Industryweek.com reported yesterday that manufacturing decreased during the month of November. “The Institute for Supply Management index for November was 49.5, signaling a small decline in manufacturing activity from modest growth in October,” noted Daniel J. Meckstroth, chief economist for the Manufacturers Alliance for Productivity and Innovation (MAPI). The sub-index for...
In North Dakota, the manufacturing sector has stayed strong even in spite of the recessional and economic problems that have plagued the industry in other parts of the country. During the worst period of the recession, the Grand Forks firm Applied Products Inc. experienced something new: a drop in sales for...
Jim Pinto, over at Automation World, recently wrote an article about some innovative new ideas for manufacturing: Cloud computing. Use of “the cloud” is a transformative approach that provides more than just the conventional data center model. It fundamentally changes how masses of data can be stored for interaction. It offers...
It seems that after years and countless numbers of manufacturing jobs leaving the U.S. will be returning to American soil, according to an article by MLive.com’s Melissa Anders: But that trend of offshoring may be slowing or even reversing, according to research from Tobias Schoenherr , an assistant professor of supply...
A recent Forbes article explained the reasons why manufacturing may be coming back to the U.S. for the long term. Many manufacturers are increasingly reevaluating their U.S. strategies, such as their separation of R&D and production, and their production abroad and importation back to U.S. buyers. Depending on the industry, they...
From the Chicago Tribune: With steady growth in exports and manufacturing jobs, the Illinois economy is beginning to make moderate gains. But government-sector layoffs and a weak construction market continue to challenge the state, according to The State Monitor report, released Monday by BMO Capital Markets Economics. ... Overall, the Illinois jobless rate...
Richard Daley and Bruce Katz's Op-Ed in the LA Times caught our eye, highlighting the ever-changing nature of manufacturing, here and abroad: Corporate cost calculations undergird the newfound appreciation of U.S. manufacturing. The offshoring of manufacturing was rooted in harsh economic realities: rock-bottom wages in nations such as China and the aggressive...
Lean manufacturing is all about rooting out and replacing wasteful methods, processes and products. Once the waste is found, the company's work goes beyond elimination to finding ways to prevent the waste from occurring again. Value-added calculations are also considered along with wastefulness. Companies can look in the usual places to find waste...
Lean manufacturing is a popular plant management method, but it does have flaws. Depending on the company using the technology, lean manufacturing could overlook some very vital and costly areas for waste elimination. These are known as the blind spots of lean manufacturing. By understanding the blind spots in a lean manufacturing plan,...
No one wants to see a product or a company done in by a defect. This is especially true if the defect could have been prevented during the manufacturing phase. As class action suits and laws against product defects become more aggressive, plants should take a few measures to reduce the number...
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