Manufacturing & Technology News articles from November 2003

Manufacturing & Technology News archives from November 2003

Engineers fear offshore outsourcing is contributing to high jobless rates.
November 4, 2003... An unprecedented high unemployment rate of 6.7 percent among electrical and electronics engineers and an even higher unemployment rate of 8 percent among engineering managers is creating a growing level of anxiety within the engineering...

Manufacturers make republicans feel skittish on free trade.
November 4, 2003... Republican members of Congress from districts heavily dependent on manufacturing are beginning to have second thoughts about free trade. At a meeting of 20 members of the congressional Manufacturing Task Force, Rep. Michael Ferguson (R-N.J.)...

Europe to develop manufacturing strategy.(Brief Article)
November 4, 2003... The European Commission's first round of funding for manufacturing R&D under its "Sixth Framework" research program proved to be a disappointment, says the EC. "A reluctance among mature industries to abandon traditional approaches to research...

Buy American provisions are not what was intended.(Brief Article)
November 4, 2003... The controversial "Buy American" provisions in the House Defense Authorization bill are being watered down by the House-Senate conference committee, according to legislative aides on Capitol Hill. A new compromise proposed by the Bush...

Europe's defense trade groups endorse European Defense Agency.(European Armaments Research and Military Capability Agency)(Brief Article)
November 4, 2003... Europe's defense industries have endorsed the creation of a new European Armaments Research and Military Capability Agency. The new agency should help bring about a "common defense equipment market [through] an intensified and effective...

U.S. needs to respond to China's industrial policies, says semiconductor industry.
November 4, 2003... China has put in a place an effective industrial policy that is allowing it to become a world power in the most strategically important industry worldwide: semiconductors. That is the conclusion of a major new study conducted by the...

Signs of growth for fuel cells.(Brief Article)
November 4, 2003... The fledgling fuel cell industry is growing slightly. Sales of fuel cell products, parts and services in the U.S. increased from $151 million in 2001 to $167 million in 2002, an 11 percent increase, according to a survey of members conducted...

Bush administration throws cold water on Congress's attempt to address Asian currency manipulation.
November 4, 2003... Treasury Secretary John Snow came under a blistering attack during a Senate Banking Committee hearing held on Oct. 30 when he told committee members that Asian countries are breaking no U.S. laws or world trading rules when they intervene on...

Non-U.S. companies use H-1B to become more competitive with U.S. companies.(Brief Article)
November 4, 2003... Some of the largest users of the H-1B visa program that is used to bring technical specialists into the country are overseas firms, according to data from the Department of Labor. Tata, an India-based outsourcing firm brought 11,982 people into...

Tech. policy point man responds to Grove's claim that U.S. has no strategy to deal with offshoring.
November 4, 2003... Andrew Grove, one of America's most revered industrial leaders, raised alarms throughout the technology community recently when he said the United States runs a risk of losing its edge in one of its greatest strengths: software. Foreign nations...

Offshore outsourcing worries the nation's most conscientious business executive.
November 4, 2003... An edited transcript of Intel Chairman of the Board Andrew Grove's recent speech to the Business Software Alliance on the "Coming Software 'X' Curve". I'm here to be the skunk at your garden party.... Everybody basically in this room and...

Congress galvanizes around beleaguered textile industry.
November 4, 2003... The textile and apparel industries are busy making their case in Washington for the Bush administration to invoke special safeguards to restrict surging imports from China. Twenty-six senators and 139 members from the House of Representatives...

Philosophical debates push federal manufacturing strategy behind schedule.
November 4, 2003... The Commerce Department's manufacturing strategy report, which was due out in September, will not be released until at least mid November, say sources at the agency. Drafted by Under Secretary for International Trade Grant Aldonas after an...

State Department, USTR derail "Buy American" provisions in Defense bill.
November 20, 2003... The "Buy American" provisions in the Defense Authorization bill generated a lively debate within the Bush administration that took months to resolve and resulted in a watered down version of the original proposal. Those who were pushing to...

Battle over MEP's budget unleashes pent-up fury.
November 20, 2003... Supporters of the Manufacturing Extension Partnership program were in a frenzy on Capitol Hill during last-minute negotiations between the House and Senate over the future funding level for the program. At press time late Wednesday evening,...

