Industry Week articles from April 2007

Industry Week archives from April 2007

Manufacturing change to come.(Letter to the editor)
April 1, 2007... Re "A Cynic's View Of Washington," Just In Time, Page 7, February 2007. I am a strong believer that manufacturing is where the market should be. It is no surprise that factories are being built by Honda and Toyota in the United States,...

Positive vision.(Letter to the editor)
April 1, 2007... Re "Compete Or Retreat," Just In Time, Page 7, January 2007. I have spent my career in manufacturing with P&G, Frito-Lay, Mead, WRGrace, and now Foremost Farms USA. All of these great companies have struggled with manufacturing efficiency...

Tightwad companies.(From The Forums)(labour shortage)(Brief article)
April 1, 2007... forums.industryweek.com/show thread.php?t=750 Where did you come up with the idea that we have a labor crisis? What we have is a money shortage in manufacturing. You can find all the workers you want for the right money. You better get your...

Sustainable improvement requires a culture change; manufacturing leaders need to overcome the attitude of "that's just how we do things around here.".(CONTINUOUS IMPROVEMENT)
April 1, 2007... IF YOU ARE LIKE MOST MANUFACTURERS IN NORTH America who have begun a lean transformation, you know how difficult it is to sustain the improvements your teams have implemented. Why is it that these efforts, with measurable operational...

Sweeten the deal: supplier relationship management is a formidable tool in global competition.(MANAGEMENT)(Eaton Corp. and Penske Logistics)
April 1, 2007... IT'S AN OVERUSED EXPRESSION, BUT IT'S true: You catch more bees with honey than with vinegar. For Richard B. Jacobs, vice president of supply chain management at Eaton Corp., making sure the honey jar is full is a best practice he insists...

By the numbers: spending analysis.(PURCHASING)(supply chain technology usage, online auctions)(Brief article)
April 1, 2007... 18 Percentage of companies using real-time spend analysis function "often" or "always" 91 Percentage of respondents with a technology strategy integrated into the overall sourcing/supply chain strategy 91 Percentage of companies that...

Early payment discounts.(PURCHASING)(Xign Corp. survey of Fortune 2000 companies)(Brief article)
April 1, 2007... In discussions with more than 200 Fortune 2000 companies, Xign Corp., a provider of settlement networks for business, discovered that less than 1% of suppliers offer discount terms today. Yet, in a recent survey of Xign Business Settlement...

Beaker counters.(OPERATIONS)(Bristol-Myers Squibb Co.'s Work Right Procurement Initiative)(Brief article)
April 1, 2007... TO TARGET OPERATIONAL EFFICIENCY improvements, Bristol-Myers Squibb Co. has introduced its Work Right Procurement Initiative, according to a December 2006 Critical Issues report released by CAPS Research--a non-profit, independent research...

Market watch: material demand.(PURCHASING)(commodities price index)(Statistical table)(Brief article)
April 1, 2007... Commodities Up In Price Aluminum (3) Corn Products (4) Gasoline Natural Gas Nickel (4) Stainless Steel (2) Stainless Steel Sheet (2) Commodities Down In Price Caustic Soda Copper (3) Commodities In Short Supply...

The changing faces of the workplace: attracting and keeping women in industry will be key to manufacturing's long-term viability.(FACILITIES)
April 1, 2007... ON FACTORY FLOORS, WITHIN engineering rooms and in executive offices there is a noticeable difference: the number of female faces. "When I first started at Caterpillar I think there were three women in my area. When I left as a VP years...

Weyerhaeuser restructuring plan calls for high-tech mill.(FACILITIES)
April 1, 2007... WEYERHAEUSER CO. IS SCHEDULED to open a modernized sawmill at an existing operation in Longview, Wash., by mid-2008 as part of a restructuring plan that also will result in a facility closing and the elimination of 130 jobs. The new...

Manufacturers divided on emissions cap.(FACILITIES)(U.S. Climate Action Partnership)(Brief article)
April 1, 2007... A CONSORTIUM OF U.S.-based businesses and nongovernmental organizations are calling for a flexible, market-driven cap on greenhouse gas emissions. The group, called the U.S. Climate Action Partnership (USCAP), includes manufacturers such as...

