Economy rolls on

From walking the halls at Interphex in New York and National Manufacturing Week in Chicago, exhibitors and attendees alike all pointed to the economy continuing to pick up steam.
Another indicator comes today from the Conference Board where consumer confidence numbers continue to rise. The March numbers show the consumer index rose 4.5 points, to 107.2, the highest level since May 2002, when the reading was 110.3.
The numbers for February came out at 102.7.
"The improvement in consumers' assessment of present-day conditions is yet another sign that the economy gained steam in early 2006," said Lynn Franco, director of the Conference Board Consumer Research Center.
Does this all mean 2006 will be a slam dunk and the economy will continue to rise?
"Consumer expectations, while improved, remain subdued and still suggest a cooling in activity in the latter half of this year," Franco said.
Let’s face it, obviously there are more issues to factor in the economy than the Conference Board’s consumer confidence numbers and a couple of manufacturing industry trade shows. But right now the industry is moving along nicely and the smart companies have policies in place that will help protect them if the economy goes south.

Commerce secretary sees manufacturing looking up

One of the good things about National Manufacturing Week is they always seem to bring in some solid government officials that can talk about manufacturing policies.
This year was no exception as Secretary of Commerce Carlos Gutierrez gave a keynote address Tuesday talking about the strength of manufacturing in the United States.
“We start from a position of strength. There is nothing out there growing as fast. Our unemployment rate is 4.8%,” he said.
That percentage, he said, is better than Canada, Italy, Germany and France.
“Over the past 2 ½ years the economy has added nearly 5 million jobs,” Gutierrez said. “That is more than Japan and the 25 nations of the European Communion combined.”
While all of that looks good, there is a point where U.S. manufacturers have to look over their shoulders because the competition can catch up to them.
"When the Berlin wall went down, we gained 3 billion new consumers but also 3 billion new competitors."
There seems to be a way of thinking that we can wall off our economy and live our normal lives, Gutierrez said, but “just because it is getting competitive our there, it does not mean we can take the ball and go home.”
Gutierrez gave a good talk and painted a rosy picture for the U.S. manufacturing sector. We will have to see how manufacturers respond.

Non-U.S. auto makers continue to grow in U.S.

When can we stop calling Toyota and other non-U.S.-based car makers foreign car manufacturers? It seems they are the only auto companies able to grow in the U.S.
Take a look at a story appearing in this week’s InTech e-News:
South Korean automaker, Kia Motors Corp. is going to invest $1.2 billion in its first American factory in Georgia.
Meanwhile, Toyota, the world’s second-largest auto company, said it would invest $230 million in Subaru’s plant in Lafayette, Ind., to produce 100,000 cars a year starting in 2007.
With the addition to the plant, Toyota will create 1,000 jobs. Plans call for the automaker to build the Camry sedan at the plant, the best-selling car in the U.S.
Kia, on the other hand, is seeking ways to move more production abroad to shield itself from its surging currency and to take a bigger share of the U.S. market. Kia said it expected its sales in the U.S. and Canada to rise 15% to 350,000 vehicles in 2006 and to grow to 800,000 by 2010.
The carmaker expects the new plant to begin production in 2009, employing about 2,500 workers and producing up to 300,000 vehicles a year. The plant will be in West Point, Ga.
The Hyundai Motor Company, the parent company of Kia and South Korea’s top carmaker, opened its first U.S. plant in Alabama last year.

Yes, U.S.-based auto makers are building and growing in places like China, but why are they falling on hard times in the homeland? Surely everyone is tired of blaming the unions for the car makers’ woes. When it all comes down to it, there are a plethora of reasons why the automakers have fallen on hard times, but poor management has got to be at the top of the list.
Talk to me.

Consolidation beat goes on

The consolidation rage continues. This time it is happening in the pharmaceutical industry.
Just when will consolidation end? Are there more rounds to go?
Germany’s Merck made a huge move to pick up Schering today. Merck is looking at paying $17.4 billion for its fellow German drug maker. Since Schering feels the offer is too low, they rejected the bid, but Merck is moving forward with a hostile takeover. Other bidders could jump in at any time.
Meanwhile, in a much friendlier scenario, Corona, Calif.-based Watson Pharmaceuticals Inc., a maker of generic versions of Valium, Percocet and other drugs, said it will pay $1.9 billion to acquire rival drug manufacturer Andrx Corp. of Plantation, Fla.
You can pretty much guarantee there will be more deals breaking in the industry in the coming months. It seems like it is just a matter of time.
What companies are next? Talk to me.

Automation Federation

ISA is working with WBF and OMAC to form The Automation Federation.
Surely there are people out in the industry throwing cold water on a hot subject. The idea of bringing together different organizations to play off their strengths for the betterment of the automation industry is an idea that should have happened five years ago.
For those that haven’t heard, The Automation Federation is an umbrella organization where associations and societies in manufacturing and process automation can potentially work more effectively together. This way you don’t have different organizations working separately on the same thing. You could call it cost effect innovation.
The hope is the Federation will be able to enable strategic analysis, seminars, Web conferences, training, and conference services, among other things.
Three organizations are currently involved, but word has it there are others already considering joining.
Right now, the Federation has great potential but is short on detail. If they don’t get caught up in paperwork and red tape, this could be the best thing that ever happened to the industry.

ODVA pushing the cause

InTech visited the ODVA (Open Device Vendors Association) annual meeting last week – 21-23 February. The feeling there is one of optimism and expansion.
These folks are hard at work – technical work. Technical groups, working groups, joint interest groups, and standard bodies abound. ODVA displays the technology worldwide with events in Korea, Germany, and Illinois over the next two months.
So what’s going on? It appears to us that we have another major networking entity evolving a la Profibus and Foundation fieldbus.
ODVA is ControlNet, DeviceNet, and EtherNet/IP running on the Common Industrial Protocol (CIP). They’ve now introduced a CIP-based networking project designed for sensor and actuator applications.
And so with that, there’s transparency from sensors to the enterprise software.
· Profibus is German and strong in Europe.
· FF is ISA and North American based.
· CIP has a strong North American base what with its Rockwell heritage. However, there’s a strong Asian influence with the Omron presence and technical contributions. It’s growing in Europe with General Motors switching all its manufacturing facilities to the technology.
The technologies all push for world markets … of course.
It’s certainly not a two-horse race and InTech sees competition in the making as never before. The end-user always benefits from competition.

What's in a name?

In the business world, brand seems to be everything.
Along those lines industrial computer maker ArmorLink Corp. is changing its name to IEI Technology USA Corporation to closely relate to its Taiwan headquarters company.
In a very competitive market, this is a gutsy move. The ArmorLink name was very well known. Can IEI pick up where ArmorLink left off? Time will tell.