Industry Week articles from May 2002

Industry Week archives from May 2002

A return to the classics. (Editor's Page).(evaluating stocks)(Brief Article)(Editorial)
May 1, 2002... The story isn't as sexy perhaps, as stories about skyrocketing stock valuations. It isn't as breathtaking as reports heralding the birth of entire new industries, a la energy trading and dot-coms, circa 1999. It might not be as gripping as the...

Letters.
May 1, 2002... Capitalism At A Crossroad? [Re: Editor's Page, March 2002, Page 7] I am a strong supporter of capitalism and will defend it to the nth degree, but some of the corporate elite have lost their way and need to refocus on whom they're working...

Talent for hire: Manufacturers find plentiful pool of M.B.A. graduates, but competition for their services is keen. (Work Force).(operations, supply-chain managers)(Brief Article)
May 1, 2002... RECRUITING USED TO BE A PRETTY straightforward task for Stephen Cook. As a high-level operations executive at Dell Computer Corp., Round Rock, Texas, Cook simply waltzed into prestigious institutions such as Massachusetts Institute of...

Reforms destined for review. (Campaign Finance).(Brief Article)
May 1, 2002... The only certain thing about the newly enacted campaign finance reforms is that they do not apply to this year's Congressional elections. They won't take effect until after the Nov. 5 balloting. Among other provisions, the controversial...

Employment laws apply abroad: Americans overseas have same rights as U.S. counterparts. (Human Resources).(Brief Article)
May 1, 2002... SEXUAL HARASSMENT TRAINING FOR managers of multinational companies shouldn't stop at the U.S. border. Most companies don't realize that they can be held liable for workplace discrimination at overseas operations. "If you are an American or...

Capital miscalculation? Research suggests stimulus bill may not boost investments. (Economy).(Brief Article)
May 1, 2002... AN ECONOMIC STIMULUS BILL SIGNED into law six weeks ago by President George W. Bush may have very little impact on U.S. companies' capital spending--at least in the short term. Specifically, there's a suggestion that the measure's provision...

Lean progress. (Manufacturing).(Brief Article)
May 1, 2002... AS GROUP, MANUFACTURERS HAVE made measurable progress in their efforts to implement lean practices over the past decade, indicated by slowly increasing inventory turns. That's the conclusion of a recent report issued by James Womack and the...

Web site addresses chemical attacks. (Security).(secure-buildings.lbl.gov)(Brief Article)
May 1, 2002... Researchers at the U.S. Department of Energy's Laurence Berkeley National Laboratory have developed a Web site, secure-buildings.lbl.gov, that delivers scientific advice about how to respond to chemical or biological attacks against buildings...

Smarter cars. (Autos).(2010 vs. 2000 - software will dominate)(Brief Article)
May 1, 2002... Cars manufactured in 2010 will be loaded with more software than a modern-day PC, according to a recent study by Mercer Management Consulting's Munich office and Germany's HypoVereins-bank. "Electronics and software will replace mechanics and...

Don't be passive on public policy. (Executive Word).("Don" Wainwright, Wainwright Industries Inc.)(Brief Article)(Interview)
May 1, 2002... Wainwright Industries Inc., located just across the Missouri River from St. Louis, is a 53-year-old firm that manufacturers stamped and machine products for the automotive, aerospace, information technology and home security industries....

Downsizing dos and don'ts: A refresher course on tactful firing. (Brandt on Leadership).(Brief Article)
May 1, 2002... Nobody likes to downsize or fire an employee. Even those who deserve it the most--for incompetence or theft--have families who depend upon them and colleagues who will never know or understand the reasons behind the dismissal. So along with...

Building the world's next plants. (Factories of the Future).(Brief Article)
May 1, 2002... Increasingly as technology emerges, the reputation of manufacturing companies is built, maximized or diminished by the statements made by their manufacturing facilities. Mention Ford, and its historical significance is as much its refinement of...

Strategic design: GM, Ford and Steelcase integrate best-practices goals into new-plant planning.(Company Profile)(Industry Overview)
May 1, 2002... NO LONGER CAN COMPAnies safely relegate factory design to a traditional passive role in manufacturing strategy. Process and environmental technologies are converging--requiring that management rethink every element, starting with the factory...

