By: Malik Singleton, International Business Times Goldman Sachs has a sober analysis of the U.S. manufacturing renaissance. In its new report, “The US Manufacturing Renaissance: Fact or Fiction?” Goldman’s chief economist, Jan Hatzius, says that U.S. manufacturing’s positive figures are a good sign but warns that such recent figures actually show cyclical behavior that should be expected — not structural behavior that could be considered extraordinary. One of the main points he makes in the study, which was released Monday, is that the industry’s growth in the U.S. compared with the performances of manufacturing in other countries says more about the weakness in other parts of the global economy than about the strength of U.S. manufacturing. “Outside the goods-producing sector, U.S. real GDP has grown just 0.5 percent (annualized) since the start of the recovery in the middle of 2009, by far the slowest rate of any postwar cycle,” says Hatzius. “And of course, the gap between U.S. and foreign industrial output mostly reflects the weakness in Europe and Japan following the intensification of the European financial crisis and the Japan earthquake in early 2011.” Hatzius’ report also says there has not yet been a significant output pickup in the production of aluminum, steel, plastics, basic chemicals and fertilizer production as one would expect from currently low natural gas prices. “Total output in the truly energy-sensitive sectors shown account for 7 percent of overall industrial production, or around 1 percent of GDP,” says Hatzius. “So unless the impact of low U.S. energy prices on output growth in these sectors is dramatic, the macroeconomic repercussions are likely to be fairly limited.” “Over the next few years, the manufacturing sector should continue to grow a bit faster than the overall economy. But the main reason is likely to be a broad improvement in aggregate demand, rather than a structural U.S. manufacturing...

60 Percent of Respondents Indicated U.S.-Based Support on a 24/7 Basis is Important By: MAVERICK Technologies A recent study conducted by MAVERICK Technologies, North America’s largest independent systems integrator, identified a trending preference among plant operations support personnel for “U.S.-based support.” In fact, 60 percent of respondents indicated that “U.S.-based support” on a 24/7 basis is an important part of maintaining process controls. These findings contradict the decade-long trend among manufacturers to send this type of work overseas. MAVERICK’s study combined responses of more than 300 process automation professionals, including engineers, plant IT personnel, project managers and plant managers and covers a cross section of 11 different industries. “These findings prove what MAVERICK has recently observed in the field,” said Kirk Norris, senior vice president of strategic manufacturing solutions at MAVERICK. “We’ve seen an increase in calls from manufacturers looking for domestic support. Moreover, we see our current customers inquiring about these support options. That’s why our model leverages a network of more than 500 automation professionals spread throughout the U.S. and a U.S.-based, 24/7/365 remote support center here in the Midwest.” The study was designed to identify the current perception of manufacturing operations support among process control professionals. “Having this type of data is invaluable as it identifies the types of manufacturers most in need of outside support based in the U.S.,” said Paul Galeski, CEO and founder of MAVERICK. The study also found a growing demand among manufacturing personnel for system backup and recovery support that prevent the loss of process controls data. Additionally, the majority of respondents indicated that 24/7 online support is being considered for their process controls assets. In response to these results and to feedback from current customers, MAVERICK has created a new series of technical papers and video content, now available to the public at PlantFloor24.com. The series includes: A technical paper on remote management best practices A technical paper on staff augmentation models for process controls environments A roundtable video discussion on the state of various industries, covering topics such as best practice IT management of process control systems A technical paper on efficient data dissemination through application integration “We believe that knowledge is the foundation...

In Conjunction with the Design-2-Part Show While the “Made in America” mantra has always been popular, the “reshoring” of manufacturing is gaining momentum. This conference will explore a number of compelling reasons why manufacturers are deciding to bring production back to North America. “The New Industrial Revolution – Reshoring and Advanced Manufacturing,” will take place on Thursday, May 23, 2013 at the Santa Clara Convention Center in Santa Clara, CA. The Society of Manufacturing Engineers (SME) Silicon Valley Chapter will present this one-day conference for product development, design, quality, supply chain, purchasing, and manufacturing engineers/managers, as well as support personnel. SME is joined by ASME – SVCS, IEEE – CPMT, ASQ Biomedical Division Northern CA, and SJSU BMES, and the event will be held in conjunction with the Northern California Design-2-Part Show being held on May 22-23. Participants will learn about success stories of using advanced technologies to design and produce highly regulated, complex products such as robotic medical devices. With high-level speakers from industry and workforce development programs, the conference is designed to maximize interaction and learning and will include a hands-on 3D printing demonstration. Attendees will also have time to tour the Design-2-Part trade show to meet with local and regional suppliers for materials, processes, prototyping, and manufacturing. Program Highlights Panel Discussions Product Development and Global Supply Chain Dynamics Deciding where to produce products should be part of the product development cycle. The concept and use of the global supply chain is critical in successfully competing in today’s world. Learn how the supply chain decision can make or break your new product. Michael Keer – Founder & CEO, Product Realization Group, Panel Leader Sandeep Duggal – CEO, Extron Leland Witherspoon – COO/SVP, Faxitron X-Ray Corporation Rob McCarthy – Director of Operations, Conceptus, Inc. Wayne Firsty – VP Engineering & Product Realization, Creation Technologies Reshoring/Onshoring Reality For the past several decades, U.S. companies have been moving manufacturing operations “offshore” to save labor costs. However, with transportation costs, rising Chinese labor costs, quality issues, and simply the issue of keeping jobs in the U.S., there are companies trying to reshore part, or all, of their manufacturing in the U.S. You will be learning about...

