Industry Week articles from March 2009

Industry Week archives from March 2009

Don't check your brain at the door ... you'll need it: staying mentally tuned-in is critical to General Cable's accomplishments and future success.(THE BIG PICTURE: Leadership Insights from the IW Best Plants)
March 1, 2009... Almost a decade ago, our vision was to have our factories become an integral part of General Cable's commercial sales force by achieving sustained manufacturing excellence (the Strategy). The goal of manufacturing excellence prescribed an...

An exit strategy for the stimulus plan: we need to ensure that the government's intervention into the private sector is as brief as possible.(THE COMPETITIVE EDGE)
March 1, 2009... In early 2008, economist Larry Summers argued in favor of a modest stimulus plan that ideally could be "timely, targeted and temporary." A few weeks after the presidential election, he was the Obama team's economic czar and called for a massive...

You right the caption.
March 1, 2009... Congratulations to J.C., who has achieved the lofty title of CWE (Caption Writer Extraordinaire.)You, too, can earn fame (but, alas, no fortune) by joining in the latest "You Write The Caption" contest, featuring gags from cartoonist Jerry...

Online poll.
March 1, 2009... IS YOUR COMPANY PLANNING TO HIRE IN Q1? IndustryWeek.com readers respond: Yes 26% No 63% We're still not sure 11%

Site Location News.(New eNewsletter)(Expansion Management )(Brief article)
March 1, 2009... IW's Expansion Management Site Location News provides business executives with news and information related to facility management, expansions, relocations of companies, economic development, environmental sustainability initiatives, and...

Manufacturing savvy.(New Blog)
March 1, 2009... Who's doing what and where are they doing it? IndustryWeek's eMedia editor Adrienne Selko scours the planet to reveal clever, productive and environmentally sound manufacturing practices and trends. forums.industryweek.com

Extending the digital advantage: digital strategies are enabling faster product development by accelerating information cycle times.(TECHNOLOGY & INNOVATION)(Company overview)
March 1, 2009... Increasingly referred to as the ultimate industrial stimulus, digital manufacturing strategies can potentially satisfy the pressure to manufacture faster, better and at lower cost. For example, automaker giant Toyota Motor Corp. participates as...

Medicine for a manufacturing turnaround: Ohio school partners with local healthcare products manufacturers to develop a bioscience program aimed at revitalizing the area's industrial base.(FACILITIES & OPERATIONS)
March 1, 2009... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] Cuyahoga Community College's Metro Campus in Cleveland is situated in the shadows of a public housing project and less than three miles away from the hulking Mittal Steel mill, a lone symbol of the region's...

Worksite clinics gain in popularity.(FACILITIES & OPERATIONS)(Brief article)
March 1, 2009... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] More employers are bringing back the company doctor to curb the costs associated with offsite medical visits, according to a report by consulting firm Mercer. More than one-third of large employers surveyed in July...

Advantages of onsite Health clinics.(By The Numbers)
March 1, 2009... 86 percentage of employers who say convenience is their main reason for implementing primary-care clinics 77 percentage of companies that cite better access to preventive care as an important factor 75 percentage who say...

Lean in the classroom.(FACILITIES & OPERATIONS)(eductional programs)
March 1, 2009... On the same day Barack Obama became the 44th president of the United States, Sen. Mark Warner (D-VA) told more than 100 manufacturing representatives attending a National Association of Manufacturers (NAM) Leadership luncheon that the United...

IBM's winning strategy: looking for a systems integration/services role model? Consider IBM's strategy, which helped drive record earnings.(FACTORY AUTOMATION)
March 1, 2009... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] Question: Wondering about the business impact of high-tech giant IBM Corp.'s system integration/ services strategy? Some clues were revealed in January when the company disclosed its full year financial results for...

