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News from Worker Development, Industry, the Economy, Education, Science, and much more! |
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Piece-Part Incentives Gone Wrong |
by Dean Prigelmeier, President of Proactive Technologies, Inc.
Sometimes we are tempted to take the easy route, even though it may cost more in the end, offer much less on the path to the desired outcome or cause us to repeat the effort another way. Shallow analyses and shortcuts often lead to unintended consequences. Changes to weaken metrics to convince us, or others, that progress is better than reality only postpones solutions to the underlying challenge. Too often we are focused on the search for a solution to a symptom and not the problem. The example I am about to share represents all of these tendencies.
As a Quality Control Line Inspector at an aerospace manufacturing facility in my early years, one of my first assignments was to in-process inspect work samples from several rows of NC Lathes, Mills and Grinders. I was assigned there with the implicit instructions to be on the look-out for “problems” identified by management: decreased quality yield, substantially high rates of scrap and rework, which lead to increased worker costs and lower returns. The proposed solution was more rigorous quality inspection of parts in-process before they became a component of an expensive sub-assembly or assembly.
While making my rounds, meeting the operators and inspecting samples, it seemed I was seeing evidence that management identified the “problem” correctly. I say problem, but my feeling was that I had not gotten to the root cause of what I was observing. I was rejecting parts at nearly every work station, on every pass. I decided to dig a little deeper – get to know the operators a little better to see if I could determine why this was happening.
What I found out was that the operators were, for the most part, experienced and knowledgeable. They knew how to measure their products and should have been able to detect parts drifting out of tolerance. Yet, each station had two barrels - one for scrap and one for rework – as if it were foregone conclusion. And they were working at a very high rate of output with, voluntarily, no breaks or lunch. The effort expended seemed to run counter to the outcome. Read More
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How Start-Ups and Joint Ventures Can Benefit from Structured On-The-Job Training |
by Stacey Lett, Director of Operations - Eastern U.S. - Proactive Technologies, Inc.
A article in a previous issue of the Proactive Technologies Report entitled “ Enterprise Expansion/Contraction and Worker Development Standardization” explained the process of standardizing training for expanding, contracting, merging and acquiring enterprises. It discussed how to take inventory of incumbents and new-hires in training, and how to standardize multiple worker development strategies. But what about standardizing tasks that are in design, have just been designed or are evolving in their design? Or the importance of this component in creating an enterprise to perform the tasks meant to lead to profit from an innovation? If the goal is the repeatable high-quality performance of tasks once they have been formalized, then standardizing and documenting the procedural steps is necessary, though often an afterthought.
Entrepreneurs and engineers that design and fine-tune a production process or service strategy are immersed in it until they feel confident it is ready for scaling. Whether through “expert bias” - the overconfidence that results with satisfaction in discovery leading to the opinion that everyone should understand their innovation – or through mere oversight, a brilliant idea can fail in proliferation during efforts to transfer the processes and techniques without a formal structure. Read More
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Reluctant to Reshore Due to Apparent Shortage of Skilled Labor? Don’t Be |
by Dean Prigelmeier, President of Proactive Technologies, Inc.
These are relatively uncertain times for some manufacturers with supply chains that transcend borders to countries subject to punitive tariffs, and/or social, political and economic unrest. Knowing where to invest time and precious resources isn’t as clear as it was a couple of decades ago, yet that is the situation many are in.
We all remember how quickly companies relocated part (in some cases all) of their operations, and/or prodded their suppliers to do the same, to lower wage, lower regulation and lower property cost environments – regardless of the transport costs, and risks of regional instability and supply chain disruption. As those economies developed and the associated operational costs increased, those perceived savings continued to erode. And as regional instability rose, many employers started to plan their next move. Once again, the U.S. looks like a viable site alternative.
One over-hyped and inaccurate factor in the U.S. is the shortage of skilled labor, which some workers see as a veiled attempt to justify importing labor who will take the job for significantly less. There are plenty of skilled labor available who were displaced during the Crash of 2008, or recently displaced by the trade wars, and who had to change career course to feed their families. Many of these workers are still waiting, and could be quickly and easily “re-tooled” for today’s manufacturing jobs with a focused structured on-the-job training program. Some are kept from seeking out these opportunities by wages and benefits for the job they once had now offered at 50% - hardly enough to attract skilled candidates back - not to mention for retaining a "skilled worker."
Some see this as a sort of hypocrisy; the publicized, frantic search for "skilled" and "talented" workers, while offering these skilled workers less for the job they once held with that employer or a similar employer in the industry. So, for now, many of those workers that are that skilled and talented abandoned the career of their choice for the career that pays the bills.
Unless employers can convince their shareholders that wages and benefits have to go up to attract the workers they prefer, employers will have to accept the candidates that remain of which there are plenty. These are the ones with the college degrees you see working in service positions, just waiting for an opportunity to apply their skills to a job with more substance. Read More
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Quality Policies and Process Sheets Do Not Equal Training |
by Dean Prigelmeier, President of Proactive Technologies, Inc.
A very common fallacy in business operations is that a description of what should be done listed in a quality policy, such as a quality control policy or a quality assurance plan, that seems to be sufficient for the training component of ISO/IATF/AS certification meets, therefore, the company’s training requirement in general. Perhaps this false equivalency is wrongly supported by the additional fallacy that the existence of standard work instructions is the equivalent of on-the-job training plans. Too often this is used to defend the belief that this replaces formal task-based training.
Sometimes this leads to the rationalization that if the company keeps it simple and barely meets what an ISO/IATF/AS auditor might accept for their certification purposes, the training requirement is covered. But an auditor at that stage is just looking at what the company is intending to do, not how they carry it out. That is discovered later.
This false assumption is challenged when product or services turn up defective, and customers expect an explanation and a corrective action. This is when a weak, or no, connection can be drawn between the policy that guides quality standards, work processes and who trained and certified the employee to perform the task independently is discovered. This is when the records that exist, if any, do not support the assumption that mastery of the task ever occurred. This is when the customer loses faith in the producer or supplier – not just in the task(s) isolated in the one incident, but possibly performance of all tasks on which they depend.
From a learning perspective, manufacturing environments present hurdle after hurdle to learning and mastering the work to be performed. Unrelenting production schedules, technology advancements and continuous improvement efforts – all offer little room for deliberate task-based training while changing the task out from under the worker while they are trying to learn and master it. Read More
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by Proactive Technologies, Inc. - Staff
Proactive Technologies, Inc. is happy to welcome Mennel Milling! Mennel has been milling wheat into flour since 1886. Whether for a restaurant chain or a food company of any size, Mennel can be counted on for all custom flour blend and bakery mix needs, perfecting over 300 recipes.
Mennel operates 13 country grain elevators throughout Ohio, Indiana and Virginia. Mennel has 26 industrial sites throughout the U.S.; 19 of them in Ohio. Thanks to their long-standing commitment to research and development, Mennel has a proven reputation for providing outstanding products. Their team of research scientists identify new applications for their flour and co-products, and as a result develop new or specialty post-milling processes and products.
Proactive Technologies will be working with Mennel Milling to set-up and implement structured on-the-job training programs for new-hires and incumbent workers for positions such as Maintenance Technicians, Operator, Supervisor and Quality Assurance Technician. Read More
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IN THIS ISSUE:
Proactive Technologies, Inc. Worker Development News
Industry News
Financial News
International News
International Trade News
Education and Workforce Development News
Training and Organizational Development News
Quality News
Science
Cyber and IT News
Human Resources Management News
Environmental, Health & Safety News
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Proactive Technologies, Inc.™ -
capturing worker expertise to build and support job specific, task-based worker development programs (with metric-based solutions) since 1986.
