Economy

Every day, it happens. Someone from Houston calls, or maybe San Francisco, peddling precision-machined parts from China. Then there are the emails from people with fake names—like Lily, Annie and Susan—overflowing my inbox with offers of low part costs and excellent service. Please, China, I don’t want to buy machined parts from you. No metal stampings. No plastic injection molds or 3D-printed prototypes. And at the risk of offending those who do, you shouldn’t either.

"Politics weighs more heavily on foreign companies in China than it has in nearly three decades," writes Joe McDonald, an Associated Press business writer. "The latest flashpoint was Beijing's fury last week at hotel keeper Marriott and other companies that labeled self-ruled Taiwan a country on websites or customer materials. But companies face pressure on many sides from President Xi Jinping's more nationalistic stance and twin campaigns to tighten the ruling Communist Party's political control and have it play a direct role in business."

Like most businesses, manufacturing is subject to cycles of stagnation and acceleration. Historically, improved manufacturing has led to the growth of the service sector, which in turn has led to a diminished manufacturing base. Manufacturers will no longer be able to produce a “one size fits all” product and hope the buying public will respond. Consumer input will be required, and processes will have to be adaptable to quickly respond to changes in demand.

Manufacturers are optimistic about what 2018 will bring, according to a survey. Jensen Werley of BizWest Media LLC writes that one of the three main areas of priority is talent and that half of participants said they expect to increase hiring despite the top barrier to growth being a labor shortage. The most important strategies for attracting and retaining talent are listed as increasing compensation packages, conducting internal training and apprenticeships, developing strategies to reduce turnover and being more deliberate about succession planning.

Good news about the manufacturing economy was shared with members of the United States Cutting Tool Institute who attended the trade association’s fall meeting, held Oct. 7-9 in Coeur d’Alene, Idaho.

In a clear echo of the 'Rosie the Riveter' campaign of WWII, manufacturing organizations in 2017 are striving to let women know that their talents are needed, the work is important and rewarding, and unlike in their grandparents' time, the jobs are permanent.

Economic activity in the manufacturing sector expanded in December, and the overall economy grew for the 103rd consecutive month, say the nation’s supply executives in the latest Manufacturing ISM Report on Business. The December Purchasing Managers' Index registered 59.7 percent, an increase of 1.5 percentage points from the November reading of 58.2 percent. This indicates growth in manufacturing for the 16th consecutive month, led by strong expansion in new orders and production, with hiring growing at a slower rate and supplier deliveries continuing to struggle.

In addition to helping counteract any automation-caused unemployment, writes Brad Jones for the website Futurism, a universal basic income could provide a huge boost to the U.S. economy. A study from the Roosevelt Institute predicts that 8 years of universal basic income would result in a $2.48 trillion increase in the nation's gross domestic product.

As reported in The Wall Street Journal, nearly 200 parents of high school students in Fort Collins, Colo., recently gathered for “Parents’ Night.” Their children, they were told, could have great, well-paying careers while being “the next generation of makers.” The venue? Woodward Inc., an engine and equipment components plant looking for ways to line up the next generation of employees amid a dearth of manufacturing workers nationwide. “We’re really trying to get after the parents—the parents are influential with their kids,” said Keith Korasick, Woodward’s vice president of operations, who started as a machinist there 26 years ago. “Our message to the parents was, ‘There’s another option.’ You can’t have everybody be a lawyer.”

The unemployment rate in the manufacturing industry for private wage and salary workers is at its lowest point in 17 years, reports the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis. November had a rate of 2.6 percent unemployment, down from a high of 13 percent in January 2010 and the lowest since 3.1 percent in June 2000.