Posts for February 8, 2010

MANUFACTURING TECHNOLOGY CONSUMPTION DOWN

Manufacturing.Net - February 08, 2010

McLEAN, Va., -- December U.S. manufacturing technology consumption totaled $219.60 million, according to AMT - The Association For Manufacturing Technology, and AMTDA, the American Machine Tool Distributors’ Association.

This total, as reported by companies participating in the USMTC program, was up 22.9 percent from November but down 5.7 percent from the total of $232.93 million reported for December 2008.

With a year-to-date total of $1,771.91 million, 2009 is down 60.4 percent compared with 2008. These numbers and all data in this report are based on the totals of actual data reported by companies participating in the USMTC program.

“The bump in November and December orders reflects the expiration of investment incentives at the end of 2009,” said Douglas K. Woods, AMT President. “AMT and 40 other industry groups have sent Congress and the President a letter urging them to reinstate the Recovery Act’s depreciation bonus and increased Sec. 179 expensing provisions. Foreign tax structures encourage capital equipment investment and our government needs to meet the competition if U.S. manufacturing is to generate jobs and be the innovation engine to drive our economy.”

The United States Manufacturing Technology Consumption (USMTC) report, jointly compiled by the two trade associations representing the production and distribution of manufacturing technology, provides regional and national U.S. consumption data of domestic and imported machine tools and related equipment.

The two associations say analysis of manufacturing technology consumption provides a reliable leading economic indicator as manufacturing industries invest in capital metalworking equipment to increase capacity and improve productivity.

CONFERENCE BOARD: EMPLOYMENT TRENDS CONTINUE TO RISE

Manufacturing.Net - February 08, 2010

NEW YORK -- The Conference Board Employment Trends Index (ETI) rose in January for the fifth consecutive month. The index now stands at 93.2, up 1 percent from December’s 92.3, but still down 0.7 percent compared to January 2009.

“The continued rise in the ETI makes us more optimistic that job growth will resume in the first quarter of 2010,” said Gad Levanon, Associate Director, Macroeconomic Research at The Conference Board. “The improvement is widespread across all eight components. In particular, Friday’s large decline in the number of involuntary part-time workers was the first time this component showed a strong signal of improvement.”

According to the Conference Board, the Employment Trends Index aggregates eight labor-market indicators, each of which has proven accurate in its own area. Aggregating individual indicators into a composite index filters out so-called “noise” to show underlying trends more clearly.

HEALTH CARE REFORM WEEKLY BRIEFING

February 8, 2010 – AON Consulting

Last Week in Washington
The President and Democratic leaders reiterated their determination to move forward on health care reform while continuing to strategize on ways to do so, since the political landscape changed with the election of Senator Scott Brown of Massachusetts.
In an interview with CBS News anchor Katie Couric on Sunday, President Obama attempted to jump-start the stalled health care debate, inviting Republicans in Congress to a half-day summit on the subject to be televised live later this month. These comments follow closely remarks he made to members of the Democratic National Committee on Thursday where he charted an alternate path for health care reform stating, "What I'd like to do is have a meeting whereby I'm sitting with the Republicans, sitting with the Democrats, sitting with health care experts, and let's just go through these bills -- their ideas, our ideas -- let's walk through them in a methodical way so that the American people can see and compare what makes the most sense." At the Democratic National Committee’s Winter Meeting in Washington, D.C., on Saturday, the President sought to reassure his party that he was still committed to health care reform, stating, "Let me be clear: I am not going to walk away from health care insurance reform."

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) and Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) met Tuesday to discuss health care reform legislation; however, they reached no decisions on the path forward. After the meeting, Reid told reporters, "We are going to proceed. We just don't know at this time how we are going to proceed." Later on Tuesday, in a call with the media, Pelosi reiterated her determination to keep pushing to pass comprehensive health care reform. In addition to other Democratic initiatives such as jobs creation, Pelosi referred to health care reform as "first among equals."

On Monday, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Kathleen Sebelius highlighted items in President Obama's 2011 budget that will "protect the health and safety of America's families." The budget includes a variety of measures aimed at improving health care including: reducing fraud in Medicare and Medicaid, extending State funding for Medicaid, improving quality of and access to health care, promoting public health, and investing in scientific research and development.

What to look for this week:
The House of Representatives will vote on repealing the antitrust exemption for health insurance companies – this provision was included in the House-passed health care reform bill but not in the Senate's version. It remains uncertain whether Democratic leaders will have an agreed upon strategy on how to proceed with comprehensive health care reform before Congress leaves town for a one-week break at the end of this week.

