Archive for August, 2008
August 15th, 2008
Micromachining is a term that may cause the layman some confusion. And, like most technologies the many variations on a theme limit a crystal clear definition. Micromachining at the EIGERlab implies metal cutting, with table top machines, parts that have sub-micron features. A micron is one millionth of a meter. To put it into perspective 90 microns is the width of a human hair or inversly a micron is 1/90 the width of a human hair. Not only is the work at the EIGERlab a technological advancement but the cost of this capability compared with competing technologies is an economic business winner as well. As every consumer item strives to be smaller the capability of these machines come ever closer to the spotlight. The Rockford region has more micromachining capability under one roof than anywhere else in the world. Who knew?
August 15th, 2008
Goodwill/Abilities Center is one of our local education and training resources that is a “hidden gem” Hardly a day goes by that the staff hasn’t touched a human life in a positive way. To demonstrate this, I’m reporting a few of their July Activities.
Customers served in mission related activities-over 170 - individuals
Intensive services to individuals - 91 individuals
Job placement assistance - 67 individuals
Training provided including vocational training and On-the-Job - 2150 hours
Work Assessment ad Evaluations - 21
Data above includes the training at Techworks
Be sure to contact Sam Schmitz or Courtney Geiger at Abilities Center: 815-965-3795 for further information.
August 14th, 2008
At this mornings “Breakfast with the Mayor” for manufacturers, he spoke about the concept of “Flexible Education Networks”. This is a similar approach that the Manufacturing Alliance of the Rock River Valley - MARRV created a few years ago.
This certainly has a lot of merit. Join all the different education/training institutions together and utilize each others strengths. Techworks, District 205, Rock Valley College, NIU and all the others that collectively can create the “virtual” education system that will take Rockford into an improved and more educated workforce.
We’ll all need to assist with this development, but it’s one that has a great deal of merit.
Watch for further news.
August 13th, 2008
This interesting article talks about the Key Competencies in Manufacturing; “Old World” compared to “New World” In addition to the “hard skills” it also points out the “soft skills” required in today’s and tomorrow’s manufacturing.
From “Ability to follow fixed, unchanging procedures” to “Initiative, persistence & independence”.
From “Following Orders” to “Making independent decisions”.
From “General attention to production & safety procedures” to “Attention to detail, self-control & dependability”.
“Soft Skills” such as these will make the difference in any organization. For the full 12 page report, click on the link.
hiring-manufacturing-staff-in-21st-c.pdf
August 12th, 2008
The World is caught between old skills and high-tech needs; An unfortunate convergence of economic factors points to a shortfall in trained employees. A unique combination of events–the accelerated rise of advanced technologies, globalization after the fall of communism, the 1990s stock-market bubble and its collapse, and a massive number of people retiring–have combined to produce a potential 2010 workforce meltdown.
The 79 million Baby Boomers who are running the world’s industrial economies will retire between 2010 and 2025. A smaller Generation X, with 40 million people and fewer entry-level “smart” workers, will take over.
A great mismatch of too many low-skilled workers and too many high-skill jobs is set to reach stellar heights. As these high-skill jobs go unfilled, American businesses will search the world in vain for more highly skilled, job-ready workers.
According to several studies, between 2010 and 2020 the U.S., Europe, Japan, China and India will face a shortfall of between 32 million to 39 million well-educated, technically specialized “smart people.” The current business strategies of outsourcing these high-skill jobs or using H-1B temporary visas to import the workers won’t work anymore. Millions of lower-skilled Americans, or people educated for careers that aren’t growing or are obsolete, will sit on the economic sidelines, either unemployed or condemned to a future of low wages.
A technology paradox for the U.S.industrial and manufacturing sectors that have laid off millions of low-skilled workers is that they cannot find enough people to fill growing numbers of advanced technology jobs.
A 2002 Hudson Institute study found that 60 percent of all the jobs being created require skills that only 20 percent of U.S. workers possess. For example, in November 2004, Pennsylvania reported that nearly 350,000 workers were unemployed. At the same time, 24 percent of businesses told the state they couldn’t find enough qualified workers.
Between 2000 and 2005, 200,000 manufacturing jobs disappeared from Illinois. Some of these were high-pay, high-skill jobs that went elsewhere to find the workers companies can’t find here. These 2010 meltdown issues do not bode well for the long-term economic development of Illinois. We need to face the facts that in contemporary America there are just too many people trained for the wrong jobs and not enough people preparing for the jobs we are creating.