Experience the power of the
Develop all the expert workers you need in a fraction of the time, with a fraction of the investment! Increased worker capacity, work quality and quantity, and worker compliance (ISO9001:2015, AS9100D, IATF16949, engineering and quality specifications, and safety requirements)."
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U.S. Department of Commerce - Bureau of Economic Analysis |
Gross Domestic Product, Second Quarter (Advance Estimate)
Real gross domestic product (GDP) decreased at an annual rate of 0.9 percent in the second quarter of 2022, following a decrease of 1.6 percent in the first quarter. The smaller decrease in the second quarter primarily reflected an upturn in exports and a smaller decrease in federal government spending. Read Report
Personal Income and Outlays, June 2022
Personal income increased $133.5 billion (0.6 percent) in June, according to estimates released today by the Bureau of Economic Analysis (tables 3 and 5). Disposable personal income (DPI) increased $120.4 billion (0.7 percent) and personal consumption expenditures (PCE) increased $181.1 billion (1.1 percent).
The PCE price index increased 1.0 percent. Excluding food and energy, the PCE price index increased 0.6 percent (table 9). Real DPI decreased 0.3 percent in June and real PCE increased 0.1 percent; goods increased 0.1 percent and services increased 0.1 percent Read Report
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U.S. Department of Commerce - Bureau of the Census |
Advanced Report on Durable Goods Manufacturers’ Shipments, Inventories, and Orders
New orders for manufactured durable goods in June increased $5.0 billion or 1.9 percent to $272.6 billion. June 2022: +1.9° % change; May 2022 (r): +0.8° % change. Read Report
Manufacturers’ Shipments, Inventories, and Orders
New orders for manufactured goods in May increased $8.4 billion or 1.6 percent to $543.4 billion. May 2022: +1.6° % change; April 2022 (r): +0.7° % change. Read Report
Household Pulse Survey
What is the Household Pulse Survey?
The U.S. Census Bureau, in collaboration with multiple federal agencies, is in a unique position to produce data on the social and economic effects of coronavirus on American households. The Household Pulse Survey is designed to deploy quickly and efficiently, collecting data to measure household experiences during the coronavirus pandemic. Data will be disseminated in near real-time to inform federal and state response and recovery planning. Read Data
Small Business Pulse Survey
The Small Business Pulse Survey (Business Pulse) measures the effect of changing business conditions during the Coronavirus pandemic on our nation's small businesses. Business Pulse complements existing U.S. Census Bureau data collections by providing high-frequency, detailed information on the challenges small businesses are facing during the Coronavirus pandemic as well as their participation in federal programs such as the Paycheck Protection Program. Read Report
Monthly State Retail Sales
The Monthly State Retail Sales (MSRS) is the Census Bureau's new experimental data product featuring modeled state-level retail sales. This is a blended data product using Monthly Retail Trade Survey data, administrative data, and third-party data. Year-over-year percent changes are available for Total Retail Sales excluding Nonstore Retailers as well as 11 retail North American Industry Classification System (NAICS) retail subsectors. These data are provided by state and NAICS codes beginning with January 2019. The Census Bureau plans to continue to improve the methodology to be able to publish more data in the future. Access Tables
Economic Indicators Dashboard
A composite of many of the requested domestic facts and figures. Visit Table
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U. S. Department of Labor Statistics |
Consumer Price Index
In June, the Consumer Price Index for All Urban Consumers rose 1.3 percent, seasonally adjusted, and rose 9.1 percent over the last 12 months, not seasonally adjusted. The index for all items less food and energy increased 0.7 percent in June (SA); up 5.9 percent over the year (NSA). Read Report
Producer Price Index
The Producer Price Index for final demand increased 1.1 percent in June. Prices for final demand goods rose 2.4 percent, and the index for final demand services advanced 0.4 percent. Final demand prices moved up 11.3 percent for the 12 months ended in June. Read Report
Job Openings and Labor Turnover
Job openings decreased to 11.3 million on the last business day of May. Hires and total separations changed little at 6.5 million and 6.0 million, respectively. Read Report
Unemployment Rate for States
Unemployment Rates for States, Seasonally Adjusted. Read Report
Job Creation - Employment Situation Summary
Total nonfarm payroll employment rose by 372,000 in June, and the unemployment rate
remained at 3.6 percent, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported today. Notable
job gains occurred in professional and business services, leisure and hospitality,
Civilian Labor Participation Rate
For a 20 year chart of the U.S. Civilian Labor Participation Rate. Read Report
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Cornell Law School - U.S. Private Sector Job Quality Index |
U.S. Private Sector Job Quality Index
For December 2020 by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), the U.S. Private Sector Job Quality Index (JQI)® has been revised to a level of 81.24, down by 0.91% from its revised level one month earlier and reflecting a higher proportion - relative to the prior month - of U.S. production and non-supervisory (P&NS) jobs paying less than the mean weekly income of all P&NS jobs (“Low Quality Jobs”), relative to those jobs paying above such mean. The JQI remains heavily impacted by the extraordinary disruption in the number and composition of private sector production and non-supervisory jobs since the beginning of the U.S. impact of the COVID19 global pandemic, with regard to which the following additional special factors should be noted: Read Report
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How the US Economy Lost Its Independence, and Workers Their Livelihoods |
IndustryWeek - Michael Collins
The postindustrial service economy was a panacea that didn’t pan out.
In 1984, John Naisbitt, in his best-selling book Megatrends, said that Third World countries would take over manufacturing, and the U.S. would happily transition to a service economy where most people would work in service jobs rather than work with their hands. His prediction was prophetic. Today there are 135 million service workers versus 13 million manufacturing workers
Many economists and academics jumped on the “post-industrial service” bandwagon and convinced themselves and most citizens that the transition is a good and inevitable thing. In 2005, The Economist published an article that summarizes the prevailing belief about manufacturing employment. The article, titled “Industrial Metamorphosis,” carried the following brief description: “Factory jobs are becoming scarce. It’s nothing to worry about.” Read Article
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Ford's US Car Sales Rise Despite Semiconductor Crunch |
IndustryWeek - Agence France-Presse
Rivals General Motors, Toyota and FCA (Stellantis) all reported quarterly sales drops of at least 15% amid supply chain problems.
Ford reported higher U.S. auto sales Tuesday, bucking an industry-wide trend of declines in the latest quarter amid crimped supply of semiconductor and other key parts.
The Michigan giant delivered 483,688 vehicles, up two percent from the year-ago level.
While citing a continuation of supply constraints that have dogged the industry over the last year, Ford described vehicle demand as "strong." Read Article
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Boeing Says 737 MAX 10 Could be Cancelled |
IndustryWeek - Agence France-Presse
Boeing Chief Executive Dave Calhoun told Aviation Week that shelving the MAX 10 "is not that threatening" in light of some of the other challenges the company has faced in recent years.
Boeing's CEO said the company could cancel the 737 MAX 10 if regulators don't certify the jet before new crew alerting system standards take effect in December, according to a report Thursday.
