Industry Week articles from September 2004

Industry Week archives from September 2004

Supplier partnerships provide a competitive edge: why treating your suppliers as partners makes good business sense.(Editorial)
September 1, 2004... If YOU LOVE WATCHING GREAT COMPETITION, as I do, you should catch up on a fast-changing cut-throat contest being waged in the global automobile market. The battle for market share, profits and bragging rights in the sector has it all: worthy...

Exercising the demon in global trade debate.(Letters)(Letter to the Editor)
September 1, 2004... You are one of the few participants in this debate that has taken time to try to understand both sides of the jobs/trade issue ["Take The Demon Out Of The Debate," July 2004, Page 11]. We small manufacturers do not advocate refilling the...

Free trade agreements: boon or bane?( )(Letter to the Editor)
September 1, 2004... We agree with Michael Evans' optimistic employment and manufacturing growth forecast for the remainder of this year ["A Bit Of A Boom--Then Gloom," July 2004, Page 72]. But we take issue with his argument that future free-trade agreements...

Ills of standardized training.(Letters)(Letter to the Editor)
September 1, 2004... I've been in training and development my entire career and your assessment of "putting a check mark next to the person's name that they were trained" is right on ["Just-In-Time Training," July 2004, Page 69]. Corporations desire behavioral...

Correction.(Correction Notice)
September 1, 2004... The Advertiser's Index (June 2004, Page 95) incorrectly identified Autodesk.

R.I.P. for R&D credit? The future of the research and development tax credit, which elapsed for the 11th time this summer, is in limbo.(ASAP)
September 1, 2004... HERE WE GO AGAIN. Since the research and development (R&D) tax credit first took effect in 1981, Congress has allowed it to lapse 11 times. The R&D credit--providing nearly $5 billion in annual tax credits to an estimated 10,000 U.S....

Too much data, not enough info? To facilitate analysis, consider real-time, easy-access database tools with visualization capabilities.(Emerging Technologies)
September 1, 2004... TEXAS INSTRUMENTS' Joe Lebowitz describes the decisionmaking challenge at the company's Kilby Center in Dallas: "We have the propensity to collect data in the semiconductor industry that is absolutely unparalleled. We've got databases that are...

Inventory Challenge.(Emerging Technologies)(Brief Article)
September 1, 2004... Optimizing internal efficiencies isn't enough. Consignment inventories also need to be considered, says Jerry Quell, senior manager of inventory and planning at the Mopar Parts Division of DaimlerChrysler Corp.'s Chrysler Group, Center Line,...

Mobility solutions: offer the missing link in compressing the supply chain.(Symbol Technologies)
September 1, 2004... In any manufacturing company- whether process or discrete- time, labor, quality and materials come into play as cost drivers. So the perpetual challenge is to wring out as much cost as possible, while making demonstrable gains in production...

A cool clear vision. Randy J. Hogan, CEO, Pentair, sees the company's diversified water business as instrumental to its future success.(3 Quick Questions)
September 1, 2004... With the acquisition of WICOR Industries, a unit of Wisconsin Energy Corp., and the pending sale of its tool business to Black & Decker for $775 million, CEO Randy Hogan has committed the future of Pentair to its enclosures and water...

Visionary vanquished?(Time Machine)(Brief Article)
September 1, 2004... ENNRON CORP. CEO KEN LAY HAS OVERRUN THREE corporate visions in transforming a struggling gas-pipeline firm into a leader in electricity deregulation and a world energy Goliath," wrote INDUSTRYWEEK in a May 18, 1998, article titled "Vision...

MEP'05 funding rise expected: meanwhile, U.S. commerce department cancels recompetition of Manufacturing Extension Partnership centers as program is reviewed.(Manufacturing Extension Partnership)
September 1, 2004... SUPPORTERS OF THE MANUfacturing Extension Partnership (MEP) were in an uproar earlier this year as Congress approved legislation that slashed 63% from the program's funding for fiscal 2004--dropping it from about $106 million in 2003 to just...

What's your problem? The IW Path to Excellence interactive benchmarking tool is the easiest, most affordable way to benchmark your plant's performance and identify strategies for improvement.
September 1, 2004... Dig into dozens of best practices and performance indicators from IndustryWeek Best Plants winners and finalists--many of the top manufacturers in North America. You can find data on elite companies such as Dell, Boeing, BorgWarner, Kodak, and...

Microsoft's latest version.(Bookshelf)(Brief Article)
September 1, 2004... With Bill Gates now the chairman and Steve Ballmer the CEO, Redmond, Wash.-based Microsoft Corp. is not the company it once was, certainly not the company it was when U.S. District Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly rendered her Nov. 1, 2002,...

