Harry E. Figgie Jr.

This piece by Adriana Gardella in the New York Times profiles Taphandles, a company that produces beer marketing materials, which it then sells to breweries. The article, entitled “A Company Grows, and Builds a Plant Back in the U.S.A.,” explains that Taphandles, which employes 33 people in Seattle and 450 in China, signed a lease [...]

Happy Holidays to all of our readers! In the spirit of the season, we are highlighting 5 of the most important manufacturing stories of the year in the posts that follow. We hope you enjoy. – The Editors

The Institute for Supply Management-Milwaukee has calculated the October seasonally adjusted Production Manufacturing Index at 55. Any level above 50 indicates growth in the manufacturing sector. Here is the story in the Manufacturing Weekly. – The Editors

Wells Fargo published a report today on U.S. manufacturing. The report notes that while employment in the sector is down, technological and productivity improvements have led to output growth. This story of The Business Journal contains a link to the full report. – The Editors

In an effort to train workers for current and future manufacturing jobs, Minnesota has developed a pilot program called “Right Skills Now.” The program’s goal is to make “current, relevant, focused, and intensive training to be the standard — not the exception — at our local schools and colleges.” For more, see this story in [...]

The Breakthrough Institute and The Third Way published a report today, “Manufacturing Growth: Advanced Manufacturing and the Future of the American Economy.” Here is the intro graph of the report: Stagnant and out-dated policy debates in Washington are the reason that advanced, high-tech products are mostly manufactured outside of the United States, according to a [...]

Does America Need Manufacturing? That is the provocative question being posed by the mainstream media, most recently by Jon Gertner in the New York Times.(1) Of course America needs manufacturing. In fact, America continues to rely on manufacturing more than most people know, and government policies should be supporting, not inhibiting its growth. One reason [...]

Chris Carbone, writing at the Manufacturing Innovation blog, argues that the positive reviews of the latest manufacturing report are overblown. He writes, The release of Friday’s Employment Situation was surprisingly “good.” I use the term “good” loosely–114,000 jobs added over the month is not even enough to simply keep up with population growth, let alone [...]

If there is a double-dip recession, economists predict that it will be less painful for the manufacturing sector than the first. From the article in the National Journal: *Manufacturing may not shed many jobs. Manufacturing is being pulled along by exports, and the big sources of foreign demand in Asia, Brazil, and a few other [...]

In an indication that manufacturing may become a more salient issue during the 2012 election cycle, Former Indiana House Speaker and Gubernatorial Candidate John Gregg said he would attempt to lure wind-turbine manufacturers to the state as part of his strategy to revitalize the state’s crumbling manufacturing base. From the Bloomberg article: We’ve got to [...]