The airplane manufacturer confirmed comments by Boeing Chief Executive Dave Calhoun, who told Aviation Week that shelving the MAX 10 "is not that threatening" in light of some of the other challenges the company has faced in recent years. Read Article
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Delta Orders 100 Boeing MAX Jets Worth $13.5 Billion |
IndustryWeek - Agence France-Presse
The deals with Delta and Japanese airline ANA mark a huge turnaround for the MAX aircraft, which suffered two deadly crashes in 2018 and 2019.
Airline Delta agreed on Monday to buy 100 medium-haul Boeing MAX passenger aircraft worth a combined $13.5 billion, in a vote of confidence for the crisis-hit jet.
The gigantic deal, announced by embattled U.S. planemaker Boeing on the first day of the Farnborough Airshow, includes options for 30 more of the planes.
The fuel-efficient 737 MAX 10 planes, the first ordered by Delta, are earmarked for delivery from 2025.
Shortly afterwards, Boeing announced that Japanese airline ANA has also agreed to purchase 20 of its smaller MAX 8 jets -- an order worth $2.4 billion -- plus two 777-8 freight planes. Read Article
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Manufacturing Job Creation Lacks a Common-Sense Approach |
IndustryWeek - Paul Ericksen
Economic incentives aren’t the answer; cultivating a vibrant local supplier base is.
The typical intent of governmental economic development is to increase the number of manufacturing jobs and boost the positive economic contribution of manufacturing at either the state or federal level, or both. Such efforts typically take the form of financial assistance and incentives related to either relocating Original Equipment Manufacturer operations, or opening up new OEM operations local to a particular site. This approach has had dubious positive impacts.
For instance, many states employ “smokestack-chasing” to lure manufacturers from another state to theirs. This is, of course, a zero-sum game from a national perspective. Similarly, the manufacturers opening up new operations often fail to live up to their employment and financial-impact commitments. Just ask Wisconsin how their deal with Foxconn worked out! Read Article
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Siemens Investing $54 Million in US Manufacturing Footprint |
Assembly Magazine
WASHINGTON—Siemens will invest $54 million across several key U.S. manufacturing facilities that serve critical infrastructure markets.
The company is investing in its existing electrical infrastructure manufacturing hub in Grand Prairie, TX, and a greenfield manufacturing site for electrical infrastructure and make-ready EV charging equipment in Pomona, CA. The investment also encompasses a soon-to-be chosen manufacturing location for EV charging equipment. All totaled, the projects are expected to create at least 300 new jobs. Read Article
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Ford Reportedly Preparing to Slash 8,000 Jobs to Help Fund EV Transition |
USA Today - Detroit Free Press, Jamie L. LaReau
Ford Motor Co. is getting ready to eliminate up to 8,000 jobs in the coming weeks to help fund its push into electric vehicles, according to a news report.
Bloomberg, citing unnamed sources familiar with the plan, said Wednesday the cuts will come largely in the newly created Ford Blue unit that produces gasoline-powered vehicles, as well as "other salaried operations throughout the company." The plan has reportedly not yet been finalized, so details may change.
The news comes on the heels of Michigan giving the automaker a $100 million tax-funded incentive package in June as part of a plan to create new jobs in the state. The Bloomberg report does not mention how many jobs might be cut in Michigan. Read Article
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The US Industrial Complex Is Starting to Buckle From High Power Costs |
Area Development - Bloomberg
Surging bills are forcing companies to scale back industrial operations, threatening a greater drag on the economy.
It was only a matter of time, really.
Europe’s fertilizer plants, steel mills, and chemical manufacturers were the first to succumb. Massive paper mills, soybean processors, and electronics factories in Asia went dark.
Now soaring natural gas and electricity prices are starting to hit the US industrial complex. Read Article
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GlobiTech Expands Sherman, Texas, Manufacturing Operations |
Area Development News Desk
GlobiTech Incorporated, a subsidiary of Taiwan-based GlobalWafers Co., Ltd. that provides silicon epitaxy products and services to the worldwide semiconductor industry, will establish an additional manufacturing facility in Sherman, Texas. The multi-billion dollar project is expected to create 1,500 jobs.
“Advanced 300 millimeter silicon wafers are currently manufactured in Asia, forcing the U.S. semiconductor industry to rely on imported silicon wafers,” said Mark England, GlobiTech President. “This exciting and bold investment in my hometown of Sherman will represent the first new silicon wafer facility in the U.S. in over two decades and close a critical semiconductor supply chain gap.” Read Article
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Panasonic Picks Kansas to House New $4 Billion EV Battery Plant |
IndustryWeek - Ryan Secard
The new factory could create as many as 4,000 new jobs, the company said.
Amid reports that the existing U.S. supply chain for electric-vehicle batteries is unprepared for electrification, Panasonic Energy Co. announced Wednesday evening it would build a new $4 billion EV battery plant in Kansas. According to a company release, the plant could create up to 4,000 new jobs at a new site in De Soto, Kansas, on the Western border of Kansas City.
Gov. Laura Kelly called the announcement a “milestone for Kansas” and anticipated it would be a growth opportunity for the state. “This project will be transformative for the Kansas economy, providing high-quality, high-tech jobs while bringing a new industry to the state,” she said. Read Article
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Chip Shortage Leaves 95,000 GM Vehicles Unfinished |
Assembly Magazine
DETROIT—The global shortage of computer chips and other parts has forced General Motors to build some 95,000 vehicles without certain components during the second quarter.
The automaker said that most of the incomplete vehicles were built in June, and that it expects most of them to be finished and sold to dealers before the end of the year.
The unsold vehicles amounted to 16 percent of GM’s total sales from April through June. The company sold more than 582,000 vehicles during the quarter, down more than 15 percent from a year ago. Read Article
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Delta Places Order for 100 Boeing 737s |
IndustryWeek
CHICAGO—Delta Air Lines Inc. is ordering 100 737 Max 10 airplanes, the largest of the line produced by Boeing, potentially giving the manufacturer additional momentum after a troubled rollout of its most advanced aircraft.
Delta has an option to purchase 30 more of the aircraft as the airline looks to keep up with surging travel demand.
Boeing has struggled to keep up with its European rival Airbus after a pair of 737 Max aircraft crashed in a short span of time, killing 346 passengers and crew members. Read Article
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Recession Is Two to Three Quarters Away |
Coalition for a Prosperous America
The economy is moving from growth to contraction, as Thursday’s 0.9% decline in GDP tells us. The debate over whether we are in a recession today is mostly pundits rehearsing their political messages for television, with the November election looming.
We are almost certain to be in recession by year-end or early next year. I’m talking of a real recession, one where companies are laying off workers and the unemployment rate rises from its current unnaturally low levels to somewhere north of 5%. Economic policymakers cannot get inflation down from the current 9% levels without raising interest rates substantially, and as those interest rates work through the economy, spending will decline in many categories, and unemployment will rise. That’s how economies work. Read Article
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Classes alone will not close the "skills gap," but structured on-the-job training can...every time! |
Under-capacity of workers is an enormous source of untapped value and unrealized return on worker investment. In addition, standardizing expert task performance -between workers and shifts - can add to worker ROI through lower scrap and rework.
- Increased worker capacity, productivity, work quantity, work quality and compliance (specifications, ISO/AS/IATF programs and safety mandates);
- Decreased internal costs of training
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Higher return on worker investment! You would be surprised how small of an investment is needed to unlock enormous returns.
