Posts Tagged ‘Global Competition’

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Mr. Bureaucracy, tear down this wall

February 12th, 2013
By: Tim Heston

This morning I talked with Paul Luber, CEO of Milwaukee-based Super Steel, a contract fabricator on a serious rebound. In 2010 the company went into receivership. Now, the fabricator recently has completed a serious growth spurt--it doubled revenue in just 12 months--and is preparing for 15 percent annual growth during the next few years. Look out of the story in the April FABRICATOR.

This shop is one of many I wish more journalists and government officials would learn about--and I’m talking about more than the grip-and-grin coverage, like the “Good American Job” stereotypical photo op we continually saw during the presidential campaign.

Milwaukee is a highly competitive area for metal fabrication. Workers have plenty of options, but, according to company sources, they choose Super Steel because of its competitive pay and benefits. And it’s an engaging place to work, one that continually focuses on product and process improvements.

And, oh yeah, the company also sends its products to Mexico and other so-called “low cost” countries.

(more...)

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It's a jungle out there

November 30th, 2012
By: Dan Davis

What makes a jungle a scary place? It's probably fear of what might happen—not so much of what has happened. Uncertainty feeds paranoia, and paranoia forces one to lose focus. Without focus, a person is more likely to find himself in a dangerous spot.

Upton Sinclair observed those dangers firsthand when he went undercover for several weeks in 1904 in the Chicago stockyards. The journalist observed the dangers that unskilled workers had to cope with every day, the sickness that was rampant among the workforce, and the abuse that was heaped upon the workers by greedy company management. Back then the workplace could be a deadly place for someone that didn't have his wits about him.

Sinclair's book The Jungle, published in 1906, brought these conditions to the attention of most Americans and eventually led to legislation that set federal standards for meat and food inspection. Sinclair actually wanted the book to generate more interest about worker safety and well-being—which didn't really happen until several years later. (more...)

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IMTS 2012: Crazy times in manufacturing

September 14th, 2012
By: Dan Davis

Sometimes you wonder if North American metal manufacturers got the memo.

Europe is struggling with countries teetering on the brink of financial collapse. China is no longer seeing its GDP grow by double-digit percentage points. Other once-hot economies in the world, such as Brazil, have cooled considerably. Meanwhile in the U.S., unemployment remains above 8 percent, and economists fret that the federal government may be headed off a "fiscal cliff" at the end of the year, when automatic budget cuts take place and Bush-era tax cuts end.

So what happened as the International Manufacturing Technology Show 2012 opened in Chicago on Sept. 10? Show organizers announced that they were expecting its most well-attended show since 2002. (Preregistration alone stood at 86,000.) Simultaneously, AMT—The Association For Manufacturing Technology announced that U.S. manufacturing technology orders in July were up 5.4 percent overall compared with the same time in 2011. U.S. manufacturers continue to move forward no matter what craziness occurs around them. (more...)

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Manufacturing and U.S. competitiveness

June 13th, 2012
By: Vicki Bell

You may have read or heard something today about how the world views the U.S. The Pew Research Center has released its Global Attitudes Survey findings, and pundits have been quick to jump on and analyze the results, particularly as they relate to this year’s presidential contest and the two main candidates’ interpretations of where things stand. 

Among the coverage is an article attributed to Bruce Stokes, director of the Pew Research Center’s Global Economic Attitudes and published on cnn.com. Stokes presents the findings as they stack up to claims by both President Barack Obama and Mitt Romney about America’s world standing. He conjectures that both are right and both are wrong.

I’ll leave it to you to read the article to learn about Obama’s and Romney’s views and decide for yourself who is more right (if it’s possible to be more right). What I want to focus on is the portion of the report that deals with the worldview of U.S. competitiveness. (more...)

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Metal fabricating: It's nice to be needed

December 16th, 2011
By: Dan Davis

After almost a week away from my family during FABTECH, Nov. 14-17, I returned to my family tired but upbeat, because the overall mood at the tradeshow was optimistic. Busy is good for most of the attendees and exhibitors.

In describing some of the stories I had been hearing about busy job shops and the need for new capital equipment investments, I encountered a question that stumped me a bit: "Why is metal fabricating doing well when the rest of the economy is not?" my wife asked.

It's a great question because it brings up two interesting points. First, most people don't realize that manufacturing is leading the way in this less-than-robust economic rebound following the Great Recession. Some are learning that a job in manufacturing may not be such a bad career path, especially as manufacturers continue to ask for more skilled workers to fill open positions. Second, manufacturing generally isn't in this position. The old adage goes that manufacturing is typically the first industry hit by a recession and the last one to emerge from it. Well, that's not how it's working this time. (more...)

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Mexican manufacturing keeps moving forward

May 26th, 2011
By: Dan Davis

An interesting thing occurred during my recent trip to attend FABTECH® Mexico, May 11-13, in Monterrey, Mexico. I ate fried crickets, but that wasn't it. I witnessed a spark of fabricating equipment innovation that originated within the country's own borders and from the minds of its talented engineers. Mexico is growing up as a manufacturing market. (more...)

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Head offices head to China

January 11th, 2011
By: Tim Heston

If Dave Westphal doesn’t qualify as a lean manufacturing champion, I don’t know who would. The executive is director of global lean manufacturing for Nexteer Automotive, a $2 billion automotive supplier specializing in steering and front-axle components. Last year The FABRICATOR covered his lean accomplishments, including his use of video to streamline worker movements. It turns out worker ergonomics leads to greater efficiency and greater overall throughput.  It’s a progressive place, one that shows how competitive manufacturing in the U.S. can be.

Oh yeah, did I mention that Nexteer is now a Chinese-owned company?

(more...)

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Spiraling out of control

December 8th, 2010
By: Eric Lundin

Last week I took a trip to Genoa City, Wis., and felt like I had spent a couple hours in 1955 or so. I paid a visit to Ralph Wells, owner of Wells-Osborn Spiral Stairs, a company that specializes in spiral staircases. Founded in 1949 as a welding and repair shop, it expanded its repertoire to include spiral staircases when its founder, Bill Osborn, was asked by a customer if he could build such an item. Never one to shy away from a challenge, Osborn got to work on it. The shop had windows near a street, and curiosity from several passers-by turned into orders from several passers-by. Spiral staircases caught on, and to this day they make up about half the company’s revenue. (more...)

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Do fabricators care if SAIC invests in GM?

September 22nd, 2010
By: Vicki Bell

Yesterday's "Tube Talk" e-newsletter discussed the possibility of General Motors' Chinese partner, SAIC, investing in GM's initial public offering of stock. The two companies have produced cars together in China for a decade and announced plans in December to sell low-cost vehicles in India. 

Some in the U.S. are not all that excited at the prospect of a Chinese company potentially owning a chunk of GM, now sometimes referred to as Government Motors since the $50 billion taxpayer bailout. (Repaying the bailout could take years, IPO notwithstanding.) (more...)

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Chinese current events and U.S. manufacturing

June 25th, 2010
By: Dan Davis

My co-worker Tim Heston stole a little of my thunder for this week's blog post with his coverage of China's decision to adopt a more flexible approach to how it values its currency. U.S. manufacturers have been clamoring for years for some shift away from China's currency manipulation, but to no avail. The Chinese don't like to be told what to do. If it weren't for the fact that they really were forced to make the move to stave off the rising costs of imports, Chinese government officials would still be turning deaf ears to the world's concerns.

Despite Mr. Heston's coverage, he didn't address all of the news emanating from China. In fact, other happenings there may have  more of an impact on U.S. manufacturing than the recent currency decision. (more...)

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