November 9, 2011

CONVEYOR ORDERS SHOW RECENT SURGE

Quick Manufacturing News
The Conveyor Equipment Manufacturers Association reported that its September 2011 Booked Orders Index was 218, up 56 points or 35% from August 2011's Index of 162. The September index represents an increase of 35% from the September 2010 Index of 161. Click to continue

KEY U.S. SENATORS WARN CHINA ON MILITARY PARTS
Quick Manufacturing News
Beijing tolerates 'brazenly open market' for counterfeit electronics, lawmakers charge. Click to continue

MOBILE DATA TRAFFIC TO GROW TENFOLD BY 2016, ERICSSON STUDY SHOWS
Quick Manufacturing News
Video will drive surge in Internet use. Click to continue

OFFICIALS: FAKE WEAPONS PARTS A 'TICKING TIME BOMB'
Today in Manufacturing
A Senate committee's investigation found about 1,800 cases of suspect counterfeit electronics being sold to the Pentagon for weapons systems, helicopters and aircraft ... continue

ITT EXELIS CORPORATION ANNOUNCES IT WILL EXPAND COMPOSITE ENGINEERING FACILITY IN SALT LAKE CITY
EDCUtah
EDCUtah recently announced that ITT Exelis will significantly expand their composites engineering facility in the Fiber Sciences Building near the Salt Lake International Airport in Salt Lake City. ITT Exelis is to be the new name of an independent publicly traded company spun off from the ITT Corp. (NYSE: ITT) aerospace and defense business unit following the completion of a previously announced separation plan, company officials announced. ITT Exelis will add more than 2,700 jobs over the next 15 years to the 400 employees currently in Utah. The company will invest over $120 million in facilities and equipment to bring the aviation composites facility into operation.

A NEW GREENHOUSE GAS FRONTIER
FLAG Weekly Communications - NAM
The NAM recently sought to intervene in a case (Alec L. v. Jackson) brought by environmental groups against the Environmental Protection Agency and the Departments of Defense, Agriculture and Commerce.

The lawsuit seeks to have the courts force the government to reduce greenhouse gas emissions—specifically to implement measures that would reduce carbon emissions by no less than 6 percent annually. The groups have also filed similar lawsuits in the states.

The environmental groups’ strategy is a novel one. They are relying on the “public trust” theory, which “allege[s] that the federal government and each state’s government has an independent ‘public trust’ obligation to protect the state or entire nation’s atmosphere from global climate changes.” For more on the case and the legal theory, see this paper from the Washington Legal Foundation entitled “Lawsuit Roulette: Pursuit Of The ‘Children’s Trust’ Climate Change Litigation.”

The NAM has filed a motion to dismiss, as has the government. Arguments on those motions are scheduled for December 15, though that could change on November 30 when the court considers the government’s motion to move the case from the Northern District of California to Washington, D.C.

Also of note, FLAG readers may be interested in the following comments on the subject of climate change from the Archbishop of Sydney, Australia. The full remarks are available here.

THE NEW TOBACCO
FLAG Weekly Communications - NAM
Is junk food the next tobacco? A recent article in Bloomberg suggests it might be exactly that.

If fatty foods and snacks and drinks sweetened with sugar and high fructose corn syrup are proven to be addictive, food companies may face the most drawn-out consumer safety battle since the anti-smoking movement took on the tobacco industry a generation ago.

The article highlights recent research on junk food, including a study of rats for which sweets were a near constant presence.

Other groups of rats that had access to the sweets and fatty foods for 18 to 23 hours per day became obese, Paul Kenny, the Scripps scientist heading the study wrote in the journal Nature Neuroscience. The results produced the same brain pattern that occurs with escalating intake of cocaine, he wrote.

“To see food do the same thing was mind-boggling,” Kenny later said in an interview.

The food industry says voluntary industry action is the way to fight obesity, but there’s no doubt that regulators and some lawyers are salivating at the implications of this new “food addiction” research.

