two nations signed a bilateral trade agreement in December 2001. Exports to the U.S. increased four-fold, from $1.05 billion in 2001 to $4.55 billion in 2003, reports the...

Machine tool sector experiences growth.
June 18, 2004... The U.S. machine tool industry is coming back to life. During the first four months of this year, consumption surged to $830 million, an increase of 46.2 percent over the same period last year, reports the U.S. Machine Tool Consumption Survey....

Surge of imported manufactured goods creates problems in Los Angeles.
June 18, 2004... A record amount of imports are flowing through the Los Angeles Port district, causing an increasing array of problems with congestion, pollution and public perception, says the Los Angeles Economic Development Corp. (LAEDC). The total...

Top 100 U.S. Importers via ocean container transport--2003.
June 18, 2004... As measured in 20-foot-equivalent container units or TEUs The first number in brackets is the 2002 ranking. NR means not ranked in the top 100 in 2002. The second number in brackets is the number of containers imported in 2002. 1....

Top 100 U.S. Exporters via ocean container transport--2003.
June 18, 2004... As measured in 20-foot-equivalent container units or TEUs The first number in brackets is the 2002 ranking. NR means not ranked in the top 100 in 2002. The second number in brackets is the number of containers exported in 2002. 1....