Will talks stay on track? Tough bargaining still ahead for WTO negotiators.(World Trade Organization)(Brief Article)
September 1, 2004... EVEN IF NEGOTIATORS from the 147 World Trade Organization (WTO) nations spend every waking hour at the bargaining table between now and the end of the year, they are unlikely to fully complete the job of writing a new set of global trade rules...

Staying together: your relationship with your employees could be better:.(Brandt On Leadership)
September 1, 2004... Even in this post-modern era of diminished employee/employer expectations, both sides have the right to expect loyalty. THE DYNAMIC BETWEEN EMPLOYER AND employee is more complex than ever before. Global competition and the rapid evolution...

Estonia et al: the bottom line on the new EU.(European Union)
September 1, 2004... Ten additional countries represent new markets for U.S. manufacturers. But, at least in the short run, differing cultures and currencies could make for a bit more complexity. THIS PAST MAY 1 WAS REMARKABLE for what didn't happen. There...

The next president: on the record.(The Workforce)
September 1, 2004... > Bush. > Kerry. > Nader. One of these three men will be the next President of the United States and his administration's policies will--for better or worse--affect U.S. manufacturing, particularly the kind, the quality, the location and...

All systems grow: research points to a manufacturing upswing this year and next.(IW/MP 2004 Census Of Manufacturers)
September 1, 2004... ECONOMIC FORECASTERS, MARKET analysts and industrial gurus have been debating the pace and some even the existence of U.S, manufacturing growth, particularly amid recent reports of sluggish manufacturing employment. But if the pundits...

Process improvements fuel growth: a majority of plants (54.6% report that per-unit manufacturing costs, excluding purchased materials, have decreased during the last three years.(IW/MPI 2004 Census Of Manufacturers)
September 1, 2004... WHILE AN IMPROVING U.S. economy has likely abeted the sales and employment projections among IW/MPI Census p ants, don't overlook what plants are doing on their own to improve their competitive advantage: * Closer to world-class: 29.8% of...

5 threats that could sink your company; these five threats could sink any company, including your.(Management Strategies)(Cover Story)
September 1, 2004... > Intellectual Property > Product Liability > Workplace Violence > Supply Chain > Business Continuity AN INDUSTRIAL EQUIPMENT MANUFACTURER believes someone has stolen electronic copies of its designs. It hires an IT...

Procurement's news role.(Information Technology)
September 1, 2004... '90s technology birthed big ideas in purchasing such as online auctions, which promised buyers big savings through transparent bidding but were seen as Internet based boxing rings by pummeled suppliers. Today, manufacturers are and foster...

Move over dodo, here comes R/2: most--but not all--manufacturers have upgraded to R/3.(E commentary)
September 1, 2004... ONCE THE BACKBONE ENTERPRISE information system that more than 2,500 of the world's largest companies depended on to manage their businesses each day, SAP R/2 will be retired on Dec. 31. Starting Jan. 1, 2005, SAP AG will stop providing any...

Meeting Asia's demands: Bosch Rexroth opens third plant in China.(Bosch Rexroth AG)
September 1, 2004... FOR DRIVE AND MOTOR manufacturer Bosch Rexroth AG, being close to customers in China has increased sales, and with a third plant now open in the People's Republic, the company is poised for even more growth. To ease production bottlenecks,...

Making variable pay pay: managing performance-based pay produces bottom-line results.(Compensation)
September 1, 2004... OFFERING VARIABLE pay seems like a good way to motivate employees and ultimately increase the bottom line, right? Not always, according to a May 2004 study by Hewitt Associates, a global human resources consulting firm. In fact, the...

Driving employee engagement: Eaton Corp.'s company-wide annual survey helps managers optimize and grow employee engagement.(Eaton Corp.)
September 1, 2004... AT CLEVELAND'S Eaton Corp., the Annual employee survey is not human resources ballyhoo to rate job satisfaction. It is a tool for operational improvement, says Susan Cook, vice president, human resources. Eliciting employee feedback helps...

Talking the walk: communication lays the foundation for "passionate" change.(Continuous Improvement)
September 1, 2004... EVERYONE SAYS COMMUNICATION IS important. Everyone says you can never communicate too much. When asked, every manager will say he or she could be doing a better job, talking to more people more frequently. But why? Why is communication so...

Kerry's negative impact: his election would lower U.S. growth in 2005 and 2006.(On the Economy)(John Kerry)
September 1, 2004... IDON'T KNOW WHO WILL WIN THE NOVEMBER U.S. presidential election. But I will say this: If the Kerry-Edwards ticket wins, the stock market will head straight into the toilet. The first and more obvious--but ultimately less important--reason...