Industry Week articles from July 2004

Industry Week archives from July 2004

Online poll.(Brief Article)
July 1, 2004... Do you anticipate changing jobs during the remainder of 2004? IndustryWeek.com readers respond: Yes 25% No 75%

Take the demon out of the debate.(Editor's Page)
July 1, 2004... MIANY SMART PEOPLE--ECONOMISTS, politicians and business executives--are perplexed. They just don't understand why so many people risk calling for "protectionist" measures when the results of free trade are so obviously good for the economy....

Yesterday Japan, today China.(Letters)(Letter to the Editor)
July 1, 2004... Just read ["Monster Movie Madness!" May 2004, Page 25] and could not agree more. I work for a Japanese company that makes great products, mostly for the North American market. We have doubled our workforce, doubled our sales in the past 12...

Baldrige Awards not enough in the news.(Letters)(Letter to the Editor)
July 1, 2004... I want to thank you very much for bolstering the Malcolm Baldrige Quality Awards ["Beating the Baldrige Blues," May 2004, Page 76]. NIST has done a wonderful job of promoting the criteria, but you would hardly know it from the press coverage of...

Select company: dedication to excellence catapults companies to Industry Week's 2004 Best Plants finalists list.(ASAP)
July 1, 2004... INDUSTRYWEEK ASKS many questions of the manufacturing plants that participate in our annual Best Plants program. For example, the entry form asks whether the facility participates in the Occupational Safety and Health Administration's (OSHA)...

Realigning production capacity: Metaldyne Corp. CEO Timothy D. Leuliette explains how an acquisition makes the U.S. manufacturing sector more competitive.(Interview )(Interview)
July 1, 2004... Though many might see the sale of DaimlerChrysler Corp.'s New Castle Machining and Forge Plant (New Castle, Ind.) to Metaldyne Corp. early this year as an ordinary sale of a factory, Timothy D. Leuliette says it represents something larger. As...

Manage IT better.(Book Shelf)(Brief Article)(Book Review)
July 1, 2004... It's easy to concede that too many IT initiatives have failed to deliver the bottom line results companies had hoped for. But would you agree that effective IT governance is the single most important predictor of the value an organization...

Volatile indeed.(C-Level)(Brief Article)
July 1, 2004... "Another Oil Crisis?" asked the headline of an article written for the Dec. 7, 1998, issue of INDUSTRYWEEK. That article, written in the 25th anniversary year of the 1973-74 Arab oil embargo, looked at emerging trends and questioned whether the...

Central Asian nations in agreement.(Trade)(Brief Article)
July 1, 2004... Although far less ambitious than any of the bilateral or regional free-trade agreements the U.S. has reached recently with a number of other nations, a new pact between the United States and five central Asian nations promises to provide a...

CEO turnover slows in 2003: however, study finds top executive leadership remains on the hot seat.(Succession)
July 1, 2004... IS STABILITY RETURNING TO the ranks of executive leadership? In 2003 the good news for CEOs was that the answer appeared to be "yes--somewhat" according to a new study, but over the longer term the answer remains murky. In 2003 just 9.5%...

GM's 3-part hybrid strategy: the automaker rolls out pickups, cars and buses.(Emerging Technologies)
July 1, 2004... GENERAL MOTORS Corp.'s 2005 lineup will begin showing hybrid vehicles at retail, but a bus fleet with GM hybrid technology is already being delivered. What if the nine largest U.S. cities replaced their 13,000 conventional buses with...

Get serious about sales, marketing: it's a science, not an art.(Brandt On Leadership)
July 1, 2004... I'M CONSTANTLY ASTOUNDED WHAT NORMALLY sane CEOs and senior executives do when it comes to managing their marketing and sales efforts. These leaders insist on reviewing all kinds of metrics from their manufacturing operations and machine...

Dangerous disconnect: millions of displaced manufacturing workers remain unemployed. Simultaneously, an increasing shortage of highly skilled production workers is threatening U.S. manufacturing. If executives don't address this complex conundrum head-on, rhetoric could overcome reason in the effort to recreate the U.S. manufacturing labor force.(Who Will Work For You)(Cover Story)
July 1, 2004... JOHN FERN KNOWS WHAT IT MEANS TO LOSE A JOB. Last November, the 45-year-old Crystal, Minn., machine operator was laid-off along with about 40 co-workers as Minneapolis-based Ault Inc., a producer of power supplies, moved manufacturing...