Standardizing machine communication: an initiative targeting machine tool interoperability promises to revolutionize manufacturing.(FACTORY AUTOMATION)(Association for Manufacturing Technology)
April 1, 2007... WHAT IF MACHINE TOOLS came with a standard way of exchanging information? It's coming, with the promise of dramatic efficiencies, data access and competitiveness. The enabler: a machine tool interoperability initiative launched by AMT, the...

A peak under the hood at CAMX.(FACTORY AUTOMATION)(Computer Aided Manufacturing using XML)(IPC-2501 standards from Institute for Printed Circuits)(extensible markup language)
April 1, 2007... The electronics industry offers a sneak preview of what interoperability standards can offer machine tool users. Known as Computer Aided Manufacturing using XML (CAMX), the standards enable different machines and software on the factory floor...

The plug-and-play future has begun.(FACTORY AUTOMATION)(Association for Manufacturing Technology standards)(Freedom E-Log from Maintenance Technologies)(Brief article)
April 1, 2007... INDUSTRY'S SEARCH FOR MACHINE TOOL interoperability solutions predates the launch of AMT's standards initiative. One example is a machine availability and utilization tool called Freedom E-Log from Maintenance Technologies, a business unit of...

Collaborative production management: process vs. discrete.(FACTORY AUTOMATION)(Brief article)
April 1, 2007... The market for collaborative production management (CPM) for process manufacturing will grow at a 12% compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 12% between now and 2011, according to the ARC Advisory Group. These integrated software applications...

Maintenance miscues: the consequences of missed or ignored equipment maintenance can range from lost production to costly and perhaps even fatal safety mishaps. Here's what you can do to keep costly breakdowns at bay.(OPERATIONS)
April 1, 2007... ONCE UPON A TIME THERE WAS A MANUFACTURING COMPANY THAT SUFFERED failure of a major piece of equipment at one of its plants--and everybody panicked. Multiple lines of production came to crashing halts for hours and machine operators stood...

Online poll.
April 1, 2007... Would you recommend manufacturing as a career to today's youth? IndustryWeek.com readers respond: Yes 49.44% No 50.55%

Chasing the sun: manufacturers have the ability to run 24/7 operations all over the globe. The question: how do they do it successfully?(MANAGEMENT)
April 1, 2007... OPERATING IN A GLOBAL ECONOMY presents triumphs and challenges for manufacturers--often in the same breath. Manufacturers can follow the sunrise to develop, design, engineer and manufacture products while utilizing all 168 hours in a week....

DuPont does the DNA dance: biotechnology is reshaping the world through our medicine, food, agriculture, materials and fuel. DuPont sees biotech as the ideal tool to improve productivity, quality and sustainability.(E.I. du Pont de Nemours and Co.)
April 1, 2007... PORK CHOP BEARING TREES AND PIGS capable of photosynthesis are still not possible, but no one in biotechnology is ruling anything out just yet. Consider what's already been made possible by changing the way nature works: * Cells modified...

Get your money's worth: warehouse management systems can do far more than they're being asked to do.(SUPPLY CHAIN & LOGISTICS)(Brief article)
April 1, 2007... TOO MANY COMPANIES ARE UNDERUTILIZING their investment in warehouse management systems (WMS), according to a best practices survey conducted by the Supply Chain Consortium, which represents consumer goods manufacturers and retailers. "Although...

M&A scorecard.(SUPPLY CHAIN & LOGISTICS)
April 1, 2007... M&A Scorecard The following mergers, acquisitions and launches scorecard highlights corporate moves in the supply chain technology sector since the last update in the January 2007 INDUSTRYWEEK. Company/Product ...

The toughest software implementation.(data warehousing software)(Brief article)
April 1, 2007... STANLEY CHEW, DIRECTOR OF international operations with HighJump Software, offers these "little-known secrets" of warehouse management systems (WMS): 1. The WMS business is not about products--it's about services. While in the past...