RISE ABOVE THE FRAY
Employers Council
Studies show that workplace conflicts take up to 42% of a typical manager's time! Disagreements, disputes, and honest differences are normal. But, if you find yourself dreading a meeting with your employee, apply the following tips to turn discouraging disagreements into

productive ideas:
• Listen with an open mind.
• Do not be defensive.
• By the tone of your voice and your body language, show interest in hearing the other person's ideas.
• Stay calm.
• Approach the communications with interest and enthusiasm.
• Do not focus on the employee as part of the problem, but guide them in finding a solution.
• Be open to other ideas and perspectives (perhaps you misunderstood the ideas that caused the tension or conflict).
• Be a peacemaker.
• Consider the meeting an opportunity to bring out creativity.

How you approach the conflict can be helpful in turning two competing ideas into a winning solution!

NATIONWIDE CALL FOR EXTENSION OF CRITICAL TAX PROVISIONS
More than 1,500 Companies and Organizations Urge Congress to Prevent Expiration of Key Pro-Jobs Tax Provisions
NAM
WASHINGTON— Today, more than 1,500 companies and organizations urged all members of Congress to pass legislation to extend critical tax provisions before they expire at the end of 2011. Dozens of tax provisions—frequently called “tax extenders”—that benefit businesses, individuals, community development organizations and non-profit organizations are set to expire at the end of 2011. The provisions are important to U.S. jobs and the broader economy. “The lack of timely congressional action to extend these provisions would inject more instability and uncertainty into the economy and further weaken confidence in the employment marketplace,” the companies and groups said in a letter to all members of Congress.

The group said the extension of the expiring provisions should not be delayed until policymakers complete work on comprehensive tax reform. “Even though Congress has begun to consider tax reform proposals, a wide-ranging group of taxpayers is making decisions right now related to current law which will have an immediate impact on the economy,” the letter stated. “While we are hopeful that the tax reform debate results in policy that is fair, efficient, and encourages economic growth, it is critical that the current tax system provide certainty in the interim.” Several signatories of the letter spoke to the importance of specific “tax extender” provisions. “Innovation has always been the cornerstone of our company.

The R&D tax credit supports our efforts to develop new technology critical to helping our business grow, create jobs and innovate,” said Stewart McMillan, president of Task Force Tips, a manufacturer of fire hose nozzles in Valparaiso, Indiana. “Firefighters are better able to protect the communities they serve thanks to our products and we want to continue to expand with cutting edge technology. Extending the R&D tax credit will help us accomplish this goal by providing certainty in an uncertain economy.”

“I am a small business owner that operates thirty franchise restaurants with over 700 employees in Michigan. Restaurant buildings are not like other buildings as they have a limited useful life due to the heavy wear and tear caused by simply being a restaurant,” said Joyce Lunsford of St. Joseph, Michigan, who benefits from the 15-year cost recovery for restaurant buildings. “I need certainty in the tax code. Extending this tax provision now is a common sense way to allow restaurant entrepreneurs to build new restaurants while creating new jobs.” Tax incentives like the New Markets Tax Credit (NMTC) have been credited with stimulating economic development in struggling communities. "Given our fragile economy, we need Congress to extend vital expiring tax provisions so that hundreds of community development projects representing thousands of jobs can be preserved,” said Terri Ludwig, President and CEO of Enterprise Community Partners, Inc. "Enterprise strongly encourages Congress to act before the end of the year to save critical community revitalization projects, many of which are located in distressed urban areas and rural communities across the country."

The NMTC, credited with creating jobs in communities with high rates of poverty and unemployment, has generated $40 billion in private investment since 2003, $5 billion invested in just the last 12 months.

According to Annie Donovan, President of the NMTC Coalition Board and COO of NCB Capital Impact, “Our NMTC investments in urban and rural communities across the country have created some 3,500 new permanent jobs, 2,200 construction jobs, 1,015,000 square feet of community facilities space, 3,750 new school seats for low-income children, 100 units of workforce housing, and generated 198,000 annual patient visits for medically underserved individuals. The NMTC has made a significant contribution to the economic recovery efforts low income communities and we cannot afford to lose it.”

The text of the letter with signatories is available at Broad Tax Extenders Group letter to Congress

WHOLESALE COMPANIES CUT INVENTORIES AMID SALES BUMP
Today in Manufacturing
Inventories at the wholesale level fell 0.1 percent, the first decline since December 2009 in the effort to rebuild stockpiles... continue

THE TRUTH AND NOTHING BUT THE TRUTH
Today in Manufacturing
Small companies tend to be less aware of the need to establish strong internal controls geared toward preventing fraud ... continue