July 18th, 2008
Sam Schmitz, President, Goodwill/Abilities Center, announced today that they have been selected by Goodwill Industries International (GII) as one on five national “Kaizen” training sites for this fall. Goodwill/Abilities Center was selected from a group of 26 Goodwill agencies from around the country that bid to be a “Kaizen” training site.
Kaizen is a proven process improvement concept designed to improve quality, cost and delivery. GII has taken this concept and applied it to the donation centers of Goodwill retail stores, particularly in improving the back room (donation center) processes. It has been proven to be effective in multiple retail stores around the country.
The training is scheduled for November 11 - 14 at their new location on North Second Street.
This is a special recognition for our local Goodwill/Abilities Center; any questions, call Sam at 815-965-3795.
July 11th, 2008
Developing a skilled workforce is a complex puzzle. Employers desire employees to have a specific skill, but that is only one piece to the puzzle. Case and point: What happens when the well trained employee cannot show up to work on time?
Author David Williamson Shaffer wrote How Computer Games Help Children Learn. He puts forth that beyond training we have to “bring the thinking, practices, and cultures of various professions into school learning.” (quote from Tak-Wai Chan, National Central University, Taiwan)
As District 205’s new Academic Career Education High School (ACE) starts it inaugural year the intent is to embrace Shaffer’s philosophy. ACE High School students will get exposed to life outside the classroom to see first hand the practices, values and cultures of a particular career. We believe when our students graduate they will have the skills and the mindset to be a success in our community.
June 30th, 2008
Excerpt from today’s Wall Street Journal……a growing trend??
“HONGHE, China — As a sign over its main boulevard proclaims, Honghe is “China’s Famous Town for Sweaters.” But the economy of sweater town is unraveling, providing an early sign that China’s manufacturing sector may be entering middle age.
Over the past two decades, this city about 90 minutes’ drive from Shanghai built a comfortable niche in the global economy. At the industry’s height in recent years, more than half of Honghe’s 100,000 residents worked in 100 factories and 8,000 shops that knitted, dyed, packaged and shipped some 200 million sweaters a year. The local government says the enterprises brought in $650 million a year in revenue.
Now many exporters and workshops here have shut their doors. Others, their work floors partly idle, are cutting costs. Some of the migrant workers who came here for jobs are returning home.
Manufacturers say their profits have dwindled as they pay out more for raw materials and energy. China’s strengthening currency has made Honghe’s products more expensive for important markets such as the U.S., where the price of Chinese goods surged a record 4.6% in May from the previous year, according to the U.S. Commerce Department. Foreign buyers, used to inexpensive Chinese products and nervous about economic weakness at home, are often refusing to pay more.
Beijing, too, has contributed to the squeeze: Companies say the government’s tougher protection for workers and the environment has made it more expensive to do business. Foreign buyers say tighter visa policies have made it harder for them to visit Chinese factories or attend trade shows.
These pressures are felt by enterprises across China. But none have been hit harder than the companies that feed the vast global appetite for inexpensive goods such as toys, household goods, shoes and clothes. Manufacturers of low-cost products have been a key engine of China’s economic miracle, helping to turn the country into the world’s No. 2 exporter after Germany. For years, these companies continued to grow by expanding their volumes and trimming margins to undercut the competition. As material and labor costs rise and China’s currency strengthens, these manufacturers are among the least able to absorb the costs.
The transformation is most apparent in the boomtowns that tied their fortunes to making one product cheaply, from Guangdong province in the south to Honghe’s environs in the Yangtze River Delta. Many of these manufacturing centers have seen hundreds if not thousands of factories and workshops close in recent months, industry executives say. In Shengzhou, a city near Shanghai that claims to make one-third of the world’s neckties, manufacturers are trying to hold a united front to boost prices. Dongguan, in Guangdong, is seeing makers of toys, shoes and brushes close shop.”
May 8th, 2008
It is great to participate in the Rockford Area’s blog about Manufacturing….electronic conversations about manufacturing has been going on in Groove or via large e-mail lists but this is an open forum for anyone who derives all or part of their paycheck from Manufacturing in the Rock River Valley—-a bigger percentage and more people than many want to admit. I have been learning to love Manufacturing for 31 years—-15+ from the sidelines and 16 growing a small company based on providing a service or working with a network of suppliers to provide a finished product. The processes are fascinating, the people are the best —–they love to talk about what they do, they are proud, they are hard working—–they are the backbone of our country! It is always an honor to go into their facilities!
Here is a call to all the experts out there on topics related to manufacturing. —–you know who you are! Experts that can help all of us be better at what we do everyday. You are invited to write in about a topic of interest to you or to comment on what I or the others have said! It won’t be fun without you! Be sure to inform us about what you have to offer about strengthening Manufacturing in our region and the USA! Events, training, questions, new ideas, new technologies, new opportunities….let’s focus on the positive….but sometimes we have to comment on the tough stuff….it’s all about manufacturing and how it can survive and thrive, even today, even here!
May 7th, 2008
Our team of manufacturing experts will discuss many of the issues important to our manufacturing community. We hope you will let us know what you think as we begin our postings.
Stay tuned!
Bob Trojan
