Manufacturing & Technology News articles from March 2005

Manufacturing & Technology News archives from March 2005

Chinese apparel imports surge as quotas end.
March 9, 2005... "A pair of trousers for three-dollars and sixty-three cents," says an incredulous Cass Johnson, so amazed that he has to repeat it: "A pair of trousers for three-dollars and sixty-three cents." That was the average price of cotton trousers...

Pentagon will increase scrutiny of foreign acquisitions of U.S. technology companies.
March 9, 2005... The Defense Department is "fine tuning" its process for analyzing foreign company acquisitions of U.S. defense suppliers. The Pentagon's Office of Industrial Policy is taking a more detailed look at how mergers and acquisitions are impacting...

Private-sector group seeks presidential initiative for mfg. R&D.
March 9, 2005... Organizers of the Next Generation Manufacturing Technology Initiative (NGMTI) have started a Washington lobbying campaign seeking the creation of a "Presidential Initiative" aimed at keeping the United States at the forefront of manufacturing....

Indiana = manufacturing.
March 9, 2005... Manufacturing remains the lifeblood of Indiana, according to a new report from the Indiana Manufacturers Association, the Central Indiana Corporate Partnership and the Indiana Department of Commerce. The manufacturing sector accounts for 68...

NAM will press for full funding for manufacturing extension program.
March 9, 2005... The National Association of Manufacturers "will go to bat" for the Manufacturing Extension Partnership (MEP) program, run by the National Institute of Standards and Technology, says NAM President John Engler. The Bush administration requested a...

Heritage analyst says offshore outsourcing is a made-up problem.
March 9, 2005... The argument that free trade leads to the outsourcing of jobs, which in turn threatens the welfare of many Americans, "is basically fallacious," argues Marc Miles, director of the Center for International Trade and Economics at the Heritage...

Indiana Senate says it's time for Congress to reassess free trade agreements.
March 9, 2005... The Indiana State Senate on Feb. 22 passed a resolution calling for a moratorium on any new free trade agreements. Indiana Senate Concurrent Resolution No. 16 urges Congress "to investigate and review" all free trade agreements signed so far by...

IBM's desire to sell PC business to Chinese firm increases pressure on government committee created to approve foreign acquisitions.
March 9, 2005... The Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS) has become more active in recent years, as foreign investment in U.S. technology companies has increased, according to Washington lawyers involved in CFIUS proceedings. Some...

NCMS starts program on 'take-back'.
March 9, 2005... The National Center for Manufacturing Sciences is kicking off a new "Sustainable Product Initiative" aimed at developing "market-driven" incentives for reducing the environmental impact of products "particularly in those industry sectors where...

High-level federal panel seeks input in piecing together mfg. R&D strategy.
March 9, 2005... The federal government is seeking ideas from industry, academia and trade associations on developing a manufacturing R&D strategy for a dozen or more federal agencies. The Interagency Working Group (IWG) on Manufacturing R&D, run by the White...

Debate: how to measure lean progress.
March 9, 2005... The 4,000 members of the Northwest Lean discussion group on Yahoo were treated recently to a lively discussion of the benefits, difficulties and necessities of measuring the impact of lean implementation on an enterprise. The discussion was...

DOD describes strategy to develop titanium industry.
March 9, 2005... The U.S. titanium industry is "on the verge of a revolution" but is not able to supply the Department of Defense with a vast increase in product for use in a new generation of light-weight, strong weapons systems at affordable prices, according...

Bloom is off China, says Flex CEO.
March 9, 2005... The rush to China among manufacturing companies "has peaked," says Michael Marks, CEO of Flextronics, the world's largest electronics contract manufacturing company. "I think China is overdone," Marks told the Reuters Technology Summit in San...

DOT issues new air traffic plan.
March 9, 2005... The U.S. Department of Transportation has delivered to Congress an "Integrated National Plan for the Next Generation Air Transportation System." "For the first time ever, a unique coalition of federal government agencies, working with industry...

WTO rules on Korean shipbuilding industry & U.S. cotton subsidies.
March 9, 2005... The World Trade Organization on March 7 ruled on behalf of the European Community that Korea is providing unfair export subsidies to its shipbuilding industry. But prohibited subsidies such as restructuring plans, tax concessions provided to...

NASA budget request puts aeronautics R&D in a tailspin.
March 23, 2005... A House Science subcommittee heard some grim assessments last week upon delving into "The Future of Aeronautics at NASA" and, more specifically, the potential consequences of Bush administration plans to cut the agency's budget for aeronautics...

