Blog! Five Fast Things for January 22, 2007

1. Cross purposes? The CEOs of several major American manufacturers are calling for President Bush to support pollution control changes that affect climate change. This puts the CEOs of companies such as Alcoa, DuPont, Caterpillar and G.E. in direct conflict with the National Association of Manufacturers, which apparently believes global warming and climate change from pollution are myths . This all comes on the even of the State of the Union address Tuesday, which is also the same day as the Academy Awards nominations are announced. Guess what’s up for Best Documentary? Al Gore’s “ An Inconvenient Truth .” Tuesday will be an interesting day.

2. Convenient truths: Plant Engineering will look in-depth at the issue of energy efficiency at its Manufacturing Summit, April 2-3 in Chicago. Registration is now open online. The event will also celebrate the 2006 Top Plant and Product of the Year winners. To register, click here .

3. Bear down: We’re a little excited around these parts, as the Chicago Bears have earned the right to play in Super Bowl XLI. Here’s what it felt like — except for the cold. We understand

4. Survey on service and maintenance contracts: Plant Engineering magazine and The Aberdeen Group are seeking feedback from plant management personnel to determine what strategies and approaches top service organizations use to grow service revenues and boost profits with their service and maintenance contract offerings. All respondents will receive a free copy of the benchmark study, Service and Maintenance Contract Management: Ensuring Service Chain Profitability, due out in February 2007. All individual responses will be kept strictly confidential. To participate in this free survey, go to www.aberdeen.com/survey/contractmgmt_g

5. Inside the Salary Survey: Take an in-depth look at this year’s Plant Engineering Salary Survey. The full survey is available here and our expanded online edition is available by clicking here.

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