I’ve written before about counterfeit goods and the impact they have on brand owners and legitimate manufacturers worldwide. By now we’re all well aware of China’s reputation as the seat of counterfeit manufacturing. It’s been easy to point fingers at the Chinese government for standing idly by, but this past week, I walked into a confusing roller coaster of contradictions that changed my view...

Last week, a reported 1,500 people from the steel industry gathered in the Sheraton Hotel in midtown Manhattan to discuss steel industry trends. The agenda for the meeting really reflected today’s realities, especially for U.S. steel makers. The topics must have produced much controversy during the day, but the sparks really flew on Tuesday night...

As unlikely as it may seem, one time supply chain software kingpin i2 Technologies Inc. is showing some signs of life. Recently, the company reported that it had received $66.4 million in order bookings during its first fiscal quarter...

During his presentation Thursday at Managing Automation’s fourth-annual Progressive Manufacturing Summit in Las Vegas, Rexam CIO Paul Martin described his company’s plans of attack for implementing best practices across the organization. It’s perhaps not particularly surprising that the world’s largest aluminum can manufacturer actively engages in, as Martin said, a “relentless pursuit of operational excellence” in all areas of the business, from financial lean and Six Sigma practices to best-in-class IT processes, and from the supply chain to the factory floor. 

In the 1970s futurist Alvin Toffler predicted in his book Future Shock that we would be living life at an accelerated pace in the 21st century. Now it’s upon us, and boy, was he right...

A lot of people say we're heading for a workforce crisis. We aren't graduating enough engineers to fill the manufacturing ranks of the future, which will increasingly call for their services. We're in for a massive retirement of Baby Boomers,

Last week, I traveled to Grand Rapids, Michigan, to keynote PowerPlex 2008, the annual user conference for customers of Plexus Systems, a developer of on demand ERP and other software for manufacturers. It didn't hit me until I landed at

Not long ago we were reading and writing a lot about the notion of convergence between the worlds of telecommunications and computing. The notion was that these two once separate domains would come together, combining the benefits...

Given the fact that Mother's Day is just around the corner, I thought it would be appropriate to acknowledge another MOM that's made a huge difference in the industry. Manufacturing Operations Management (MOM), otherwise known as manufacturing execution systems (MES),

While U.S. manufacturers brace themselves against the latest wave of bad economic news, manufacturers based in other parts of the world could stand to benefit from some of the factors giving American companies the shakes. So says Germany based supply

What should a manufacturing executive make of the mercurial history and cloudy future of RFID technology? One day (and in one publication) the outlook's sunny, the next barcodes are predicted to live forever, and their cousin, RFID,

We know that this year’s crop of Presidential candidates isn’t really all that interested in manufacturing. Now it appears that they aren’t that interested in science either. An editorial in The Wall Street Journal yesterday ...

If you, like me, are a relatively frequent flyer, the turmoil currently surrounding major U.S. airlines has got to leave you more than a little unnerved. American Airlines, Southwest Airlines, and others, in recent weeks, have cancelled scores or hundreds

If you go to the EPA's website, you'll see a big banner at the top of the page promoting Earth Day on April 22nd, a worldwide campaign to protect the environment. Good stuff, indeed. But rather ironic considering the reason I

The reality of global supply chains in the aerospace and defense industry hit full force in the mainstream media in late February when the U.S. Air Force announced that a consortium led by Northrop Grumman and the European Aeronautic Defence & Space Company, the parent company of Airbus, beat out Boeing for a $35 billion tanker aircraft contract.

I agree that Aerospace is truly global now and that our trade with other countries in this industry is pretty good. This reminds me of the debate over the Presidential Helicopter. I am concerned about losing out technical and engineering edge. Can we direct some of that lobbying money to improving our designs and operations?

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I've written before about product piracy and the sellers who ply the trade on eBay. But I hadn't searched eBay for evidence until now.There's a lot of it.I found PLC programming software from Mitsubishi Electric. A GE Fanuc PLC training console.

Recently I took advantage of an opportunity to visit the Dia Art Foundation museum in Beacon, NY. This place, as anyone who's been there knows, is spectacular in several ways. It's a large, naturally lit space that is able to accommodate very large works by artists such as Richard Serra, Andy Warhol, and Louise Bourgeois. The vision of these artists, expressed on a large scale, is inspiring.

Last night I was lost in New York City. All you native New Yorkers are gasping in horror, I'm sure. I can hear you now, "It's so easy! It's just a grid of streets. You can go uptown or downtown, or to the east side or the west side. How in the world could you get lost?"

Well, this Bostonian did. I eventually found my way, but it was a very inefficient process.