China commission wants to know China's true impact on U.S. economy.
March 23, 2005... The United States-China Economic and Security Review Commission, which is chartered by Congress, has issued a request for proposals for the creation of a "formal econometric model examining the impact of China on the U.S. economy" and specific...

Disillusionment over R&D budget request spreads into republican ranks.
March 23, 2005... The members of the House Science Committee are known for preserving a bipartisan spirit that has grown increasingly rare on Capitol Hill. But unusual even for them was the degree to which they carried bipartisanship in issuing the panel's...

Senate endorses advanced tech program.
March 23, 2005... The Advanced Technology Program (ATP) may have few friends in the Bush administration, but it has more than half the Senate in its corner if last week's passage of a resolution urging Senate appropriators "to make efforts to fund" the...

Assessment of industrial base assessments: there is little to worry about, or is there?
March 23, 2005... The U.S. defense industrial base is healthy and vibrant, though there are a number of specific areas of weakness that need to be addressed, says the Department of Defense. "The Department does not concur with concerns raised by some that...

Robots become more prevalent worldwide.
March 23, 2005... Worldwide purchases of industrial robots surged by 19 percent in 2003 to 81,800 units, according to the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe. In the first half of 2004, orders for robots were up another 18 percent to the highest level...

Logistics is an emerging strategic issue for military planners.
March 23, 2005... Although it is much sexier to debate the future of combat aircraft and space warfare, the Department of Defense has been jolted to reality by operations in Iraq and Afghanistan. A new approach to expeditionary operations is required; one that...

Science Academy studies defense R&D.
March 23, 2005... Defense Department funding of basic research is not being siphoned off into weapons projects that are further along in development, according to a study from the National Academy of Sciences. But the study, the result of concerns raised by...

Catching the next 'wave' in renewable energy.
March 23, 2005... The generation of electricity from wave energy may be economically feasible in the near future, according to the Electric Power Research Institute. "Wave energy conversion may be economically feasible within the territorial waters of the United...

Climate change task force calls for doubling of clean energy R&D.
March 23, 2005... "Left unmitigated, the impacts of climate change are expected to be devastating," says the International Climate Change Taskforce. "Urgent action is needed." The group, co-chaired by Sen. Olympia Snowe (R-Maine), calls on governments to...

U.S. gets clobbered by Euro imports due to tax treatment, says MAPI.
March 23, 2005... "During the past decade, Western Europe has used aggressive 'tax competition' to nearly double its exports to the rest of the world--far faster than [the United States'] export growth--and has built a substantial trade surplus with the United...

Commodity prices boost U.S. minerals industries.
March 23, 2005... The value of the all mineral materials processed in the United States "soared" last year to $418 billion, up 13 percent from 2003, says the United States Geological Survey. It was the largest year-to-year increase since 1988. The total value of...

Recent studies--resources of interest.
March 23, 2005... RADIO FREQUENCY IDENTIFICATION: LITTLE DEVICES MAKING BIG WAVES, a 16-page report from the Progressive Policy Institute, is located at http://www.ppionline.org/ documents/RFID_1006.pdf. ECONOMIC IMPACT OF INADEQUATE INFRASTRUCTURE FOR...

Over the past decade, quality index experiences a 'dramatic drop'.
March 23, 2005... Quality has improved over the past decade, but customers' expectations have increased by a greater amount. The American Society for Quality (ASQ) is now 10 years into measuring customer satisfaction with hundreds of goods and services. The...

Manufacturing bill starts its way through Congress.
March 23, 2005... Choosing the Manufacturing Extension Partnership (MEP) as its vehicle, a House Science subcommittee last week embarked on an attempt to remedy at least one aspect of the discontent that the committee has expressed with the administration's...

U.S. aeronautics research: is it seed corn or is it whiskey?
March 23, 2005... Last week's House Science subcommittee hearing on NASA's research in aeronautics was not without a partisan scuffle. But the tiff, rather than being a classic Democratic-Republican tussle, pitted partisans of the agency's aeronautics mission...

Equipment manufacturers claim steel industry's gain is their loss.
March 23, 2005... "Distortions in the steel market, including the record high price of steel, are being fostered by the U.S. government and are causing a crisis that has impacted automotive and heavy duty suppliers across the country, triggering unprecedented...

Welcome Ken Jacobson.
March 23, 2005... Joining the editorial staff with this issue is Ken Jacobson. His arrival at Manufacturing & Technology News marks a professional reunion with Editor Richard McCormack, as the two worked side by side at King Publishing Group in Washington, D.C.,...