By: Charlie Bogoian, VentureBeat The business world has been lamenting over the past few years that the US has shifted from being a country that makes things to a country that largely makes its things somewhere else. With the cheaper labor costs of many developing countries — not to mention the new technologies that make managing such relationships easier — outsourcing and offshoring have become prevalent among growing US businesses. But we’ve started to see manufacturing work (and jobs) slowly but surely “reshoring” back to the U.S. For startup entrepreneurs, this is a very good time to evaluate your supply chain. You may find some advantages to moving production back to the U.S. that could take your business to the next level. Why we “reshored” our manufacturing Our company, Kenai Sports, creates 100 percent sustainable clothing made from waste and post-consumer content harvested from landfills. And like so many others in the labor-intensive apparel industry, we started off manufacturing abroad for the typical reasons. Hats that cost $0.45 to make and T-shirts that came in at under $1.00/piece were a siren’s song for an upstart apparel company. But we very quickly determined this was not going to work in the long run. With issues like unreliable communication and extended lead times, customer satisfaction was quickly waning. Avoidable mistakes (like off-center logos, printing errors, and not-so-straight seams — all indistinguishable in photos provided by manufacturing) prevented us from realizing the cost advantages we anticipated. And those problems were coupled with an overall lack of accountability that showed no sign of changing. Our frustration lead us to a brainstorming session where we unanimously decided to “reshore.” Here are the some of key benefits we identified: Lead time: First and foremost was a drastically-improved supply chain. We cut our average lead time in half while simultaneously gaining the ability to collaborate and monitor quality control at levels unprecedented for our company to date. Sales: A major portion of our work comes from collegiate athletic programs, and to be able to produce a sample in a week, as opposed to a month, made the sales process markedly easier. Customer retention: Customer satisfaction and retention rates also saw a substantial uptick, both of which are integral for...

By: Craig Barner, Forbes A number of recent initiatives, including a couple in the Midwest, are seeking to pump muscle into U.S. manufacturing as fresh data on industrial activity gives M&A professionals reason for optimism. The Institute for Supply Management announced that U.S. manufacturing picked up in January to its highest level in nine months, as new orders and employment improved. The organization’s index of national factory activity rose to 53.1 from 50.2 in December; a reading above 50 indicates expansion. Also, the Association of Manufacturing Technology announced that orders among member companies in December were at their highest level in 13 years and that it expects a 2012 total of $5.71 billion, an increase of 2.6 percent from 2011. Three investment bankers who focus on industrials said M&A could increase if U.S. manufacturing goes up. “I think it could spur activity,” said Robert Billow, a managing director at Billow Butler & Co., an investment bank in Chicago. In particular, defense, electronics and automation/material handling could see the biggest increases, he said. The initiative that has attracted the most interest from Wall Street is the Reshoring Initiative. The project, based in Kildeer, Illinois, aims to bring manufacturing jobs back to the U.S., said Harry Moser, president. A key element is to assist companies in assessing their total cost of offshoring and “shift collective thinking from ‘offshoring is cheaper’ to ‘local reduces the total cost of ownership,’” according to the RI’s mission statement. About 60 percent of manufactures apply a “rudimentary” model to assess the total cost of manufacturing products abroad, said Moser, an engineer who trained at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Such organizations ignore 20 percent or more of the total cost for offshoring, he said. A tool on the RI’s website, the Total Cost Estimator, allows users to create a free account, login and calculate their true costs of offshoring. “Three or four” unnamed investing organizations—including private equity and hedge funds—have asked Moser which companies could benefit from reshoring, he said. Also, BB&T asked Moser to speak at a conference about the reshoring concept, he said. Three other initiatives have yet to attract that kind of attention from the financial community but...