Metalworking Sink or Swim: Tips and Tricks for Machinists, Welders and Fabricators.(Brief article)(Book review)
March 1, 2009... Metalworking Sink or Swim: Tips and Tricks for Machinists, Welders and Fabricators. By Tom Lipton Industrial Press Inc., 2009 305 pages, $44.95 [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] Illustrated with nearly a thousand color photographs, the book...

How to partner with machine tool builders: technology transitions tool builders into system integrators.(FACTORY AUTOMATION)
March 1, 2009... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] Ball screw drives or linear motors? Or a four-axis versus a five-axis machine tool? Those are the kinds of questions that are motivating machine tool buyers to depend on their machine tool vendors as system...

Fundamentals of Forecasting Using Excel.(Brief article)(Book review)
March 1, 2009... Fundamentals of Forecasting Using Excel By Kenneth D. Lawrence, Ronald K. Klimberg and Sheila M. Lawrence Industrial Press Inc., 2009 300 pages, $39.95 [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] Involved with forecasting? here is a book...

Wireless devices are more like the next midsize wave.(FACTORY AUTOMATION)(Brief article)
March 1, 2009... "Wireless devices are perceived as the next big technological wave in factory automation," observes Khadambari Shanbagaraman, research analyst with analyst firm Frost & Sullivan. "However, the current adoption trends are moderate at best...

Better management: through reuse.(FACTORY AUTOMATION)(Brief article)
March 1, 2009... "Substantial benefits in productivity, cost and time are possible with a policy of designing standard repair and maintenance solutions that can be used throughout an organization's manufacturing sites. reuse can easily save 30% to 40% of the...

A breath of hot air: memo to President Obama: if lean works for manufacturing, it ought to work for government, too.(JUST IN TIME)(Editorial)
March 1, 2009... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] It never fails. Any time a politician schedules a speech to talk about how alternative energy can help us combat global warming, it ends up being the coldest day of the year. And so it was that on the last business...

A winning proposition.(READER: FEEDBACK)(Letter to the editor)
March 1, 2009... Ralph Keller is dead on ("Continuous Improvement: Taking the Long-Term Perspective Will Pay Off," Feb. 2009, page 14). One factor that I would emphasize regarding the need to create value is that heretofore value has been a difficult concept to...

Siphoning off the top.(READER: FEEDBACK)(Letter to the editor)
March 1, 2009... Re: Jerry Carlew Jr.'s letter to the editor, Feb. 2009, page 12 These high-paying [automotive industry] jobs had a huge multiplying effect in spending and bringing up other wages (this is good, right?). We're now seeing what happens when...

Drawing the line on bailouts.(READER: FEEDBACK)(Letter to the editor)
March 1, 2009... Re: "Just In Time: The Big None," Jan. 2009, page 9 I too am a sucker for Christmas movies but we all need to be reminded that in "It's a Wonderful Life" and "A Christmas Carol" it was individuals acting upon their own free will that saved...

Maximizing operational improvement.(READER: FEEDBACK)(Letter to the editor)
March 1, 2009... Re: "The Soft Side of Lean," Jan. 2009, page 22 Articles like this may actually do more harm than good. Readers who have not deployed programs or are just beginning tend to get discouraged if they're unable to undertake a wholesale lean...

Researchers investigate gelled rocket fuels: new fuels could improve aeronautics safety and performance.(PRODUCT DEVELOPMENT)(Brief article)
March 1, 2009... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] Two teams of researchers are working to develop a new type of gelled fuel designed to improve the safety and performance of rockets for military and space applications. Why gelled? Gels are safer than liquid, and...

Make innovation a national priority.(PRODUCT DEVELOPMENT)
March 1, 2009... "It makes no sense that at a time when science is shaping more and more of our economy and daily lives, we've spent the last several years debating the merits of science itself. It makes no sense that [at a] time when technology and innovation...

Thwarting counterfeiters: seizures of counterfeits goods grow by 10% in 2008.(By The Numbers)(Brief article)
March 1, 2009... Federal agencies recorded nearly 15,000 seizures of fake or pirated goods in fiscal 2008, according to annual statistics released by U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. That's an increase in...

