Category: Manufacturing

2018 First Quarter Manufacturers’ Outlook Survey   At the NAM’s September board meeting, President Trump declared tax reform would be “rocket fuel” for the economy. Indeed, in the first survey since enactment of the historic tax reform bill, 93.5 percent of respondents registered a positive outlook for their company, the second highest level recorded in the survey’s 20-year history. Additionally, optimism among small manufacturers registered its highest level ever recorded with a reading of 94.5 percent.   Read More Optimism is High Following Tax Reform   Tax Reform Fuels Manufacturing Growth and Investment     “Empowered by tax reform...

There’s a very old parable, thought to have originated in the Indian subcontinent, of six blind (or blind-folded) men asked to describe an elephant. They reach different conclusions depending upon which part of the elephant they touch: Side – it’s like a wall Leg – it’s like a tree Trunk – it’s like a snake Tusk – it’s like a spear Ear – it’s like a fan Tail – it’s like a rope The point is that people have the tendency to project their partial observations to represent the entirety of something.  Each man was “correct” in their assessment, they...

NOVI, MI — Manufacturing faces an even larger shortage of skilled workers as older employees retire over the next few years, the head of SME said in a speech today. “Call it the ‘Silver Tsunami,’” Jeff Krause, executive director and CEO of SME (Dearborn, MI), said during an address at the HxGN LOCAL Automotive Summit in Novi, MI. “Manufacturing companies need a succession plan,” Krause said. “How do you attract and retain millennials?” Many factory jobs are held by Baby Boom generation workers who are retiring from the workforce. For example, the Center for Automotive Research (Ann Arbor, MI)...

Stopping the flood of steel imports is crucial for national security Nearly every military platform and weapon system in our nation’s arsenal is dependent on steel produced in America; much of our nation’s critical infrastructure relies heavily on steel. But the domestic steel industry is under attack from repeated surges in imports of dumped and subsidized steel from numerous countries around the world. Several trade associations claiming to represent a number of American industries that buy steel recently wrote a letter to the president opposing any imposition of restraints on imports of steel for national security reasons (the administration’s...

In the most recent data, manufacturers contributed $2.18 trillion to the U.S. economy in 2016. This figure has risen since the second quarter of 2009, when manufacturers contributed $1.70 trillion. Over that same time frame, value-added output from durable goods manufacturing grew from $0.87 trillion to $1.20 trillion, with nondurable goods output up from $0.85 trillion to $1.00 trillion. In 2016, manufacturing accounted for 11.7 percent of GDP in the economy. (Source: Bureau of Economic Analysis) For every $1.00 spent in manufacturing, another $1.81 is added to the economy. That is the highest multiplier effect of any economic sector. In addition,...

BY BETH COLBERT  SEPTEMBER 6, 2017  op·por·tu·ni·ty äpərˈt(y)o͞onədē, noun, a set of circumstances that makes it possible to do something. When we think of champions of manufacturing today we tend to think of some of the big companies such as IBM, 3M, Johnson & Johnson, P&G and Dow Chemical. But companies don’t form themselves, and patents don’t automatically mean innovation – people do. Not all companies have inventors. However, all companies can, and probably do, have innovators. An invention is a product or process that has been created and then documented legally. There are many patents granted and then nothing...

Most of us, regardless of our age, have heard the song popularized by Sophie Tucker and Eddie Cantor after World War I: “How Ya Gonna Keep ‘Em Down on the Farm (After They’ve Seen Paree?).” According to Wikipedia, “The lyrics highlight concern that American soldiers from rural environments would not want to return to farm life after experiencing the … life and culture of Paris.” Now we face a similar challenge: getting skilled workers to stay in or relocate to the small and mid-sized towns and cities where U.S. manufacturing is making its biggest comeback. That may be one...

If we took one thing away from our time at Hannover Messe this year, it’s that disruption is the new normal for manufacturers in today’s Industry 4.0 era. With this disruption, comes new opportunities for companies to engage customers, empower employees, optimize operations, and transform products. Businesses must change to survive to capitalize on these strategies. This means developing new capabilities by transforming into digital companies that leverage every system, device, process and asset across the organization in order to draw better insight out of data and convert it to intelligent action. Findings from a recent McKinsey & Co....

Nuts, Bolts & Thingamajigs® (NBT), the foundation of the Fabricators & Manufacturers Association, Intl.® (FMA), announces that 63 programs will receive 2017 summer manufacturing camp grants. NBT will award 46 funding grants, ranging from $1,000 to $2,500, for a total of $90,500 to community and technical colleges offering summer day camp experiences that introduce young people ages 12 to 16 to careers in manufacturing and engineering. In addition, NBT will support 17 affiliate camps. After a camp has received 3 years of funding from NBT and has become self-sustaining with support from local resources, they can apply as an...