Event management: Hype or hope? Demand is increasing for software that warns of--and helps solve--exceptions in orders, inventory levels and logistics. (E Business).(Industry Overview)
May 1, 2002... EVENT MANAGEMENT, ONE OF the hottest buzzwords in software, sounds great. Being able to detect, report and solve exceptions in processes before they spiral out of hand is a goal to which all manufacturers can aspire. But very few manufacturers...

Man in the mirror: Cloning could tell us something about ourselves, our business ethics. (E Commerce).(Brief Article)
May 1, 2002... Xianyang, China, May 1, 2022--General Humans Corp. (GHC) today announced the signing of its largest contract ever, a US$150 billion order to supply 1 million soldiers to an unnamed Asian nation. The unidentified government will supply...

Wired for work: Yes, the office of the future is a cubicle, but this one is integrated with information technology. (Emerging Technologies).(Brief Article)
May 1, 2002... If cars were designed like office cubicles, buyers would start with a chassis and then integrate the rest on their own. That's typical of the sub-optimal way today's office environments are integrated with the IT tools of knowledge workers,...

Cashing in on knowledge: Patents, trademarks and trade secrets, once locked away and closely guarded, are among chemical companies' best-selling new products. (Chemicals).(Industry Overview)
May 1, 2002... IT' S NOT EVERY DAY THAT YOU DISCOVER A DISarmingly simple business strategy that unleashes a steady stream of profits, acts as a catalyst for innovation and makes use of old assets gathering dust in the store room, but leading chemical giants...

ITT'S value champion: CEO Lou Giuliano is moving on several fronts to make ITT industries into what he calls "a premier multi-industry company." A different kind of Six Sigma is a results star so far. (Executives).(Louis J. Giuliano)(Company Profile)(Interview)
May 1, 2002... ALTHOUGH IT CARRIES THE HISTORIC ITT ticker symbol on The New York Stock Exchange. the company Louis J. Giuliano heads is not the company that you think you know. This ITT is not the owner of Sheraton hotels. They were spun off in a 1995...

Locations.(Brief Article)
May 1, 2002... Plant * Fairchild Semiconductor International Inc. in March began construction of an 800,000-square-foot manufacturing plant and automated ware-house in Suzhou, China. It's the first factory completely constructed by South Portland,...

Healthy, wealthy, wise and Web based: Online wellness programs can keep employees healthy while lowering health-care costs. (Bandwidth).(Brief Article)
May 1, 2002... OPEN YOUR WEB BROWSER AND SAY "AHH." Minus the tongue depressor, Web-based wellness programs are an effective way for manufacturing companies to keep their insurance costs down. Like traditional wellness programs, Web-based...

Where lean meets Six Sigma. (BE Practices).(lean manufacturing)(Brief Article)
May 1, 2002... With all the fervor of the freshly converted, proponents of Six Sigma and lean manufacturing have frequently clashed over the alleged superiority of one ideology above the other, fighting over resources and conflicting cultural approaches to...

U.S. trade deficit to deepen. (Financial & Economic Trends).(Brief Article)(Statistical Data Included)
May 1, 2002... The math is not yet exact. But the U.S. international trade deficit seems likely to approach--possibly exceed--$400 billion in 2002. That figure would be $53.7 billion and 15.5% higher than last year's $346.3 billion deficit. Ironically,...

Associations. (Update).
May 1, 2002... * The Association for Manufacturing Technology (AMT), Washington, D.C., has a new Web site at www.AMTonline.org. The homepage of AMT offers event information and registration, industry resources, personalized news, publications and reports, a...

Companies. (Update).
May 1, 2002... * Willis Group Holdings Ltd., London, a global insurance broker, has realigned its environmental practice group into a formal global practice in response to growth in this sector of the global insurance market. The environmental practice group...

Publications. (Strategy).
May 1, 2002... * In "Making Sense of Strategy," (2002, AMACOM) consultant and author Tony Manning writes, "Let's cut the bs and cut straight to the chase. Strategy is not rocket science. It's about listening to customers, asking some pretty simple questions,...

A victory without spoils: A Middle East win won't necessarily benefit the U.S. economy. (Evans on the Economy).(Brief Article)
May 1, 2002... Although no one really knows what will happen in the Middle East later this year, it is becoming increasingly precarious to generate any macroeconomic forecast without considering some of the possible consequences. The main concern is not...