Industry Week articles from August 2004

Industry Week archives from August 2004

Online poll.(Brief Article)
August 1, 2004... Which of the following individuals would make the best manufacturing CEO?? IndustryWeek.com readers respond: Coach Phil Jackson 55% Radio's Rush Limbaugh 20% Sen. Hillary Clinton ...

Reversing U.S. manufacturing's skilled-worker challenge: new thinking is required to address the skilled-worker shortage.(Editor's Page)
August 1, 2004... NUMEROUS REPORTS OVER THE PAST SEveral years have identified some of the reasons the manufacturing sector's skilled worker shortage exists, but I have a nagging feeling that we're not defining the problem completely, and therefore we're...

Time to turn up the heat?(Letters)(Letter to the Editor)
August 1, 2004... [Re: "Fanning Protectionism's Flames," Editor's Page, June 2004, Page 9] We are asked to compete against China, which subsidizes its extrusion industry by some 30% to 40% through currency manipulation. At the same time China makes zero payments...

Health care for all: a coalition of large, global companies is offering the uninsured access to affordable insurance.(ASAP)
August 1, 2004... BEING ABLE TO OFFER employees health coverage is a coup to any company. Healthy employees are happy, productive employees. But what about those workers who don't qualify for health-care benefits? According to Washington, D.C.-based HR...

Giving birth to 'cradle-to-cradle': Republic Windows & Doors takes a leadership role in introducing its industry to closed-loop production.(3 Quick Questions)(Interview)
August 1, 2004... Nobody is clamoring for recyclable windows and doors. Although they would be nice, it seems there are other, more pressing environmental issues in the news and on the minds of Congress. But midsize manufacturer Republic Windows & Doors, with...

Guarding against inflation.(Time Machine)(Brief Article)
August 1, 2004... Just one short year ago, Chairman Alan Greenspan and the 11 other members of the Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) were wary of what [NDUSTRYWEEK Senior Editor John S. McClenahen described as "an unwelcome vacation visitor"--deflation. Their...

Get it in writing: study shows many firms are lax about executive severance policies, with potentially costly consequences.(Compensation)
August 1, 2004... EVER WONDER HOW YOUR company's executive severance policy matches up against others in Corporate America? If your first thought is, "What executive severance policy?" then you are in the same boat as 25% of the companies in a recent survey that...

Production equipment of the future: research seeks smarter, smaller machine tools.(Emerging Technologies)
August 1, 2004... SMART MACHINES, micro-machine tools for micro factories, nanomaterials and wireless sensor networking. How will those technologies shape the factory of the future? Sample the research status of those projects and others at IMTS, the show that...

Dumb and dumber: winners of the 'dumb bosses' contest are stunningly stupid.(Brandt On Leadership)
August 1, 2004... THE RESULTS OF THE FIRST-EVER National Dumb Bosses Day (scheduled for Aug. 23) Contest are in, and they're, well, staggeringly dumb. Readers have responded with countless tales of low-rent chicanery, petty viciousness and astounding boob-hood:...

You get what you measure: you've been measuring productivity for a long time. You know what it means; you know what it looks like. It's time to look a little deeper.(The Workforce)
August 1, 2004... HOW VALUABLE IS MY LABOR FORCE? DO I HAVE THE RIGHT NUMBER OF EMPLOYEES? * For many manufacturers, these questions would be answered by tracking productivity, a traditional measure of inputs and outputs. While manufacturing has changed...

Profiles in productivity: manufacturers embellish, adjust standard formula.(The Workforce)
August 1, 2004... DAVE LAYMAN, SENIOR VICE PRESIdent of operations for La-Z-Boy, has been tracking productivity for most of his 33 year career at the Monroe, Mich.-based furniture company. It's a relatively simple calculation. Output is measured in terms of...

Making waves: dubbed the 'third wave' of biotechnology, after medicine and agriculture, industrial biotechnology is promising to reshape manufacturing.(Trends)(Cover Story)
August 1, 2004... BRENT ERICKSON LOOKS LIKE AN unlikely matchmaker. He also does not appear to be the man to spearhead the next revolution in U.S. manufacturing. Bearded, scholarly and eminently accessible, he is the wrong gender to be a traditional couple-maker...

Plastics pioneer.(Industrial biotechnology products: innovations include food packaging, clothing, detergent ingredients and car parts.)(Brief Article)
August 1, 2004... Plastics Pioneer: Cargill Dow LLC, Minnetonka, Minn.: A pioneer in the large-scale production of plant-based plastics (NatureWorks PLA), Cargill Dow is now applying the same technology to make and market a textile product. The company's motto...

Making a recyclable car.(Industrial biotechnology products: innovations include food packaging, clothing, detergent ingredients and car parts.)(product development)(Brief Article)
August 1, 2004... Making A Recyclable Car: Toyota Japan has developed its own plant-derived plastics, Toyota Eco-Plastics, and has used them to manufacture spare-tire covers and floor mats for the Raum, a vehicle the company is producing with as much recyclable...

