Manufacturing & Technology News

Browse past and current articles from this publication.

America's oldest printed circuit board company closes its doors.(It Is Now Obama's Economy)
The oldest printed circuit board (PCB) manufacturing company in the United States has shut its doors, a casualty of failed government trade and economic policies. "We have been around for the entire . . .

New book from MTN editor: 'Mfg A Better Future For America'.
The United States will not experience a robust economic recovery until its political leadership decides that the country needs to make the products Americans are currently consuming. That is the mes . . .

The view from China: things are good.(Letter to the editor)
Business is dismal in the United States, but not in China. Yes, there are 20,000 factories suffering or closing in Southeast China--firms that supply American and Western consumers--but the Northeas . . .

ISO pats its back: still going strong.
The economic meltdown did not impact the Geneva, Switzerland-based International Standards Organization (ISO). "As the crisis bit in 2008, falling consumption and slim order books made reduced activ . . .

Federal spending: up, up and away.
Federal spending is growing at rates not ever seen before. Last year, the federal government increased spending on domestic programs by 9.3 percent, to $2.79 trillion--or $9,184 per person living in . . .

Opening America's ears to the words being used to describe an essential industry.
The United States steel industry is in a tailspin. Capacity utilization is below 50 percent and production this year is on pace to decline to only 52.2 million short tons, down from 91.5 million ton . . .

Iron ore industry suffers historic downturn.
The industry that supplies American steel companies with iron ore is suffering a deep retrenchment. Iron ore pellet shipments have fallen by 65 percent this year compared to 2008. Significant invent . . .

Freedom of Information Act request for Freedom of Information Act Requests: USTR.
Earlier this year, Manufacturing & Technology News submitted a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request to the Office of the United States Trade Representative requesting a list of all the FOIA req . . .

Incremental improvements keep LCD screens ahead of the competition.
Recently, improvements in LCD TV have provided substantial advantages to consumers. One improvement is in the area of LED backlighting. This improvement alone has increased image quality with respec . . .

A direct correlation: China's growth comes at the expense of U.S.: as China rises, American tumbles. That is the story told by a
In virtually every important economic indicator, China has been growing at exponential rates while the United States suffers death spirals in jobs, income, wealth and prestige. "You can't fudge the . . .

Political patronage pays off.
Frank Sanchez, who was nominated by President Obama to be the Undersecretary for International Trade at the U.S. Department of Commerce, doesn't need a paying job. His dozens of investments in resid . . .

Bankruptcies are on the rise.
Consumer bankruptcy filings increased by 36.5 percent during the first six months of 2009, to 675,351, up from 494,610 during the same period in 2008, according to the American Bankruptcy Institute. . . .

Rail traffic declines by 18 percent.
The recession is hurting American railroads. Freight carloads declined by 20 percent in June to 1,039,889 carloads, 255,668 fewer carloads compared with June 2008, according to the Association of Am . . .

Japan takes a big hit on trade.
The volume of merchandize trade among the "Group of Seven" countries experienced double-digit declines during the first quarter of this year, according to the OECD. Exports for the seven major count . . .

Container imports are way down.
Import cargo at U.S. ports in May increased to more than 1 million containers for the first time in four months, but the amount is 20 percent below the same month in 2008. "Monthly numbers are risin . . .

Orders for new ships sink by 90 percent.
The global shipbuilding industry has been hit hard by the economic downturn. New orders have declined by more 90 percent and cancellations are increasing, according to the OECD. "The outlook is unli . . .

Testimony: U.S. is like Wile E. Coyote.
In June, Manufacturing & Technology News Editor Richard McCormack was asked to testify before the House of Representatives' Steel Caucus in the Rayburn House Office Building. Here is the written tes . . .

ITC finds another 'industry' being harmed by Chinese imports.(Industry overview)
The six commissioners on the U.S. International Trade Commission have unanimously agreed that yet another U.S. industry is being materially harmed by Chinese imports. On July 15, the ITC voted 6-0 t . . .

Financial disclosure for Austan Goolsbee.
Some college professors make a very good wage. Austan Goolsbee, a member of the White House Council of Economic Advisors, earned $465,000 as a professor of economics at the University of Chicago las . . .

USTR backs away from Panama free trade deal.
The United States Trade Representative has backed off pursuing Congressional approval of the Panama and Columbia trade agreements negotiated by President Bush. In a meeting with a half dozen congres . . .

Financial disclosure for Gary Locke.
It wouldn't be so bad to have an annual salary of $533,000 and also be receiving a government pension of $120,750. So it is the case with the new Commerce Secretary, who was required to fill out a f . . .

Calendar of upcoming events.(Calendar)
July 21-22 ASME Power 2009, Albuquerque, N.M.: http://www.asmeconferences.org/power09/. July 27-28 Integrated Strategic Planning, CalTech's Industrial Relations Ctr., Pasadena, Calif., www.irc.cal . . .

NCMS runs big robotics program.
The National Center for Manufacturing Sciences' recently created Robotics Technology Consortium has awarded seven companies with grants to develop new technologies for unmanned ground vehicles. The . . .

Texas boosts its technology fund.
The Texas legislature has pumped $203.5 million into the state's "Emerging Technology Fund," which is used to finance new companies that can have a "global impact," says Craig Casselberry, president . . .

Farm programs to get more money.
Federal agricultural programs could see extraordinary growth next year, despite the fact that the country is broke. The House Appropriations subcommittee on agriculture passed a $124 billion spendin . . .

