RIMA News February 2019
Wishing You Success This Month...
Happy New Year!

 Our job here at RIMA is to give you, the manufacturers, the ability and resources to continue and compete and grow among others in the industry.

We are excited to share a number of upcoming events and stories with you!
New NAM Outlook Survey:
2018 Marks Highest Year of Manufacturer Optimism on Record Following
Tax and Regulatory Reform
The majority of manufacturers (88.7 percent) have a positive outlook of their businesses, putting the average for 2018 at 92.4 percent-the highest annual average in the survey's 20-year history. Optimism among small manufacturers remained high at 87.9 percent. Manufacturers expect strong growth rates in employee wages (2.3 percent), capital investments (2.6 percent) and sales (4.3 percent) over the next 12 months.

As for manufacturers' concerns:
Attracting and retaining a quality workforce remained manufacturers' top concern (68.2 percent). More than one in four manufacturers has turned down new business opportunities due to this shortage of workers. Increased raw material costs and trade uncertainties marked the second- and third-largest challenges for manufacturers, at 65.1 percent and 60.4 percent, respectively.
Keep checking our events page to keep updated on new events and upcoming registration information!
**** Member Spotlight ****
This Month's Member in the Spotlight...
THE APOGEE design team is focused on your individual needs and requirements to insure that every aspect of your custom project will be handled with the highest degree of professionalism. We offer a unique process that insures the highest quality product at the most competitive price and our staff understands the importance of a working relationship with our customers to guarantee their complete satisfaction. You will be extremely pleased with our knowledge and unmatched quality due to decades of experience in drawing refractory metals including Precious Metals, Tantalum, Niobium, Zirconium and Titanium cans and cups.
 
WE CAN MANUFACTURE IN A VARIETY OF MATERIAL
TO SUIT ANY PROJECT, YOU MAY HAVE INCLUDING:
Copper and its alloys including Brass & Nickel Silver
Nickel and its alloys including F15, 52 alloy, 42 alloy, 42-6, Iconel & Stainless Steel
Refractory metals including Tantalum, Niobium, Titanium and Zirconium
Cold Rolled Steel
Aluminum, Beryllium Copper and Precious Metals

Apogee's exclusive cleaning system is a green system that does not utilize water, thereby eliminating water spots and leaving zero residue. The achieved results will resolve your cleaning issues and leave nothing but clean parts. Customers like Derek, a Process Engineer state, “Apogee is an excellent provider of stamped metal components and they have the capability to permanently resolve our cleaning problems and provide us with the best quality components on a timely basis. If you value clean parts, then you will be amazed by the results they achieve”.

APOGEE PRECISION PARTS have a complete tool room including a wire EDM allowing us to create and maintain all our own tools in-house. Our multi-station transfer press department consisting of U.S. Baird and Waterbury- Farrel presses along with several light stamping presses offers us the capability to do single operations or progressive die work up to 400 tons.
 
RIMA AWARDS DINNER
A GREAT SUCCESS AGAIN…..

Rhode Island Manufacturers Association
recently held their 2 nd Annual Awards dinner
on January 23rd. RIMA recognized
the contributions of Russell Boss, Brad Boss
and Alfonso Townsend Cross. 
The three recipients were awarded the
Henry D. Sharpe Jr. Lifetime Achievement Award
for their efforts in support of
manufacturing in Rhode Island.
Ron and Brad made Rhode Island the home
of a global writing instrument company. 

They formed a team that brought A.T.Cross great success. 
Local vendors and their employees was the base upon which the company grew. 
The awards dinner was held at the Squantum Association and was sold out. 
Significant Spending Trends for 2019
  • Gardner Intelligence, the research arm of Gardner Business Media, has released the 2019 Capital Spending Survey, which projects accelerating growth for the machine tool market next year. In it, Gardner Intelligence sees machine tool consumption increasing 11 percent to $7.748 billion in 2019, following smaller growth in the preceding two years. In 2018, machine tool prices rose, and delivery times lengthened, a trend that is likely to continue given the planned spending by machine shops detailed in the report. In 2019, job shops are projected to spend roughly $2.2 billion on machine tools, more than twice as much as any other end market.
  • The machinery/equipment and automotive end markets plan to spend roughly $1 billion apiece next year. Job shops, machinery/equipment and automotive, which are the top three industry end-market categories, will account for approximately 60 percent of machine tool consumption. Planned spending in aerospace, pumps/valves/plumbing products, electronics/computers/telecommunications and forming/fabricating (non-auto) industries should slightly exceed $400 million. These seven industries combined are projected to consume nearly 80 percent of all machine tools purchased in 2019.
Institute For Supply Management
According to the Institute for Supply Management® (ISM®), manufacturing activity rebounded strongly in November after falling to a six-month low in October. The indices for new orders and production once again exceeded 60—a threshold suggesting robust expansion—and employment and inventory growth also accelerated. The sample comments continue to cite workforce shortages as a primary concern, mirroring the results of the NAM’s Manufacturers’ Outlook Survey.

