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June 29, 2007

Super Light Friday: We Will Not Be Reviewing the New iPhone!

We will, however, weigh in on the guy who's been on line for the much-hyped Apple phone since Monday morning, as well as discuss: a fleet of 29,000 rubber ducks helping ocean scientists; just how rich the richest of the rich are getting; exactly how to give a great man-to-man hug; and a bunch of other need-to-knows. Folks, it seemed like it'd never arrive, but Friday's finally here.

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June 28, 2007

U.S. Durable Goods Orders Tumble 2.8% in May

Orders for U.S. durable goods fell more than forecast in May, the first report to cast doubt on the strength of the rebound in business investment.

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China Food Crackdown Shuts 180 Factories

Chinese media are reporting that authorities have shut down 180 food factories and revoked 37 processing licenses of food makers after inspectors found industrial chemicals in products.

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June 27, 2007

Mixed Outlook for Hiring and Salaries

Once again, the forecast for the labor market appears mixed. Herein are the latest figures on hiring expectations in manufacturing and service sectors, the outlook for salaries and incomes, and a breakdown of annual compensation of supply management professionals.

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June 26, 2007

Weak Signals and Happy Accidents

Weak signals can be defined as imprecise, early indicators of an impending important event or trend. And in today's rapidly changing business environment, being aware of current weak signals can lead to reaping huge rewards from tomorrow's trend. This is no less applicable to managers.

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June 25, 2007

Toyota Putting Brakes on U.S. Plants

It seems Toyota has concluded that it has quite enough factories in the U.S. and it doesn't plan to build any more any time soon. Top Toyota executives are concerned the Japanese automaker may have built too many U.S. plants, in part to build political support by providing new jobs in lots of places.

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June 22, 2007

Light Friday: Pluto's Last Stand, 2007's Worst Jobs in Science, 15 Geeky Vacations...

... Fired Over Fair Pay/Paid Beyond Fair Pay, Damned Internet Terms, Brightest Supernova Ever and MORE.

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June 21, 2007

Chemical Costs and Supply Pressures Drive Up Raw Materials Prices

Raw materials prices continue to cut into profits with little relief in sight. If prices continue to rise and solutions to these problems go unaddressed and worsen, they cannot help but undermine the future health of U.S. manufacturing.

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June 20, 2007

The State of the Federal Contracting Workforce

Although the total number of contracting professionals in the United States federal acquisition workforce has continued to grow, during the past year it grew far short of the contracting growth rate, according to new government data.

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June 19, 2007

Get a Personal Life

Companies are beginning to recognize signs of employee burnout, and, as a result, they are realizing that unless people can have balance in their lives, productivity will suffer. Because of this, many organizations are redesigning work to help encourage work-life balance. Yet only you can restore harmony to your life.

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The Civilized Workplace: No Jerks Allowed

An obnoxious coworker, a malicious manager, a bullying boss — there's no getting around it: today's workplace is beset with jerks. These people deliberately make coworkers and subordinates feel bad about themselves in our day-to-day working environment, and the human and financial toll is high.

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The Mirage of Professional Gender Equality

The 21st century has been called the Woman's Century. Hillary Clinton is running for President, women are playing stronger roles in the workplace and the female profile is rising in many professional fields. So why does no one seem shocked that gender discrimination still lingers in the workplace today?

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Burning Question

How do you deal with jerks on the job?

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Multitasking Terror

Meet with clients, check your e-mail, tighten the BlackBerry e-leash — how many balls are you juggling for work? While some experts believe multitasking is a viable solution in keeping productivity on the upswing, others disagree and even suggest it could make productivity worse.

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Is Telecommuting Right for You?

Perhaps in response to the seemingly countless number of horrors in the workplace, telecommuting is continuing to gain in popularity among small and large firms alike. Could it work well for you and your employer? Here we consider the "why" and "how" to do it and do it successfully.

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Stop, Collaborate and Listen!

Meeting today's challenges of global competition means leveraging all your company's intellectual assets around the idea of unified common processes and systems. So if the knowledge shared between employees and employers plays such a crucial role in a company's future, why do so many of them continue to have poor workplace communication?