If budgets are tight, Proactive Technologies, Inc. can be an extension to your training department, with our technical implementation support - included with every project!
There's nothing to lose by taking a minute to contact us to learn more. Copyright © 2019-22 Proactive Technologies, Inc.™
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If your institution is interested in becoming a Proactive Technologies, Inc. project partner, contact a representative for more information. |
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Are Online Prices Higher Because of Pricing Algorithms? |
Brookings Institution - Zach Brown, Assistant Professor of Economics - University of Michigan Faculty Research Fellow - National Bureau of Economic Research; Alexander MacKay, Assistant Professor of Business Administration - Harvard Business School
When online markets first emerged, there was widespread optimism that they would be fair and competitive. Unlike physical stores, consumers would be able to choose among dozens, perhaps hundreds, of websites with simply a click. This would drive intense competition to offer the lowest price, making markets more efficient and benefiting consumers.
It is now clear that the promises of online markets have only been partially realized. A few retailers dominate online markets. In some cases, online prices are slightly lower than in physical stores, but not always.]Moreover, the price of a product can vary widely across online retailers. Prices on websites such as Amazon can fluctuate over the course of a day and are sometimes significantly higher than the suggested retail price. Clearly, online markets are not as competitive as some initially thought. Read Article
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The Fed’s Housing Market ‘Reset’ Has Us in a Housing Correction. Here’s What to Expect Next |
MSN News - Lance Lambert
Through the first 24 months of the pandemic, U.S. home prices soared 38.5%. In some markets, like Phoenix and Dallas, home prices grew by more than 50%.
The Federal Reserve wasn't a fan. As the Pandemic Housing Boom raged along, it pushed up prices across the economy. Higher home prices pushed up rents. Elevated homebuilding levels—which hit a 15-year high during the pandemic—put upward price pressure on everything from windows to lumber while also adding stress to an already stressed global supply chain. Not to mention, cash flowed into the economy from homeowners who tapped into that record home equity.
That's why the central bank, who has a mandate from Congress to tackle runaway inflation, has targeted the U.S. housing market. How? It put immense upward pressure on mortgage rates. While the Fed doesn't directly set mortgage rates, it has the levers to see that financial markets do so. Once the Fed made it clear this year what laid ahead for monetary tightening, markets quickly pushed the average 30-year fixed mortgage rate above 5%. Read Article
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M&A Falls 21% During First Half 2022 Amid Global Turmoil: Refinitiv |
CFO Dive - Jim Tyson, Senior Reporter
Office workstation top view of businesspeople working around M&A, keyboard, calculator, phablet and money on wooden table
Dive Brief:
Mergers and acquisitions worldwide slumped 21% during the first half of 2022 compared with the same period last year, Refinitiv said, as deal-makers stepped back to assess disruptions including mounting inflation, Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, supply chain bottlenecks and financial market turmoil.
While geopolitical tensions prompted a 17% decline in cross-border M&A, the value of private equity-backed transactions rose 1% during the period to $552.8 billion and “mega-deals” exceeding $10 billion increased 11% to $608.6 billion, Refinitiv said. Transactions targeting U.S. companies fell 28% to $957.8 billion compared with the first six months of last year. Read Article
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Protecting Pensions for America’s Workers |
U.S. Department of Labor - Secretary Marty Walsh
Every person deserves to retire with dignity and receive the benefits they earned through their years of hard work. Pensions are critical to the economic security of many retired workers and their families, who depend on these benefits to pay their housing and living expenses, medical bills and so much more. These benefits can mean the difference between a secure, well-earned retirement and, in many cases, poverty.
I know firsthand how important a pension can be to someone in retirement. My father was a union laborer for almost 45 years before retiring. His pension provided him a secure retirement free of worry, and that pension today still provides my mother that same security.'
Today, I joined President Biden in Cleveland to announce the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation’s final rule implementing the American Rescue Plan’s Special Financial Assistance Program. This program represents the most substantial policy in almost 50 years to protect the millions of workers, retirees and their families served by our nation's multiemployer pension plans. Read Release
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Federal Auditor Watchdog Reveals Inspection Goals for 2022 |
CFO Dive - Jim Tyson, Senior Reporter
Dive Brief:
The Public Company Accounting Oversight Board (PCAOB) revealed its inspection goals for 2022, warning of rising audit risks from disruptions including supply chain bottlenecks, harm to businesses from COVID-19 and market volatility fueled by high inflation and rising interest rates.
“We developed our 2022 inspection procedures to focus on anticipated financial reporting and audit risks that are primarily driven by the recent economic environment,” according to a statement by PCAOB, the federal watchdog of firms that audit publicly traded companies.
Staff shortages at audit firms and trends in initial public offerings and mergers and acquisitions — including by special purpose acquisition companies (SPACs) — also increased audit risk and influenced PCAOB goal-setting, the agency said. “The current economic environment changes the risk landscape,” potentially increasing the incidence of fraud and other wrongdoing. Read Article
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PBGC Issues Final Rule on Special Financial Assistance for Financially Troubled Multiemployer Pension Plans |
Pension Benefit Guarantee Corporation
WASHINGTON, D.C. — The Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation (PBGC) today announced a final rule implementing changes to the Special Financial Assistance (SFA) Program for financially troubled multiemployer pension plans. The changes are responsive to public comments received on PBGC’s interim final rule and will better protect the pensions earned by workers and retirees covered by multiemployer plans eligible for assistance.
“Today President Biden’s American Rescue Plan fulfilled the promise of a secure retirement for millions of America’s workers for decades to come,” said U.S. Secretary of Labor Marty Walsh, Chair of the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation Board of Directors. “Without this Special Financial Assistance, the pension benefits of many hardworking union members and their families, through no fault of their own, were in danger. Today’s final rule will improve the financial wellbeing of multiemployer plans receiving Special Financial Assistance and improve their ability to pay pension benefits through 2051.” Read Final Rule
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There’s a New Scam Plaguing Restaurants Nationwide |
The Takeout - Brianna
Ever since the advent of the internet, the online review has been a cudgel wielded by the unseen masses. For modern restaurants, it’s not enough to receive the praise of critics or peers. Instead, the most valuable criticism comes from the everymen on Yelp and Google, a group of people who can make or break a business—and who often use that fact to their advantage. Case in point: a new class of scammers is using the threat of negative ratings and reviews to scam restaurants out of money.
How scammers are extorting restaurants
Restaurants across the country, including some with Michelin stars, are getting slammed with one-star reviews on Google, The New York Times reports, only to then receive an email saying the negative reviews will be revoked in exchange for a Google Play digital gift card. If the money isn’t received, the emails go on to say, then the bad reviews will continue. Read Article
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Meet the New GDP Prototype That Tracks Inequality |
NPR Planet Money - Greg Rosalsky
In the early 1930s, the US Senate enlisted a young economist named Simon Kuznets to figure out how badly the economy had been ravaged by the Great Depression, and whether policies were doing much to fix it. Back then, the government did not monitor the economy in a rigorous way. In fact, for a long time, the very concept of a single, nationwide entity known as "the economy" was alien to people, at least in the modern sense (for more on this, stay tuned for a Planet Money "Summer School" episode out on July 20).
