Manufacturing & Technology News articles from June 2005

Manufacturing & Technology News archives from June 2005

Defense analyst says U.S. has no ability to assess China's breakthroughs in science and tech.
June 1, 2005... China has become a science and technology powerhouse and the U.S. government has no ability to assess its capabilities and potential impact on the U.S. economy, according to a report produced for the U.S.-China Economic and Security Review...

In the electronics sector, the seed corn is all gone.
June 1, 2005... The wellspring of innovation from which the electronics industry drinks is running dry and must be renewed, according to the latest technology roadmap from the International Electronics Manufacturing Initiative (iNEMI). Developed by 470...

New NIST director is an unknown quality.
June 1, 2005... William Jeffrey, an astronomer by training who has spent most of his career within the federal government and currently holds down two posts at the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP), was named last week to head the...

California ranks as most expensive in North America for new mfg. plants.
June 1, 2005... The most expensive place in the United States to open a new 100,000 square foot plastics products manufacturing plant with 175 employees is San Jose, Calif. Such a plant would have annual operating costs of $13.6 million, far above the lowest...

In a tight budget mfg. extension gets a green light.
June 1, 2005... The Commerce Department's Manufacturing Extension Partnership (MEP), NASA's Aeronautics Research Mission Directorate and the National Science Foundation (NSF) all emerged from last week's House Appropriations subcommittee markup of the Science,...

Samsung's assessment of Chinese competitors.(Quotable)
June 1, 2005... "In a March 24, 2005, study by Seoul Chosun Ilbo of the Samsung Economic Research Institute, Chinese companies were reported to be threatening the position of certain Korean enterprises in the global market. China's largest home appliances...

A relatively small investment by government generates billions of dollars in return.(Debate Over The Advanced Technology Program)
June 1, 2005... The Bush administration's desire to eliminate the Advanced Technology Program (ATP) run by the National Institute of Standards and Technology would be "a disaster" for the country, says Mark Kryder, chief technical officer of Seagate Corp., the...

New Senator believes greed is a good policy to create technology and wealth.(Debate Over The Advanced Technology Program)
June 1, 2005... The long-running drama of the Advanced Technology Program's (ATP) struggle for survival has added yet another member to its ample cast of characters: freshman Sen. Tom Coburn (R-Okla.), a physician from Muskogee who arrived for the 109th...

Bust administration acknowledges China's widespread stealing of U.S. technology but refuses to protect American industry.
June 1, 2005... A phalanx of manufacturing executives made yet another trek to Capitol Hill on May 26 to continue telling horror stories about China's immoral practice of stealing their intellectual property, and the lack of U.S. government response despite...

Software industry is getting ripped off.
June 1, 2005... Thirty-five percent of the software installed on personal computers worldwide was pirated in 2004, a 1 percentage point decrease from 36 percent in 2003, according to the Business Software Alliance. But losses due to piracy increased from $29...

Electronic industry technology trends and their implications.
June 1, 2005... The latest roadmap from the International Manufacturing Technology Initiative (iNEMI) describes the opportunities that are presenting themselves over the coming decade. Here are some of the highlights. Trend: The anticipated end of...

WTO tracks an explosion of regional trade agreements.
June 1, 2005... The number of regional trade agreements (RTAs) signed by nations throughout the world has been steadily increasing over the past decade, according to the World Trade Organization (WTO). "Sluggish progress in multilateral trade negotiations...

U.S. manufacturers pay disproportionate share of taxes.
June 1, 2005... U.S. manufacturers are paying much higher taxes than competitors based in most other developed nations, according to an assessment by the National Council for Advanced Manufacturing (NCFAM). The United States has the third highest corporate...

Northeast-Midwest Institute chronicles Brownfield programs.
June 1, 2005... More than half the states in the country have created some type of brownfield financing program, according the Northeast-Midwest Institute. The "Brownfields State Financing Tools" report describes examples of successful state strategies for...

Treasury Dept. report on currency manipulation riles manufacturers.
June 1, 2005... The Treasury Department's "Report to Congress on International Economic and Exchange Rate Policies" that finds China is not violating any statutes in pegging its currency to the dollar--despite increasingly vocal complaints by thousands of U.S....

CAFTA-DR: a winner for U.S. Manufacturing.(New Reports, Analyses And Resources)
June 1, 2005... CAFTA-DR: A Winner For U.S. Manufacturing, from the National Association of Manufacturers (NAM), "reiterates why this agreement should be a no-brainer," says NAM president John Engler. CAFTA-DR should generate $1 billion of new U.S....

Fool me twice? Chamber of Commerce distorts NAFTA record, hides CAFTA costs.(New Reports, Analyses And Resources)
June 1, 2005... Fool Me Twice? Chamber of Commerce Distorts NAFTA Record, Hides CAFTA Costs, a report from Public Citizen Global Trade Watch, says the Chamber is guilty of "ridiculous" assumptions when it comes to CAFTA. The idea that U.S. exports to CAFTA...

Product lifecycle management for six sigma quality.(New Reports, Analyses And Resources)
June 1, 2005... Product Lifecycle Management for Six Sigma Quality, from the National Center for Manufacturing Sciences (NCMS), finds that industry "is struggling to demonstrate a successful marriage of CAD engineering definition with the complete...

