Hannover shows global perspective

The world is truly becoming smaller as everyone here at Hannover Messe in Hannover, Germany, talks business on a global scale. Not regional, not national – Global. It seems smaller only because talk focuses on breaking down the traditional barriers that halt growth in the industry
From the opening ceremony speakers talked about how various countries can work together to achieve a stronger global economy. In visits to various booths at this huge show where officials expect around 200,000 attendees, it seems more companies are falling in line with the “globalness” of the automation industry.
“National standards are losing their significance and global standards are gaining,” said Roelof Timmer, marketing director for drives for ABB.
You see it everyday in the industry, so now maybe it is time to embrace the moment.
There are ways for a company to become a player in different overseas markets without breaking the bank. All it takes is a little creativity and a management that has a vision or allows for others to help create a vision.
What do you think? Talk to me.

India, Germany going global

Globalization is the answer, not protectionism. At least that is what you hear when you head outside the United States.
After listening to the keynote speeches at the opening ceremony at Hannover Messe Sunday night German Chancellor Dr. Angela Merkel and India’s Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh talked about breaking the chasm of solitary countries and, instead, build greater partnerships to create a global economy.
“India sees Germany as a leading scientific, technological and cultural power,” Singh said. “We recall with gratitude the German role in building a new India. We see great mutuality of benefit for us in building upon this history of partnership.”
“Both our countries have been linked by technology,” Merkel said. “We are facing the same challenges. India is a strong competitor of ours; we can learn from each other.”
The two countries have their own challenges there is no doubt, but the leaders seemed tied into the idea they are not their own islands. They said by working together they will be stronger than if they worked alone.
“Today, we have a new vision for India as an active participant in the increasingly global economy,” Singh said. “We are committed to an open, liberal economy; one that is in tune with the new realities of the global economic order. Just as we see Germany as a natural partner in Europe, we hope Germany will increasingly come to view India as it natural partner in Asia.”
One way to pave the road to success is by working out the bureaucracy between the two nations. It is much easier to say no, than to work out a solution.
“Technology innovation sometimes gets bogged down with the red tape,” Merkel said. “We have made the reduction of red tape and bureaucracy a top priority. We have to look to new paths and ways.”
“To make our economic cooperation more robust, we need to address barriers to trade and investment,” Singh said.
At least a face value, these two countries seem to “get it.” These two economies are not small players. Germany is one of the leading economies in the world, while India is a growing force. Only time will tell, but right now the two countries seem to be looking in the right direction.
What do you think? Talk to me.

Protection or competition?

Talk continues to pound the airwaves about how U.S. manufacturers have to protect themselves against foreign competition.
But that flies in the face of the theory behind a global community. Does that mean the U.S. should prosper around the world, but no one else can? Does that make sense?
Read for a moment what Jim Owens, the chief executive at Caterpillar, a maker of a farm and construction machinery, said about the issue.
“This is a critical moment for U.S. manufacturing.” Jim Owens wrote in The Wall Street Journal.
He is against trade and investment barriers to “protect” U.S. industries and sees them as a form of parochialism that hurts American companies and therefore hurts America and the rest of the world.
There are four important strategies that American manufacturers must take to compete with the world's best, Owens said.
First, manufacturers must focus on designing and producing the highest-quality products incorporating the most up-to-date technology. We have to stay aggressive with our product development programs, and ensure the goods we manufacture are desired the world over.
Second, we must continue to embrace lean manufacturing principles, increase the use of robotics and automation, and focus on just-in-time delivery. These tools will enable us to keep costs low and productivity high.
Third, manufacturers must invest in people providing the education and workforce training they need to help us succeed. Our international competitors will work to produce better products and adopt world-class processes, but they cannot replicate our market size and proximity. We must nurture the ideas and competitive spirit that our people bring to the workplace.
Fourth, manufacturing companies must believe they can compete on the world stage. We must look at globalization and international competition as an opportunity to make ourselves stronger and more efficient, and not, as some are proposing, as a reason to turn inward.
Owens' company has been competing on the world front for quite a few years now and he continues to compile positive results. It is a difficult task, but he is able to succeed.
What do you think? Talk to me …

