Manufacturing & Technology News articles from March 2003

Manufacturing & Technology News archives from March 2003

Federal agencies create a manufacturing panel for cross-cutting R&D and policy deliberations.
March 3, 2003... Six federal agencies conducting manufacturing research have created a major new coordinated activity called the Government Agencies Technology Exchange in Manufacturing (GATE-M), that intends "to represent the voice of federal interests in U.S....

Semiconductor industry warns China to play fair; encourages greater U.S. commitment to R&D.
March 3, 2003... The U.S. semiconductor industry is starting a campaign to pressure China to eliminate a 14 percent value added tax (VAT) on imported semiconductors that is being applied "as an attempt to attract foreign capital into China's semiconductor...

Name change.
March 3, 2003... Today marks the start of a new chapter for Manufacturing News, with the inclusion of the word "Technology" in its name. Now 10 years in circulation, the "T" word is actually not new to the publication, which was originally titled:...

Congressional Task Force calls on President to help solve manufacturing 'crisis'.
March 3, 2003... Members of the Congressional Manufacturing Task Force are putting the finishing touches on a letter to President Bush seeking to build bipartisan support for a federal government agenda to improve the struggling manufacturing sector....

Union membership dropped by another 200,000 last year.(Brief Article)
March 3, 2003... The long decline in union membership in the United States continued last year, with union workers comprising 13.2 percent of the labor force, down from 13.4 percent in 2001, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. The number of people...

China is aggressively pursuing new role in international standards. ('It's Everyone Out for a Forward Pass').
March 3, 2003... The Chinese government is assiduously working with its fast-growing high-tech industries and academic research institutes to implement, support and develop international technical and quality standards, says Arden Bement, director of the...

Chemical industry raises alarm over natural gas prices.
March 3, 2003... The price of natural gas is reaching record highs, threatening the nascent economic recovery of America's basic industries, says the American Chemistry Council (ACC). "Drastic" price increases to $19 per mm BTU are leading to an "energy...

Idaho senator hopes to punish South Korean D-RAM producer.
March 3, 2003... Sen. Larry Craig (R-Idaho) is indignant about the loss of 1,100 Micron Technology semiconductor jobs and blames South Korea for the company's misfortune. Craig has introduced legislation to implement a "cash deposit" of 80 percent on...

Productivity growth declined in 2001, due to drop in output.(Brief Article)
March 3, 2003... Labor productivity of the U.S. manufacturing sector did not improve in 2001, as was widely reported. Instead, productivity declined by 0.4 percent in 2001, due to a combination of a 6 percent drop in manufacturing output that was only partially...

Renewable energy industries are on the verge of strong growth.
March 3, 2003... A great deal of growth is in store for the solar, wind and fuel cells industries over the next decade, predicts market research firm Clean Edge Inc. of San Francisco. The market for PM wind and fuel cells should expand from $9.5 billion today...

From the Council on Competitiveness: no problem with U.S. competitiveness.
March 3, 2003... Back in the mid 1980s, the United States high-tech sector was in a pinch. Japan Inc. was putting U.S. electronics companies out of business with better technology, business practices and government policies. President Ronald Reagan formed a...

Northeast Midwest Coalition. (People).(Olwen Huxley appointed to House Science Committee, Republican side)(Brief Article)
March 3, 2003... Olwen Huxley, legislative director of the House Northeast Midwest Coalition and the staff person in charge of the House of Representatives' Manufacturing Task Force, is leaving her position to take a job on the Republican side of the House...

National Center for Defense Manufacturing and Machining (NCDMM). (People).(Brief Article)
March 3, 2003... The National Center for Defense Manufacturing and Machining (NCDMM), a new entity created by a congressional earmark from Rep. John Murtha (D-Penn.) in last year's Defense Appropriations bill, has named Mark Huston as its first director....

International Sematech. (People).
March 3, 2003... International Sematech has a new president and CEO. Michael Polcari, vice president of procurement engineering for IBM global procurement, has taken over the Sematech helm from Bob Helms, who is leaving in May for personal reasons. Polcari...

Labor Department trains displaced workers for tech jobs.(Brief Article)
March 3, 2003... The Department of Labor has awarded a $4.7 million grant to the state of Illinois to train displaced workers for jobs in the technology manufacturing sector. The Integrated Systems Technology (IST) program will train laid off workers at four...

U.S. machine tool sector hits a low not seen since the 1920s.
March 3, 2003... The U.S. machine tool industry had one of its worst years in history last year, with shipments sinking 23 percent to $2.06 billion. The figure is down 65 percent from the industry's peak in 1998, and in constant dollars "was the lowest year...

OECD works at decreasing shipbuilding overcapacity.(Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development)(Brief Article)
March 3, 2003... The OECD launched a new round of negotiations aimed at countering overcapacity in the world shipbuilding industry. The current level of overcapacity of 15 percent will likely rise to 30 percent in the next two years if steps aren't taken to...

