Posts Tagged ‘Industry Assistance’

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Manufacturing deserves special treatment

January 20th, 2012
By: Dan Davis

I apologize for being absent from the blog for most of the past six weeks. I guess I got wrapped up in Republican primary politics coverage.

That's a joke. I also was engrossed in "Storage Wars" and "American Hoggers" on A&E.

But it's kind of hard to ignore the political proceedings that are taking place all over the U.S. An election year means some sort of change is coming, and metal fabricators are no different from any other voters: They hope the change is consistent with their own political beliefs. To say that there is a little interest in this upcoming election would be a grand understatement. (more...)

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Joe Biden and a press brake

December 21st, 2009
By: Tim Heston

Rickey Moulder probably won't forget the workday he had Thursday. Moulder is press brake department supervisor for Impulse Manufacturing in Dawsonvile, Ga., and on Dec. 17 he got to explain a bit about sheet metal fabrication to Vice President Joe Biden. An Associated Press photographer even got a great shot of him holding a sheet metal part and standing next to a sign explaining the company's press brake operations. That's not something you see every day.

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The Catch 22 of collateral

December 15th, 2009
By: Tim Heston

Earlier this year, I landed at the Detroit airport en route to a conference. I got into my rental car, headed to the I-94 on-ramp, and then I saw it. There, next to the highway, was a big billboard advertising, of all things, a metal fabricator: "W Industries: Aerospace, Defense, Energy, Industrial."

Notice anything missing?

At the time, W Industries was making headlines. Local organizations were recognizing the company as one who successfully diversified outside automotive. And that was definitely something to flaunt in this economy.

But today, as the economy and credit markets get back on their feet, a wrinkle has been thrown into the diversity equation: the depreciation of assets. As Chris Kuehl, economist for the Fabricators & Manufacturers Association, Intl., wryly said during a keynote panel at this year's FABTECH Intl. & AWS Welding Show, "Now [the banks] are saying, 'Gosh, we expect you to pay the money back, and we're interested in collateral.'"

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Lack of help for small business is 'obscene'

October 28th, 2009
By: Vicki Bell

Fox News—most people either love it or hate it. I'm indifferent about it, preferring to look at it as I do most media: Take what I hear with a grain of salt and watch out for bias.

Just yesterday, host Greta Van Susteren chatted with David Cho, financial reporter for the "Washington Post" about how small businesses are doing. Cho authored an article in the "Post" Oct. 22 entitled "Rescue efforts shift to small business." The crux of that effort is getting affordable credit into the hands of small businesses.

Fabricating Update subscribers are in businesses that could benefit most from these efforts, provided they are handled properly and in a timely manner. Some subscribers welcome the focus on small businesses, some clearly think properly and timely are not in the government's lexicon, and some think the government should stay the heck out of business altogether.

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Shh & Manufacturing is looking better

October 20th, 2009
By: Tim Heston

Psssst. Hey & down here. I"m the headline about 20 column inches below the story about Balloon Boy. Keep looking down. Down. Just below that expose about Polanski. See me? Good. Don't tell anyone, but manufacturing's getting a bit better. In fact, manufacturing may be the thing that pulls us all out of the economic doldrums; at least that's how some are reacting to the Federal Reserve data released Friday.

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Proximity makes a difference

September 21st, 2009
By: Tim Heston

On a flight to a manufacturing event last week, I read an article in BusinessWeek that got me pretty down. The headline on the magazine cover screamed, "America's Manufacturing Crisis." The topic: Why stuff's invented stateside and sent abroad for manufacturing.

"While the Japanese, Koreans, Taiwanese, and Chinese plowed billions into megaplants to churn out commodity products, America steamed ahead in more lucrative pursuits, such as software, life sciences, and financial services," the article stated. "As for companies such as Dell and Apple, they could still reap high profits by focusing on marketing and design while letting offshore contractors handle the grunge work."

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A gust of good news

August 31st, 2009
By: Tim Heston

If you're connected to the wind energy business or are looking to get your foot in the door, you're probably thinking about two things:

1. You're tired of cheesy puns in article headlines (like the one above).

2. You are hoping investors start embracing the business again.

For the former, I'm a culprit among all the other business reporters using excessive verbal window dressing to write about this sector. As for the latter, investment trends are blowing in a new direction. (Apologies, again.)

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No stimulus for manufacturing

August 17th, 2009
By: Tim Heston

Buried within the Institute for Supply Management™'s July Manufacturing ISM Report on Business® is a telling quote from a metal fabricator.

"No stimulus for manufacturing."

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Realigning value

August 7th, 2009
By: Tim Heston

The numbers popping up in the media recently draw an interesting, perhaps conflicted picture of the state of business in the U.S. Here's why.

First, there's unemployment. Like many, I expected the unemployment rate to continue its relentless rise past the symbolic 10 percent mark. It didn't. It fell a bit, to 9.4 percent. Dig a little deeper into the government's official release, though, and you'll find that 14,000 people in the fabricated metal products sector lost their jobs. Machinery-makers shed 15,000. And manufacturing overall shed 2 million jobs since this recession began.

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760 manufacturing companies

July 17th, 2009
By: Tim Heston

That number bounced around the blogosphere this week as CIT teeters on the brink of bankruptcy. CEO Jeff Peek told news outlets that 760 manufacturing companies could shut down if CIT collapses. And then comes the ripple effect, which is even scarier.

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