Manufacturing & Technology News articles from May 2007

Manufacturing & Technology News archives from May 2007

Asian currency manipulation riles members of Congress.('MAIN STREET VERSUS WALL STREET')
May 15, 2007... Currency manipulation by Asian countries is becoming a big political issue among members of Congress worried about the loss of good jobs in their districts. In a set of two hearings held May 9 involving three House subcommittees, something...

Taking it to the streets: new coalition to hold trade meetings in primary states.
May 15, 2007... The recently created Coalition for a Prosperous America Inc., a coalition of manufacturers, manufacturing trade associations, farm organizations and labor pushing for trade reform, has scheduled a large-scale town-hall meeting for Ames, Iowa,...

Dept. of energy outlines strategy for nuclear revival.
May 15, 2007... The United States and Japan have entered into a partnership to develop and build a new generation of nuclear reactors that can reduce the production of weapons-grade plutonium and can be built in developing nations. The U.S.-Japan Joint Nuclear...

NIST seeks bids for nanotech projects.
May 15, 2007... The National Institute of Standards and Technology is seeking proposals for nanotechnology research projects associated with its newly created Center for Nanoscale Science and Technology (CNST). "Researchers interested in working at the...

Offshore outsourcing engulfs high-value corporate functions.(RAMPING UP:)
May 15, 2007... Offshoring is entering a new high-growth era, one that is encompassing core business functions such as research and development, engineering and product design, according to a report from Duke University's Fuqua School of Business's Offshoring...

Economic issues take back seat in first presidential campaign debates.
May 15, 2007... The economic security of the nation was not much of a debating point among the eight Democrats and 10 Republicans vying for the 2008 presidential nomination. In two recent debates hosted by MSNBC, many dozens of questions were asked, with less...

iNEMI's latest technology roadmap: what's hot in global electronics sector.
May 15, 2007... The global electronics industry is being transformed by technology, pressures on costs and prices, environmental and energy demands and the rapid migration of manufacturing and research and development to low-cost regions of the world. ...

Those complaining about globalization are losers, says Chicago Fed scholar.
May 15, 2007... The media is overblowing the negative effects of international trade, according to Robert Thompson, a professor at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and visiting scholar at the Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago. "Any time an employer...

Worldwide shift from incandescents to compact fluorescents could close 270 coal-fired power plants.
May 15, 2007... On February 20, 2007, Australia announced it would phase out the sale of inefficient incandescent light bulbs by 2010, replacing them with highly efficient compact fluorescent bulbs that use one fourth as much electricity. If the rest of the...

The United States will soon have a new manufacturing "czar.".(PEOPLE:)
May 15, 2007... The United States will soon have a new manufacturing "czar." President Bush has announced the nomination of Woody Sutton for the position of Assistant Secretary for Manufacturing and Services at the Department of Commerce. He replaces Al Frink...

Rep. Marty Meehan.(PEOPLE:)
May 15, 2007... Rep. Marty Meehan (D-Mass.), one-time chair of the House Manufacturing Caucus, is resigning from Congress effective July 1. Meehan has decided to take a new job, as chancellor of the University of Massachusetts, Lowell. Meehan says that as head...

The National Association of Manufacturers.(PEOPLE:)
May 15, 2007... The National Association of Manufacturers is losing one of its top lieutenants. Patrick Cleary, senior vice president of communications, has announced his departure after 10 years at NAM. He has taken a job as director of digital public affairs...

The specialty steel industry of North America.(PEOPLE:)
May 15, 2007... The Specialty Steel Industry of North America has a new chairman. Douglas Kittenbrink, an executive with Allegheny Technologies Inc., has stepped in to replace Jack Shilling, also of ATI, who has recently retired. Kittenbrink is ATI's executive...

The nomination of Michael Baroody.(PEOPLE:)
May 15, 2007... The nomination of Michael Baroody, vice president of the National Association of Manufacturers, to head of the Consumer Product Safety Commission has run into opposition. A group of nine organizations including the Consumer Federation of...

