Manufacturing & Technology News articles from June 2008

Manufacturing & Technology News archives from June 2008

Budget crunch forces Bureau of Economic Analysis to cut back data on FDI.
June 16, 2008... At a time when foreign direct investment (FDI) in the United States is skyrocketing, the Bureau of Economic Analysis has determined it doesn't have the money to collect data on the nature of those investments. In its latest annual report on...

Agricultural research lags behind world's growing demand for food.
June 16, 2008... The federal government has reduced its annual spending on agricultural research to only about $200 million, forcing hundreds of university researchers to switch their areas of academic focus, according to Mark Cook, professor of animal science...

States are in a tight fiscal predicament.
June 16, 2008... The states aren't going to be starting many new programs any time soon, due to a dire budget situation in many of them. Twenty-nine states along with the District of Columbia are facing budget shortfalls that total $48 billion in their next...

Analysts declare manufacturing is in recession.
June 16, 2008... The U.S. trade deficit unexpectedly shot up to $61 billion in April, from $56.5 billion in March. Imports of goods and services soared by $9.4 billion over the previous month to $216 billion. Exports increased by $5 billion to $155.5 billion....

U.S.-China Business lobby appoints leaders.
June 16, 2008... The board of directors of the Washington, D.C.-based U.S.-China Business Council (USCBC) has selected Andrew Liveris, CEO of Dow Chemical Co., to be its new chairman. Liveris is the perfect person for the job, says USCBC president John...

Here is what passes for Democrats' economic strategy.
June 16, 2008... After the Department of Labor reported on June 6 that the United States lost 49,000 jobs in May, a handful of Democrats in Congress responded with their own proposals to generate job growth in the United States. Barney Frank (D-Mass.),...

Big Three catch up to Japanese on productivity.
June 16, 2008... Detroit's Big Three automakers are catching up--and in some cases have caught up--to Japanese producers in productivity, thanks in large part to buyouts of tens of thousands of workers and the adoption of lean processes, according to the latest...

NEMW Institute tracks Mfg. trends.
June 16, 2008... The Northeast Midwest Institute maintains a monthly "Manufacturing Fact Sheet" describing trends in the manufacturing sector, including production, employment, purchasing managers' index, trade deficit and more. Most every trend is currently...

Airbus tanker deal won't help U.S. employment: EPI.
June 16, 2008... The selection of the Northrop Grumman/EADS team over Boeing to provide the Air Force with refueling tankers will cost the United States 14,000 jobs, according to the Economic Policy Institute. "Boeing would likely create at least twice as many...

Democrats forget their rhetoric, slice MEP.
June 16, 2008... The Democratic controlled House of Representatives has taken out the budget knife and sliced a program that for years Democrats argued was essential to the wellbeing of the U.S. economy. After years of bellyaching about the Bush...

Barney Frank's lesson in holding a grudge.
June 16, 2008... CXS Corp. has asked Congress to seek a U.S. government investigation into foreign ownership of its company, but don't look to Rep. Barney Frank, chairman of the House Financial Services Committee, to help the company. Although a group of...

Anti-Counterfeiting effort initiated.
June 16, 2008... Thirteen countries along with the European Union have begun discussions on creating a new "Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement." The group, which does not include China, met in Geneva on June 3 and 4 to develop ways of stopping large-scale...

Foreign competition is changing fast: check your global IQ.(Interview)(Company overview)
June 16, 2008... U.S. industry is entering a new phase of worldwide trade and competition "in which there will be no single geographic center, no ultimate model for success and no surefire strategy for innovation and growth," according to a new book by the...

In Northeast China, the rush is on.
June 16, 2008... From the West's point of view, Beijing, Shanghai or Shenzhen are the three cities of choice for companies considering their claim in the China boom. These tried and proven grounds have become the mindset for establishing a business in China,...

Textile maker Copland Industries says multinationals are killing the U.S. economy.(POLITICIANS DON'T UNDERSTAND)
June 30, 2008... The federal government no longer represents the interest of U.S. manufacturing companies and their workers, instead siding with the Communist Chinese government that is putting hundreds of thousands of Americans out of good paying jobs,...

Caterpillar, Deere & NAM say multinationals are saving the U.S. economy.(AMERICANS ARE MISINFORMED)
June 30, 2008... The free-trade policies of the past 30 years are receiving unjustified negative and misleading criticism that needs to be countered by the multinational companies, according to a panel of multinational company CEOs at a conference sponsored by...

As federal government reduces R&D investment, states must fill the breach.
June 30, 2008... Massachusetts and Maryland are the two best states in the country for support of science and technology. West Virginia and Mississippi ranked in last place, according to the Milken Institute's latest "State Technology and Science Index;...

Venture capitalists invest in manufacturing company.
June 30, 2008... A Naples-Fla.-based company that has engineered a process that takes used tires and creates an ultra-fine rubber powder has secured $34.5 million from a group of venture capital firms to scale up its manufacturing plant. Index Ventures and...

To revive Mfg., bank proposes carbon tax on Chinese imports.
June 30, 2008... Imposing a carbon tax on Chinese imports would lead to a resurgence of the U.S. manufacturing industry, according to a report from Canada's largest banking firm, CIBC World Markets. A carbon tariff on imported goods, "may be the only way...

High-impact firms drive growth.
June 30, 2008... "High impact" firms make up less than 5 percent of all companies in the United States, but they account for nearly all new jobs and growth in the economy, according to the Small Business Administration's Office of Advocacy. These firms are...

Tourism benefits from falling dollar.
June 30, 2008... The sinking U.S. dollar is providing a boost to the U.S. tourism industry. International travel to the United States increased by 15 percent during the first quarter of 2008 to 11.4 million visitors, and visitor spending rose by 20 percent. In...

Automation group broadens its appeal.
June 30, 2008... The Open Modular Architecture Control users' group has adopted a new name in an effort to broaden its appeal to more manufacturing companies. The group, based in Research Triangle Park, is now known as the Organization for Manufacturing...

Forecast for global energy consumption.
June 30, 2008... World energy consumption should increase by 50 percent between 2005 and 2030, "driven by robust economic growth and expanding populations in the world's developing countries," according to the latest projections from the Department of Energy's...

NAM president: labor movement uses trade issue to attract members.
June 30, 2008... The United States labor movement should be backing a strong free-trade agenda for the benefit of its members, but labor has strategically positioned itself to be on the wrong side of the issue, according to John Engler, president of the...

Porter: unfair trade plays a role in declining U.S. competitiveness.
June 30, 2008... Harvard Prof. Michael Porter was the only speaker among 22 presenters during the day-long "Competitiveness Summit" sponsored by the U.S. Department of Commerce to raise concerns about trade. He said that China's trade practices need to be...

Small Business firms fuel trade growth.
June 30, 2008... Small companies have a lot to gain from free trade and recent protectionist sentiments have no "rational foundation," says a report from the Small Business & Entrepreneurship Council, based in Oakton, Va. "The U.S. economy cannot grow and small...

As money for young researchers dries up, they give up.
June 30, 2008... Fewer young researchers able to push beyond the envelope of known science and technology are receiving funding, and they are spending more time writing grants than doing research, according to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. The...

KPMG: China destined to be no. 1 investment destination.
June 30, 2008... The United States will soon be displaced by China as the world's largest recipient of corporate investment, according to KPMG. India is also expected to become a global manufacturing powerhouse, with money flowing into new plants and equipment....