Manufacturers added 27,000 workers in November, with 288,000 employees generated in the sector over the past 12 months. That translates into 24,000 workers per month added in the manufacturing sector over the past year—a healthy pace that speaks to the strength in the economy and the overall outlook. The unemployment rate registered 3.7 percent for the third straight month, remaining the lowest since December 1969.
U.S. Factory Gauge Tumbles by Most Since 2008
The Institute for Supply Management index dropped to a two-year low of 54.1, missing all estimates in Bloomberg's survey, data showed Thursday. All five main components declined, led by new orders slumping the most in almost five years and the steepest slide for production since early 2012.

Employment, delivery and inventory gauges fell, and ISM said just 11 of 18 industries reported growth in December, the fewest in two years. The index compiled from a survey of manufacturers has tumbled sharply from a 14-year high in August, though it remains above the 50 dividing line between expansion and contraction.

The 5.2-point drop from the prior month has been exceeded just twice this century, both times during recessions: in the financial crisis a decade ago and following the Sept. 11, 2001, terror attack. Such weakness adds to signs that President Trump's trade war and a fading lift from fiscal stimulus are weighing on American producers.
Written by Mike Flaherty

Supply Chain threats come from a multitude of factors including economic, judicial, political, environmental, or societal to name a few. Availability of raw materials due to limited resources, fire destroying a sole-source supplier facility, change in public sentiment towards your product can cripple a portion of your operation, or seize the operation entirely for an extended period of time.

Through appropriate risk management initiatives and a thoughtful evaluation process, the long-term impacts of a disruption in your supply chain can be minimized. Contact Marsh & McLennan Agency today to see how we can help mitigate your needs.
Industry Week News
Workforce Shortage Issue 2019
In fact, according to research conducted by Deloitte and The Manufacturing Institute, over the next ten years, manufacturers will likely need to add 4.6 million manufacturing jobs- 2.4 million of which may go unfilled. It's already happening. Today, more than 500,000 manufacturing jobs remain vacant in the United States. To address worker shortages, more manufacturers are encouraging potential retirees to stay on, enticing them with flexible schedules, job sharing, short work weeks, and work-from-home opportunities.

U.S. manufacturers are looking to the German apprenticeship model, in which students spend about 50-70% of their class time gaining hands-on experience working at companies. When trying to recruit new hires, some would argue that a perception gap, not a skills gap, may be manufacturing's biggest problem.

According to research from Deloitte, the National Association of Manufacturers, and the Manufacturing Institute, less than 5 in 10 Americans surveyed "believe manufacturing jobs are interesting, rewarding, clean, safe, stable, and secure.
The Hidden Threat to Your Network
By Michael Rudnick

There is one threat to your network that the most cutting-edge firewall, anti-virus, and backups cannot protect you from. This threat is the biggest cause of data breaches and ransomware across all businesses and it’s an element of cybersecurity everyone forgets: your employees.

Leaving the Door Unlocked
You can have the best locks on your doors, the toughest steel doors leading outside, small windows with bars on them, and a security guard who patrols the building. But if one of your employees leaves an exterior door propped open while they go on a smoke break, none of your security really matters.

Ironically, people are the least secure part of any security system, and that includes cybersecurity. If you have a good firewall and anti-virus in place, a hacker’s next target will be your employees.

The hackers might send phishing emails, emails that look legitimate (such as a UPS package notification) to try to get the employee to click on them. Once they click the link, they’re taken to a nefarious site and a virus is downloaded onto the machine. Or they’ll try and get the employee to log into a fake banking website to steal their login credentials.

The Best Defense is Vigilance
The only way to keep your employees safe is to give them the tools to keep them safe. Cybersecurity training is a must for any organization. Once employees know what threats are out there and what they look like, they can avoid them or flag them for your IT consultant. As we say at RCC, the best defense against any cyberattack is being vigilant against it.

Of course, this training should be ongoing. Threats are constantly changing, and your employees need to be aware of how to look for these threats. They don’t need to be IT experts but every single one of your employees should be able to spot a suspicious email, link or website on their computer.

Good Cybersecurity Comes from the Top Down
Once you have cybersecurity training available to your staff, you should make sure they take the training; otherwise there is no point in having it. The only way to get staff to take your company’s cybersecurity seriously is if you and your leadership take it seriously. Set goals around taking the training. Offer incentives for scoring the highest. Make sure your employees have time available to take the training. Make sure you are taking the training and meeting those goals as well!

If you need help determining your downtime costs or are concerned about your backups, please contact RCC at (401) 272-9262 or go to www.RCC-pcSupport.com
Thank You To Our 2019 Sponsors!
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Why Join RIMA?
We Advocate for Manufacturing
  • Let RIMA keep you informed on the local, state and federal levels critical issues
  • Ensure your concerns are being raised with government leaders of our state
We Promote Economic Improvement
  • We offer networking opportunities to our members
  • We promote and support a more competitive business climate
  • We collaborate with like-minded organizational partners to amplify our cross-industry interests throughout the state
We Help Solve Problems
  • A clearinghouse of information:
  • We connect you with local suppliers and potential customers
  • We can elevate your legislation and regulatory concerns to public officials
We Support Education and Workforce Development
  • RIMA's partner, WeMakeRI, develops career, education programs to help companies identify and secure talented workers through certified apprentice programs