Recently, I received an e-mail from a U.S. electrical products company warning me that, on Oct. 15, the tariff on power supplies and power cords imported to the U.S. from China would increase from 25 percent to 30 percent.
Not many CEOs become household names. Looking at the current Fortune 100, I came up with just three: Jeff Bezos of Am-azon, Mark Zuckerberg of Facebook, and Michael Dell of Dell, the latter only because I stare at a Dell laptop all week.
On July 15, the United Auto Workers formally began talks with Ford, General Motors and Fiat Chrysler on a new four-year contract. It was all smiles and handshakes to start, but negotiations will surely get testy before the current contract expires Sept. 14.
Even in a good economy, most governors would welcome plans by a Fortune 100 corporation to build a new factory in their state, and create more than 500 manufacturing jobs. Arizona Gov. Doug Ducey, however, was not so sure.
In April, Ford Motor Co. announced that it would stop selling the Taurus, Fusion, Fiesta and C-Max passenger cars, leaving only the Mustang to be sold in North America.
Some 12,838,000 million Americans held manufacturing jobs in April 2019. That's 12 percent more than in April 2010, it's the highest total since December 2008.
In my March editorial, I discussed the impact of steel and aluminum tariffs on assemblers of steel and aluminum products. However, another constituency has also been affected by tariffs: U.S. consumers.
Data analytics, augmented reality, generative design, artificial intelligence, cobots, additive manufacturing and other technologies are already helping manufacturers increase efficiency, reduce downtime, lower prices, differentiate themselves in the marketplace, and improve service, delivery and quality.
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