The Manufacturing Industry Blog

Hello!  I have been asked to take over this Manufacturing Blog from my colleague Lynette McTigue.  I have to say it is a very remarkable time to be discussing Manufacturing! There is so much in the news today. Who would have thought GM would ever declare bankruptcy or Chrysler would go to the Italians (Fiat).

Xerox is also facing some exciting times with Ursula Burns taking the helm from Anne Mulcahy next month. I actually started working with Xerox manufacturing not too long after Ursula did.   First in a selling role with Digital Equipment selling manufacturing systems, and then having actually joined the company to work as a production engineer and in operations.  I even had visions of becoming a plant manager at one point but then ended up on a different path.

It is also interesting how the focus from when I worked in the factory has evolved to many of the issues we discuss today.  One obvious example is sustainability – although we really didn’t use the word “sustainability” to describe this before – the environmental focus was clearly there.   Back in the early 90’s I was part of a team at Xerox that worked on improving our re-manufacturing process, meaning we re-used most parts from machines that were returned (when clients upgraded to newer models), so they did not end up in a land fill.   Today we not only continue our environmental focus in our factories, but have designed products that utilize less power, and generate significantly less waste from packaging throughout their life cycle, greatly reducing our customer’s environmental impact.

As an industry marketer for Xerox, focusing on the manufacturing industries, I work with our major manufacturing clients, consultants and sales teams and see first hand the challenges our clients are facing and what is working for them.   In this blog I look forward to exploring current manufacturing issues, trends, and challenges, sharing ideas and hearing from you.

Today, The Wall Street Journal reported that oil prices slipped slightly as the dollar continues to lose ground.  Additionally, the world is hoping that OPEC increases oil production as an outcome of the December 5^th meeting.  No industry is hoping for this reprieve more than the U.S. chemical industry.

The chemical industry is considered the backbone of American manufacturing.  According to a recent survey by the National Association of Manufacturers, AMR Research and The Manufacturing Institute, over 55% of U.S. manufacturers are significantly dependent on the chemical industry for basic chemicals, synthetics, paints and coatings, etc. that are used in almost everything from auto parts, to pharmaceuticals to diapers.

In a WSJ recent article on Dow Chemical, the CEO, Andrew N. Liveris discussed the difficulties in getting organizations and the government to understand the issues engulfing the chemical industry.  U.S. industries continue to collide over responsibility surrounding energy usage, pricing and costs, and without resolution, more and more chemical companies will be forced to move offshore.  Over time, Dow has closed 20 plants, and chemical companies no longer build in the
United States.  None of the 80 planned new builds are in the U.S.

U.S. manufacturers will be squeezed by cost pressures associated with the chemical industry cost burden.   Without help on the issue, it becomes difficult to manufacture profitably from a U.S. base.  As I have mentioned in a previous post, Growth of the U.S. Manufacturing Industry, innovation and entrepreneurship will remain in the
U.S., but the manufacturing operations will move offshore to remain competitively priced.