Northern Ohio Daily Manufacturing News Roundup
Click any headline link to view the original story. Links may expire over time. An information service of MAGNET, the Manufacturing Advocacy and Growth Network.
Week 33 , August 13-17, 2007
Friday, August 17, 2007
Republic Engineered Products, Steelworkers reach tentative agreement on contract, by Frank Bentayou, Cleveland Plain Dealer, August 17, 2007 Related coverage:
Lamson & Sessions' proposed sale to Memphis firm leaves questions , by Frank Bentayou, Cleveland Plain Dealer, August 17, 2007 Related coverage:
Diebold distancing itself from its elections unit, by Allison Grant, Cleveland Plain Dealer, August 17 Related coverage:
Related coverage:
Official: Worker’s comp ‘pretty broken’, by Julie Carr Smyth and Andrew Welsh-Huggins, Associated Press via the Canton Repository, August 16, 2007 Father of the compact fluorescent bulb looks back, by Michael Kanellos, News.com via ZDNet News, August 16, 2007 |
Thursday, August 16, 2007
 WKYC-TV to feature JobMagnet.org on Monday, August 20 morning showOn Monday, August 20 during the 10:00 a.m. hour of WKYC-TV's Good Company program, Judith Crocker, Director of Manufacturing Education Affairs, will introduce JobMagnet.org to the viewers. In the first month of operation, 1,650 job seekers have registered on the site and nearly 200 employers have registered to post their open positions and search resumes submitted by job seekers. |
Businesses propose law to re-regulate utilities, by John Funk, Cleveland Plain Dealer, August 16, 2007 Faced with the end of state electric rate caps at the end of the year, the Ohio Manufacturers' Association and a coalition of large industrial users sent a proposed bill to Governor Ted Strickland. While it does not propose a return to hard regulation, the Plain Dealer reports the bill would empower the PUCO to authorize utilities to hold auctions to set retail prices based on wholesale rates and increase rates to build new power plants.
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Developer: Goodyear deal near: HQ plan still far away, company responds, by Jim Mackinnon, Akron Beacon Journal, August 16, 2007 Real-estate developer Stuart Lichter tells the Journal he is near an agreement for building Goodyear's new corporate headquarters. A Goodyear spokesman would only say the company is studying the proposal. The Journal also reports that Lichter's Industrial Realty Group signed an agreement last week to buy the 85-acre Hoover Co. campus in North Canton and is in due diligence on that deal now. POET Biorefining breaks ground on northern Ohio ethanol plant, August 16, 2007 Sioux Falls, S.D.-based POET Biorefining broke ground on a $130-million ethanol production facility near Fostoria in Seneca County southeast of Toledo. The plant will consume 21 million bushels of locally grown corn and produce a year to produce 60 million gallons of ethanol. Babcock & Wilcox celebrates: Barberton company unveils $14 million research center, by Marilyn Miller, Akron Beacon Journal, August 16, 2007 The new facility, which replaces an outdated facility in Alliance, will continue B&W's focus on oxy-coal combustion, power plant emissions reduction, post-combustion systems for control of sulfur dioxide and the testing of advanced materials for use in boilers. Woo-hoo! Let's go to Woo City: Ohio's only organic ice cream oozes this way, by Marylynne Pitz, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, August 18, 2007 In May 2004, David Steel and Lauren-Michael Tyler mortgaged their Lakewood home to buy a bankrupt organic ice cream company. In January 2005, they moved into a 14,400-square-foot building in North Canton. Now, Woo City Ice Cream Mfg. Co. keeps busy creating custom concoctions such as Black and Tan Ice Cream, which includes Guiness and Bass Ale as key ingredients, for a downtown Cleveland restaurant and jazz club. Online Event: Create And Sustain A Breakthrough Value Proposition, IndustryWeek Webcast, Wednesday, August 22. Small and mid-sized firms that enjoy high sales growth share seven key traits. During this IndustryWeek-hosted Webcast on August 22, attendees will learn about the quantifiable, success-based patterns of winning companies. IW's senior editor, Jill Jusko will talk with author David G. Thomson, Daniel J. Lubin, the CIO of Abiomed, a manufacturer of medical devices and Todd Snow, from Webcast sponsor SAP America. The one-hour live broadcast requires advance registration. |
Related Event: If energy rates are of vital interest to your company, plan to attend the Wednesday, August 15, 2007
| Eaton's Sandy Cutler says U.S. manufacturers need to let the world know how well they're really doing, by David Blanchard, IndustryWeek, Sept. 1, 2007 Eaton Corp.'s chairman and CEO, Alexander M. Cutler, talks with IndustryWeek about the company's growth strategy and the need for the U.S. to educate more engineers to stay competitive with China and India. "This is an extraordinary time for North American production," Cutler observes. "But you don't hear about that. It's a time of incredible productivity, but you don't hear about that, either." |
| FirstEnergy's R.E. Burger plant to test carbon dioxide removal system, by John Funk, Cleveland Plain Dealer, August 15, 2007 Pilot testing of a technology designed to remove carbon dioxide from power plant emissions is expected to begin early next year at FirstEnergy Corp.'s R.E. Burger plant in Shadyside on the Ohio River. |
| Goodyear Planning Further Investments in Growth; Announces Debt Repayment Plans, CNN Money, August 15, 2007 Goodyear said it is considering potential new tire factories in Eastern Europe and Asia in addition to the company's previously announced intent to invest in existing tire factories to increase high-value-added capacity by 40 percent globally and increase capacity in existing low-cost plants by 33 percent. Together, these investments would drive the company toward its strategy of having 50 percent of its global capacity in low-cost countries by 2012. |
