Manufacturing Outlook Blog
Krzysztof Bledowski, Ph.D. |
06/18/2013 |
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Our manufacturing outlook for Europe has been revised downward. The uneven recession in the Eurozone is now coupled with a downturn in the Czech Republic and sharply falling economic activity in Poland. Domestic demand continues to soften. Businesses refrain from adding to capacity despite low cost of capital, gripped by political and institutional uncertainty. A possible governance crisis also weighs on consumer spending, which fell in the last...
Jim Engelhardt |
06/18/2013 |
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This is the fourth part of a series chronicling MAPI’s rich 80-year history. Research and writing provided by Jessica Larkin. Catch up on previous installments covering 1933-1942, 1943-1952, and 1953-1962.
The 60s was a decade heavy with change in America. This period witnessed the United States’ involvement in the Vietnam War, the height of the civil rights movement (including the Civil Rights Act and the Voting Rights Act), and the...
Daniel J. Meckstroth, Ph.D. |
06/17/2013 |
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Strong industrial activity in early 2013 softened somewhat recently but the sector should have enough momentum to continue growth.
Inflation-adjusted GDP increased at a 2.4 percent annual rate in the first quarter of 2013, while manufacturing output grew at a much faster 5.0 percent annual rate.
Our new forecast indicates that industrial production will increase 3.1 percent in 2013, an increase from 2.2 percent in the March 2013 report. A...
Donald W. Westfall |
06/12/2013 |
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Terry Wohlers, an industry analyst who has been watching additive manufacturing since the first patents were filed in the mid-1980s, delivered his now annual address on the current health of the industry. The verdict was that conditions are excellent, but perhaps not as stupendous as media reports suggest.
Sales in dollars were up 28.6 percent in 2012.
Media attention doubled.
But technical advances probably improved additive manufacturing...
Donald W. Westfall |
06/11/2013 |
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This week’s RAPID 2013 Conference and Exposition in Pittsburgh showcases about 130 companies involved in the fast-growing area of additive manufacturing (AM, but better known as 3D printing or rapid prototyping). The crowd of design and manufacturing engineers collecting specifications and asking questions and attending 80 or so breakout sessions numbers probably a couple of thousand.
The event is sponsored by SME (the Society of Manufacturing...
Rae Ann S. Johnson |
06/10/2013 |
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Happy 50th Birthday, Equal Pay Act! So have we "come a long way, baby" as the saying goes, or should we still be chanting "show me the money"? Depends on your perspective. In 1963 when Kennedy signed the act into law, a woman earned 59 cents to a man's $1. Now, a woman earns 77 cents to a man's $1, with women of color earning an even lower percentage. So, indeed, women have come a long way—decreasing the pay gap by about 1/2 cent per year. But...
Cliff Waldman |
06/07/2013 |
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The U.S. job market has seldom been so challenged—not, at least in the modern, post-WWII era. The U.S. and global economies are sluggish, and in some spots troubled, still adjusting to the aftermath of a damaging financial crisis. Fiscal policy is a negative, exemplified only recently by a payroll tax increase and the much talked about sequester. Entrepreneurial activity in the U.S., as shown in a recent MAPI report, began weakening well before...
Daniel J. Meckstroth, Ph.D. |
06/06/2013 |
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U.S. economic growth will be somewhat restrained, but not deterred, and improving fundamentals provide reason for optimism by the end of 2013 and through 2014.
In our new economic forecast we predict that inflation-adjusted GDP will expand 1.8 percent in 2013 and 2.8 percent in 2014, showing no change from our February 2013 report.
Manufacturing production, however, is expected to show growth of 3.1 percent in 2013 and 3.6 percent in 2014. The...
Cam Mackey |
06/05/2013 |
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Developing and managing talent is a basic capability of any well-run business, let alone one with lofty growth targets. It’s an evergreen issue, and it’s enthusiastically discussed and debated in every single one of MAPI’s councils, whether the members are in charge of HR, running a business unit, or even running a tax department. It’s such an important topic that we’re holding a best practices roundtable on talent management as we speak in...
Krzysztof Bledowski, Ph.D. |
06/05/2013 |
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Our semiannual council meetings constitute the backbone of MAPI’s smorgasbord of value. These workshops are unique in the marketplace of continuing education. That’s because aside from being largely peer-driven, they cut across the lines of technology, corporate size, culture, and geography. When such a wide body of knowledge is up for the taking, the pickings are bound to be rich. But how do members see this?
Some time ago I started to quantify...
Categories: Council Operations, Executive Management, Operational Improvement