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REB Blogs

  • Employment prospects

    It seems that high unemployment rates will been around for a long time. That’s bad for everyone, but if you’re among the unfortunate many who are looking for a new job, it’s worse. And, while there will be no escaping the long discussions about jobs programs...
    1 hour, 26 minutes ago by REB to REB Blog
  • Supply chain snags

    Last week ended with some cheering economic news: the total U.S. economy grew by 5.7% in the fourth quarter of 2009 versus the third quarter. It was the fastest rate of quarterly growth since 2003 , and indicators show it was largely the effect of inventory...
    02-01-2010, 9:43 PM by REB to REB Blog
  • High-concept manufacturing

    Lots of smart people have been pondering the future of manufacturing lately, bringing forth big ideas about how to overcome its weaknesses and restore its dynamism. Generally, this is a good thing. Human nature needs inspiration, and aspiration. But,...
    01-26-2010, 9:34 AM by REB to REB Blog
  • Doing less with more

    Officially, the recession of 2008-2009 is over. Stock prices are rising, as is the overall level of industrial production. But, if the policymakers in the federal government and the Federal Reserve Bank think they’ve succeeded they are wrong: lingering...
    01-13-2010, 1:21 PM by REB to REB Blog
  • The clock is ticking

    The end of a year brings a certain degree of gloom. That’s certainly warranted in the various cases of foundries and diecasting plants that will not be around in 2010: happily, there are some of revivals to come in the near future, and there remains some...
    12-29-2009, 9:44 AM by REB to REB Blog
  • Stay clear

    A few weeks ago I listened to a presentation by a smart fellow from the Federal Reserve Bank, commenting on economic conditions and offering a few predictions. As an expert in industrial economics, he was confident that federal stimulus spending is working...
    12-22-2009, 9:46 AM by REB to REB Blog
  • Encouraging discouragement

    There is a very encouraging report from the Institute for Supply Management, anticipating a strong 2010 rebound in revenues for domestic manufacturers. Their survey of purchasing and supply-chain managers, conducted for the ISM’s December 2009 Semiannual...
    12-15-2009, 9:52 AM by REB to REB Blog
  • The human element

    Earlier this year it seemed to me that every time I turned on TV I saw the same annoying, manipulative commercial: a very large industrial company wanted viewers to know that making all sorts of chemicals, plastics, and who knows what, is just a bunch...
    12-08-2009, 7:39 AM by REB to REB Blog
  • Encouraging signs

    There are fragments of information available for anyone seeking insights about the direction of metalcasting for 2010. The frequency of news reports about plant closings is slowing, and there is a greater frequency of reports hinting at revival plans....
    11-29-2009, 9:21 PM by REB to REB Blog
  • Good for them

    Over two years ago I wrote a column scolding Ford Motor Co. for its decision then to close its metalcasting plants: it said they were not “core operations,” and my criticism was that Ford was being shortsighted. Last week Ford reported a third-quarter...
    11-10-2009, 11:45 AM by REB to REB Blog
  • Too late to change?

    A short report in Business Week prompted a series of thoughts, most of which I'm sure the writer never intended. His simple, but vast, premise is that "the age of transportation" ended in 1969, and that ever since then we've just been tweaking the already...
    10-21-2009, 4:07 PM by REB to REB Blog
  • Bottom dollar

    More than two years ago the Federal Reserve Bank made a historic cut in interest rates, causing the value of the U.S. dollar to drop decisively. It was striking because that move pushed the dollar into parity with the Canadian dollar, reversing a smug...
    10-13-2009, 11:20 AM by REB to REB Blog
  • The end of an idea

    The demise of Saturn was a surprise to me, though it shouldn’t have been one: the auto industry is at rock bottom, so finding investors to stake any venture in that sector is probably impossible. But, for the past 25 years Saturn represented something...
    10-04-2009, 10:05 PM by REB to REB Blog
  • Skills, not labor

    Labor Day was about a week ago, and I resisted the impulse then to comment on the “state” of labor : it’s too hard to be sympathetic about the significant number of job losses over the past year, while remaining realistic about the circumstances that...
    09-13-2009, 10:33 PM by REB to REB Blog
  • No victims here

    Headlines don’t seem to command as much attention as they once did, but the top item in the Wall Street Journal a week ago was welcome news to me. “Distressed Takeovers Soar,” (link requires registration) was the lead item on Tuesday. “It’s about time,”...
    08-17-2009, 11:30 PM by REB to REB Blog
  • Viability

    People who work in U.S. manufacturing worry almost constantly about the viability of domestic manufacturing. People who are not in manufacturing sense the anxiety, but they misunderstand the problem. A regular correspondent, who owns a manufacturing company...
    07-21-2009, 12:41 AM by REB to REB Blog
  • Out of their hands

    General Motors is out of bankruptcy, which is certainly good. If, and how soon, it will achieve anything resembling normal operations is doubtful. Finding a successful routine is going to be a difficult — note that GM’s Saginaw Metal Casting Operations...
    07-12-2009, 9:56 PM by REB to REB Blog
  • Legend in the making

    Henry Ford is not remembered for being easy to work with, and Alfred Sloan has various biographers cataloging his failings. While each of them was famously philanthropic, neither one was necessarily likeable. Their legacy is that they turned their visions...
    06-28-2009, 9:09 PM by REB to REB Blog
  • See you in court

    It was not any sort of clairvoyance that led me to warn about the supply-chain dissolution that is happening as a result of the automakers’ collapse. That this would happen was pretty obvious. Watching it all come apart is discouraging, to be sure. Now,...
    06-18-2009, 5:04 PM by REB to REB Blog
  • Save the apologies

    The coverage of General Motors and Chrysler Corp. in the past six months has been overwhelming, but it has not been too deep. The justification for federal aid to rescue these organizations from defaulting has been that they are critical to the manufacturing...
    06-08-2009, 8:12 AM by REB to REB Blog
  • A new chapter in bankruptcy

    This week, we’re told, we’ll (finally) see General Motors seek creditor protection — though that phrase ought to be retired along with various other assumptions about the methods and ethics of commerce. GM, and Chrysler, could have given creditors and...
    05-31-2009, 11:27 AM by REB to REB Blog
  • The right thing to do

    If I'm wrong, someone will e-mail me right away, but I expect almost every metalcaster will read this story and conclude that it's not all that unusual: a foundry that makes an effort to honor the memory of soldiers and Marines killed battle is just doing...
    05-26-2009, 12:22 PM by REB to REB Blog
  • Time, money, talent

    I used to worry a lot about whether I’d made the right choices… whether I’d ever be successful… whether my talent would ever be recognized. Someone I trusted advised me that “time is money,” and that I’d better be ready to make a choice between the two....
    05-17-2009, 9:28 PM by REB to REB Blog
  • Truth, justice

    If you decided to rest or relax over the weekend, you might have missed this profile of someone you might know , published Saturday. In my opinion, John A. Ulizio is a hero. He's an American hero, surely, but also a hero to anyone who regards truth as...
    05-04-2009, 1:10 PM by REB to REB Blog
  • ESOP fables

    If you only have time to read one column about the new rescue plans for General Motors and Chrysler, read this one . The writer quickly lays out the developments in the industry over the past three decades, explaining how the current situation has been...
    04-29-2009, 9:51 PM by REB to REB Blog
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