IBM remains atop the patent list: but U.S. slips in global patent dominance.
March 1, 2009... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] Some things don't change--and haven't in a long time. For the 16th consecutive year, high-tech giant IBM Corp. has nabbed the top spot for the number of patents granted by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office...

Culture of innovation.(PRODUCT DEVELOPMENT)
March 1, 2009... "Managers have control over the fates of their firms in that they can help build the culture of innovation. A sharp manager would look across industries and countries to spot innovative traits and strategies." --Rajesh Chandy, marketing...

Cutting to the core: consolidating suppliers can help manufacturers add value to their supply chain, but not without a good plan to make it work.(PURCHASING)
March 1, 2009... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] Manufacturers need suppliers to help them innovate, change and improve specifications and, ideally, to become an integral part of their supply chain. However, having extended their supply base to a point of...

A risky proposition: global companies evaluate the pros and cons of operating in China.(PURCHASING)(Brief article)
March 1, 2009... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] Everyone knows China has its problems, but that hasn't stopped most multinational companies from doing business there. When AMR Research asked 130 of them to measure the levels of risk they face in their global...

Getting more from MRO: knowing the capabilities of maintenance, repair and operations suppliers can help manufacturers keep costs down.(PURCHASING)
March 1, 2009... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] Increasing profitability has never been more challenging--or more essential. That's why many manufacturers, along with their purchasing agents, are looking for business partners who can offer a high level of product...

Rebuilding manufacturing from scratch: as the U.S. economy gets leaner and meaner, IndustryWeek's 2009 salary survey reveals that the average salary for manufacturing management has dropped to $95,248.(SPECIAL REPORT: SALARY SURVEY)(Survey)
March 1, 2009... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] The number one issue for U.S. manufacturers in 2009 can be summed up in four words: "it's the economy, stupid." At the risk of beating a dead cliche, there's not much more to it than that, based on the responses to...

Green is the new black: survey suggests that enviro-conscious manufacturers are the best risk for investors.(SUPPLY CHAIN & LOGISTICS)
March 1, 2009... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] Many manufacturers still have a long way to go to address the risks and opportunities posed by the push toward more environment-friendly production processes, according to a new study conducted by RiskMetrics Group,...

Aloha, RFID: Hawaiin farms launch a food traceability program Based on RFID technology.(SUPPLY CHAIN & LOGISTICS)
March 1, 2009... A statewide food traceability initiative based on radio frequency identification (RFID) technology has been launched throughout the Hawaiian islands. The Hawaii Produce Traceability initiative, a three-year pilot program, will provide product...

Down but not out.(SUPPLY CHAIN & LOGISTICS)
March 1, 2009... "while Americans need to recognize and get used to the idea that manufacturing the automobile is no longer our sole right, there's no reason for us to relinquish our leadership in technological and financial innovation or local production of...

Green manufacturing.(By The Numbers)(Survey)(Brief article)
March 1, 2009... The early returns on the manufacturing industry's adoption of green initiatives is still pretty spotty. While the majority of those companies surveyed by EyeForTransport indicate an awareness of the need for complying with environmental...

Who's buying supply chain solutions?(By The Numbers)(Table)(Brief article)
March 1, 2009... Who's Buying Supply chain Solutions? Supply chain management license (and alternate revenue) share by geographic region, 2007 North America 58% Europe 30% Latin America 2% rest of world 2% Asia-Pacific 8% ...

Turning software into a solution: information technology can't make your operation lean, but it can provide valuable support for the long journey ahead.(LEAN MANUFACTURING)
March 1, 2009... The term "IT solution" might be one of the more widely accepted misnomers to come out of the information age. Every year hundreds, perhaps thousands, of manufacturers pour millions of dollars into new software suites in hopes that somehow they...