Labor force characteristics of foreign-born workers.(New Reports, Analyses And Resources)
June 1, 2005... Labor Force Characteristics of Foreign-Born Workers finds that there were 21.4 million foreign-born people in the U.S. labor force in 2004, comprising 14.5 percent of the total workforce. The Bureau of Labor Statistics report says that between...

Contrary to the rhetoric, jobs are more stable and secure.(New Reports, Analyses And Resources)
June 1, 2005... Contrary to the Rhetoric, Jobs Are More Stable and Secure, a report from the Manufacturers Alliance/MAPI, finds that manufacturing jobs during the 1990s and early 2000s were at least as stable and more secure than they were during the 1970s and...

Annual survey of wind energy, from the American Wind Energy Association.(New Reports, Analyses And Resources)
June 1, 2005... Annual Survey of Wind Energy, from the American Wind Energy Association, says that at the end of 2004, wind energy facilities in 30 states totaled 6,740 megawatts. The states with the most wind energy capacity installed were California (2,096...

The emerging budget crisis: urgent fiscal choices.(New Reports, Analyses And Resources)
June 1, 2005... The Emerging Budget Crisis: Urgent Fiscal Choices from the Committee for Economic Development says the deteriorating federal budget "requires immediate action on multiple fronts" and warns that long-term deficits will have an adverse impact on...

National patterns of research and development resources: 2003.(New Reports, Analyses And Resources)
June 1, 2005... National Patterns of Research and Development Resources: 2003, from the National Science Foundation, describes total level of R&D expenditures for the country; breakdowns of federal versus private-sector funding of research; the amount...

The effects on the U.S. bearing industry and homeland security of manufacturers moving overseas.(New Reports, Analyses And Resources)
June 1, 2005... The Effects on the U.S. Bearing Industry and Homeland Security of Manufacturers Moving Overseas, a report from the Bearing Specialists Association, says U.S. security "will be affected because the U.S. will have an unavoidable global dependency...

Building a North American Community: report on the independent task force on the future of North America.(New Reports, Analyses And Resources)
June 1, 2005... Building a North American Community: Report on the Independent Task Force On The Future of North America says the United States, Canada and Mexico must work together in developing a vision for North America "to address the new challenges" posed...

IT Security.(New Reports, Analyses And Resources)
June 1, 2005... IT Security, a study by the Computing Technology Industry Association (CompTIA), found that nearly 40 percent of organizations experienced a major IT security breach within the last six months, with 80 percent of them caused by human error....

Policy implications: international graduate students and postdoctoral scholars in the United States.(New Reports, Analyses And Resources)
June 1, 2005... Policy Implications: International Graduate Students and Postdoctoral Scholars in the United States is available from the National Academies of Sciences by calling 202-334-3313.

Strategic plan for the U.S. Integrated Earth Observation System.(New Reports, Analyses And Resources)
June 1, 2005... Strategic Plan for the U.S. Integrated Earth Observation System, from the White House Interagency Working Group on Earth Observations (166 pages) is located at http://iwgeo.ssc.nasa.gov /docs/EOCStrategic_Plan.pdf.

Health Information Technology Leadership Panel: final report.(New Reports, Analyses And Resources)
June 1, 2005... Health Information Technology Leadership Panel: Final Report, from the Department of Health and Human Services, is located at http://www.hhs.gov.

The 2002 Economic Census Industry Series reports for manufacturing.(New Reports, Analyses And Resources)
June 1, 2005... The 2002 Economic Census Industry Series Reports for Manufacturing has been posted to the U.S. Census Bureau's Web site. The series provides data about the number of operational factories, employment and inventory for every industrial sector of...

Earth Science and applications from space: urgent needs and opportunities to serve the nation.(New Reports, Analyses And Resources)
June 1, 2005... Earth Science and Applications from Space: Urgent Needs and Opportunities to Serve the Nation, from the National Research Council, assesses the value of NASA's earth science missions and addresses issues in the federal budgets for fiscal years...

The United States Trade Representative's annual super 301 report.(New Reports, Analyses And Resources)
June 1, 2005... The United States Trade Representative's Annual Super 301 Report describing the 52 countries that do not adequately protect intellectual property is located at http://www.ustr.gov.

A system of solutions: every school, every student.(New Reports, Analyses And Resources)
June 1, 2005... A System of Solutions: Every School, Every Student investigates how 10 school districts serving inner-city areas helped improve student performance. The 22-page report is available from the American Association for the Advancement of Science at...

Pathways to the future: complex environmental systems: synthesis for earth, life and society in the 21st century.(New Reports, Analyses And Resources)
June 1, 2005... Pathways to the Future: Complex Environmental Systems: Synthesis for Earth, Life and Society in the 21st Century, from the National Science Foundation, says accelerating environmental changes present new research challenges aimed at...

Suzanne Patrick to leave DOD.
June 1, 2005... Suzanne Patrick, deputy under secretary of defense for industrial policy, told her staff on May 23 that she is resigning her position effective July 1. Patrick brought a new level of visibility to her office (and herself) by her sometimes...

