We’ve got a real problem on our hands in America. A gap’s growing between US manufacturing workers set to retire in the next 10 to 15 years and those on the other end of the spectrum. Despite the exciting and innovative things happening in the industry, millennials’ outdated perception of shop-floor jobs increasingly precludes them from following the career path. And Gen-Z, thumb deep in their smartphones, face an even more significant disconnect. Read more
In the United States, American-made products are highly regarded, with good reason, as they obviously boost the local economy as opposed to foreign-made products. However, are all the domestic-brand vehicles really assembled with components sourced from the United States? That’s what the Kogod School of Business figured out. Read more
Softwear Automation, in collaboration with Georgia Tech, continues to work on technology that will allow robots, referred to as sewbots, to manipulate fabrics through traditional sewing machines to create clothing. Read more
Good news for U.S. manufacturers: stateside production and employment opportunities are on the rise.
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New orders for U.S.-made goods increased for a second straight month in January, suggesting the manufacturing sector recovery was gaining momentum as rising prices for commodities spur demand for machinery. Read more
Japanese display maker Sharp Corp may start building a $7 billion plant in the United States in the first half of 2017, taking the lead on a project initially outlined by its Taiwanese parent Foxconn, a person with knowledge of the plan said. Read more
By the time the Chicago Cubs won the World Series for the first time in 108 years this month, Paul Roell was already asleep. He did not stay up to see Barack Obama win the presidency in 2008, or watch in 2000 as the margin of votes separating George W. Bush and Al Gore in Florida shrank to the vanishing point. Read more
I remember when China started being a real threat to U.S. moldmakers and molders in the early to mid-1990s, and all I heard was talk of how cheap China’s labor was and how it would be impossible for U.S. manufacturers to compete. Read more
General Electric runs two plants in a small New Hampshire town just south of the state’s capital, employing 800 workers. GE Aviation is the largest employer in town, with skilled workers building jet engines for the world’s major airlines, reports ABC News. Read more
International trade agreements: It is remarkable that the one thing leading presidential candidates of both parties agree is bad is the one thing mainstream economists agree is good. Read more
The final Chicago-made Oreo cookies rolled off the line Friday, ending the iconic cookie’s decadeslong run of delighting hometown consumers and providing good-paying union jobs on the Southwest Side.
The Chicago plant will continue to make other products, like BelVita breakfast biscuits and Mini Chips Ahoy cookies. Oreo cookies will continue to be made at three other plants in the U.S. — just not at the brick bakery at 7300 S. Kedzie Ave. The shutdown of the Oreo lines is part of Mondelez International’s plan to shift some of its production to Mexico. Last summer the company said it would be laying off about half of the Chicago bakery’s 1,200 workers; many of them are already gone.
Russell Dyer, vice president of global communications for Mondelez, confirmed via email that the end of Oreo’s run in Chicago was Friday but emphasized that the company remains committed to the Chicago plant and production in the U.S. more generally.
“(The Chicago) bakery will continue to play an important role in our manufacturing network, and we continue to invest in capabilities, technologies and infrastructure upgrades,” Dyer said.
That’s little consolation to some longtime employees who’ve seen the workforce dwindle over the years. Herman Owens, 57, worked at the plant for 38 years, following in the footsteps of his father, General Owens, who worked at the plant for more than 40 years. Herman Owens, who retired earlier this month, recalled visiting the bakery as a boy.
“They tasted a lot better to me then than they do now,” Owens said. “I think it’s a doggone shame what they’re doing, shutting down lines and shipping jobs to Mexico. It’s a disgrace.”
Since last summer, the decision to lay off 600 workers and move the lines to Mexico has sparked various union-led protests, lawsuits, a boycott of Mexico-made Oreos and rhetoric on the presidential campaign trail. Last August, Donald Trump vowed to never eat another Oreo because the company is “closing a factory in Chicago and they’re moving to Mexico.”
In interviews since then, Mondelez CEO Irene Rosenfeld has advised the presumptive GOP presidential nominee to get his facts straight.
Members of the Bakery, Confectionery, Tobacco Workers and Grain Millers International Union, which represents the majority of those being laid off, are still working without a contract as the union and the company have so far been unable to reach compromise in contract negotiations. The bakers union has meanwhile mounted a boycott of Mexican-made Oreos and a related social media campaign.
Oreo production in Chicago dates to 1953, making it one of the longest-running facilities churning out the cookies in the Mondelez network of bakeries, said Mondelez spokeswoman Laurie Guzzinati. The cookie was first made in New York City in 1912.
Over the years, the Oreo brand has achieved and sustained enormous popularity worldwide. It sells in more than 100 countries and last year brought in almost $2.9 billion in global sales.
In making the decision, Mondelez executives said they could save $46 million a year by installing the so-called “lines of the future” in Salinas, Mexico, rather than Chicago. The move is in line with Mondelez’s recent efforts to increase margins in its developed markets while pushing for growth in emerging markets.
Mondelez, a $30 billion company, came into existence when Kraft Foods split into two publicly traded companies in 2012. The spun-off North American grocery business, Kraft Foods Group, later merged with Heinz to become Kraft Heinz.
SOURCE: Chicago Tribune
The concept of “Made in America” is slowly giving way to “Made by China … in America,” as Chinese investors are increasingly snatching up U.S.-based companies and assets and raising the eyebrows of some regulators and market spectators. Read more
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On January 25, 2016, the Peterson Institute for International Economics (PIIE) released a report on the TPP (Trans-Pacific Partnership) trade agreement. The Coalition for a Prosperous America (CPA) promptly released their commentary on the Peterson Institute report the same day, which was based on oral and written testimony CEO Michael Stumo had given to the U. S. International Trade Commission on January 15, 2016. Read more
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“American manufacturing is back!” breathlessly exclaim the ebullient cheerleaders in locales such as Forbes and the Boston Consulting Group. But while U.S. manufacturing may have bounced back slightly from Great Recession-lows, the reality is that America’s manufacturing recovery remains tenuous. On this National Manufacturing Day, policymakers can and should be doing much more to stimulate the growth and competitiveness of America’s manufacturing economy. Read more
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