MRO Today - Manufacturing Industry News archives

Manufacturing Industry News:
News from the week of May 9, 2005

American manufacturing leads world in competitiveness
DaimlerChrysler opens Tuscaloosa expansion
Ford employees, students bring more trees to plant
Jobless claims increase in recent week
Machine tool consumption surges in March

American manufacturing leads world in competitiveness
U.S. manufacturers rank first in world competitiveness, according to the just-released World Competitiveness Yearbook 2005, which is research and published annually by IMD, a top business school in Lausanne, Switzerland.

The ranking system uses data on 60 nations and 314 ranking criteria.

The remaining four countries in the top five included Hong Kong (which is separated from China), Singapore, Iceland and Canada. The least competitive countries included Mexico, Poland, Argentina, Indonesia and Venezuela, with the last being worst.

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DaimlerChrysler opens Tuscaloosa expansion
DaimlerChrysler AG celebrated the official opening of its expanded plant May 3 in Tuscaloosa, Ala., where the Mercedes-Benz M-Class and all-new R-Class are built.

Employees of Mercedes-Benz U.S. International Inc. (MBUSI), community and government officials from Alabama, major suppliers and contractors, DaimlerChrysler executives, and international and local media joined the ceremony to celebrate the official opening of the $600 million expansion.

“The success of the M-Class and our plant in Tuscaloosa shows that our globalization strategy and decision to come to the U.S. back in 1993 was the right decision,” said Eckhard Cordes, member of the board of management of DaimlerChrysler AG. “More than 640,000 vehicles were sold around the world. We not only achieved new market opportunities for Mercedes-Benz, but also secured employment at our plants back in Germany.”

Cordes also highlighted the strong partnership and cooperation that DaimlerChrysler has with the state of Alabama.

“Without the support from the state of Alabama, this success story would definitely not have been written,” Cordes said.

The plant expansion will allow for the production of multiple product lines: the second-generation of the Mercedes-Benz M-Class and the all-new R-Class Grand Sports Tourer.

The company recently doubled its workforce to 4,000 and production capacity to 160,000 cars per year. The expanded plant now includes two assembly shops, two paint shops and an expanded body shop.

MBUSI is responsible for more than 10,000 direct and indirect jobs in the region, and has an annual economic impact of more than $1.5 billion.

In addition, MBUSI has become the state’s largest exporter, with more than $1 billion exported each year to countries throughout the world. MBUSI’s economic impact is expected to increase when the plant is producing at full capacity.

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Ford employees, students bring more trees to plant
Four acres around the Ford St. Thomas Assembly Plant (STAP) are going back to nature as more than 4,700 trees are planted during a two-year ecological restoration project.

Employees at the plant are volunteering their time to re-naturalize the area, along with local high school students, air cadets and staff from the Kettle Creek Conservation Authority.

"At Ford, we focus on three main goals: delivering great products, building a strong business, and just as importantly, helping to create a better world. Returning the land surrounding our plant to its natural state is a great way to help the environment and to be a good neighbor," said Gray Greenway, STAP's lean manufacturing manager and one of the many volunteers involved in the ecological restoration effort.

During May, volunteers from STAP and the community will start to plant a wide variety of native trees under the advisement of staff from the Kettle Creek Conservation Authority who were instrumental to the planning of the project.

The species to be planted include: Poplar, Tamarack, Hard Maple, Red Maple, Kentucky Coffee, Bitternut Hickory, Shagbark Hickory, Red Oak and Bur Oak. Each of these trees is found naturally in the region and the hope is that the restored area will attract local wildlife.

STAP is also working with the Wildlife Habitat Council (WHC), which is an international non-profit organization that helps corporations manage their unused lands in an ecologically sensitive manner for the benefit of wildlife.

The WHC offers certification to sites that meet a number of criteria and STAP's reforestation team is working toward earning this certification in the fall of 2006.

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Jobless claims increase in recent week
New claims for unemployment insurance increased 4,000 to 340,000 for the week ended May 7, according to the Labor Department. The four-week moving average increased 2,000 to 324,000 during the same week.

The four-week moving average is generally considered by economists to be the more reliable of the two because it smoothes out week-to-week volatility. Both rates remained below 400,000, which is the level economists use to define a weak labor market and a stable one.

Continuing claims for unemployment insurance increased 15,000 to 2.6 million for the week ended April 30. Continuing claims are those older than two weeks.

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Machine tool consumption surges in March
U.S. machine tool consumption totaled $300.6 million in March, up 25.7 percent from February and up 6.6 percent from $281.9 million reported for March 2004, according to the American Machine Tool Distributors' Association (AMTDA) and the Association For Manufacturing Technology (AMT).

With a year-to-date total of $737.2 million, 2005 was up 19.4 percent compared with 2004.

"Despite some unsettling economic news in the last few weeks, capital investment in machine tools is still strong," said Ralph J. Nappi, AMTDA president. "Increased productivity and capacity requirements continue to push U.S. manufacturers to invest to be globally competitive."

U.S. machine tool consumption is also reported on a regional basis for five geographic breakdowns of the United States.

March machine tool consumption in the Northeast region totaled $41 million, up 5 percent from February’s $39.1 million and up 33.6 percent compared with March a year ago. The year-to-date total of $100.6 million was 22.5 percent higher than the comparable figure in 2004.

At $59.2 million, Southern machine tool consumption in March was 79.9 percent higher than the $32.9 million tallied in February and 19.6 percent ahead of the total for March 2004. With a year-to-date total of $128.4 million, 2005 was running 41.4 percent ahead of 2004 at the same time.

Midwestern machine tool consumption in March rose to $110.9 million, up 21.5 percent compared with February's $91.2 million, but down 9.7 percent compared with last March. At $280.8 million, the year-to-date 2005 total was up 9.8 percent compared with 2004 at the same time.

With a total of $58 million, Central region machine tool consumption was up 31.2 percent from February's $44.2 million and up 9.8 percent compared with March a year ago. The year-to-date total of $142.5 million was 25.4 percent higher than the comparable figure for 2004.

Western region machine tool consumption in March totaled $31.5 million, slightly less than February’s $31.8 million, but 20.7 percent higher than the total for March 2004. At $85 million, the year-to-date total was up 12.8 percent compared with 2004 at the same time.

The United States Machine Tool Consumption report, jointly compiled by the two trade associations representing the production and distribution of manufacturing technology, provides regional and national U.S. consumption data of domestic and imported machine tools and related equipment.

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