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IndustryWeek
Recent data show relative strength in demand and output in the manufacturing sector, with activity levels reflecting improvements since earlier in the year. In particular, the latest Institute for Supply Management’s purchasing managers’ index has reflected robust growth in new orders and production since the summer, and employment and pricing pressures appear to be moving in the right direction. The forecast for real GDP and industrial production for 2015 also show promise, both of which are anticipated to expand by roughly 3% next year. Visit http://www.industryweek.com/global-economy/namindustryweek-4q-survey-manufacturers-had-good-year-and-expect-2015-be-better to view the full article online. |
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Global R&D Funding Forecast
The GE/Purdue Partnership in Research and Innovation in Advanced Manufacturing (GE/Purdue PRIAM) will push a new era in manufacturing, promoting technologies that enable the digitization, decentralization and democratization of manufacturing to lower cost, improve speed and drive innovation. All three trends are being driven by the increasing convergence of software and hardware that is turning today’s factories into brilliant factories that are more capable, connected and productive than ever. Visit http://www.rdmag.com/news/2014/12/purdue-ge-collaborate-advanced-manufacturing to view the full article online. |
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The Post and Courier
North Charleston continues to feel an employment surge from Boeing's decision to build 787 jets at its $750 million campus, although growth in manufacturing jobs within the city has slowed since the aviation giant first ramped up hiring in 2011. Visit http://www.postandcourier.com/article/20141204/PC05/141209730 to view the full article online. |
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Seeking Alpha
The Institute of Supply Management has released its respected Manufacturing Purchasing Manager Index (PMI) for November 2014. This report provides us with a snapshot of the business conditions in the US for the month of November. A reading above 50 indicates an expanding economy while anything below it indicates a contracting economy. The PMI for November stands at 58.7 slightly lower than October's 59.0 but it is still better than forecast of 57.9. Visit http://seekingalpha.com/article/2726605-what-is-the-november-manufacturing-pmi-saying-about-the-u-s-economy to view the full article online. |
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OnlineAthens
The manager of one of Georgia’s newest, large manufacturers told state lawmakers on Monday that there is a need to convince students that factory jobs are attractive. Todd Henry, operations manager for the Athens-based plant of Caterpillar Inc., also praised the state’s job-training program, Quick Start, as helping prepare unskilled workers. Visit http://onlineathens.com/breaking-news/2014-12-08/caterpillar-exec-tells-lawmakers-need-teach-teens-about-manufacturing-jobs to view the full article online. |
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Supply & Demand Chain Executive
Discrete manufacturers face increasing costs, global competition and growing consumer demands. They must move faster, better and leaner every day just to keep up with, let alone stay ahead of, competitors. They face pressure to produce more for less and to quickly respond to changing market demands while lowering costs. In short, they have to capture every operational efficiency possible. Hence, lean manufacturing is more critical than ever and manufacturers need to take this to the next level, particularly in the face of the opportunities presented by the industrial internet where machines and devices are connected and people have access to operational insight wherever they are working, with business intelligence at their fingertips. Visit http://www.sdcexec.com/article/12019013/lean-manufacturing-in-the-age-of-the-industrial-internet to view the full article online. |
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Manufacturing.net
The last vehicle has rolled off Opel's production line at its flagship factory in Bochum, which General Motors is shuttering as it restructures its lossmaking European subsidiary. Visit http://www.manufacturing.net/news/2014/12/gm-closes-opel-plant-after-52-years to view the full article online. |
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IndustryWeek
Boeing is on track in 2014 to at least match last year's sales of commercial aircraft, according to data posted on the company's website Thursday. But based on the year's sales through November, the data suggests the US aircraft giant will probably not overtake rival Airbus's single-year orders record. Visit http://www.industryweek.com/transportation/boeing-commercial-orders-pace-match-strong-2013 to view the full article online. |
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Panama City News Herald
Rutherford High School students will soon have the tools to earn a manufacturing industry standard certification upon graduation. Rutherford, and several other schools in the region, will launch a new manufacturing academy next year thanks to a push from the Northwest Florida Manufacturers Council, a 60-member group with a goal to strengthen the competitiveness of the region’s manufacturing industry. Visit http://www.newsherald.com/news/education/manufacturing-academies-coming-to-region-s-schools-1.410243 to view the full article online. |
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The Daily Progress
Virginia Commonwealth University has joined the Commonwealth Center for Advanced Manufacturing, a partnership that officials said will fuel economic development through research and innovation. The center, also called CCAM, is a public-private partnership that operates an advanced manufacturing research center in Prince George County. Visit http://www.dailyprogress.com/workitcville/news/local/vcu-joins-commonwealth-center-for-advanced-manufacturing/article_b529fb1a-7e51-11e4-bf65-3bda8d2c20c3.html to view the full article online. |
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Crain’s Detroit Business
As labor needs transition from low-cost, low-skilled workers to an educated, highly skilled labor force, auto companies are struggling to persuade this new type of employee to live and work in towns devoid of big-city amenities. Visit http://www.crainsdetroit.com/article/20141207/NEWS/312079947/skills-gap-imperils-small-town-manufacturing to view the full article online. |
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Inforum
As the global recession hit in late 2007, manufacturers across the country and locally shed jobs. Both North Dakota and Minnesota have added thousands of jobs since the summer of 2009, when the economic recovery officially began, but still remain below pre-recession employment levels. That could change next year. A Nebraska-based economist recently predicted North Dakota and Minnesota would recover the manufacturing jobs lost during the recession sometime in 2015. Visit http://www.inforum.com/content/economist-predicts-manufacturing-gain-lost-jobs-2015-nd-minnesota to view the full article online. |
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Harvard Business Review
After two or three centuries during which manufacturing consolidated into larger and larger enterprises, technology is restoring opportunities for the lone craftsman making things at home, with extraordinary consequences for careers and lifestyles. The powerful trends towards making things oneself and to choosing freelance careers over full-time employment recreate some of the economic and social dynamics of Athens between 500 and 300 BC, and pose important challenges to businesses and to society. If we understand the forces behind the changes in industry structure since those times, we will have a better sense of how and why those dynamics are reversing and what that might mean for our daily lives. Visit https://hbr.org/2014/12/is-the-era-of-mass-manufacturing-coming-to-an-end?utm_content=bufferae5cb&utm_medium=social&utm_source=plus.google.com&utm_campaign=buffer to view the full article online. |
