Manufacturing & Technology News articles from November 2006

Manufacturing & Technology News archives from November 2006

New members of Congress want to change terms of debate over manufacturing trade: the U.S. tug-of-war over trade policy will be taking place on a dramatically regraded playing field in the wake of last week's congressional elections, claim opponents of the economic and political assumptions that have shaped the nation's trade agreements and dominated its debate over globalization in the NAFTA era.
November 14, 2006... "The Washington Consensus is shattered," declares Robert Borosage of the Institute for America's Future. He points to the election of a half-dozen new senators whose outlook he considers "populist"--and thus at odds with the economic...

Interview: NAM Pres. John Engler addresses thorny issues raised by domestic manufacturers.(Interview)
November 14, 2006... It's been a stormy period for the National Association of Manufacturers. Globalization and the rapid rise of China's manufacturing sector have created tension within the organization's membership, with domestic manufacturers feeling...

College costs could impact big U.S. companies.
November 14, 2006... Escalating costs of a college education could begin having an impact on companies seeking qualified employees needed to replace aging baby boomers, according to John Challenger, CEO of outplacement firm Challenger, Gray & Christmas. "Soon,...

Washington pioneer: R. Wayne Sayer.
November 14, 2006... R. Wayne Sayer, president of the Washington, D.C.-based high-tech lobbying firm that bears his name, passed away on Friday Nov. 3 at the age of 67. Sayer worked with hundreds of people in Washington as an avuncular builder of coalitions aimed...

'Fair trade' was the big winner in senate elections: all but one of the freshman senators elected last week--the exception being Republican Bob Corker of Tennessee--want to leave behind "free trade" as it is known and lay a new foundation for international commerce. On the stump and in their campaign literature, they have practiced a rhetoric rarely heard from legislators in recent years.
November 14, 2006... REPLACING YEA VOTERS ON CAFTA Rep. Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio), who defeated Sen. Mike DeWine: "I led the fight in Congress against the fundamentally flawed CAFTA.... In the U.S. Senate I want to revamp U.S. trade policy to reward corporations...

Conference board issues 'alarm' over U.S. education system.
November 14, 2006... "The future U.S. workforce is here--and it is woefully ill-prepared for the demands of today's (and tomorrow's) workplace," concludes a study conducted by The Conference Board, the Society for Human Resource Management and the Partnership for...

New plants in the United States, and the world over.
November 14, 2006... NEW PLANTS IN THE UNITED STATES Nestle USA will soon begin construction of a $359 million factory and distribution center in Anderson, Ind., about 40 miles northeast of Indianapolis. The 880,000-square-foot facility will produce Nesquick...

Council on Competitiveness says U.S. has little to fear, but fear itself.
November 30, 2006... The United States is the most competitive nation on Earth and policymakers should not view the burgeoning trade deficit as an accurate measure of the nation's economic health, according to the Council on Competitiveness's latest "Innovation...

U.S. China commission: time for action is at hand.
November 30, 2006... December 11 marks the five-year anniversary of China's admission to the World Trade Organization, and this anniversary is a good time to assess whether it has lived up to the commitments it made upon entering the 149-member organization, says...

Census of manufactures: lots of growth.
November 30, 2006... Manufacturers spent $128.3 billion on capital expenditures last year, up from $114 billion in 2004, but far lower than the peak year of 2000, when they spent $154 billion, according to the Census Bureau's Annual Survey of Manufactures. ...

Growth of consumer electronics drives semiconductor industry to new heights.
November 30, 2006... The world semiconductor industry is projected to grow by 9 percent this year to $249 billion, followed by a projected increase of 10 percent next year to $274 billion, according to the Semiconductor Industry Association. In 2008, growth is...

GAO faults department of defense on business transformation.
November 30, 2006... "Business transformation" at the Department of Defense isn't going very well, according to the Government Accountability Office. The agency is making some progress in transforming its business operations, but "it has yet to develop a...

Presidents of two Mfg. associations spar over how to deal with China.
November 30, 2006... National Association of Manufacturers' president John Engler is trading barbs with Steel Manufacturers Association president Tom Danjczek over the issue of Chinese currency manipulation. Danjczek, whose trade association represents U.S....

Manufacturing jobs continue disappearing.
November 30, 2006... Manufacturing workers continue to bear the brunt of layoffs. In October, there was a net loss of 39,000 manufacturing jobs, falling to 14,181,000 (or 4.7 percent of the total U.S. population). It was the fifth consecutive month of job losses in...

U.S.-China commissioner Mulloy expresses concern over whether multinationals are good for U.S.
November 30, 2006... The growing distrust of U.S. multinationals made its way into the annual report of the congressionally-chartered United States-China Economic and Security Review Commission. The report, read closely in China, includes an "additional view" from...

Top officials head to China.
November 30, 2006... U.S. government talks with China will continue, but at a much higher pitch. Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson will lead a high-level delegation to Beijing Dec. 14-15 for the inaugural meeting of the U.S.-China strategic Economic Dialogue. He...

It is time to stop the madness; we have lost our minds.
November 30, 2006... As the United States' trade deficit grows so does the accompanying debate on trade policy. More specifically, free trade and protectionism. Unfortunately, the debate often degenerates into affixing labels to those who may have a different view...

Steel imports are soaring.
November 30, 2006... Steel imports are setting records this year, according to the American Iron and Steel Institute. Based on data for the first 10 months of the year, total imports of steel will top 46.5 million net tons, an all-time high, easily surpassing the...

United States Trade Representative Susan Schwab responds to election results in which trade played a key role.
November 30, 2006... Now that the mid-term election is over, there is suddenly a great deal of talk about bipartisanship, especially from Republicans who barely involved Democrats in any aspect of governance prior to the election, particularly when it came to...

Colombia offers China a cheap way into U.S.
November 30, 2006... The vice president of Colombia was in China during the week of November 21, proposing a plan that would allow Chinese companies to use that nation to export goods to the United States without having to pay duties, according to the Bloomberg...