In Case You Missed It
CBS News Katie Couric Interview with President Obama Feb. 7.

A transcript of President Obama’s Remarks to the Democratic National Committee in Washington Feb. 6.

2011 Budget – Department of Health and Human Services Fact Sheet

JAPANESE: U.S. OVERREACTED TO TOYOTA PROBLEM

February 8, 2010 - Manufacturing.Net – Mari Yamaguchi, Associated Press Writer

TOKYO (AP) -- Despite the criticism of Toyota over car safety, Japanese citizens still largely view the world's largest automaker with pride -- so much so that some people here wonder whether pressure on Toyota in the U.S. is a ploy to boost American auto producers and undermine Japan Inc.

"I think the Americans are going overboard," said Hiroyuki Komiya, 40, a Tokyo restaurant employee. "Maybe it's Japan-bashing because the trouble at Toyota, which has the world's No. 1 share, is a big opportunity for its American rivals."

That notion may seem far-fetched to the millions of Toyota owners in the United States and around the world whose confidence in the company has made it the world leader -- and are now simply worried about the safety of their cars.

The days of irrational fears of Japanese products that emerged during its economic boom of the 1980s are long gone. Toyota, Honda and Sony are some of the most-trusted brands in America. Toyota makes more of its cars and trucks in the U.S. than it imports there. Last month it had 14 percent of the U.S. market, third behind General Motors Corp. and Ford Motor Co.

Despite Toyota's problems, an ABC News poll taken at the end of January showed that 63 percent of Americans still rated Toyota favorably. The poll also found that 72 percent of respondents saw the gas-pedal problem as an isolated incident and the same percentage said it would have no effect on whether they consider buying a new Toyota.

The telephone poll surveyed 1,012 people randomly across the U.S. on Jan. 28-31, before Toyota acknowledged a design flaw in the braking system in its popular Prius hybrid. The poll had a 4-point margin of error.

In Japan, public and media reaction to Toyota's problems has been rather muted, largely because there have been no recalls here -- although there have been complaints about the Prius brakes.

Some in Japan have criticized Toyota as slow to respond to the safety problems and people acknowledge that the brand -- and Japan's image -- has taken a hit. But the prevailing mood is that Toyota -- the flagship of Japan Inc. -- has been unfairly singled out.

"Toyota is so big and famous, so it's an easy target," said Masahiro Yasunaga, a 24-year-old tech company employee. "Its brand image has been hurt, but the media reports are too much."

GQ's Web site, for example, drew a parallel between the reversal of fortunes of Toyota and golfer Tiger Woods, whose image has been tarnished by extramarital affairs.

Some Japanese suspect U.S. political forces are behind the criticism of Toyota, coming at a time when the U.S. government owns 60.8 percent of General Motors following its bankruptcy reorganization.

Others in Japan say Toyota's sheer size made it hard to respond quickly to the crisis, which has involved recalling more than 7 million cars in the U.S., Europe and China over a sticky accelerator and floor mats that can get caught in the gas pedal.

"It's typical of a huge corporation, where everything had to go through a lengthy process," said Yumi Sato, 32, an operator of a customer call center. "I kind of sympathize with Toyota."

Japanese have periodically worried about the revival of Japan-bashing, which emerged during the country's rise as an export power in the 1980s, when U.S. politicians and automakers accused Japan of unfairly blocking access to its market and stealing American jobs.

That has subsided as Japanese companies moved factories to the United States and brands like Honda and Sony grew to be widely accepted by Americans, and as China has eclipsed Japan as the key challenger to U.S. economic supremacy.

But Japanese were concerned about a renewal of the sentiment when Toyota passed General Motors as the world's largest automaker in 2008.

That is not to say Toyota has escaped criticism at home.

Japanese Transport Minister Seiji Maehara, who oversees auto regulation, has urged Toyota to consider a recall for the Prius brake problem and said the automaker needed to pay more heed to vehicle owners.

The Nikkei, Japan's leading financial paper, warned that Toyota should resolve the problems quickly -- given that U.S. protectionism is rising, the newspaper contends, as the country heads into midterm elections.

"Foreign manufacturers could come under attack," it said in an editorial.

Atsushi Kasai, a 30-year-old real estate agent who drives a 2009 Prius, says he's not worried about possible problems with the brakes. He thinks all the media attention devoted to Toyota reflects its stature in the world economy -- and perhaps a bit of jealousy.

"Toyota," he said, "is the Japanese company that is succeeding the most abroad."

Associated Press writers Kelly Olsen, Jay Alabaster and Malcolm Foster contributed to this report.