EU approves a massive increase in R&D program.
November 20, 2003... The European Parliament has approved a proposal to substantially increase funding for its "Sixth Framework" industrial research and technology development program. The Parliament wants to raise the level of spending over a four-year period from...

AEA's 'CyberStates' report finds widespread loss of jobs.
November 20, 2003... Employment in the high-tech sector took a plunge in 2002, reports the American Electronics Association (AEA). Forty-nine states lost high-tech workers, with a total of 540,000jobs lost nationwide in the sector, according to AEA's "Cyberstates...

Fuel cell industry needs more cash than feds expect.
November 20, 2003... The fledgling fuel cell industry will not be able to achieve commercial viability unless the U.S. federal government makes a much greater financial commitment to the technology over the next 10 years, says Robert Rose of the U.S. Fuel Cells...

World's fuel cell trade groups form coalition.
November 20, 2003... The world's leading fuel cell trade associations have signed a cooperative agreement to work together in advancing the commercialization of fuel cells. The U.S. Fuel Cell Council, Fuel Cell Commercialization Conference of Japan, Fuel Cells...

Fed Reserve's finding that Chinese imports have beneficial impact on U.S. industry is 'outrageous,' say representatives.
November 20, 2003... A Chicago Federal Reserve Bank report on the impact trade with China is having on Midwest manufacturing is drawing a stiff rebuke from members of Congress representing manufacturing districts. China is not the reason for the plight of U.S....

Council on competitiveness will present innovation policy recommendations in 12 to 15 months.
November 20, 2003... The Council on Competitiveness, a membership group of about 150 CEOs, university presidents and labor leaders, is beginning to worry a bit about U.S. competitiveness. The council has decided to undertake a 12- to 18-month investigation into how...

Anti-Thomas FSC bill group continues its successful block.
November 20, 2003... The Republican House coalition that is successfully blocking passage of the controversial American Jobs Creation Act (HR 2896) backed by Ways and Means Committee chairman Bill Thomas (R-Calif.) is holding strong, says Rep. Don Manzullo...

India's software trade association says U.S. needn't worry about loss of jobs.
November 20, 2003... Workers in the U.S. high-tech service sector have little to fear from the outsourcing of jobs to India, says the New Dehli, India-based National Association of Software and Services Companies (NASSCOM). Offshore outsourcing of U.S....

Letter to editor.(Letter to the Editor)
November 20, 2003... Someone asked me the question about the offshoring of federal government contracts. While in the process of looking for information on that, I came across another interesting bit of information. It turns out that many of the major Indian...

Plenty of new jobs being created in low-life professions.
November 20, 2003... The economy created 126,000 new jobs in October, but most of them are in the lowest paying categories. The manufacturing sector shed an additional 24,000 workers in October, the 39th consecutive monthly decline. The biggest loser in the...

Trade deficit keeps deteriorating.
November 20, 2003... The trade deficit worsened by 17 percent during the first nine months of the year. The overall balance of payments deficit increased by $59.7 billion compared to the same period in 2002, to $410 billion. The deficit in manufactured goods...

Sematech to focus on mfg.
November 20, 2003... International Sematech (ISMT) has created a new semiconductor manufacturing research group. The independent effort will allow chipmakers to join current Sematech members in a new research program aimed at reducing wafer costs. "Our aim is to...

Congressional member organizations--108th Congress.
November 20, 2003... A great deal of the legislation that finds its way into committee hearing rooms and the floor of Congress originates within small congressional interest groups. These are the people who know a great deal about a subject and are in a position to...

Once, mighty players.
November 20, 2003... Ret. Air Force Lt. Col. "Mad Dog" Donald Fowler, 57, passed away on Nov. 16, after a battle with cancer. Fowler, an audacious, amiable character of unusual Magnitude, had worked on the Joint Chiefs of Staff on Industrial issues and later as a...

At a time of growing industrial dependence, U.S should be mindful of Britain's experience in World War One.
November 20, 2003... The United States can learn a lot from how Britain handled free trade during the late 19th and early 20th Centuries, says Thomas Howell, a lawyer with Dewey Ballantine in Washington, D.C. In the decades leading up to World War I, the...