After a lot of pretty boring work, sifting through papers and compiling statistics, Kuznets and his team delivered their report to Congress in 1934. It was titled, "National Income, 1929-1932," and it provided the federal government with the first comprehensive accounting system to measure the economy. The report introduced America to a new concept: that you can size up the nation's entire economy with a single number. Back then, Kuznets called it "national income," but it was a forerunner to a concept that today we call GDP (short for Gross Domestic Product). Read Article
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The Power of Aligning Business and Pricing Strategy Is Overlooked, Underrated |
IndustryWeek - Stephan Liozu
Focusing on the right markets, the right customers and the right product priorities brings clarity and adds value.
I have been privileged to work over 25 years in the industrial sector. I am passionate about producing and selling things. Being able to walk in a production facility and watch how things are being manufactured is invigorating. The other side of the coin is that I often spend quite a bit of time explaining to leaders in these industrial companies how to connect business and pricing strategies. Many of these leaders are brilliant in production, technology and finance, but often lack strategic acumen across the board. So, we hear comments like “We need to fill the plant,” “Sell volume at all costs,” and “Pricing should be based on cost as it is the only thing we can control.” Read Article
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The Rise of ESG: Where It Is Now and How It Got Here |
CFO.com - Ted Jackson
Calls for corporate reform are as old as the corporation itself, so why now are companies pushing for more ESG efforts in their organizations?
Germany’s top money manager DWS was rocked by scandal in early June as police and agents from that county’s securities regulator BaFin swarmed into the company’s Frankfurt head office to investigate allegations of greenwashing.
Greenwashing is the practice of claiming to follow environmental, social, and governance (ESG) principles when those claims are exaggerated or downright false. The case of DWS is possibly a glaring example of prospectus fraud considering the allegations encompass up to half the $900 billion DWS has under management. Read Article
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‘Crash Potential’—Crypto Billionaire Issues Stark Warning As The Price Of Bitcoin And Ethereum Rebound |
Forbes - Billy Bambrough, Senior Contributor
BitcoinBTC -4.6%, ethereum and other major cryptocurrencies have followed stocks higher this week after researchers reported bullish price data.
The bitcoin price has climbed to over $21,000 per bitcoin, up from under $19,000 last week, while the ethereum price has topped $1,200 per ether despite crypto being branded "the biggest Ponzi scheme in human history." Listen (3 minutes)
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Big Cities Saw Historic Population Losses While Suburban Growth Declined During the Pandemic |
Brookings Institution - William H. Frey, Senior Fellow - Brookings Metro
Much has been written about the COVID-19 pandemic’s impact on big-city populations. Brookings Metro’s recent analysis of large metropolitan area declines makes plain that during the prime year of the pandemic (from July 2020 to July 2021) there were outsized population losses in the nation’s biggest metropolitan areas. But more recent Census Bureau estimates focusing on cities (rather than metropolitan areas) show the pandemic’s impact to be even more dramatic, with unprecedented losses across the 88 U.S. cities with populations exceeding 250,000 residents.
This analysis places these estimates in the context of recent decades’ trends, when America’s big cities experienced noticeable ups and downs. It then shifts the focus to the suburbs of major metropolitan areas, which—while benefitting somewhat from recent city population losses—tend to display growth slowdowns of their own. Read Article
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Job Displacements Hurt Workers Across the Board |
Brookings Institution - Ariel Gelrud Shiro, Former Senior Research Assistant - Center on Children and Families; Kristin F. Butcher, Nonresident Senior Fellow - Economic Studies
The United States has experienced stagnant or even declining intergenerational economic mobility since the 1980s. At the same time, income inequality remains high, both within and across race groups. As we recover from the COVID-19 recession, which led a staggering 22 million Americans to lose their jobs, it is more important than ever to understand the role that job displacement plays in exacerbating income inequalities and intergenerational income mobility.
While we know that job displacements lead to large and lasting negative effects on earnings, it’s not clear if the impact varies across workers with different demographic and socioeconomic characteristics. In our report, we explore the effect of a job displacement on earnings by a worker’s race, education level, and parental income. We consider a worker to be displaced if they involuntarily lose a full-time job that they held for at least two years. There are two dimensions along which workers could be differentially affected by job displacements – the earnings effect of a given displacement and the frequency with which workers experience them. We explore both in our report. Read Article
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Bill to Grant Crypto Firms Access to Federal Reserve Alarms Experts |
Washington Post - Tory Newmyer
The legislation would require the Fed to give crypto banks access to its payment rails. Some say that would be destabilizing.
A wave of notoriously risky cryptocurrency firms could one day be integrated into the traditional banking system under a little-noticed provision in a new bill that is raising alarms among financial experts about potentially destabilizing consequences.
The provision — part of a sweeping proposal to regulate the crypto industry that Sens. Cynthia M. Lummis (R-Wyo.) and Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.) introduced in June — would force the Federal Reserve to grant so-called master accounts to certain crypto firms seeking them from the central bank. The accounts give holders access to the Fed’s payment system, allowing them to settle transactions for clients without involving a separate bank. Read Article
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SEC May Take ‘Fresh Look’ at Auditor Conflicts of Interest: Gensler |
CFO Dive - Maura Webber Sadovi, Senior Editor
Dive Brief:
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) Chair Gary Gensler has asked the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board (PCAOB) Chair Erica Williams to consider adding auditor independence standards to its agenda and the SEC itself may need to take a “fresh look” at its own rules on the independence issue, Gensler said during a webinar Wednesday.
SEC staff has seen “situations of decreased vigilance” when it comes to auditor independence and Gensler expressed concern that conflicts of interest stemming from auditors and affiliated firms serving the same client persist 20 years after the Sarbanes Oxley Act directed the SEC to take steps to create stronger barriers between auditors and other parts of their firms, he said.
“A number of firms spun out their consulting businesses in the days shortly before and after Sarbanes-Oxley. Over the past 20 years, however, many of these firms went on to rebuild them again. PCAOB inspections continue to identify independence — and lack of professional skepticism — as perennial problem areas,” Gensler said. Read Article
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Mexico, Latin America, South America and the Caribbean |
The Trade Fallout of the War in Ukraine on Latin America and the Caribbean
InterAmerican Development Bank
The Russian invasion of Ukraine is a major shock to the global economy, and it is unfolding as Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC) is still recovering from the pandemic. It may slow growth and result in a sizeable food security shock for some of the countries in the region.
According to the new publication, “The trade fallout of the war in Ukraine on Latin America and the Caribbean”, the direct trade impact is expected to be limited. However, the indirect consequences are likely to be relevant, if heterogeneous across countries. Nevertheless, there may be some opportunities for LAC exporters of commodities similar to those supplied by Russia and Ukraine.
This report points out some policy responses to mitigate the trade fallout on the region and improve its long-term prospects. Download the publication to learn more about the measures that LAC countries must take to boost competitiveness in international markets with a forward-looking strategy. Download Report
How are Global Shipping Disruptions Affecting Latin American Freight Rates?
InterAmerican Development Bank – Juan Blyde, Christian Volpe Martincus
In a recent blog post, we showed that shipping costs have substantially increased since the beginning of the pandemic and that such an increase was primarily associated with imports from Asia. In this new post, we explore whether and, if so, how such developments generated a domino effect on the transportation costs faced by Latin American and Caribbean countries (LAC).
