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News of InterestFor Peerless A/V, the Costs of Doing Business in China Weren't Worth the SavingsPosted 1/18/2012Two years after pulling out, the Aurora, Ill.-based manufacturer of audio/visual mounts still pays 'seven figures' in legal fees to fight intellectual-property theft in China. When company leaders analyzed the cost of freight, the cost of carrying extra inventory, and the cost of conducting additional product inspections due to quality concerns, "we found that the total cost of manufacturing in the U.S. was not that much more than manufacturing in China," Campagna explains. Read full article... Uncertainty Continues to be the Biggest Challenge for Small BusinessesPosted 1/18/2012The small business outlook for the national economy still shows that the vast majority think our country is off on the wrong track (85%). Of small businesses polled, 52% perceive their top issue and biggest challenge as the general economic climate. Half of all small businesses surveyed are not sure if America’s best days are ahead or behind, and the threat of over-regulation continues to cause concern. What is the impact of regulation and the new health care law? Fewer jobs. 78% of small businesses surveyed report the taxation, regulation and legislation from Washington make it harder for their business to hire more employees. And, 74% say the recent health care law makes it harder for their business to hire more employees. Read full article... Is Technological Progress Slowing Down?Posted 1/4/2012Is technological progress speeding up or slowing down? The Silicon Valley billionaire Peter Thiel has been asking this question in speeches and interviews. A recent New Yorker magazine profile begins this way: “Peter Thiel pulled an iPhone out of his jeans pocket and held it up. ‘I don’t consider this to be a technological breakthrough,’ he said. ‘Compare this with the Apollo space program.’” Read full article... Cut Your Costs and Reap More ProfitsPosted 7/27/2011Enhance your operations, reduce waste, and streamline your activities by learning from the best. Using IW's Best Plants Benchmarking Database, find out how top plants have achieved their success. Read full article... Health Reform One Year Later: Small Business Owners Expect Costs to RisePosted 7/27/2011One year after the passage of sweeping health insurance reform legislation, the lasting impact of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA) on the small business community remains to be seen. A new study by the National Federation of Independent Businesses (NFIB) Research Foundation indicates that the overwhelming majority of small business owners do not expect the law to reduce cost or regulatory burdens, and nearly two-thirds agree that the law will result in premium increases but not in better care. Read full article... Plenty of manufacturing jobs, but few qualifiedPosted 6/13/2011While the national unemployment rate remains above 9 percent, why is the manufacturing industry still struggling to hire enough qualified workers? After years of stagnation and shipping jobs overseas, we are seeing a resurgence of manufacturing in the United States. Job growth in the industry is in the midst of a seven-month upswing and expected to continue into the near future as the persistent retirement of the baby-boomer generation depletes us of most of our experienced workers. It's estimated that 2.7 million manufacturing employees in our country are 55 years old or older. So understanding the current and future needs of the industry, we have to look at the main issue: The lack of incoming talent with the right set of science, math and technical skills. As the nature of process technology used to run manufacturing operations evolves, the skills of new applicants have not kept pace. Read full article... China piracy costs almost million jobs: US studyPosted 5/19/2011In a report requested by senators, the US International Trade Commission surveyed US businesses and estimated that they lost some $48 billion in 2009 due to infringement of intellectual property rights by China. If China raised its enforcement to US levels, the companies could increase employment at home by 923,000 jobs, the survey said. However, the figure includes hiring from other companies, not just new jobs in the sector. Read full article... Cost-Cutting Ideas You Might Not Have Thought OfPosted 5/16/2011Small-business owners have always tried to pinch pennies—but now keeping costs down is a bigger priority than ever. To find the best money-saving tips around, we turned to the Entrepreneurs' Organization, a nonprofit that aims to help business owners around the world learn from one another. Here's what some of the group's members had to say. Read full article... General Interest - Toyota & Shell Open Hydrogen Station in SocalPosted 5/13/2011Torrance, Calif., May 10, 2011 -- Toyota Motor Sales, U.S.A., Inc. (TMS) today celebrated the opening of the first hydrogen fueling station in the U.S. fed directly from an active industrial hydrogen pipeline. The station is a collaborative effort between Toyota, Air Products, Shell, South Coast Air Quality Management District (SCAQMD) and the Department of Energy (DOE). The facility will provide hydrogen for the Toyota fuel cell hybrid demonstration program vehicles as well as other manufacturers’ fuel cell vehicle fleets in the Los Angeles area. Read full article... A Primer on Cash-Flow ProjectionsPosted 5/11/2011You've probably heard the phrase "cash is king," but do you really know what it means, beyond the concept of making more of it than you spend? Many new business owners--and even some seasoned entrepreneurs--don't. Read full article... China Reports Unexpectedly Large Trade SurplusPosted 5/11/2011The New York Times (5/11, B6, Bradsher, Subscription Publication) reports, "China's exports surged last month to a record level, as Chinese factories appear to have passed on rising costs to buyers who are finding that they have few alternatives in other countries." While the trade surplus "was lower than last year," it was "still high enough to increase trade frictions with the United States and other countries worried that China is using a weak currency to claim an unusually large share of global job creation as the world economy climbs out of the recent economic downturn." And according to some experts, the long-term trends are still uneven. China is expected to maintain a substantial overall trade surplus for several more years, and while some imports are increasing, these "tend to be in categories like oil from the Mideast as well as luxury goods and sophisticated machinery from Europe." Read full article... Machine Tool Market Continues Strong RunPosted 5/11/2011March U.S. manufacturing technology consumption totaled $511.15 million according to the American Machine Tool Distributors' Association and The Association For Manufacturing Technology. Read full article... US Factory Orders Rise More Than ForecastPosted 5/11/2011Bloomberg News (5/4, Willis) reports notes that the March reading marked the "fifth consecutive increase," and that "the report also revised up estimates for capital equipment bookings issued last week." The 3 percent increase in orders was ahead of economists' average expectations of a 2 percent rise. "Manufacturing did pretty well in March," noted Michael Feroli, chief US economist at JPMorgan Chase. "Momentum picked up a little bit toward the end of the quarter, driven by exports, solid capital spending and inventories." Bloomberg notes that developing economies like China and Brazil are driving much of the demand in US manufacturing. Read full article... Westward Migration Of Manufacturing Could Aid US RecoveryPosted 5/11/2011In continuing news regarding the recent report from the Boston Consulting Group (BCG), which found a narrowing cost advantage to manufacturing in China and predicts increasing manufacturing to the US as a result, Reuters (5/6, Zieminski) reports that if the predictions hold true, they could substantially aid the economic recovery in the US. Reuters notes several current examples of the trend, such as Caterpillar, NCR and Wham-O, all of which have either repatriated some manufacturing operations or are planning new operations in the US. Like the previous reports, Reuters points out that China will remain a strong manufacturing power, but will likely lose its comparative advantage exporting to North America. Read full article... |
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