Travelers staying at any of Marriott’s nearly 3,000 U.S. hotels may notice a little something different in their guest rooms in the coming year. Read more
On February 4, 2016, President Obama signed the Trans Pacific Partnership Agreement on behalf of the United States. The TPP agreement has been in negotiation behind closed doors since 2010 between the United States and 11 other countries around the Pacific Rim: Australia, Brunei, Canada, Chile, Japan, Malaysia, Mexico, New Zealand, Peru, Singapore, and Vietnam. The TPP is a “docking agreement” so other countries could be added without the approval of Congress. India, China, and Korea have expressed interest in joining the TPP.
WASHINGTON (AP) — The vast majority of Americans say they prefer lower prices instead of paying a premium for items labeled Made in USA, even if it means those cheaper items are made abroad, according to an Associated Press-GfK poll. Read more
HIGHER EDUCATION The importance of manufacturing to our economic well-being is not a mystery to the manufacturing industry. But how can we get today’s youth to see the value of a manufacturing career? Read more
The stream of millions of U.S. jobs going overseas has stopped, according to a report from the Chicago-based Reshoring Initiative. Read more
Advanced manufacturing technologies are helping to push the United States back toward being the most competitive manufacturing nation in the world, according to a new survey of global CEOs and other senior executives. Read more
Walmart is facing a “perfect storm” that’s hurting its sales growth, according to Moody’s. Read more
Too many American companies base decisions about how to source manufacturing largely on narrow financial criteria, never taking into account the potential strategic value of domestic locations. Proposals for plants are treated like any other investment proposal and subjected to strict return hurdles. Tax, regulatory, intellectual property, and political considerations may also figure heavily in the conversation. But executives, viewing manufacturing mainly as a cost center, give short shrift to the impact that outsourcing or offshoring it may have on a company’s capacity to innovate. Indeed, most don’t consider manufacturing to be part of a company’s innovation system at all. Read more