| Manufacturers win legislative support for battle against knockoffs, Today's Trucking News, August 15, 2007 Elyria's Bendix Commercial Vehicle Systems came out in support of Senate Bill S.522 co-sponsored by Sen. Evan Bayh, D-Indiana, and Sen. George Voinovich, R-Ohio. The bill would not only allocate more resources in the fight against product counterfeiting, but will mandate federal agencies report to Congress on the progress of these efforts. |
| Upcoming event: The Second NanoApp Summit, Oct. 22-25, The Ritz Carlton, 1515 W. Third St., Cleveland. Nano App 2007 addresses industry-specific applications in Automotive, CleanTech and Defense sectors. Attendees will hear major manufacturers, leading nanotechnology product developers and industry experts share product enhancements, insight on current market demands and commercialization opportunities. Sponsored by The Nano-Network and NanoBusiness Alliance. |
Tuesday, August 14, 2007
| Employers And Employees: Making A Match, by Jill Jusko, IndustryWeek, August 14, 2007 IndustryWeek profiles MAGNET's latest initiative www.jobmagnet.org. In just the first three weeks, nearly 1,400 people have registered for the site which matches employees with manufacturing jobs in the region. |
| Myth No. 6: This region's economy isn't growing, by Thomas A. Waltermire, The Plain Dealer, August 14, 2007 In an Op-Ed piece in the PD's editorial section, Waltermire, CEO of Team NEO, makes the case that public perception doesn't do justice to the vitality of manufacturing in the 16 counties that make up Northeast Ohio. "Too often, there's a narrow focus on the segments of our region's economy that are struggling. If we allow ourselves to see the bigger picture, however, we all have reason to feel much better about the region we call home." |
| Steel's Latest Hot Spot: The U.S.: Strong Demand, Transportation Costs Spur Capacity Additions, by Robert Guy Matthews, Wall Street Journal, August 14, 2007 "Hot-rolled and cold-rolled steel is generally fetching about $30 to $90 or so more a ton in Western Europe than in the U.S., according to World Steel Dynamics. Couple that with transportation costs, which have more than doubled in the past decade to about $50-$70 a ton from $20 a ton, and it makes shipping steel to the U.S less attractive....This is one of the few times where steel prices outside the U.S. are higher than in the U.S.,' says Aldo Mazzaferro, steel analyst for Goldman Sachs." (Subscription required) |
| Akzo Nobel to buy Imperial Chemical Industries, by Allison Grant, The Plain Dealer, August 14, 2007 An ICI spokesman said there would be no changes for the firm's North American headquarters in Strongsville. |
| United in Financial Savvy:: UAW pact with Dana Corp. blazes way for auto talks, by Gary T. Pakulski, The Toledo Blade, August 12, 2007 "The UAW, along with Dana’s other main union, the United Steelworkers, hired a private-equity firm to provide advice; encouraged the adviser to take the lead in financing Dana’s Chapter 11 exit plan; demanded the company meet financial performance goals; received promises of broad access to financial information; and won a better deal on retiree health benefits than analysts had expected. ... Industry experts are closely watching developments at Toledo’s largest company, an $8.5 billion-a-year supplier of parts to auto plants, because they believe the UAW’s conduct could provide clues to how it will act in watershed negotiations with major U.S.-based auto manufacturers." |
| Upcoming event: Sept. 27 at 7:00 a.m., the Cleveland Engineering Society will welcome Swagelok's CEO Arthur F. Anton (who is also vice chair of MAGNET) at its Leadership Breakfast Series at Corporate College East, 4400 Richmond Road. Call 216-361-3100 or visit the event site. |
Monday, August 13, 2007
| Battered Auto-Parts Makers Could Face More Pain, by Jeffrey McCracken, Wall Street Journal, August 13, 2007 "The largest auto-supplier trade group estimates that about 500 North American auto-parts makers are being eliminated or consolidated each year. The trade group predicts there will be about 5,000 North American parts suppliers by 2010, down from 8,000 in 2004.... The next trend, which could eventually stabilize auto-supplier employment in North America, may well be a wave of Asian-based auto suppliers pushing to open up plants in the U.S. (Subscription required) |
| ICI agrees to be bought by Akzo, BBC, August 12, 2007 ICI, which has its North American headquarters in Strongsville, agreed to be taken over by its Dutch rival Akzo Nobel. |
| Medical Momentum : Many manufacturers prosper by providing health care devices, by Chuck Soder, Crain's Cleveland Business, August 12, 2007 "Some Northeast Ohio manufacturers are piggybacking growth in the medical community to improve their own bottom lines. An increasing number of manufacturing companies in the region are producing medical devices or parts for them." Companies mentioned: BioEnterprise Corp., Robin Industries' ElastoTec Division, Advanced Circuit, Prince & Izant Co.'s NuTEC-Medical. (Subscription may be required) |
| Upcoming Event: Innovation, Education & Technology Trade Show: Lock In to Machining Solutions, sponsored by Jergens, 15700 S. Waterloo Road, Cleveland, August 15, 9:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. Download seminar brochure (PDF). Call 888/547-0050. |
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Click any headline links to view the original story. Links may expire over time. An information service of MAGNET, the Manufacturing Advocacy and Growth Network.