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What Was I Looking For?

Irrelevant Web browsing now has a name: "wilfing," as in "What Was I Looking For?" Meanwhile, Internet "addiction" is a growing concern to some. Plus, there's the very real threat of e-mail overload. How much Internet is too much, and what can we do about online productivity killers?

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Innovation Mastery Wins in Las Vegas

The theme of last week's Managing Automation-hosted Progressive Manufacturing Summit in Las Vegas, Nev., may have been "Connecting the Enterprise," but the underlying — and perhaps more telling — theme in experts' discussions seemed to be the tangibility of innovation: What is it, and how do companies master it? What happened in Vegas… isn't staying in Vegas.

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Recommended Reading

In Nuts, Bolts, and Jolts, Rich Moran imparts more than 2,000 prescriptions to common workplace ills, developed through years of boring meetings, business trips and countless embarrassing moments. The bestselling "bullet point king" offers a roadmap to understand that work is not something to dread, as well as how to achieve life-work balance.

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June 18, 2007

Global 3PL Industry Swells

The relentless growth and expansion of global third-party logistics (3PL) now puts the industry at an estimated $390 billion. Last year, the global 3PL industry experienced double-digit growth, which is expected to continue unabated as increasingly more companies do business abroad.

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June 15, 2007

Coffeecoffeecoffee! Cappuccino! Java!

Sure, it's a drug, but it also keeps you awake and alert. It also appears to have an increasing number of potential health benefits, including protection against liver and colon cancer, type-2 diabetes and Parkinson's. And nearly eight in 10 Americans imbibe. Is coffee friend or foe? Here comes the science.

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June 14, 2007

Mixed Messages, Elusive Truths or Back-Stabbing?

According to the National Association of Manufacturers, "China's buildup of currency reserves to suppress the [value of the] yuan has doubled, from about $20 billion a month to over $40 billion a month." This is echoed in The New York Times, which reports that "China uses its export revenue to buy dollars so the value of the yuan is seen as artificially low."

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June 13, 2007

The Summit So Far: 2007 Progressive Manufacturing Event

Among the blackjack tables, roulette wheels, blue hairs and all-you-can-eat buffets here in Las Vegas, Nev., there is also an event taking place this week for technology and business managers: the 2007 Progressive Manufacturing Summit, in which experts in enterprises across industry sectors are meeting to discuss the current and future developments of manufacturing technology and processes. **UPDATED**

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RFID 'Evangelist' Still Spinning Wheels

For many CIOs, Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) is still a scary technology. Having been around for decades but re-ignited a few years ago when a little company called Wal-Mart started bullying its suppliers with a flaky RFID "mandate," the unfounded hype surrounding RFID has done much more harm than good.

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June 12, 2007

Engineers Blast Away Threats to Bridges

Unlike ancient bridge builders, who used walls and roofs to keep underlying structures from rotting and rusting, today's engineers are working on ways to protect bridges from terrorists. "Government officials have acknowledged the transportation system's vulnerability to terrorist attacks. Bridges are among the most vulnerable," according to an announcement from the University of Missouri College of Engineering.

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June 11, 2007

Beverage Makers Widen Global Reach

When it comes to creating exciting new products for consumers, the beverage industry does a better job than many other verticals; the myriad flavor combinations and the creation of the popular energy drink category are proof positive. So what happens when these younger revenue streams begin to show signs of maturing?

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June 8, 2007

Light Friday: Skin Cells Behaving Like Stem Cells, Tonight's Shuttle Launch, Ford Beats Toyota (Seriously)...

... Lunar Violence, BEAR Bots on the Battlefield, Qualified but Unemployed, the Weight of the Internet, Europe's First Biodiesel Express, and we ask: Does "Heartbeat of America" Mean Anything to You?