Taking ideas to market.(Industrial biotechnology products: innovations include food packaging, clothing, detergent ingredients and car parts.)(joint ventures)(Brief Article)
August 1, 2004... Taking Ideas To Market: Procter & Gamble Co., Cincinnati: In March, P&G announced a joint venture with Japanese company Kaneka Corp., to complete research and bring to market a portfolio of Nodax products. Nodax is a bio-based, biodegradable...

Replacing petroleum.(Industrial biotechnology products: innovations include food packaging, clothing, detergent ingredients and car parts.)(Brief Article)
August 1, 2004... Replacing Petroleum: Du Pont & Co., Wilmington, Del., has developed a process to replace petroleum in the production of its Sorona material with a plant-derived ingredient.

Washing with less energy.(Industrial biotechnology products: innovations include food packaging, clothing, detergent ingredients and car parts.)(Brief Article)
August 1, 2004... Washing With Less Energy: Novazymes, Denmark, has developed Stainzyme, which the company says can remove difficult stains and retain the colors of clothes. Stainzyme is distinct from other detergent enzymes because it works at low temperatures...

Reducing textile waste.(Industrial biotechnology products: innovations include food packaging, clothing, detergent ingredients and car parts.)(Brief Article)
August 1, 2004... Reducing Textile Waste: Diversa Corp., San Diego: In June, Diversa announced the U.S. launch of Cottonase enzyme for cotton-based textile processing. The global market for textile processing enzymes is $125 million, according to Diversa, which...

Focus on: the top U.S. manufacturers have overcome terrorism, war and recession to deliver superior performance.(Leadership)
August 1, 2004... IT WOULD BE THE MOTHER OF ALL MERGERS. IF INDUSTRYWEEK'S BEST MANUFACTURING Companies joined together to form one company--yes, all 50 of them--its combined revenues would be close to $700 billion, its profits more than $65 billion, and it...

500 largest U.S. manufacturers: the U.S.' largest manufacturers capitalize on market opportunities abroad and at home.(Leadership)(Illustration)
August 1, 2004... SMART INVESTORS KNOW, WHEN CONSIDERING AN investment in any public company, that they better read the footnotes in the 10-K. This is where they can find the details on pending lawsuits and other litigation, tax issues, loans to directors and...

500 largest U.S. manufacturers.(United States,manufacturers)(Illustration)
August 1, 2004... 500 LARGEST U.S. MANUFACTURERS '04 REVENUE RANK COMPANY/COUNTRY (US$ MILLIONS) 1 Exxon Mobil Corp., Irving, Tex. 45,757 ...

Making a pitch for PLM: proponents of this unifying technology know of its many challenges but see its long-term benefits as essential. Analysts warn that PLM is evolving to become a survival tool, a simple and essential cost of doing business.(Information Technology)(product Lifecycle Management)
August 1, 2004... OBSERVERS OF LAST JANuary's Detroit Auto Show may have missed the implications of a comment by Bob Lutz, GM's vice chairman and a highly respected auto designer. It was a reference to the manufacturing excellence evident in the displayed...

Tightening up the supply chain: portals help manufacturers predict delays in material shipments.(E Commentary)
August 1, 2004... IT'S 10 O'CLOCK ON SUNDAY NIGHT--DO you know where your raw materials, parts, components and sub-assemblies are? That shipment of motors from Taiwan? The load of automotive frame parts bound for the Port of Oakland that you'll need a week...

Will capex keep U.S. growing? Consumer spending and manufactured durables raise a question.(Economy)(Brief Article)
August 1, 2004... In RICHMOND, VA., Honeywell International Inc. is investing $20 million to expand production of its Spectra man-made fiber. Across the country, in Chandler, Ariz., Intel Corp. is spending $2 billion to convert a 200-millimeter wafer fabrication...

Byrd's-eye view.(Bottom Line)(Brief Article)
August 1, 2004... "I think we're going to see strong capital spending for the rest of the year," says John B. Byrd III president of AMT-The Association for Manufacturing Technology in McLean. Va., a trade group whose members produce machine tools and other...

Piloting materials management: Boeing believes its approach benefits customers, parts suppliers and itself.(Boeing)(Integrated Materials Management )(claiming to reduce operating costs for its commercial airline customers)
August 1, 2004... CHICAGO-BASED Boeing Co. is off the ground with an improved maintenance materials management approach dubbed Integrated Materials Management (IMM) that it claims reduces operating costs for its commercial airline customers, gives Boeing better...

The next manufacturing craze: I could tell you what it is, but then you might not fall for it.(Continuous Improvement)
August 1, 2004... THE TIME IS RIPE FOR THE NEXT BIG THING. The precepts stretch back much farther of course, and the period of enlightenment began in the early 1980s, but lean manufacturing in name has been with us since an article by John Krafcik from MIT...

Energy prices will rise: but the inevitable won't come overnight.(On The Economy)
August 1, 2004... IRAQ PROBABLY WOULDN'T BE AT THE TOP OF the list of vacation spots for most Americans this summer. But it does have one advantage. Gasoline is only 5 cents (U.S.) a gallon. How can gasoline be that cheap? The cost of lifting oil from the sands...