Sarasota (FL) Herald Tribune Although Gov. Rick Scott failed to achieve most of his ambitious tax-cutting initiative in the 2016 session, he did win a significant victory aimed at helping a key element of Florida’s economy.
As part of the tax package (HB 7099), which Scott had not received as of Friday morning, House and Senate members overwhelmingly supported the governor’s call for permanently exempting manufacturers from paying the state sales tax on industrial machinery and equipment purchases.
Visit http://politics.heraldtribune.com/2016/03/25/tax-cut-victory-for-scott/ to view the full article online.
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USA Today The portion of the U.S. population working or looking for jobs — known as the labor force participation rate — has risen to 62.9% from 62.4% since September, Labor Department figures show. The rate had been falling since 2008, mostly because of baby boomer retirements, and that's still expected to be the long-term trend.
Visit http://www.usatoday.com/story/money/2016/03/27/idled-workers-returning-labor-force/82274876/ to view the full article online.
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Automation World The phrase "smart manufacturing" has been heard everywhere this past year, and has become part of every discussion related to manufacturers’ need for a manufacturing execution system (MES) or manufacturing operations management (MOM). Some might be under the impression that smart manufacturing has done away with the need for MES to support the coordination of operations processes, but in my opinion that is not the case.
Visit http://www.automationworld.com/smart-manufacturing-and-continuing-need-mes to view the full article online.
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National Real Estate Investor Commercial real estate services firm Transwestern recently released a study that claims crane-served industrial buildings are at 10 percent vacancy or less as the economy has picked up and the automotive industry is seeing record vehicle sales. These buildings feature massive overhead bridge cranes to maneuver heavy materials or large, unwieldy products. In most of the country, the buildings are used by the steel industry, serving automotive manufacturers and suppliers.
Visit http://nreionline.com/industrial/manufacturing-industry-fills-crane-served-buildings to view the full article online.
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Manufacturing Business Technology For manufacturers in any industry, high quality and consistent, reliable performance are top priorities. Traditionally, the quality control department serves as the arbiter of that quality and consistency, working to ensure that only the highest quality finished products make it out the door and that any mistakes or sub-par production outcomes are identified and addressed.
Visit http://www.mbtmag.com/article/2016/03/automating-quality-control to view the full article online.
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BloombergView After a brutal period of downsizing and reorganizing, the U.S. manufacturing sector has become the most competitive in the world. Output per worker is higher than in any other major manufacturing country. Labor costs per unit of output are lower than in Brazil, Canada and Germany, and only slightly higher than in China. What's more, writes Gregory Daco of Oxford Economics in the new reportfrom which the above facts are taken, "the U.S. is 'gifted' with a stable regulatory framework, a flexible labor market, low energy costs and access to a large domestic market."
Visit http://www.bloombergview.com/articles/2016-03-17/about-that-u-s-manufacturing-renaissance to view the full article online.
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