Successive waves of technological changes throughout history have created the highly interconnected world we live in today, in which each of us is connected to every other person by six other people (“six degrees of separation”) and, according to Facebook data, less than four. Read Article
Run Out Of Water? Over Half of This Country Is Facing Historic Shortages
NDTV – Reuters
Mexico Water Shortage: More than half of Mexico is currently facing moderate to severe drought conditions, according to the federal water commission CONAGUA, amid extreme heat that scientists blame on climate change.
Mexico City: Her elderly neighbor is hard of hearing so Maria Luisa Robles, a convenience store worker in the northern Mexican city of Monterrey, shouted the question a second time: Have you run out of water?
She had – and it wasn’t just her. The taps across this working-class neighborhood of Sierra Ventana dried up over a week ago amid a historic shortage that’s gripped the most important industrial city in Mexico. Read Article
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Canada, Europe and Great Britain |
Spain’s Pamplona Bull Run Festival Returns After Two Years
DeutscheWelle
The San Fermin Bull Run festival in Pamplona started off with crowded streets and fireworks, following a two-year hiatus due to the COVID pandemic.
Revelers gathered at the San Fermin bull-running festival in the Spanish city of Pamplona on Wednesday to kick off the world-famous event, with the races scheduled to start on Thursday.
The celebrations began with the “chupinazo” fireworks ignited by former soccer player and coach Juan Carlos Unzue. The athlete used the platform to draw attention to people suffering from Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS), a neurological disease that affects voluntary muscle movement. Unze was diagnosed with the disease in 2018. Read Article
Water Scarcity: EU Countries Forced to Restrict Drinking Water Access
DeutscheWelle
Severe droughts and scarce rain have forced water restrictions in southern European countries. Climate change is making itself felt across the continent.
Amplified by human-induced climate change and water over-consumption, southern Europeans are feeling the consequences of more extreme heat waves and longer droughts.
Now governments from Portugal to Italy are calling on citizens to limit water use to the bare minimum. But in some places, this is not enough. Read Article
Euro Bounces From Brink of Parity with US Dollar
Reuters – Karen Brettell and Sujata Rao
NEW YORK, July 12 (Reuters) – The euro rebounded on Tuesday after sliding to a 20-year low and nearing parity against the U.S. dollar as investors worried that an energy crisis in the region would bring on a recession.
The single currency reached $1.00005 against the greenback, the lowest since December 2002, after data showed German investor sentiment in July plunged below levels at the outset of the coronavirus pandemic due to energy concerns, supply bottlenecks and rate hikes from the European Central Bank (ECB). Read Article
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Shinzo Abe Death: Shock Killing That Could Change Japan Forever
BBC News – Rupert Wingfield-Hayes
Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe at Joint Base Pearl Harbor Hickam’s Kilo Pier on December 27,
Since news broke this morning of Shinzo Abe’s shooting, messages have been pouring in from friends and contacts, all asking the same question: how could this have happened in Japan?
I felt much the same myself. Living here you get used to not thinking about violent crime.
The identity of the victim only makes the news more shocking. Read Article
China: More Mass COVID Testing in Beijing, Shanghai, Macau
DeutscheWelle
Residents throughout China are facing new wave of COVID-19 cases. New measures to stop the spread dash hopes that Beijing will end its strict zero-COVID policy.
China is dealing with a new wave of COVID-19 cases. Residents of Shanghai, Beijing and Xi’an were ordered to undergo rounds of tests in a bid to trace sources of the new cases. Tightened restrictions have also been placed on businesses and residents Macau and Hong Kong.
The official response to the outbreak is sparking fresh fears of lockdowns, in line with China’s zero-COVID policy that has begun to face criticism as being untenable. Read Article
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Asia, India and Australia |
Sri Lanka Declares State of Emergency as President Flees to Maldives
People Magazine – Anna Lazarus Caplan
President Gotabaya Rajapaksa was set to resign Wednesday. Instead, the leader fled the country for the Maldives
Sri Lanka is under a state of emergency after its president fled the country on Wednesday, leaving a prime minister in charge of a nation already in economic and political turmoil.
President Gotabaya Rajapaksa, 73, was set to resign Wednesday. Instead, the leader fled the country for the Maldives, multiple outlets including The New York Times, the Associated Press, CNN and The Washington Post have reported. Read Article
Brazil, India, and China’s Rush to Buy Russian Energy Shows Putin Still Has Strong Allies Who Can Prop Up Russia’s Economy
Insider – Sophia Ankel
Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February led to a wave of Western sanctions and bans on Russian exports.
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But some countries continue to snap up Russian energy, showing that Putin still has powerful allies.
Putin has prioritized trade flows to BRICS nations, including Brazil, China, and India. Read Article
EU and India Kick-start Ambitious Trade Agenda
Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) GmbH – European Commission
EU-India trade relations
Today, European Commission Executive Vice-President Valdis Dombrovskis and Indian Commerce Minister Piush Goyal formally relaunched EU-India negotiations on a balanced, ambitious, comprehensive and mutually beneficial free trade agreement. They also launched EU-India negotiations on an investment protection agreement and on an agreement on geographical indications. A first round of negotiations covering the three areas of work will be hosted by India in New Delhi from 27 June to 1 July 2022. The two sides agreed to fast-track the talks with the aim of concluding them by the end of 2023. Read Release
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Africa, Middle East, Eastern Europe and Russia |
Ticking ‘Socioeconomic Bomb’: North Africa’s Disappearing Beaches
DeutscheWelle
Southern shores of the Mediterranean Sea are losing sand faster than almost anywhere else. The good news is, there are ways to cope.
Over the past 15 years, the fishermen of Ghannouch, a town around 400 kilometers (ca. 250 miles) south of the Tunisian capital, Tunis, say they have seen “radical changes” on the coastline they sail around.
“The sand is decreasing and the rocks are starting to appear,” Sassi Alaya, a local seaman and the head of the fisheries guild in the southern port, told DW. “It is a double problem because the coasts of the state of Gabes are already suffering from environmental pollution due to the chemical factories in the region. It greatly affects the work of small fisheries businesses.” Read Article
Iraq: Protesters Storm Parliament for a Second Time This Week
DeutscheWelle
Followers of cleric Moqtada al-Sadr have forced entry into parliament over Iran-backed political groups involved in forming the next government. Demonstrators tore down concrete barriers before entering the Green Zone.
The Ministry of Health said approximately125 people were injured, of them about 100 were protesters and 25 members of the security forces.
Followers of Shiite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr were demonstrating over the formation of the next government, involving Iran-backed political groups. They declared an open-ended sit-in and claimed they would not disperse until their demands are answered. Read Article
Alexander Ionov Case: US Charges Russian With Interfering in US Politics
BBC
One of the Russian goals, the US alleges, was to "promote California's secession from the United States"
US prosecutors have charged a Russian national with conspiring to use US citizens as "illegal agents of the Russian government".
The US Justice Department indictment also alleges that Alexander Viktorovich Ionov, a resident of Moscow, tried to interfere in US elections.
It says he ran the Anti-Globalization Movement of Russia (AGMR), a body which recruited US political groups to further Russian state interests. Read Article
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Proactive Technologies' Project Partners |
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Frank J. Gibson Consulting |
"One thing is certain... nothing is certain!"
The rate of change affecting work, the worker, management and the educational institutions that service all three has been accelerating - made worse by the unexpected Covid-19 pandemic. The economy, the consumer, supply chains and operational strategies have all been disrupted in the short-term, casting doubt on the long-term.
