When manufacturing jobs move overseas we wondered if total landed costs are considered and if there is now an argument for bringing manufacturing back to the USA. This logistics practice is known commonly as “reshoring.” Our theme for the month of July is the United States or for all of you Bruce Springsteen fans – “Born in the […]
Reposted from Crains Cleveland Business Irene Petrick thinks the next wave of manufacturers will come from unexpected sources — namely, from individuals and small businesses taking advantage of advances in technology. Ms. Petrick, a Penn State University professor and managing director of Trendscape Innovation Group, was one of three […]
Reposted from Journal Star – Two Nebraska groups — The Center for Rural Affairs and the Nebraska Farmers Union — are among food safety and farm groups calling on federal regulators to halt the proposed sale of pork giant Smithfield Foods to a Chinese processor — a deal that would represent […]
Reposted from New York Magazine For decades, Walmart has been known in the retail industry for its hard-line negotiating tactics. As the world’s largest retailer, it’s massive enough that it can offer to pay a ridiculously low price, threaten to walk unless its price is met, and watch suppliers trip over […]
Reposted from USA Today – WASHINGTON — Congressional lawmakers grilled the top executive at pork giant Smithfield Foods Wednesday about how the proposed $4.7 billion purchase of the company by China’s largest meat producer might affect the U.S. food supply and agricultural producers. CEO Larry Pope told a packed Senate […]
Manufacturing: The Key to American Innovation Ralph Gomory Reposted from the Huffington Post – Manufacturing was once widely recognized as the outstanding strength of America and the basis of its prosperity, but manufacturing also has a more recent history of being almost a pariah. This newer view equated computer chips with potato […]
The June jobs report shows we lost 6,000 jobs in manufacturing, but added 9,000 in garden supply stores and 19,000 at amusement parks and casinos. Is this the picture of a healthy economic superpower? While corporate media will focus on the big number — we added 195,000 jobs! — figures from the Bureau of Labor Statistics show […]
Fatal fashion. That’s the derogatory new label dangling over the U.S. clothing industry following a deadly fire and a building collapse that killed more than 1,200 garment factory workers in Bangladesh in recent months. The tragedies in November and April ripped open the unseemly side of the global clothing […]
On Friday, we learned that U.S. companies added 195,000 jobs in June, which was much higher than the 165,000 expected by economists. Still, the unemployment rate remains painfully high at 7.6%, even as GDP, corporate profits, and stocks sit near all-time highs. One of the reasons for this is the decline of America’s small businesses, which struggle to compete […]
A Model D piano being made at the Steinway factory in Astoria, Queens. Brian Ross “Made in America” took another major hit very quietly yesterday. An American musical institution, the 160-year-old American piano maker Steinway and Sons, was sold to a private equity firm, Kohlberg & Co. What does a leveraged […]