The career aspirations of much of the population in the U.S. are at serious odds with the increasingly high-tech needs of the economy. Unless this culture lag is resolved in a timely way, a growing labor market imbalance will have serious economic consequences. The high standards of American life are built on a complex technological and physical infrastructure that everyone takes for granted. Its maintenance is central to the prosperity of our economy. Many areas of industry and service within our economy are involved, with health care, manufacturing, information technology and the skilled trades constituting particularly critical sectors.
Yet as the Commission on the Future of the U.S. Aerospace Industry has stated, “The nation’s apathy toward developing a scientifically and technologically trained workforce is the equivalent of intellectual and industrial disarmament … and is a direct threat to our nation’s capability to continue as a world leader.”
According to Rick Stephens, senior vice president of human resources at Boeing Corp., “The shrinkage of a U.S. technically able workforce is the greatest threat to our national security.”
Many Americans already are responding to the 2010 challenge. Intel, Microsoft, IBM and others are investing more than $50 billion each year in worker retraining and student career-education programs.
Many communities have organized a variety of non-governmental organizations (NGOs), such as Bridge to Careers of Santa Ana, Calif., the Philadelphia Academies Inc. or the Tulsa Technology Center. These intermediary agencies help bridge the chasm that separates the business and labor markets from education and career preparation.
The NGOs seek to retrain adult workers through a variety of education and skills programs attuned to the needs of local labor markets. They also strive to reinvent an outmoded educational system that traditionally has sorted students into two groups: “the best and the brightest” going to college and the others who won’t.
These NGO alternatives place all students in local liberal arts/career academies that prepare everyone for post-secondary education. The major objective is that most students will complete a post-secondary, two- or four-year degree or an occupational program certificate.
NGOs can facilitate a 21st Century career culture that better prepares students and adults for the careers of a technologically driven, globally competitive society. Chicago’s Renaissance 2010 Program is focused on developing 100 special academies. But Chicago has 600 public schools. Will it take an entire generation to reinvent education in Chicago? Do we have the time?
America needs to embark on a new era of reconstruction to avoid a 2010 meltdown. The future depends on our individual and collective will to make the necessary culture changes now for a new America and a new Illinois.
by: Edward E. Gordon; author of “The 2010 Meltdown: Solving the Impending Jobs Crisis.” He also serves on the Chicago Workforce Board and the Education Workforce Committee of the Chicagoland Chamber of Commerce.
Copyright © 2005, Chicago Tribune
August 11th, 2008
Most of us are unable to attend the Olympics in China, but here is an interesting article about products developed for the Olympics. How would you like to have a Beta site here??
http://www.businessweek.com/magazine/content/08_33/b4096036820255.htm?chan=magazine+channel_special+report
August 8th, 2008
Winnovation, Winnebago’s High School Robotics Team, invites you to see FIRST Robotics in action on Sunday, Aug. 31, noon-2:30pm at On The Waterfront.
The playing field will be set up on State St. near Wyman.
Teams coming include: Fond du Lac, WI “Fondy Fire”, Sussex, WI “Charger Robotics”, Freeport “Metalheads”, Oregon “Robohawks”, Rockford “Robotics”, Oswego “Gear It Forward”, and Winnebago “Winnovation”. Hopefully we’ll see “Chicago Knights”.
Teams will be playing with robots they built in six weeks to compete in USFIRST competitions back in March. We are excited to showcase our teams and their robots at On The Waterfront!!! Hope you can join them!!
Please pass the word!!
For further information, contact:
Karen Hill
Coordinator of Team 1625 Winnovation
815-742-0873
August 7th, 2008
Goodwill Industries of Northern Illinois and Wisconsin Stateline Area, Inc. will be
adding 25 part-time and full-time positions to staff a new store location that will
open later this fall at 8010 N. 2nd Street in Machesney Park. The public is invited
to attend a job fair on Tuesday, August 12 from 9:00 AM to 3:00 PM to learn
more about and apply for the positions.
Job fair attendees will have the chance to meet with an operations
representative, who will evaluate their application to see if their skills and
experience fit with an open position. Job duties will include accepting, sorting,
processing and selling gently used goods. Goodwill is also seeking candidates
for hourly supervisory positions that will oversee staff members. Applicants
should bring a pen, driver’s license or state ID and Social Security card.
“Because our organization is growing, we have an ongoing need for additional
employees and rely on qualified individuals to help us be successful in living out
our mission,” says Sam Schmitz, executive director. “We look forward to hosting
the job fair and giving prospective candidates the opportunity to visit our new
store location and meet our team.”
Goodwill Industries of Northern Illinois and Wisconsin Stateline Area, Inc. is a
community-based nonprofit organization that provides education and
employment for persons in need and promotes enterprise development in
support of job creation. Goodwill stores in northern Illinois (Rockford, Freeport
and Sterling) and Beloit, Wisconsin employ more than 170 people.
