Industry Crib Sheet: Chinese Manufacturing Up; U.S. Way Up
Consumer Confidence Shoots Up as Personal Incomes Grow West Coast Port Strike Looms, While NAM Calculates Impact China's manufacturing sector expanded, albeit slightly, in June as operating conditions improved for the first time in six months, according to the HSBC Flash China Manufacturing PMI. The headline 50.8 reading for the flash PMI was a seven-month high, as was the 51.8 manufacturing...
Read More »The Light Side: Cutting a Round Cake on Scientific Principles
Can James Bond's Car Go Solar to Keep Its Cool? Researchers Develop Camera That Sees Around Corners Grenada Ain't Bad, but I'd Rather Be in Granada It's an office party for a co-worker's birthday, and the cake has arrived. What happens next is familiar: No one dares to step up and cut the cake, not even after someone finally steps in and cries out for a volunteer. Who wants the mission-critical...
Read More »Natural Gas Independent Energy Districts a Bridge to Sustainable Energy
While green energy is the way of the future, it isn't yet an option for every business. Companies that aren't in a position to take advantage of renewable energy should consider independent energy districts as a bridge to sustainability. These energy districts use cleaner-burning natural gas. When it comes to energy, we are inexorably moving toward a greener future. With the support of...
Read More »Editor's Note: China KOs Shipping Triumvirate
Chinese regulators last week blocked a long-awaited vessel-sharing alliance between the three largest container-shipping companies, shocking the shipping and logistics world. In snuffing out a potential monopoly, they might have done global shipping customers a huge favor. Last week, China's Ministry of Commerce sunk what would've been the world's biggest container-shipping alliance, and every...
Read More »Strategic Meter Deployment Powers Shop-Floor Energy Management
In efforts to improve their energy efficiency, manufacturing firms are deploying electricity meters on the shop floor to gain visibility into the performance of machines and production lines. Eventually every single machine will have an electric meter on it, said Paul Carter, product manager at Greensboro, N.C.-based Cross Company, which specializes in industrial automation technology. While...
Read More »IHS: Electric Car Sales Are Stronger Than They Seem
Although they have not realized initial projections, the Nissan Leaf and Chevy Volt have sold more units in their fourth years than the Toyota Prius did in its fourth year. Now there is also a plethora of other electric vehicle and plug-in hybrid vehicles joining these big three models on the market. Despite falling short of previous expectations, global sales of electric vehicles (EVs) actually...
Read More »Why 'New-Shoring' Is the New School of Manufacturing for Small Business
Small businesses that have the wherewithal are manufacturing locally and near their consumers. Doing this from the get-go, rather than bringing manufacturing back from abroad, they are new-shoring due to the same reasons: decreasing foreign wage disparity, time-to-market, and product personalization. You may get your product faster and cheaper, but manufacturing overseas has its pitfalls. Through...
Read More »Industry Crib Sheet: Autos Driving Otherwise Stalling Retail Sales
Equipment Leasing, Financing Execs Feel June Swoon China to Lead Doubling of Global Wind Power by 2020 Survey Determines Best, Worst States for Small Businesses Retail sales have risen four straight months but a weak May is a cause for concern among economists looking for a minimum 3 percent bounce-back in GDP growth for the second quarter after a dismal first three months of 2014. According to...
Read More »The Light Side: Technology Is the Right Call in Sports
'Blood' Runs Cold on Antarctic Waterfall Your Personalized Information Ticker Has Arrived 4 Awesome NASA Inventions You Use Every Day The football, er, soccer World Cup is well entrenched in Brazil, with the field of countries vying for the right to be called the world's best at the beautiful game soon to be whittled in half to 16. After suffering a heartbreaking 2-2 draw with Portugal yesterday,...
Read More »Trickle-Down from Nanosats Will Ignite Commercial, Civilian Technologies
Like space-related technological progressions that came before them, nanosatellites could bring a sea change to communications, navigation, etc. Chances are, they will also drive new materials and power sources that will create unprecedented civilian and commercial products. When the United States was thrust into the Space Race with the Soviet Union in the late 1950s, the sudden focus on space...
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