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June 7, 2007

Almost 2 Years Later, Few Cranes Seen on New Orleans Skyline

After Hurricane Katrina devastated New Orleans in 2005, many developers announced plans to build high-rises there. Yet 20 months after the storm, many haven't gotten off the ground. While construction and insurance costs have soared, a more pressing issue remains: there is still no comprehensive rebuilding blueprint, and funding is falling far short of planners' expectations.

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June 6, 2007

U.S. Economy: Sinking, Stalling or Shaping Up?

The Commerce Department's first-quarter revision shows that the U.S. economy this winter stalled to its slowest pace since late 2002, due in no small part to slower business production and, in particular, a massive trade deficit. Because most economists agree that the economy probably bottomed out in the first three months of the year, the good news (if you can call it that) may be that there is no direction for the economy to go but up.

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June 5, 2007

The State of Architecture in America

Builders, suppliers, real estate agents and potential house buyers all have an ear to the ground. The numerous professions and fields associated with construction and real estate make up one of the largest components of the U.S. economy. Here we look at the current highs and lows of new construction, equipment exports and the architectural workforce.

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Built to Last ... and Dance and Heal and Think

Bridges in the near future may be able to withstand catastrophic earthquakes by literally "jumping" off the ground and "dancing." Meanwhile, a nano-polymer may enable building walls to self-heal their cracks. And what exactly does a realistic home of the future look like?

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Building for Tomorrow

Energy plays more of a role in building and design than ever before, and it has just as much to do with health and the environment as it does with operations and the bottom line. We have entered an era in which a building's energy productivity looms ever larger as a factor in business and global competition.

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Burning Question

Yay or nay to nuclear energy?

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Upward Bound

The race for the world's tallest skyscraper is not simply about civic pride, nor is it solely motivated by architects and engineers' vainglorious ambition. Sure, record-breaking skyscrapers confer prestige, and the vanity factor may be in play, but building taller also boosts business.

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Construction Cleans Up On the Road

Fuel efficiency and emissions are increasingly vital factors in the truck choice a company makes when deciding to lease or buy new or used. Whether you're a one-man show who needs a knock-around pickup or a huge enterprise hauling materials for clients nationwide with a fleet of state-of-the-art, heavy-duty trucks, consider these points.

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The Big Ditch Gets a Lot Bigger

To handle booming maritime traffic and massive ships, a $5.25 billion waterway project is underway to expand and modernize the Panama Canal, a nearly century-old engineering marvel that still handles 5 percent of today's world trade.

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A Nuclear Revival: Are We Ready, Willing and Able?

Attitudes vary widely when it comes to nuclear energy, yet as nations look to strengthen energy security, meet future electricity needs and reduce emissions of greenhouse gases, increasingly more companies are announcing their intentions to build new nuclear power plants or restart old ones. And who exactly will operate these plants?

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Small Biz Bullets: The Outlook

Ma and Pa ain't dead, despite repeated cries that mega-chains are gobbling up all small businesses. In fact, small businesses remain the lifeblood of cities and towns across the U.S. So it is comforting to know that their owners' optimism is growing, as reflected in a highly regarded survey of small-biz owners and managers.

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Recommended Reading

The Poetics of Space is as much a book of philosophy as it is of architecture, art and poetry. Gaston Bachelard's classic study of the psychological effects of domestic space -- attics, cellars, drawers, etc. -- urges architects to base their work on the experiences it will engender. It may change the way you look at your home and your relationship to it.

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June 4, 2007

China Blames Panama, Who Blames China, Whose Consequences Prove Fatal

We recently addressed the responsibility of "toxic toothpaste" and "poisonous pet food." Panama and at least three other Latin American countries recently seized tens of thousands of tubes of Chinese-made toothpaste sold under the brands "Excel" and "Mr. Cool," while the U.S. last week halted all imports of Chinese toothpaste to test for a chemical often used in antifreeze and brake fluid. The saga of wrongdoing and blame continues:

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June 1, 2007

Light Friday: Free Doughnuts Today, Top 5 Games to Play with Your Kids, Bendable TV Screen...

... Lawyer-turned-LEGO® Sculptor, Sci-Fi Writers Help Homeland Security, Lucy and Ricky and Ford, and MORE!

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