Stryker's 4-step inventory reduction process.(Stryker Instruments contracts with TradeBeam Inc.)(Brief article)
April 1, 2007... Stryker Instruments, a manufacturer of surgical instruments, had a classic inventory problem: it wasn't able to share real-time information with its key suppliers. While its inventory levels were too high, the company was hesitant to lower them...

Sensing change in wireless: sensor technology is expected to drive wireless growth.(INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY)
April 1, 2007... HIDDEN WITHIN PROCESS EQUIPMENT is a volatile environment where materials undergo a transformation that's dependent upon several variables. Manufacturers have been able to monitor such conditions with sensors but typically without the mobility...

PDAs drive mobility at GM plant: new Michigan plant adopts wide-scale PDA deployment.(personal digital assistants at General Motors Corp.'s Delta Township plant)(Brief article)
April 1, 2007... When automaker General Motors Corp. began production at its Lansing, Mich., Delta Township plant in May 2006, the company touted the facility as one of its most modern. And like most up-to-date plants, the Delta Township facility employs...

When IT attacks: fictional account provides tips on how to avoid IT disasters.(Byler Filter Products)(Brief article)
April 1, 2007... With his disheveled bed hair and outdated glasses highlighted by oversized tortoiseshell frames, Bill Marbach seems to resemble Jimmy Fallon's nerdy Nick Burns "company computer guy" role on "Saturday Night Live." But unlike Burns, Marbach's...

Shedding some light on DPM: quality standards should aid direct-part-marking readability.(Brief article)
April 1, 2007... AIM Global has developed quality standards for an increasingly popular type of bar coding known as direct-part marking (DPM). The new standards will act as a bridge between existing print quality standards for bar codes and the direct-part-mark...

The job's not over till the paperwork is buried; strategic management of "busy work" is one of the keys to your success.(BRANDT ON LEADERSHIP)
April 1, 2007... MANY JUNIOR MANAGERS SAY TO ME, "JOHN, I'VE just gotten a big new job, but there seems to be a lot of paperwork involved. How will I manage all of it? What are the keys to success?" Their problem, of course, is that youth and innocence lead...

Daddy, why does your company want to hurt everybody?(JUST IN TIME)(Editorial)
April 1, 2007... DID YOU EVER WONDER WHY KIDS JUST DON'T seem to be interested in manufacturing jobs? Oh sure, we've all heard the reasons the pundits trot out to explain this lack of interest, that nobody wants to punch a clock and stand on their feet all day...

Micro possibilities: power-hungry portable devices fuel the drive to develop micro fuel cell technology.(PRODUCT DEVELOPMENT)(Frost & Sullivan predicts the demand )
April 1, 2007... LAPTOP COMPUTERS THAT SUDDENLY wink out as batteries run dry. Cell phones and PDAs whose portability no longer proves a benefit once the power drains away. These challenges for consumers are driving immense interest in micro fuel cells, a...

Practical product development.(The Pursuit of New Product Development: The Business Development Process)(Brief article)(Book review)
April 1, 2007... IF YOU ARE LOOKING FOR STRAIGHTforward direction about launching a product development program to boost your business, then you may want to consider perusing The Pursuit Of New Product Development: The Business Development Process (Elsevier,...

Attention inventors: Henkel wants your ideas.(PRODUCT DEVELOPMENT)(Brief article)
April 1, 2007... In mid-April Henkel, producer of such consumer brands as Dial, Duck tape and Loctite, wraps up a global competition in search of new ideas and new products. The target audience for the competition: independent inventors and entrepreneurial...

Ready for prime time: fuel cells remain a work in progress, but products are available for purchase now.(PRODUCT DEVELOPMENT)(Fuel Cell Council survey)(Brief article)
April 1, 2007... Fuel cells have jumped off the drawing board and into the hands of customers--albeit in limited quantities and in niche markets. According to the U. Fuel Cell Council, more than 40 fuel cell products for micro, portable, stationary and...