Manufacturing jobs lost to productivity

washingtontimes.com ^ | Nov. 29, 2003 | UPI

[narses]

Y'all want more? Eh Willie?

[narses]

SEPTEMBER 15, 2003

NEWS: ANALYSIS & COMMENTARY

Commentary: The Administration's Blue-Collar Blues


The candidate stood before a group of Ohio construction workers and dished out red-meat rhetoric for Labor Day. "There's a problem with the manufacturing sector," he said. "We've lost thousands of jobs...manufacturing must do better." Democrat Dick Gephardt down at the union hall? Nope. It was George W. Bush, who has presided over the biggest loss of manufacturing jobs since Herbert Hoover.

If the President is sounding themes of the populist Left these days, there's good reason. He's feeling the heat from a huge loss of jobs. Since Bush took office, 2.5 million U.S. factory jobs -- 16% of the total -- have been lost. Although such jobs have been vanishing for years, "this is clearly the worst we've seen," says William A. Strauss, a senior economist at the Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago.

The manufacturing morass is setting off a political scramble that stretches from that muddy construction site in Richfield, Ohio, all the way to Beijing. That's where Bush dispatched Treasury Secretary John W. Snow for currency talks designed to mollify U.S. execs and blue-collar voters angered at the loss of manufacturing jobs to China.

Critics say China, by pegging the yuan to the dollar at an artificially low rate, is flooding the U.S. with cheap goods. While Administration officials believe the threat is exaggerated, they don't want to appear complacent. "We have to recognize the domestic political story line," says a top Bush aide. "We have to address it." Snow left Beijing on Sept. 3 without a deal but expressed optimism that the currency will eventually be allowed to float. Asian economists say the gambit was doomed. "No [Chinese] leaders want to be seen as giving in to foreign pressure," says Citigroup's Yiping Huang in Hong Kong.

Bush is hoping for more tangible results at home. He will soon name a new Commerce Dept. manufacturing czar, and on Sept. 15, Commerce Secretary Donald L. Evans is slated to unfurl a "Manufacturing Initiative" in Detroit. The package recycles Bush proposals such as legal reform and energy legislation. But it also includes a push for tougher enforcement of trade pacts, including an assault on dumping and export subsidies. BusinessWeek has learned that Evans will propose making it easier for U.S. businesses to file antidumping and subsidy cases by requiring less proof of damage before a complaint can be filed. "We need to be more proactive in looking at allegations [of cheating]...instead of waiting until an injury happens," says Commerce Under Secretary for International Trade Grant D. Aldonas.

Still, economists say few of these measures are likely to have much impact on the systemic decline in factory jobs. Rising productivity means manufacturers can maintain their share of gross domestic product -- about 16% -- with fewer workers. And even if China were to float its currency, it likely would do no better than slow the export of jobs to China.

Manufacturing's woes present a big political challenge for Bush because the downturn is concentrated in the battleground states of Pennsylvania, Ohio, Michigan, Minnesota, Wisconsin, Missouri, and West Virginia. The dramatic decline in textile jobs also threatens Bush's solid grip on Georgia and North Carolina. "He has done absolutely nothing to live up to the promises he made to the manufacturing sector, particularly to the textile industry," says Willis C. (Billy) Moore III, executive vice-president and CFO of textile manufacturer Unifi (UFI ) Inc. in Greensboro, N.C. "He would not get my vote next time."

Bush's Democratic rivals sense an opening. While their approaches vary widely, all favor far more activist federal policies. Senator Joseph I. Lieberman (D-Conn.) would use the tax code to reward manufacturers based on the share of their production that remains in the U.S. Former Vermont Governor Howard Dean would reopen trade pacts to force environmental and labor concessions, and Gephardt wants an international minimum wage that could raise the cost of foreign goods.

While most execs remain big fans of Bushonomics, many fret about manufacturing's plight. "If we don't do something relatively quickly, we aren't going to have a whole lot of domestic manufacturing left," says John P. Hiler, president of Hiler Industries Inc., a LaPorte (Ind.) metal-casting company. That's why politicians of all stripes will extol their industrial strategies from here to Election Day -- even as U.S. factory jobs continue their downward spiral.

By Richard S. Dunham




Copyright 2000-2003, by The McGraw-Hill Companies Inc. All rights reserved.



http://www.businessweek.com:/print/magazine/content/03_37/b3849041.htm?mz

[Walkin Man]

While the lost manufacturing jobs will never be replaced, the increased productivity has kept prices competitive. The price of U.S. motor vehicles, adjusted for quality changes, is no higher today than it was in 1994, the Post said.

Too bad I and millions of other Americans were making a whole lot more money in 1994 than today.

[Willie Green]

Yawn. I can post manufacturing examples by the hundreds. I will if you insist.