Former Labor Sec. goes back home.
The Bush administration's Secretary of Labor has her old job back. She has returned to the Heritage Foundation as a "distinguished fellow." When she was selected by President Bush to be Labor Secret . . .

Former NAM official creates Mfg. Web blog.
A former top staff member of the National Association of Manufacturers has created a new online manufacturing community. Pat Cleary, formerly senior vice president of communications at NAM and now w . . .

Americans don't know very much.
The vast majority of Americans don't follow politics at all. According to a June 1 Harris Interactive poll, 59 percent of Americans don't know Tim Geitner (the country's Treasury Secretary); 57 perc . . .

Small firms blame the wrong thing.
A survey of 1,000 small business owners by George S. May International found that 45 percent of them are not profitable and that most of those executives are blaming the wrong thing: the bad economy . . .

Chinese tire producers hire U.S. government's top trade officials in '421' dumping case.
It didn't take long for a handful of the Bush administration's top trade officials to start representing foreign business interests. Eight members of the House of Representatives have asked the Gove . . .

90,000 small manufacturing companies are at risk of failure.(Company overview)
Tens of thousands of small manufacturing companies in the United States have little idea of what it takes to be successful in an increasingly global competitive environment and risk going out of bus . . .

Market for small wind turbines grows at a robust clip.
Last year was very good for the U.S. small wind turbine industry. Sales by total power generation increased by 78 percent in 2008 to 17.3 megawatts of capacity. Sales of turbines smaller than 100 ki . . .

Babcock & Wilcox introduces modular nuclear reactor.
Babcock & Wilcox has introduced a new nuclear reactor, called the mPower--for its modular design that can be sold in125-megawatt increments. The reactor has a five-year operating cycle without the n . . .

U.S. machine tool industry reaches a nadir; monthly sales dip to lowest level ever.
The U.S. machine tool industry is in a depression. Sales in April totaled just $97 million, down 41.5 percent from March and a 78 percent drop from the same month in April 2008, when the industry so . . .

States facing mounting budget deficits express desire to raise taxes by a record amount.
Almost every one of the 50 U.S. states is facing a severe financial crisis that is projected to become far worse as the federal government's stimulus funding runs out, according to the National Gove . . .

Obama's pick for ambassador to China.
People are policy. The choice of Utah Gov. Jon Huntsman Jr. to serve as ambassador to China indicates the Obama Administration's posture towards Beijing. Huntsman will be quite comfortable with Bara . . .

Catalysts are a trillion-dollar U.S. industry, but the country doesn't seem to care.
The use of catalysts in the U.S. economy accounts for about $1 trillion in GDP, and advances in catalysis research are leading to breakthroughs in biomass-to-energy, coal-to-liquid fuels, fuel cells . . .

Gao goes undercover to expose American manufacturers of high-tech equipment.
If your company is selling any products that are used in military applications, you better be on your toes. The Government Accountability Office (GAO) set up a fake American company, and found that . . .

The failure of U.S. manned space flight.
The United States government has awarded a $306-million contract to the Russian Federal Space Agency to transport six American crew members to the Space Station and bring back 66 pounds of trash. Th . . .

Manufacturers of electrical and electronic products must prepare for new environmental regulations.
New legislation being considered in the United States Congress could dramatically affect how many electronics and electrical power products are manufactured in the United States. The Environmental D . . .

Sens. Schumer and Graham rediscover China currency issue.
A new China currency bill has been introduced in the U.S. Senate. Sens. Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.) and Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) have reintroduced a bill that they first floated in Congress two years ag . . .

When asked, only 17 percent of all Americans have ever heard of NAM.
The National Association of Manufacturers is not well known beyond the Washington beltway. When 2,126 Americans were asked by pollsters working for Harris Interactive if they knew about NAM, only 17 . . .

Obama's economic fix is putting the U.S. in a fix.
Economic news remains focused on banks and housing, while the threat mounts to the U.S. dollar from massive federal budget deficits in fiscal years 2009 and 2010. Earlier this year, the dollar's e . . .

Foreign investment in the U.S. is not for new jobs or factories.
Most of the foreign direct investment into the United States in 2008 went to purchase existing companies, with very little being used to establish new production facilities or create new jobs. Forei . . .

Americans say the U.S. should not favor mfg.
Most Americans believe the country needs to move away from manufacturing as a means of generating future wealth and jobs, according to a poll taken by Zogby International. When asked whether the Uni . . .

Another critique of U.S. export control system.
The export control divisions within the departments of State, Commerce, Treasury, Energy, Justice, Defense and Homeland Security have not kept pace with the changes in the world, says the Government . . .

China's manufacturing jobs surged as American jobs disappeared.
While the United States was losing 1.4 million manufacturing jobs from 2002 to 2006, China was substantially increasing the number of workers in its manufacturing sector, according to a new report o . . .

U.S. military faces a far bigger foe: the collapse of the U.S. dollar.
The Pentagon is consumed by hunting terrorists in the Middle East but there is far greater national security threat that confronts the country that has been ignored: the mismanagement of the U.S. ec . . .

The Association for Manufacturing Technology.(People)
The Association for Manufacturing Technology (AMT) has a new president: Douglas Woods, formerly president of Parlec International. Woods, 48, was a member of AMT's board from 2000 to 2008 and was it . . .

National Center for Manufacturing Sciences.(People)
The National Center for Manufacturing Sciences has a new chairman: Ralph Resnick, the former chief technology officer at Ex One Corp. and Extrude Hone. He is currently the vice president and chief t . . .