The numbers deficit: hard data on offshoring are hard to come by.(Outsourcing )
July 1, 2004... FOR WORKERS LIKE JOHN FERN, for the AFL-CIO, for the National Association of Manufacturers (NAM) and the Business Roundtable and for President George Bush and the men who want to replace him in the White House, there are few issues as emotional...

Flexibility in leadership: BAX helps Siemens stay on top of its game in myriad industries around the globe.(BAX Global)(Advertisement)
July 1, 2004... As a global leader in many businesses, Siemens is always looking for vendors that can further enhance its competitive position. The company operates in demanding and complex industries worldwide. Supporting those operations is no small task....

A high-flying solution: ensuring optimal service parts inventory at Southwest Airlines.(i2)(Advertisement)
July 1, 2004... For any commercial airline, keeping airplanes in service and flying is a top priority. For a growing and competitively priced airline like Southwest, it's an imperative. As Southwest Airlines grew, the company found that maintaining its...

Eliminating hard knocks at Hard Rock solution for complex delivery requirements nets +20% savings.(Roadway Express)(Advertisement)
July 1, 2004... Dining at the Hard Rock Cafe is more than just a meal, it's an experience that brings customers into its stores around the world. Those customers not only expect a good meal, they also want to hear good rock 'n roll music and see one-of-a-kind...

Elmer's Products, Inc.: Elmer's bonds with Sterling Commerce for UCCnet[TM] Services.(Sterling Commerce)(Advertisement)
July 1, 2004... As a company that has been producing its well-known line of consumer adhesives for more than 50 years, Elmer's Products, Inc., is a company that knows its retail customers. But in June of 2003, its largest retail customers notified Elmer's that...

Forward, March! Have you 'optimized' excess inventory and lowered costs in your supply chain? Great. But that's only the first step. Get ready to rally the troops for supply chain versus supply chain.(Supply Chain Strategies)
July 1, 2004... SIMPLIFY, COLLABORATE, ADAPT. Those steps to supply-chain optimization seem so natural and easy in the context of Dell, Procter & Gamble and Wal-Mart. Yet why is supply-chain optimization still the exception rather than the rule? Why the...

Life on the island: the life sciences industry taps Puerto Rico for tax breaks, educated workforce.(Strategic Siting)
July 1, 2004... SAY THE WORDS, "PUERTO RICO," AND MANY PEOPLE envision white sand and clear blue water. To be sure, Puerto Rico's location in the Caribbean and average temperature--a balmy 82 degrees Fahrenheit--make it an idyllic vacation spot. But...

The green $ide of green: environmental sustainability has reached a new strategic level in manufacturing because it is increasingly tied to lowered costs and/or innovative products.(Leadership)
July 1, 2004... IN THE ENVIRONMENTAL MOVEMENT'S HALF-CENTURY war on terror, large corporations that make things traditionally have been the Saddam Husseins of the world. They dumped poisons into waterways and dirt into the air; sucked the earth of limited,...

Deere recycles the rain.(Farm Equipment)
July 1, 2004... WHEN IT RAINS in the Dutch town Horst, about 80 miles southeast of Amsterdam, water pours off the roof of the Deere & Co. agricultural sprayer factory and into four 2,600-gallon underground tanks. The water is drawn, rain or shine, from the...

DSM's biotech benefits.(Life Sciences)(Brief Article)
July 1, 2004... MANUFACTURING executives love process changes that save money, thus allowing an increase in margin without raising prices. For some, whose companies can take advantage of biotechnology techniques, these process improvements often include a...

DuPont recycles for autos.(E.I. du Pont de Nemours and Co.)(Brief Article)
July 1, 2004... BY THE END OF 2005, automakers selling in Europe must produce cars that are 85% recyclable, an increase from 75% now required by the End of Life Vehicles directive from the European Union. Diversified manufacturer DuPont, with $27.9 billion...