Baseball is one thing, management is another

Now that baseball season is here, it is fun to look at the teams and try to assess their talent levels and figure out where they will finish at the end of the season. Which team has what star, and will they lead their team to victory or a championship? Sometimes though, the talent level can only take you so far. Let’s face it, one team can have all the talent in the world, but if it has poor management, the team falls apart.
What does this have to do with automation? Well, take a look around you, and see where your company stacks up against the others. Surely your company has good people putting out quality product. But we all know that is not a measure of success. Do the people that ultimately control your employment stay secluded in their offices making decisions in a vacuum, or are they out there with the rank and file listening and interacting or with customers getting a true feel for the industry and what direction the company should be headed?
Look at Ford and General Motors, two huge conglomerates that have let the competition eat their lunch.
The two U.S.-based auto giants are now making moves that may lead them back to the promise land of profitability and prosperity. In a reaction to losing $10.6 billion last year, GM’s board decided their chief executive has done such a good job during his tenure, they gave him a strong vote of confidence. He has the right plan moving forward, the board said. That plan includes firing over 30,000 workers and closing plants over the country.
GM and Ford cars are distinguished vehicles, but are they the top selling cars in the country? The surveys usually come back with Toyota and Honda. Why is that? Have years of poor management and having a reputation for poorly built cars help wipe out these once proud giants?
Ford and GM will come back if they stay on top of the trends and get out and listen to new and innovative ideas.
Those are two drastic cases of management seemingly out of touch with the mainstream. How does your company stack up? Talk to me.

Bureaucracy of alternative fuels

Isn’t it about time we change the saying “The U.S. is working to become less dependent on foreign oil” to “The U.S. is less dependent on foreign oil.”
That may just delete a few words, but it changes the meaning 100%.
The first question to ask is if there is a true commitment to becoming less dependent on foreign oil. Right now, that answer is not clear. Let’s face it, alternative fuels would mean oil companies could take a huge financial hit, and right now, with their huge profits, they are helping support hundreds of thousands of people either directly or indirectly.
There are companies talking the talk and walking the walk in terms of providing solid ideas and potential innovations, but the bureaucracy and the obstruction is much like swimming upstream against a raging tsunami.
We have to look at whether we have the technology to overcome the dependence on foreign oil. Do we? Surely with the great minds we have in this country, we can come up with an idea for an alternative fuel.
Just look at couple of items to hit the news this week.
Coal could become a source for hydrogen in the near term that could power a fuel cell-based vehicle. "While some day we may be able to produce hydrogen by breaking up water molecules in association with the high-temperature heat from nuclear power reactors, or through renewable energy technologies, right now, the most cost-effective way to produce hydrogen is with coal," said Chris Shaddix, principal investigator for clean coal combustion at Sandia National Laboratories' Combustion Research Facility.
Experiments continue in an effort to optimize the combustion of coal to produce the most energy and the least possible pollution, Shaddix said. While traditional coal combustion produces harmful emissions, modern plants can meet environmental regulations for burning coal cleanly, Shaddix said. As the cost of competing fuels like natural gas continue to climb, burning clean coal becomes cost competitive.
Or look down on the farm as more companies are looking at biodiesel.
One major petroleum refiner, Motiva Enterprises LLC, is allowing the blending of the soy-based alternative with traditional motor fuel at its Dallas terminal.
Biodiesel is a biodegradable and nontoxic soybean derivative that a refiner can blend at any level with petroleum diesel.
Distribution Drive, a wholly owned subsidiary of Earth Biofuels Inc., is making inroads by being able to blend biodiesel at the Motiva terminal in Dallas.
The amount of biodiesel sold in the U.S. has grown from 500,000 gallons in 1999 to 75 million gallons in 2005. By comparison, the U.S. burns roughly 140 billion gallons of gasoline each year and 4 billion gallons of ethanol, a fuel additive derived from corn.
Those are just two examples. With the innovation and ingenuity in the industry, there is no way we should fall prey to sitting idly by watching gas prices continue to skyrocket.
What can we do? Talk to me.

A China labor shortage

For those manufacturers out there looking to outsourcing production to China, you may want to think again.
That’s right, because there are factories suffering from a lack of workers. A labor shortage in China? No way.
If, in fact, there is a consistent and prolonged shortage in labor in the country, then that could have an affect on the manufacturing industry. The New York Times reported the shortage of workers is pushing up wages and hiking the ranks of the country's middle class, and it could make Chinese-made products less of a bargain. Now, the newspaper reported, global manufacturers are already talking about moving factories to lower-cost countries like Vietnam.
Wow, that didn’t last long. But you had to see it coming. Look at what happened in Mexico. Manufacturers went there and when labor costs started to inch up, there was movement to other countries. Now workers in China are doing the same thing that workers anywhere else will do: Look out for themselves and work for the highest bidder. In the growing and bustling manufacturing industry in China, it definitely is a market geared for workers. Companies can’t hire them fast enough.
Just because China may or may not have the beginning of a labor shortage, don’t think outsourcing and offshoring will go away. There are manufacturers that will always be looking to find the cheapest labor and the lowest manufacturing costs you can get.
Talk to me.