China jumps to number one in machine tool consumption.
March 3, 2003... China, is now the world's largest consumer of machine tools, moving up from fourth place in 2001 to first place in 2002, according to the World Machine Tool Output and Consumption Survey produced by Gardner Publications (see charts on previous...

Manufacturing crisis attracts attention of congressional Republican leaders: loss of jobs spurs action.
March 17, 2003... Senior Republican leaders in the U.S. House of Representatives, including House Speaker Dennis Hastert (R-Ill.), have decided it is time to undertake a major new initiative to restore American manufacturing. Members of Congress representing...

Mask industry to create a Sematech-like consortium: 'critical' sector needs help.
March 17, 2003... The United States photomask industry, a fundamental building block for the production of semiconductors, has coalesced behind a proposal to develop a Sematech-like consortium to pool scarce R&D resources and attract investment dollars from the...

President's science panel to study health of high-tech manufacturing.(Industry Overview)
March 17, 2003... The President's Council of Advisors on Science and Technology (PCAST), an august group that serves the White House Office of Science and Technology, has decided to study the plight of U.S. manufacturing. "The nation's long-term economic...

Senators hope to reverse slide of rural America.(Senators Tim Johnson, Byron Dorgan and Chuck Hagel introduce a "New Homestead Act")(Brief Article)
March 17, 2003... Members of Congress from rural districts want to stop the hemorrhage of people leaving for the cities. Sens. Tim Johnson (D-S.D.), Byron Dorgan (D-N.D.) and Chuck Hagel (R-Neb.) have introduced a "New Homestead Act" that would provide...

NAM awakens to 'crisis' in manufacturing; develops a broad campaign of attack.(National Association of Manufacturers)
March 17, 2003... The National Association of Manufacturers is inaugurating a long-term campaign to study the rapid decline of U.S. manufacturing, the rise of China and what it will take restore the competitiveness of U.S. industry. After 30 consecutive...

DARPA to consider a manufacturing initiative.(Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency)(Brief Article)
March 17, 2003... The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA), the agency that played a central role in restoring U.S. technology competitiveness in the 1990s, is in the early stages of investigating a new manufacturing research initiative....

Minn. manufacturers feel China's sting, but their response might not work: China makes its presence felt in U.S. heartland.(Minnesota's lost of business to China)
March 17, 2003... A majority of CEOs and senior executives working for manufacturing companies in Minnesota say they have lost a substantial amount of business to Chinese competitors and they expect to see sales decline further in coming years due to increased...

The business bookshelf: erudition over extinction.
March 17, 2003... Cliff Ransom, director of research at Janney Montgomery Scott, the big investment firm in Philadelphia, has a keen sense of spotting either subtle contagion or hidden value within a business or industry, perhaps due to his knowledge of lean...

Manufacturing extension center battles state budget cuts.(Minnesota Technology Inc. fights for survival)
March 17, 2003... Minnesota Technology Inc. (MTI), one of the nation's most respected manufacturing extension partnership (MEP) centers, is fighting for survival. Facing a state budget deficit of some $4.5 billion, Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty, requested zero...

In fight for R&D, ASTRA finds a small universe of support.(Alliance for Science and Technology Research in America)
March 17, 2003... The Alliance for Science and Technology Research in America (ASTRA), a Washington, D.C., lobbying group created two years ago by Dr. Mary Good, one of America's most esteemed technologists, has established a small but growing foothold in the...

Change in technology visa policy disrupts U.S. business overseas.
March 17, 2003... Recently adopted federal rules that make it harder for people from China, India and Russia to receive a visa from the State Department to visit the United States are beginning to have a negative impact on U.S. business. In July of last year,...

Europe creates technology transfer association.(Brief Article)
March 17, 2003... The European Union has created a new organization to promote the transfer of technology between universities and government research laboratories and industry throughout Europe. ProTon Europe, a network of 42 technology transfer offices at...

U.S. State Department's 'Technology Alert List' impacts every industry.
March 17, 2003... The "Technology Alert List" is maintained by the State Department in order to clear any foreign nationals wanting to do business in technologies that have the potential to be exploited militarily by countries that are on the department's List...

Jobs numbers were lackluster in February.(manufacturing employment statistics)(Brief Article)
March 17, 2003... The freefall in manufacturing employment continued in February, with the sector losing another 53,000 jobs, the 31st consecutive month of decline. The largest declines in the manufacturing sector occurred in industrial machinery and...

Quotable.
March 17, 2003... "Today, the United States spends tens of millions of dollars on aircraft noise research but hundreds of millions of dollars soundproofing homes around airports. That is like spending money buying mops instead of figuring out how to plug a leak....