Rapid adaptation is the key to survivability, sustainability and growth. Sometimes an experienced outside advisor can help facilitate needed improvements to take the worry out of change and the fear out of growth. Frank J. Gibson Management and Workforce Excellence Advisor
- Business Development & Growth
- Workforce Development and Optimization
- Training and Cross-Training
- Local,/Regional Workforce Development Projects and Community Development
- Facilitated Problem Solving
- Process Improvement Cross-Functional Leadership Coaching and Mentoring
- Internship and Apprenticeship Projects
- Strategic Doing/Strategic Planning
Copyright © 2022 Frank J. Gibson
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED
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PTI Systems
International, Inc.™
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- Affiliated with Proactive Technologies, Inc. for projects outside the United States;
- Workforce development partner for employers, and education/ training providers who support employers, to ensure every worker can be trained to full job mastery;
- Experienced with governmental, IDB, GIZ and economic development agency sponsored projects;
- Experienced in assuring multinational employers expanding to the U.S. have the skilled workforce they need.
- PTI Systems International sets-up complete worker development and performance management systems, and provides technical implementation support;
- We provide strategies for our project's transition to local management.
- Speakers for seminars and conferences.
Don't complain about a "skills gap," deliberately develop every worker to full job mastery!
© 2018-22 PTI Systems International, Inc.™
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“...the aim of leadership is not merely to find and record failures of men, but to remove the causes of failure: to help people to do a better job with less effort”
American engineer, statistician,
professor, author, lecturer, and
management consultant
1900 - 1993
"Management is doing things right; leadership is doing the right things."
Austrian management consultant, educator, and author, whose writings contributed to the philosophical and practical foundations of the modern business corporation
1909 - 2005
“Selfish interest is one of the most common obstructions to the advance of truth.”
American lawyer, orator. Served in the House of Representatives from 1891 -1895 and as the Secretary of State under Woodrow Wilson.
1860 – 1925
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U.S. Department of Commerce - Bureau of Economic Analysis |
U.S. International Trade in Goods and Services, May, 2022
The U.S. monthly international trade deficit decreased in May 2022 according to the U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis and the U.S. Census Bureau. The deficit decreased from $86.7 billion in April (revised) to $85.5 billion in May, as exports increased more than imports. The previously published April deficit was $87.1 billion. The goods deficit decreased $2.9 billion in May to $105.0 billion. The services surplus decreased $1.7 billion in May to $19.4 billion. Read Report
U.S. International Transactions, First Quarter 2022 and Annual Update
The U.S. current-account deficit, which reflects the combined balances on trade in goods and services and income flows between U.S. residents and residents of other countries, widened by $66.6 billion, or 29.6 percent, to $291.4 billion in the first quarter of 2022, according to statistics released today by the U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA). The revised fourth-quarter deficit was $224.8 billion.
The first-quarter deficit was 4.8 percent of current-dollar gross domestic product, up from 3.7 percent in the fourth quarter. The $66.6 billion widening of the current-account deficit in the first quarter mostly reflected an increased deficit on goods. Read Report
New Foreign Direct Investment in the United States
Expenditures by foreign direct investors to acquire, establish, or expand U.S. businesses totaled $333.6 billion in 2021, up $192.2 billion from $141.4 billion in 2020. Read Report
BEA International Trade and Investment Country Facts
BEA Announcement: Detailed International Services Statistics Through 2021 Now Available
For 2021, U.S. exports of services were $795.3 billion and U.S. imports of services were $550.0 billion. For 2019—the latest year for which statistics are available—services supplied to foreign persons through foreign affiliates of U.S. multinational enterprises (MNEs) were $1,765.3 billion, and services supplied to U.S. persons through U.S. affiliates of foreign MNEs were $1,231.6 billion. Affiliates supplied most of the services provided to foreign persons by the United States and to U.S. persons by foreign markets in 2019. Read Report
BEA Releases Prototype Trade in Value Added Statistics
These new prototype statistics can help answer questions such as: Read Release
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U.S. Department of Commerce - Bureau of the Census |
Monthly Wholesale Trade
May 2022 sales of merchant wholesalers were $696.0 billion, up 0.5 percent (+/- 0.4 percent) from last month. End-of-month inventories were $878.6 billion, up 1.8 percent (+/- 0.2 percent) from last month.
May 2022: +1.8 % change in Inventories; April 2022 ®: +2.3 % change in Inventories. Read Report
Manufacturing and Trade Inventory and Sales – May, 2020
U.S. total business end-of-month inventories for May 2022 were $2,381.9 billion, up 1.4 percent (+/- 0.1 percent) from last month. U.S. total business sales were $1,829.1 billion, up 0.7 percent (+/- 0.2 percent) from last month. May 2022: +1.4 % change in Inventories; April 2022 ®: +1.3 % change in Inventories. Read Report
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Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development |
U.S. Data versus the World
Find, compare and share the latest OECD data: charts, maps, tables and related publications. Access Data
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International Trade in Services
Trade in services records the value of services exchanged between residents and non-residents of an economy, including services provided through foreign affiliates established abroad. This indicator is measured in million USD and percentage of GDP for exports, imports and net trade. Services include transport (both freight and passengers), travel, communications services (postal, telephone, satellite, etc.), construction services, insurance and financial services, computer and information services, royalties and license fees, other business services (merchanting, operational leasing, technical and professional services, etc.), cultural and recreational services, and government services not included in the list above. Trade in services drives the exchange of ideas, know-how and technology, although it is often restricted by barriers such as domestic regulations. All OECD countries compile their data according to the 2008 System of National Accounts (SNA). Access Data and Tables
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US Goods Exports Jump, Shrinking May Trade Gap |
IndustryWeek – Staff
Despite the positive movement in May 2022, the trade deficit remains larger than last year’s by about $126 billion.
The U.S. trade deficit is contracting, according to the latest information available from the Commerce Department. In its July 7 report on U.S. trade on May 2022, the Department reported that the trade deficit fell $1.1 billion to $85.5 billion as exports increased by about 1.2% and exports grew only half that.
Despite the positive month-by-month movement, the trade gap is still larger than it was last year by about 38.4%, or $126.5 billion.
Increased exports of goods, which increased $3.0 billion to $179.0 billion, drove much of the latest results. Industrial supplies exports rose by $3.3 billion alone, while consumer goods rose by about $600 million. Exports of foods, feeds, and beverages fell by $1.6 billion, somewhat mitigating the sector-wide growth. Read Article
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Six Ways to Improve Global Supply Chains |
Brookings Institution – Darrell M. West, Vice President and Director – Governance Studies Senior Fellow – Center for Technology Innovation Douglas Dillon Chair in Governmental Studies
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
It used to be a simple matter to outsource production to other countries, have them manufacture clothes, electronics, computer chips, and medicines, and ship the items back to the United States. America provided value through design capabilities and reliance upon domestically-produced components. But many businesses utilized inexpensive labor from abroad to assemble products, and global distributors then would deliver materials “just-in-time” for American firms.
Now we are seeing the limits of this model. It is a time of tremendous disruptions in global supply chains with many problems ranging from shifts in consumer demand and off-shoring reliability to transportation jams, anti-competitive practices, and geopolitical complications.[ As noted in a 2022 Council of Economic Advisers report, supply chains currently “are efficient but brittle – vulnerable to breaking down in the face of a pandemic, a war or a natural disaster. Because of outsourcing, off-shoring and insufficient investment in resilience, many supply chains have become complex and fragile.” Read Article
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Cleveland Cliffs CEO Tells House Steel Caucus Globalization Has Failed |
Coalition for a Prosperous America – Kenneth Rapoza
The CEO of one of the nation’s leading steel manufacturers told the Congressional Steel Caucus on Wednesday that globalization has failed.
