Industry Week articles from March 2007

Industry Week archives from March 2007

What's keeping you up at night? If misery really does love company, then you're going to love this.(JUST IN TIME)(Editorial)
March 1, 2007... THEY SAY YOU SHOULDN'T ASK A PERSONAL question if you don't want to hear the answer. Well, we very much wanted to hear your answers to all of the questions we posed as part of the INDUSTRY WEEK 2007 Salary Survey, the most comprehensive survey...

Global strength will boost U.S. manufacturing: expect to see exports become a source of economic growth for U.S. companies in the near term.(THE COMPETITIVE EDGE)
March 1, 2007... FOR MANY YEARS U.S. MANUFACTURERS HAVE been hit by weakness in export markets and the strong dollar. As a result, the trade deficit in goods has surged. But this trend is about to turn, and the export sector will be a source of strength for the...

Heavy metal meltdown: manufacturers are realizing cost savings by participating in an EPA waste-reduction program.(SUSTAINABILITY)
March 1, 2007... THE COLUMBUS, NEB., OPERATIONS of $2.29 billion Malvern, Pa.-based semiconductor manufacturer Vishay Intertechnology Inc. has figured out a way to get the lead out--or at least some of it. By the end of the year the facility, known as Vishay...

Rethinking laser cutting: new implementation strategies help manufacturers expand laser cutting opportunities.(STRATEGIES)
March 1, 2007... THE CHALLENGE LIES IN rethinking old laser cutting strategies. That approach brought success to Stock Manufacturing when it found itself running out of laser cutting capacity. Instead of adding a third machine, the owners of the contract...

Unique advantages with waterjet cutting: waterjets offer accurate cuts with clean edges that permit tight part nesting and other advantages.(FACTORY AUTOMATION)(Brief article)
March 1, 2007... IF A FABRICATING SHOP HAS CUTTING TECHnologies such as electrical discharge machining (EDM), laser, milling and high-definition plasma, is waterjet necessary? Yes, says Steve Heim, president of Brenco Industries Ltd., Delta, British...

How much are you worth? Industry Week's exclusive 2007 Salary Survey reveals that the average salary for manufacturing management is $106,588.(SALARY SURVEY)(Survey)
March 1, 2007... IS A JOB IN MANUFACTURING MANAGEMENT the greatest job in the world, or is it a black hole that sucks the life out of you faster than you can say, "Made in China"? Do the good days outnumber the bad days? And what is it exactly that keeps...

Do you need a COO? Among North American manufacturers, the answer is not clear cut. It literally depends upon each company's situation. But what's with the folks who believe their COO couldn't operate a flashlight, let alone the company?(MANAGEMENT)(Company overview)
March 1, 2007... MARK HURD. IF THERE'S A POSTER BOY FOR CHIEF OPERATING OFFICERS (COOS), MARK Hurd just might be the one. Sure, he's now chairman, president and CEO of Hewlett-Packard Co. in Palo Alto, Calif. But he proved himself to be a very capable COO at...

Benchmarking outside the box: best practices can rise from where you least expect them. Many manufacturers are learning more about their operations by studying companies outside their industry.(FACILITIES MANAGEMENT)
March 1, 2007... MY OWN BUSINESS always bores me to death; I prefer other people's." While Oscar Wilde wasn't talking about business in the sense of companies, he does make a good point. Other people's businesses can be more interesting because they're not...

SOA: the next disruptive force: industry reports suggest service-oriented architecture is a growing trend that could dramatically change IT "as we know it.".(INTEGRATION)
March 1, 2007... THERE ARE SOME DYNAMIC changes happening in the way companies manage their business processes. The reason, say some analysts, is a movement toward service-oriented architecture (SOA). For starters, in August 2006 AMR Research's Bruce Richardson...