Ford powers with paint.(Automotive)(Brief Article)
July 1, 2004... FORMALLY, IT'S known as the Fumes-to-Fuel System. And it's being tested at the Paint Shop of the Ford Rouge Center in Dearborn, Mich. In simplest terms, the environmentally friendly experiment is about generating electricity from paint fumes....

GE's high-efficiency investment.(Consumer Durables)
July 1, 2004... SINCE 2001, GE Consumer & Industrial, a $13 billion Louisville, Ky.-based unit of General Electric Co., has invested more than $500 million in high-efficiency products and, by its count, currently offers nearly 600 appliance and lighting...

HP doubles recycling efforts.(High Tech)(Brief Article)
July 1, 2004... TO FURTHER ENCOURAGE the recycling of unwanted computers and printers, Palo Alto, Calif.-based Hewlett Packard Development Co. LP during April of this year doubled the value of its return and recycling e-coupon for U.S. consumers. People with...

Rolls-Royce audits for accountability.(Aerospace)(Brief Article)
July 1, 2004... THE 2003 ENVIRONMENTAL report from London-based Rolls-Royce Group PLC, released in mid-April of this year, is replete with goals set, goals met, and a few that still need work. The language of "Powering a Better World," the report's formal...

Boise challenges suppliers.(Paper & Publishing)(Brief Article)
July 1, 2004... WHILE SUPPLY-chain optimization hasn't generally focused on environmental responsibility, it does at paper, office supply and construction materials manufacturer Boise Cascade Corp., Boise, Idaho. The $8.2 billion-company participates in...

P&G seeks alternatives to animal tests.(Consumer Packaged Goods)(Brief Article)
July 1, 2004... AT $43.4 BILLION a year in revenues, Cincinnati-based Procter & Gamble Co. (P&G) is one of the world's largest producers of consumer packaged goods. What it does, others emulate. So it's no surprise that the maker of soaps, cosmetics,...

SAP discovers the plant floor: ERP giant is supporting standards to link the factory systems to the front office.(Commentary)
July 1, 2004... TODAY'S LESSON BEGINS WITH A FEW great dates in the evolution of manufacturing technology: * 1698: Steam engine invented. * 1886: Electric motor invented. * 1968: Microprocessor invented. * 2004: SAP discovers plant floor. ...

Consolidating on an Oregon campus: Intel shifts development of flash memory production technology from California.(Intel Corp.)
July 1, 2004... NOW, EVEN MORE than before, Oregon can lay claim to the label "Intel Inside." Intel Corp., a $30.1 billion California-headquartered semiconductor maker, is shifting development of its flash memory production technology from Santa Clara, Calif.,...

Leadership at all levels: Stoner Inc. did away with top management to empower employee entrepreneurs.(Stoner Inc.)
July 1, 2004... WHAT DO YOU DO when you're in charge of the family business but want less responsibility? If you're Stoner Inc., you look for outside resources to help you empower internal resources. More specifically, you look to The Baldrige National...

Energy prices top investor worries: interest rates rank last in UBS survey.(Confidence)(Brief Article)
July 1, 2004... Will CEOs OF publicly traded manufacturing companies see their stocks lifted by charging bulls or mauled by attacking bears during the next several months? Much will depend on how much confidence investors have in management's ability to deal...

Accountability.(Bottom Line)(Brief Article)
July 1, 2004... Although the prospect of accounting standards boards being even more activist may not thrill manufacturing company CEOs and CFOs, it's one possible result of an effort to create an international advisory group on reporting financial...

Just-in-time training: manufacturers can't afford to waste time or money on non-value-added training.(Continuous Improvement)
July 1, 2004... IN THE VERY FIRST ISSUE OF INDUSTRYWEEK, Jan. 5, 1970, we reported that industry spends millions of dollars on training each year, and that companies had better start spending more, or spend more wisely, because the effort hadn't been...

A bit of a boom--then gloom: rising employment will be followed by a return to stagnant growth.(On The Economy)
July 1, 2004... THE GOOD NEWS IS THAT EMPLOYMENT in general and manufacturing employment in particular have finally started to improve--and can be expected to grow robustly for the rest of this year. That would essentially duplicate the pattern that occurred...