January 2009 - Posts

• Is there a plan here?

  The news this week that Indianapolis Casting Corp. will be closing in July is not a big surprise. But, while it seems like a resolution, it actually raises several questions about automotive metalcasting in North America. Since 2007, when Ford Motor Co. Read More... Posted Friday, January 30, 2009 3:23 PM by REB | 0 Comments

• Waiting for the pay off

  While there are many, many issues to be addressed about our financial mess, no one would argue that most of the difficult problems would resolve themselves if the economy were growing. Growth, as I’ve written before , is the only way out of our decline. Read More... Posted Friday, January 23, 2009 2:10 PM by REB | 1 Comments

• Gaining perspective

  It started with aluminum foundries and diecasters and lately the list of metalcasters cutting jobs and scaling back operations includes many more ferrous foundries. While business conditions are bad for everyone, it seems that the auto industry’s downsizing Read More... Posted Thursday, January 15, 2009 4:41 PM by REB | 0 Comments

• Job numbers

  It wasn’t really news this week when Alcoa confirmed it will sell its cast automotive wheels business: local news reports in Wisconsin had already revealed that Alcoa told workers there that their plant will close June 30 . Besides, Alcoa has been pulling Read More... Posted Sunday, January 11, 2009 9:06 PM by REB | 0 Comments

• The bigger picture

  This column today offers a useful perspective to the standard anxiety about the auto industry — which is that for all the serious problems plaguing Chrysler, Ford, and General Motors, there is also a worldwide economic crisis underway, which has snuffed Read More... Posted Monday, January 05, 2009 9:00 AM by REB | 0 Comments