For more information on the job fair or employment opportunities with Goodwill,
call Craig Grugel at (815) 965-3795.
August 6th, 2008
You’ve seen previous day by day chronicle of the Manufacturing Camps at Techworks, 16 students have now been exposed and trained in the art of manufacturing! These were 8th, 9th and 10th graders who attended to week long program and it’s another 15 who now know what we do!
Another Fast Track program will be starting at Techworks on August 18th and another training program specifically designed for a company shortly thereafter. Nine students will participate in this program with funding made available through Winnebago County.
Mentors are still needed. A special Orientation will be held August 27th at 6 p.m. at Techworks; it’s still time to sign up…not much time involved. Join 5 others who have volunteered to assist in the program.
For further information, contact:
Courtney Geiger, Workforce Development Manager; Goodwill/Abilities Center; 815-987-6226
August 5th, 2008
One of the better monthly reports on the health of the manufacturing sector is the Institute of Supply Management’s monthly reports. It is a monthly survey of purchasing managers and surveys various indicators such as new orders, production, etc. It cut across several key industries and then an index is calculated that indicates growth, unchanged or declining. It is issued the first day of each month and is available free (see below for the link). Here is the front end excerpts from the latest report issued last Friday….
“Economic activity in the manufacturing sector was unchanged in July, while the overall economy grew for the 81st consecutive month, say the nation’s supply executives in the latest Manufacturing ISM Report On Business®.
The report was issued today by Norbert J. Ore, C.P.M., chair of the Institute for Supply Management™ Manufacturing Business Survey Committee. “In this month’s report, manufacturers indicate no change in overall business activity when comparing July to June. This continues a trend biased toward relatively minor contraction established more than 12 months ago. Manufacturing has maintained a reasonable level of activity during a period in which other sectors of the economy have been in recession. While the PMI indicates little to no change has occurred during this period, it would be hard to convince manufacturers who are faced with higher costs and uncertain demand that there is little change taking place.”
PERFORMANCE BY INDUSTRY
The six industries reporting growth in July — listed in order — are: Computer & Electronic Products; Petroleum & Coal Products; Food, Beverage & Tobacco Products; Primary Metals; Paper Products; and Chemical Products. The industries reporting contraction in July are: Plastics & Rubber Products; Wood Products; Transportation Equipment; Printing & Related Support Activities; Electrical Equipment, Appliances & Components; Machinery; Miscellaneous Manufacturing; and Fabricated Metal Products.
WHAT RESPONDENTS ARE SAYING …
- “Our company has gone to a four-day/10-hour week in an effort to curtail energy costs for the company and for employees.” (Transportation Equipment)
- “Competitive market forces are preventing companies from boosting prices high enough to recover raw material input costs.” (Plastics & Rubber Products)
- “All automotive manufacturers (especially trucks) are down significantly.” (Fabricated Metal Products)
- “It is almost impossible to keep up with the complexity of never-ending price movement.” (Chemical Products)
- “We have had two large projects cancelled that we believe are solely due to the uncertain economy.” (Machinery)
MANUFACTURING AT A GLANCE
JULY 2008 |
| Index |
Series
Index
July |
Series
Index
June |
Percentage
Point
Change |
Direction |
Rate
of
Change |
Trend*
(Months) |
| PMI |
50.0 |
50.2 |
-0.2 |
Unchanged |
From Growing |
1 |
| New Orders |
45.0 |
49.6 |
-4.6 |
Contracting |
Faster |
8 |
| Production |
52.9 |
51.5 |
+1.4 |
Growing |
Faster |
3 |
| Employment |
51.9 |
43.7 |
+8.2 |
Growing |
From Contracting |
1 |
| Supplier Deliveries |
55.1 |
55.1 |
0 |
Slowing |
Same |
13 |
| Inventories |
45.0 |
51.2 |
-6.2 |
Contracting |
From Growing |
1 |
| Customers’ Inventories |
47.0 |
55.0 |
-8.0 |
Too Low |
From Too High |
1 |
| Prices |
88.5 |
91.5 |
-3.0 |
Increasing |
Slower |
19 |
| Backlog of Orders |
43.0 |
47.5 |
-4.5 |
Contracting |
Faster |
3 |
| Exports |
54.0 |
58.5 |
-4.5 |
Growing |
Slower |
68 |
| Imports |
46.5 |
46.0 |
+0.5 |
Contracting |
Slower |
6 |
| |
|
|
|
|
|
|
| OVERALL ECONOMY |
Growing |
Faster |
81 |
| Manufacturing Sector |
Unchanged |
From Growing |
1 |
Read the rest of this latest report and see how it correlates to your business.
http://www.ism.ws/ISMReport/MfgROB.cfm
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