Rationale for Chinese trade deals has proven to be specious.(WERE AMERICANS DUPED?)
May 31, 2007... The United States public has been told repeatedly that legislation allowing unfettered free trade with China would lead to a new era of Chinese political freedom. But no such thing has happened, and the specious argument made by multinational...

ISO prepares new standards for corporate responsibility.
May 31, 2007... The International Standards Organization says it has reached a "turning point" in creating a new set of standards for social responsibility. The 275 members of the ISO Working Group on Social Responsibility have culled through 5,176 comments...

Average worker receives a lousy wage.
May 31, 2007... The average American who is not a professional or a manager does not make very much money, as measured in 1982 dollars. In April, 2007, the average hourly earnings for a worker in the private sector were $17.85, or $590 per week. But counted in...

China's current account surplus is soaring.
May 31, 2007... Through the first quarter of 2007, China's global surplus in traded goods has increased by 101 percent over the same period last year, "and is almost three times the then-record surplus pace set two years ago," writes Charles McMillion,...

NAM: U.S. chemical industry's natural gas crisis could have big impact on U.S. manufacturing.
May 31, 2007... The U.S. manufacturing sector is facing a "hidden" crisis that could further impede its ability to compete internationally and result in a wholesale shift of production offshore, according to research sponsored by the National Association of...

EPA's research budget is in a free-fall.
May 31, 2007... Scientists with the Environmental Protection Agency say the Bush administration's plans to close a minimum of 20 percent of the agency's laboratory infrastructure over the next four years represents a "crippling disinvestment in EPA's...

Study: Countervailing duties are good for U.S. economy.
May 31, 2007... Products being dumped into the U.S. market cost the economy orders of magnitude more in money, profits and jobs than the savings afforded to consumers, according to the first report of the recently created Alliance for American Manufacturing...

The 'China Price' should be considered illegal under international trade rules.
May 31, 2007... A substantial percentage of the "China Price" for manufactured goods comes from illegal subsidies and mercantilist policies that should not be allowed under international trade rules, according to the "China Price Project" at the University of...

Mass protest in Canada over loss of Mfg.
May 31, 2007... The rapid and substantial loss of manufacturing jobs is creating a popular uprising in Canada. On Sunday, May 27, an estimated 38,000 people demonstrated the loss of jobs at the Ford Test Track in Windsor, Ontario, Canada. The event, organized...

New alliance in Britain mad about loss of Mfg.
May 31, 2007... Manufacturing is hemorrhaging out of the UK "at an alarming rate," according to the newly created Engineering and Machinery Alliance (EAMA). "It is in a downward spiral which needs arresting and turning round with new and dramatic government...

Dip in multifactor productivity.
May 31, 2007... Multifactor productivity last year in the private sector grew at the slowest annual rate since 2001, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Multifactor productivity rose by only 1.1 percent in 2006, reflecting a 3.8 percent increase in...

U.S. Rep. says China is like 'Jaws'.
May 31, 2007... The United States government has no plan to assess the emerging military and economic rise of China, says Rep. Randy Forbes, (R-Va.). Yet China's actions continue to surprise many people in the U.S. government. It has demonstrated an...

Unintended consequences of NIH budget.
May 31, 2007... The doubling of the federal research budget for the National Institutes of Health has had a "profound" impact on the U.S. biomedical research community, according to White House Science Advisor John Marburger. The surge in spending that...

California needs to re-think workforce strategy.
May 31, 2007... The state of California is suffering a brain drain, according to the Public Policy Institute of California. "Between 2000 and 2005, 612,000 college-educated migrants came to California from other states, but 658,000 college-educated California...

MAPI: U.S. pays Europe's health care costs.
May 31, 2007... U.S. companies selling products into Europe are helping pay for government health care and retirement costs for Europeans, according to a report from the Manufacturers Alliance/MAPI. "U.S. exporters (who must pay a VAT to the country buying...