Bob Vavra

Productivity is down, and that's not good...
March 5, 2008

1: This is officially bad news: We use the ‘R’ word in the March issue of Plant Engineering, and here’s why: Among the manufacturing measures that have held up fairly well in the past two years has been worker productivity. According to this article, productivity dropped in December. Labor costs are now rising faster than productivity, and that trend has to be reversed.

2. A tale of two plants in Mississippi: One facility is shutting down, putting 150 workers out of a job. Another is opening just down the road to service the new Toyota auto plant being built. The world is starting to reshuffle the deck, and we seem content to sit back and let someone else deal…

3. While at American Axle… The two-week strike is starting to take its toll on production at other facilities. I’m not sure that with the myriad other problems, an auto parts strike is the best idea right now, but workers appear ready to cig in their heels on this one.

4. One industry still growing… We may be able to make our cars last a long time (mine is on six years and still sputtering along) but one thing we’ll always need is food. Maybe not frozen food, per se, but the folks at Nestle’ are expanding in Arkansas, and that’s a good sign.

5. Here comes the sun – and the wind: If you’re going to build a solar manufacturing plant, it ought to be in a place where the sun is not blocked out by tall buildings or smog. That makes Albuquerque (one of my favorite city names to type) a logical choice. And if you’re going to build a wind turbine plant, it’s a good idea to pick a place with wide open spaces. Butte, MT certainly qualifies. So what’s taking so long on adopting solar and wind energy for our manufacturing facilities?

Posted by Bob Vavra on March 5, 2008 | Comments (0)