63,000 in San Antonio seek to fill 2,000 jobs at Toyota's new factory.
June 22, 2005... It is much harder to get a production-line job at Toyota than it is to get accepted into Harvard. Last year, 19,752 people applied for undergraduate admission to Harvard. The university accepted 2,110 students; and 1,638 joined the class of...

Growing pains: Domestic Mfg. Group breaks rules of NAM's engagement.
June 22, 2005... NAM has reprimanded a self-organized group of members for misrepresenting its policies on trade. The Domestic Manufacturing Group (DMG), comprised of about 50 NAM members, has been told it can no longer meet at NAM headquarters and claim that...

China's cost advantage is long term.
June 22, 2005... The migration of manufacturing and research and development to China will not abate any time soon, according to analysts working for the Boston Consulting Group (BCG). "Everything is cheaper in China," says Thomas Bradtke, a BCG manager. Labor,...

U.S. needs to concentrate on seven manufacturing leapfrog technologies.
June 22, 2005... The United States must concentrate on making "leapfrog" jumps in seven strategic manufacturing technologies in order for the country's manufacturers to stay competitive worldwide, according to the National Council for Advanced Manufacturing...

GE's wind division is chugging along.
June 22, 2005... General Electric has received orders for 2,400 megawatts of new wind power capacity worldwide so far this year, an amount that should generate $2 billion in revenue, or 300 percent more than during its first-year of wind operations in 2002. The...

Fallout predicted from China/Japan dispute.
June 22, 2005... The growing political tension between China and Japan is going to impact where Japanese companies locate their offshore production, according to by Gartner Research. "Japanese technology firms will reduce their commitment to the Chinese market...

China commission says 'time is of essence' in U.S. response to China's undervalued currency.
June 22, 2005... The continued growth of the trade deficit with China is "not sustainable," and rules that were adopted by the World Trade Organization that would address the current imbalance are not being interpreted in the manner in which they were intended,...

Senators create another group to promote U.S. manufacturing.
June 22, 2005... The plight of the U.S. manufacturing sector is an issue grabbing the attention of more members of the United States Senate. Sens. Hillary Clinton (D-N.Y.) and Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) have created a new Senate Manufacturing Caucus. The...

Jimmy Carter is a CAFTA fan.
June 22, 2005... Former President Jimmy Carter wants Congress to approve the Central America Free Trade Agreement. "Some 80 percent of Central America's exports to the U.S. are already duty free, so they will be opening their markets to U.S. exports more than...

Panel will address 'fundamental questions' associated with offshore outsourcing.
June 22, 2005... The National Academy of Public Administration (NAPA) panel charged with making a comprehensive review of offshoring job losses plans to deliver an interim report in September and, possibly, a second interim report in February or March of 2006...

Export-import bank's China loan decision is bad news for U.S. equipment makers.
June 22, 2005... One of the most important developments in the world semiconductor industry during the past quarter was the U.S. government's decision not to approve a loan application for the export of $769 million of U.S. semiconductor manufacturing equipment...

House approves 2006 budget for science and tech programs.
June 22, 2005... The Commerce Department's Technology Administration (TA) appeared to have gotten something of a reprieve, while both the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP) and NASA's aeronautics programs came in for something of a...

House reprimands USTR for inaction on intellectual property protection.
June 22, 2005... As part of the $57-billion appropriation bill passed by the House of Representatives for Science, Commerce, Justice and State, the United States government will open U.S. intellectual property offices in Beijing and Moscow. The bill directs the...

Senators support ATP.
June 22, 2005... Sens. Carl Levin (D-Mich.) and Mike DeWine (ROhio) have circulated a letter calling on the Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Commerce, Justice, and Science to provide the Advanced Technology Program (ATP) with $146 million for 2006....

Defense R&D spending would decline next year.
June 22, 2005... Spending by the Department of Defense on research and development is slated to decline next year, under the budget approved by the House Appropriations Committee. Total R&D spending (in H.R. 2863) would fall by 0.6 percent, from $13.01 billion...

MEP Director Kevin Carr steps down from his post.
June 22, 2005... The director of the Manufacturing Extension Partnership (MEP) program has announced his resignation. Kevin Carr, 44, who has been with the program since its inception at the National Institute of Standards and Technology in 1989, has decided to...

U.S. antidumping investigations recede.
June 22, 2005... The United States is not actively pursuing many antidumping investigations, according to the World Trade Organization. During the second half of 2004, the United States initiated four anti-dumping investigations, compared to 21 during the...

Congress overwhelmingly votes in favor of WTO.
June 22, 2005... The House of Representatives on June 8 rejected a proposal to withdraw from the World Trade Organization by a vote of 338 to 86. The vote "sends a strong message that the United States will continue to lead in the WTO," said U.S. Trade...

U.S. manufacturing Czar holds down the fort.
June 22, 2005... It's been nine months since Assistant Secretary of Commerce for Manufacturing and Services Al Frink left the Southern California carpet company he co-founded to become the Bush administration's point man on manufacturing. Although he arrived in...