The Leading Source for Manufacturing News & Insight
Retail Sales Rise In April On Cars, Clothing
May 13, 2013 10:50 am | by Martin Crutsinger, AP Economics Writer | News | CommentsAmericans increased their spending in April at retail businesses, buying more cars and clothes while paying less for gas. The rebound from a weak March suggests consumers may help boost economic growth again this spring. Retail sales edged up 0.1 percent in April from March, the Commerce Department said Monday.
High Court Rules For Monsanto In Patent Case
May 13, 2013 10:47 am | by Jesse J. Holland, Associated Press | News | CommentsThe justices, in a unanimous vote Monday, rejected the farmer's argument that cheap soybeans he bought from a grain elevator are not covered by the Monsanto patents, even though most of them also were genetically modified to resist the company's Roundup herbicide.
Survey: Global Manufacturers Lack Supply Chain Visibility Beyond Tier 1
May 13, 2013 10:18 am | by KPMG | News | CommentsGlobal manufacturers are putting their supply chains at the center of their business strategies to serve as the foundation for operational efficiency and collaborative innovation. Ironically though, many manufacturing executives admit that their companies currently do not have visibility of their supply chain beyond Tier 1 suppliers.
France Mulls Culture Tax On Smartphones
May 13, 2013 10:07 am | News | CommentsThe French government is considering creating a new tax on smartphones and tablets in a bid to raise millions to support the creation of digital cultural content inside France. The proposal, handed to President Francois Hollande Monday, outlines a 1 percent tax on the sale of Internet-compatible devices.
Huge Drug Cost Disparities Seen In Health Overhaul
May 13, 2013 8:39 am | by Ricardo Alonso-Zaldivar, Associated Press | News | CommentsSuch "specialty drugs" can cost thousands of dollars a month, and in California, patients would pay up to 30 percent of the cost. For one widely used cancer drug, Gleevec, the patient could pay more than $2,000 for a month's supply, says the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society.
BlackBerry Focuses On Cool Factor
May 13, 2013 8:22 am | by David Friend, The Canadian Press | News | CommentsChief executive Thorsten Heins will take the stage on Tuesday and is expected to deliver a keynote speech that could reveal a lower-priced version of its latest phone and some clues about whether the company plans to abandon tablet technology forever.
Regulators Probe Ford Truck Steering Issue
May 13, 2013 8:20 am | News | CommentsU.S. safety regulators are investigating complaints that problems with steering-gear boxes are causing a loss of control in some Ford trucks. The probe by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration covers an estimated 340,000 F250 and F350 Super Duty Trucks from the 2008 model year.
Respect For Trial & Error, & Success
May 13, 2013 8:09 am | by Alan Nicol, Executive Member, AlanNicolSolutions | Articles | CommentsThroughout the various realms of product development, innovation, and process improvement we experience similar differences in preference. It seems that many prefer to find ways to model the problem or the solution and run simulations to arrive at an answer; the minority will prototype, test, and experiment.
AP: Cars Made In Brazil Are Deadly
May 13, 2013 8:01 am | by Bradley Brooks, Associated Press | News | CommentsThe culprits are the cars themselves, produced with weaker welds, scant safety features and inferior materials compared to similar models manufactured for U.S. and European consumers, say experts and engineers inside the industry. Four of Brazil's five bestselling cars failed their independent crash tests.
Leaving Bangladesh? Not An Easy Choice For Brands
May 13, 2013 7:58 am | by Anne D'Innocenzio and Jonathan Fahey, AP Business Writers | News | CommentsThe rising death toll may force Western brands to make a choice: Stay and work to improve conditions. Or leave and face higher costs, similar or worse worker conditions in other low-wage countries and criticism for abandoning a poor nation where per-capita income is just $1,940 per year.
Chrysler Recalls Almost 470,000 Jeep SUVs
May 13, 2013 7:54 am | News | CommentsChrysler is recalling 469,000 Jeep SUVs worldwide because they can shift into neutral without warning on startup. U.S. safety regulators say cracks in a circuit board can cause a faulty signal as the SUVs are being started. If the vehicles shift into neutral they can roll away.
Project Aims To Track Big City Carbon Footprints
May 13, 2013 7:47 am | by Alicia Chang, AP Science Writer | News | CommentsLike a satellite gazing down on Earth, it scans more than two dozen points from the inland desert to the coast. Every few minutes, it rumbles to life as it automatically sweeps the horizon, measuring sunlight bouncing off the surface for the unique fingerprint of carbon dioxide and other heat-trapping gases.
Natural Gas Export Plans Stir Debate
May 13, 2013 3:19 am | by Matthew Daly, Associated Press | News | CommentsA domestic natural gas boom already has lowered U.S. energy prices while stoking fears of environmental disaster. Now U.S. producers are poised to ship vast quantities of gas overseas as energy companies seek permits for proposed export projects that could set off a renewed frenzy of fracking.
Campylobacter On The Rise
May 10, 2013 2:37 pm | by Krystal Gabert, Editor, Food Manufacturing | Blogs | CommentsBy tracking identified foodborne illness instances, FoodNet determined that, in addition to various other strains of foodborne bacteria and viruses, campylobacter infection was found in 14.3 people per 100,000. This figure shows a 14 percent increase over the infection rates from 2006 to 2008.
NYC Wins $70M From 44 Pharmaceutical Companies
May 10, 2013 2:29 pm | News | CommentsCity lawyers alleged the companies fraudulently reported inflated drug prices called Average Wholesale Prices, or AWPs. They say the inflations were sometimes thousands of percentage points over the true AWPs. By law, AWP forms the basis for most Medicaid drug reimbursement to doctors and pharmacists.
Treasury Reports $113B Surplus In April
May 10, 2013 2:25 pm | by Christopher S. Rugaber, AP Economics Writer | News | CommentsSteady economic growth and higher tax rates have boosted the government's tax revenue, keeping this year's annual budget deficit on pace to be the smallest since 2008. A smaller deficit is also likely to give negotiators more time to work out a deal on raising the nation's borrowing limit.
U.S. Sanctions Taiwan Firm For N.Korea Dealings
May 10, 2013 2:13 pm | News | CommentsThe Treasury Department announced designation Friday of Trans Multi Mechanics Co. Ltd. and Chang Wen-Fu for links to a Taiwanese man, Alex Tsai, arrested in Estonia last week. Tsai and his son, a U.S. resident, were charged in Chicago with seeking to bypass a ban on export of weapons machinery.
NASA Mulls Spacewalk To Fix Space Station Leak
May 10, 2013 2:09 pm | by Seth Borenstein, AP Science Writer | News | CommentsNASA says the six-member crew at the station is not in danger. The ammonia leak forced the shutdown of one of eight solar panels that power the station, but the outpost can operate fine with only seven, spokesman Kelly Humphries said. NASA will decide Friday evening whether the spacewalk is needed Saturday.
Fibrelite Covers Pass The Test
May 10, 2013 2:02 pm | by Fibrelite | Articles | CommentsFibrelite introduced the lightweight composite manhole cover for use at gasoline service stations in the early 1980s and has continued to develop innovative product designs to meet the needs of a changing industry. Fibrelite currently offers the retail petroleum industry’s leading watertight composite covers.
Texas Launches Criminal Probe Into Plant Explosion
May 10, 2013 1:47 pm | by Angela K. Brown and Ramit Plushnick-Masti, Associated Press | News | CommentsThe announcement came the same day a paramedic who helped to evacuate residents the night of the explosion was arrested on a charge of possessing a destructive device, though it is not clear whether the charge is related to the April 17 blast at West Fertilizer Co.