Common sense: measuring your supply chain has become a competitive advantage for manufacturers wanting to improve their operational performance.(SUPPLY CHAIN & LOGISTICS)
March 1, 2007... WHEN JOHN JONES WAS promoted to chairman of Air Products and Chemicals Inc. back in 2000, he set out to transform the company to higher levels of growth and profitability. It wasn't that the Allentown, Pa.-based chemical and gases company was...

Customer created: open innovation, Internet help put consumers in the product development driver's seat.(INNOVATION)
March 1, 2007... WELCOME TO THE AGE OF THE consumer. Businesses have finally, perhaps reluctantly, come to the conclusion that nobody is better qualified to weigh in on the new products they want and need than the consumers themselves. Today, many...

Siemens' UGS purchase shows promise for manufacturers.(PLM)
March 1, 2007... A "bold move" is how some analysts are describing the move by German conglomerate Siemens AG to acquire UGS Corp., a provider of PLM (product lifecycle management) solutions, for $3.5 billion. The deal brings together UGS' strength in...

The wrong stuff: some companies haven't gotten the message yet: we don't want to get to know you better.(BRANDT ON LEADERSHIP)
March 1, 2007... FIRST, LET ME THANK ALL OF YOU FOR ATTENDING Capstone Screw's 17th annual vendor dinner. In particular, let me note my appreciation to all of you sales folks who showed up tonight, even though you knew we would once again be running our Sales...

Vision 2007: key challenges in manufacturing.(EXECUTIVE SUMMARY)(Survey)
March 1, 2007... As industry has evolved over the past generation, manufacturing companies of all sizes have come to more deeply understand their challenges in the vital areas of product and service leadership, customer acquisition and loyalty, and operational...

Web exclusive: salary survey comments.(Advertisement)
March 1, 2007... The comments published in the 2007 Salary Survey article (Page 24) are just the tip of the iceberg. Go online to www. industryweek.com/ salarysurvey to read hundreds of comments from your fellow management professionals as they weigh in on the...

Go Digital.(Advertisement)
March 1, 2007... A digital version of IndustryWeek can be delivered to your desktop every month. Take advantage of special features, such as a keyword search of the entire issue and live links to every resource, Web site and advertisement in the issue. Go to...

Toyota knows.(READER: FEED BACK)(Letter to the editor)
March 1, 2007... Re "Toyota's Real Secret: Hint, It's Not TPS," Page 36, February 2007. Once again the Detroit automakers are sending the wrong messages to their employees. Ford's plant in Atlanta and GM's Oshawa, Canada, plant are noted as two of the...

Much about manufacturing.(legacy)
March 1, 2007... MUCH ABOUT MANUFACTURING HAS changed during the past 40 years, most notably the dramatic and often disruptive integration of U.S. manufacturing with manufacturing in developed and developing economies elsewhere in the world. Much about...

Are U.S. manufacturers accountable?(From The Forums)
March 1, 2007... forums.industryweek.com/showthread.php?t=713 Editor's note: BRADINTX provides the following commentary on forum posts from ABOGLE and HDWOOD: It is a shame that so many manufacturing jobs are being lost and that many of our government...

VMI: size matters: vendor-managed inventory works best when money talks.(INVENTORY STRATEGY)
March 1, 2007... WOULDN'T IT BE GREAT IF every time the roll of toilet paper was near the end, it would magically be replenished? While there is no such thing as a toilet paper fairy, there are inventory fairies. Better referred to as vendor-managed...

Outsourcing procurement: personal-paper-products maker aims to focus on what it does best.(CORE COMPETENCY)
March 1, 2007... Part of Kimberly-Clark Corp.'s competitive improvement initiative includes outsourcing its indirect procurement function. Specific procurement areas to be outsourced include maintenance, repair and operating (MRO) supplies and contract...

Indirect procurement gets the shaft: companies choose to outsource function to improve service.(BEST PRACTICES)(Brief article)
March 1, 2007... In many organizations indirect procurement has been a low priority compared with direct procurement, according to NelsonHall, a business process outsourcing analyst firm based in Boston. As a result, some organizations are now outsourcing...