Manufacturing & Technology News articles from May 2004

Manufacturing & Technology News archives from May 2004

Partisan bickering continues: house Republicans plan blitz to counter negative publicity over outsourcing.
May 4, 2004... The Republican leadership in the House of Representatives has unveiled a legislative agenda for the coming two months to counter the controversial issue of outsourcing U.S. jobs overseas. Republicans will pursue a legislative blitz on the...

Bush team tells labor and industry that it has a better way of dealing with China's unfair trade practices.
May 4, 2004... When the Bush administration's four senior-most economic and trade officials called a press conference on April 28 to denounce the AFL-CIO's "Section 301" complaint against labor conditions in China, it was a surprise to the AFL-CIO. "We...

Manufacturing extension program named as finalist for coveted government innovation award.
May 4, 2004... An increasingly high profile federal program that the Bush administration wanted to effectively kill has become a finalist in the country's most prestigious award for government programs. The Innovations in American Government Award from...

EU tries to save Europe's textile and apparel industries.
May 4, 2004... The European Union has created an advisory group to help create policies to assure the health and existence of the continent's textile industry. The Textiles High Level Group "will develop recommendations on how to implement industrial and...

In the outsourcing debate, whose numbers do you believe?
May 4, 2004... When Forrester Research projected in November 2002 that the United States would lose 3.3 million service sector jobs and $136 billion in wages to offshore outsourcing over the next 15 years, nobody paid attention. Outsourcing of service jobs...

Two American heroes: Eisen & good.
May 4, 2004... Two of the country's most important women in science, technology, industry and education are receiving awards for lifelong achievement. The two American heroes: Mary Good of the University of Arkansas and Phyllis Eisen of the National...

Confessions of a senator: I have failed the voters.
May 4, 2004... Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) says he has failed his constituents in protecting their companies, jobs, families and communities from unfair trade that is destroying the state's economy and future well-being. Speaking at a regional hearing of the...

Interview: creator of http://www.
May 4, 2004... Finland, once called the "Japan" of Europe and the most respected nation on the Continent for its commitment to technology and innovation, has created a new "Millennium Technology Prize." The intent of the prize is to rival the Nobel Prize by...

Big three can't break into Japan's market.
May 4, 2004... Sales of General Motors' vehicles in Japan last year dropped by 42 percent, from 14,890 vehicles in 2002 to 8,637 vehicles in 2003, according to the Japan Automobile Manufacturers Association. GM's Saturn division sold a total of 10 vehicles in...

Wind energy industry has a very good year.
May 4, 2004... The wind energy industry celebrated a near-record breaking year in 2003, adding more than 8,000 megawatts of capacity in more than 20 nations. Investment in new wind farms last year was $9 billion, up from $7 billion in 2002. The total world...

Fixing the Foreign Sales Corp. presents a lesson in how Washington no longer works.
May 4, 2004... A major tax bill aimed at promoting U.S. exports is bogged down in both the House and the Senate, and there are growing worries that the measure to overhaul the Foreign Sales Corp-Extraterritorial Income exclusion (FSC-ETI) will not pass this...

PWB industry priority: fixing China's currency.
May 4, 2004... The printed circuit board industry has scheduled a Capitol Hill Day in Washington to complain to lawmakers about the "devastating affect" caused by China's manipulation of its currency. The IPC--Association Connecting Electronics Industries,...

Small plastics firm says trade will derail Bush's re-election bid.
May 4, 2004... President Bush's aggressive free trade agenda and his perceived acquiescence to China on currency manipulation is going to cost him the election, predicts a small manufacturing business owner in South Carolina. Bush "is out at the end of the...

IMS program celebrates ten years of Mfg. research.
May 4, 2004... The Intelligent Manufacturing Systems (IMS) program is celebrating its 10-year anniversary. The international collaborative manufacturing R & D program that has involved more than 450 organizations is expecting more than 400 people at its...

Companies volunteer to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
May 4, 2004... Thirteen companies have joined the Environmental Protection Agency's "Climate Leaders" program to voluntarily reduce emissions and set aggressive long-term emissions reduction goals. Another 10 companies have established emissions reduction...

Increasing worry is expressed over paltry commitment to funding physical sciences and engineering research.
May 17, 2004... The innovation engine that has fueled the U.S. economy over the past two decades is sputtering and requires a large infusion of federal funds, argue some of the most prominent figures in American industry and academia. The United States is at a...

American Axle chairman issues stern warning to U.S. automobile industry.
May 17, 2004... The U.S. auto industry is facing a moment of truth and must act now in a coordinated effort to assure its survival, says Richard Dauch, chairman and CEO of American Axle & Manufacturing. "The moment of choice for the American auto industry...

Growth of China could throw Thailand, Malaysia, Philippines and Indonesia back to pre-industrial role of commodity suppliers.
May 17, 2004... China's growth as a manufacturing powerhouse might not be good news for some of its neighbors--particularly Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines and Thailand, the so-called ASEAN-4. "The full integration of China's huge labor force into the...

Majority of senate tries to save manufacturing extension program.
May 17, 2004... Fifty-five U.S. Senators have signed a letter asking Secretary of Commerce Donald Evans to find money within his agency and redirect it into the Manufacturing Extension Partnership (MEP) program. Senators from states across the country and from...

Commission proposed to study health of U.S. industrial base.
May 17, 2004... Congress continues to be concerned about the health of the defense industrial base. In the National Defense Authorization Act for 2005, the Senate Armed Service Committee calls on the President to create a 12-member commission "to assess the...

Trade deficit, exports reach records.
May 17, 2004... The trade deficit reached a new record in March: $46 billion, up 9 percent from the $42 billion deficit measured in February. The March trade deficit was $3 billion higher than the same month in 2003. The negative balance of trade in goods...

Many citizens are scientifically illiterate.
May 17, 2004... Scientific literacy in the United States and in most other countries "is fairly low," says the National Science Foundation in its newly released "Science and Engineering Indicators" report. Most of the public knows a little "but not a lot...

Europe becomes an even bigger trading block.
May 17, 2004... The European Union has become a very large market for goods and services, thanks to the addition of 10 new member states. Prior to the "fifth enlargement" that took place on May 1, there were 381 million Europeans living within the common...

Gas association heads to China.
May 17, 2004... The Gas Appliance Manufacturers Association (GAMA) has opened its first office in China. The Arlington, Va.-based association says its membership wanted the trade group to become more active in China because of its growth as a market...

Machine tool sector stages a comeback.
May 17, 2004... The U.S. machine tool industry is coming back to life. During the first quarter of this year, consumption surged to $609.5 million, an increase of 44.4 percent over the same period last year, reports the U.S. Machine Tool Consumption Survey....

Calendar of upcoming events.(Calendar)
May 17, 2004... June 1-4 Electronic Components and Technology Conference, Las Vegas, Nev., http://www.ectc.net. June 2-3 Battlefield Strategies, Transforming Theory Into Reality, Washington, D.C., http://www.aviationnow.com/conferences. June 2-3...

Manufacturers add jobs for the first time since 2000.
May 17, 2004... The long drought in manufacturing jobs has ended. The Department of Labor reported May 7 that the economy added 22,000 manufacturing jobs in April, and that revisions to the employment situation show that job growth in the sector started...