No need to narses.
Performing this kind of managerial analysis is precisely how I've earned my living for the last 25+ years.
I've automated plenty of domestic manufacturing processes
and I've also specified more labor intensive process alternatives for use by offshore licensees and joint ventures.
Yes, there is still opportunity for automation here in the U.S.
and there are also automated processes being installed offshore.
But the overwhelming trend is just what I asserted.
Globalization is a regressive influence on manufacturing technology.
The economic factors favor low wage labor with less sophisticated production technology over the higher investment cost of automation.
And the productivity claims being shouted in the headlines are more due to this outsourcing trend then they are due to the influence of automation.

[FITZ]

The price of U.S. motor vehicles, adjusted for quality changes, is no higher today than it was in 1994, the Post said.

The price is NO LOWER either ---- which means the savings isn't being passed down to the consumer.

[narses]

More laughter. You assert you're correct with words, facts you have yet to post. You finally concede that my facts are sufficient but claim they mean nothing. What a hoot.

[Willie Green]

As I said, narses, performing this type of analysis is precisely how I earn my living.
Your laughter is irrelevant.

[narses]

Your "living" is made without facts, at least based on this thread. You make empty claims, I refute them, you make more empty claims. Automation is the real issue Willie, that and regulations that drive jobs overseas.

[rlbedfor]

Unemployment rate in the last 50 years has fluctuated but we are sitting at 5.9%. If automation was so bad, we would be sitting at 25%+ unemployment. Jobs move around as the market changes and money is spent differently. A dress cost less now due to automation, so we might spend money elsewhere which causes jobs elsewhere. It is like a river going to sea.

[VOA]

Manufacturing jobs lost to productivity

Just the tide of history rolling on.
Scientific American had an article about automation in manufacturing maybe 10-15 years ago.
It included some historical graphs from one of the Italian gunmakers
(Beretta, I think). It showed that introduction of machinery really slashed the
number of bodies to turn out the same nubmer of guns.

[RaceBannon]

What I dont like is that those of us who went to tech school or college are being replaced by foreign workers.

I wonder where all this recovery is, it sure aint in Ct...

[RaceBannon]

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Manager of Quality Control & Engineering Testing 

Company:	Continuum Search
Location:	US-TN-Brentwood
Pay:	80,000.00 - 100,000.00 USD /year
Status:	Full Time, Employee
Shift:	First Shift (Day)

Job Category:	Manufacturing and Production
Education Level:	Bachelor's Degree

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Job Description

We are currently working with our client Murray, Inc., a leading manufacturer of lawn and garden power tools, in a search for a Manager of Quality Control & Engineering Testing for their facility in Suzhou, China.

Functional Responsibility:
Manage Engineering Testing and Q/C functions at the Engineering and Q/C Lab in Suzhou to test, inspect, and audit component parts and whole goods exported to Murray U.S. operations/customers. Work closely with China Sourcing functions and Murray U.S. Engineering and Sourcing to achieve objectives and expected benefits.
• Manage, supervise, support, lead and train all employees in the Engineering test and Q/C Lab organization.
• Responsible for performance, documentation and communication of all test, Q/C, and audit functions to support objectives.
• Organize and establish test and Q/C priorities, processes and procedures and manage completion of activities on schedule.
• Communication of drawing, specification, test and Q/C requirements and test and Q/C results with China suppliers. Assist Sourcing function with supplier development.

Objectives:
Improve Murray U.S. Sourcing of China-sourced components and whole goods by:

• Rapid, prioritized Q/C inspection, testing and audit in China
• Improved China supplier technical communication and response
• Technical documentation and communication to Murray U.S. Engineering and Sourcing functions, China Sourcing function and suppliers
• In-county Q/C inspection and verification of all production lots before shipment to U.S.
• Audit China Suppliers
• Assist China Sourcing function in supplier development



Position Requirements:
• BS Mechanical or Electrical Engineering. U.S. professional engineer license not a requirement but a plus.
• Ten years minimum personal experience in the design, development, and testing of outdoor powered products similar to all Murray product lines.
• Proven experience and success in managing people , product engineering and testing to tight schedule requirements in an Asian/U.S. multicultural environment.
• Ability to clearly and concisely document and communicate test and Q/C results in English in a timely and appropriate manner.
• Thorough knowledge of U.S. market testing, standards, compliance and Q/C requirements and processes.
• Assignment is either expatriate living in China, or frequent requirement for China-U.S. travel, 2 to 3 weeks in China every month, or about 65-75% of time year-round.
• Ability to speak clear and fluent technical English. Bi-lingual a plus but not a requirement.

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Company:	Continuum Search
Address:	105 Westwood Place Suite 325 Brentwood,TN 37027

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