A globalized steel industry, one that favored heavy subsidies, overcapacity, and dumping into the U.S., nearly destroyed American steel and American steelworkers. It was the Section 232 and anti-dumping trade remedies that got them off life support.
“We have a real opportunity to address this 30-plus year-old failure called globalization,” Lourenco Goncalves, CEO of Cleveland Cliffs, told the House Steel Caucus. His was the most impassioned testimony of the steel labor unions and other steel executives brought in to discuss the global steel industry on Capitol Hill this week.
“We can only address that (failure) by building the American manufacturing sector,” Goncalves said. “Our success can influence the Midwest and American society as a whole.” Read Article
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Have We Just Seen the Funeral of the WTO ‘Single Undertaking’? |
Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) GmbH – tradebetablog
WTO Ministerial Conference
Observers of multiple World Trade Organization (WTO) ministerial conferences felt gloomy early during the June 12–17 meeting, when Director-General Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala warned against mingling the issues. She was reported to have urged ministers to make trade-offs within the same issue rather than across the package of issues. In an interview with the Financial Times’ Alan Beattie (paywalled) she confirmed her approach.
“Sometimes, all this leveraging and cross connections between outcomes I think in the past has led to the failure to achieve anything, because then everything just doesn’t work and collapses. I was really determined from the get-go that wasn’t going to happen and I was trying to discourage members from linking one thing to another,” she said. Read Blog
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Congress Passes CHIPS Act |
IndustryWeek - Ryan Secard
The current iteration of the semiconductor subsidy bill authorizes $52 billion in support funds and a 25% tax credit for U.S. chip manufacturing.
After months of stalled progress, the CHIPS-Plus Act lurched through the Senate today as the semiconductor subsidy measure amassed 64 votes in favor to beat 33 against. The bill’s passage to the House of Representatives was hailed by trade groups representing manufacturers and semiconductor companies as a step toward bolstering the domestic supply of computer chips.
According to the office of Senator Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.), one of two co-sponsors of the original bill, the latest version contains $52 billion in funds for semiconductor manufacturers to use building or improving existing semiconductor factories, workforce training, wireless broadband development, and regional economic development hubs. It also includes a 25% credit for companies investing in semiconductor fabricators, or fabs, in the United States. Read Article
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Education And Workforce Development News |
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Is it Time to Expand Your Distance Learning Program? |
Community College Daily News – Fred Lokken
As community colleges plan to return to more in-person classes this fall, a number of distance learning programs are exploring the possibility of expanding their online programs going forward. After all, almost all of our students – and faculty – experienced firsthand the many advantages of online learning over the past two years.
Prior to the pandemic, online enrollments were the principal source of enrollment growth at community colleges, and it is anticipated that in the post-pandemic student demand will continue for more online class and degree options. Read Article
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Pop Quiz: Test Your Manufacturing Knowledge, 2022 Edition |
IndustryWeek – Jill Jusko
How wide and deep is your manufacturing knowledge? Take this brief quiz and find out.
We’ve got a question for you. No, that is not entirely true. We have 10 questions for you in this short quiz developed to test your manufacturing knowledge. There is absolutely no logic behind how these questions were chosen, and there is no prize for getting them all correct–beyond your own self satisfaction.
Need a little breather from a hard day’s work? Give this brain teaser a try. And if you enjoyed it, here’s another: Pop Quiz: Test Your Quality IQ. Take Quiz
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Reflections and Thoughts About the Future |
Community College Daily News – Barbara Shelly
The announcements have rolled out at a startling pace, from Oregon to Maryland and everywhere in between. Around the United States, community college presidents are retiring.
In some ways, the departures have been expected. The American Association of Community Colleges and others have calculated that the sector would be affected by acute leadership turnover around this time.
Still, news of the retirements has been jarring. The departing presidents represent decades of leadership at community colleges. They have built campuses, managed crises and ushered in a new era of online learning in emergency circumstances. They have nudged the primary mission of the sector from access to student success, owned the workforce development space and established equity as a foremost tenet. Read Article
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Pay is Main Reason Higher Ed Employees Consider Leaving Jobs |
Community College Daily News – Mathew Dembicki
Employees in all types of industries and sectors are mulling over whether they like their jobs and if they want to find something new. Workers in higher education are no different.
New research from the College and University Professional Association for Human Resources (CUPA-HR) shows that many staff, professionals and administrators at public and private colleges and universities are considering other job opportunities due to dissatisfaction with pay, opportunities for advancement, institutions’ remote and flexible work policies, and more.
Overall, nearly two-thirds (62%) of higher ed employees indicated in a survey that they are satisfied with their job. Approximately the same percentage (66%) would recommend their department as a place to work, and a slightly smaller percentage (60%) would recommend their institution, the report says. However, more than one-fifth (22%) of employees are not satisfied with their jobs. Read Article
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Training And Organizational Development News |
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When It Comes to Goal Setting, Focus on Progress—Not Perfection |
EHS Today- Nicole Stempak
Don’t lose sight of the strides you’re making, especially if you’re on an unobtainable quest.
As I write this, my partner is spread out on the couch, having finished grading final exams that are piled on the seat cushions. I’m sitting in my brown leather club chair, proofreading this issue, when he starts talking to himself. That isn’t unusual, but I look up just in case he’s talking to me.
He wasn’t, but he happily starts telling me about his students’ performance. He shares the scores of some students and details how they improved throughout the semester. (To be clear, he doesn’t disclose any students’ identities.) For one student who was on the bubble, he bumps up their grade because they did so well on the comprehensive final. Read Article
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UPDATED: Eager to Lead: Tips for the Up-and-Coming Manufacturing Manager |
IndustryWeek – Larry Fast
Lean Leadership columnist Larry Fast shares six tactics to help you grow as a manufacturing leader and master each new role.
EDITOR’S NOTE: Columnist Larry Fast was reviewing recent columns he had written and determined that this one warranted an update. “As I think back on it, we were in the early stages of COVID-19 when I wrote it, and little did we know how devastating this virus would be in every corner of the earth,” he says. Reflecting on the experiences of the past two years, Larry has revisited the words he wrote and offers some updated thinking. What you see below is the original article, dated June 2020, with the updates presented in blue.
Question: I am a college graduate and just getting started as a management trainee. Presently, I am learning about scheduling and machine operations. What tips do you have for accelerating my learning curve and helping me to reach my goal of becoming a plant manager and beyond within 10 years?
Answer: Great question and one I can relate to personally. After college and serving three years in the Air Force, I was fortunate enough to have several outstanding mentors when I went to work in a factory. I was looking for an opportunity to continue to grow as a leader as well as to master each role I was asked to play. Here are examples of some of the best inputs I had along the way. Read Article
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Front Line: Unionization Efforts Trending Upward |
Area Development - Dan Emerson, Staff Editor
According to the experts, respecting and listening to employees’ concerns is key to keeping unionizing efforts at bay.
Across the United States and across industries, the unionization of workers has been declining for decades. However, U.S. employers took notice earlier this year when about 2,600 Amazon warehouse workers in Staten Island, N.Y., voted to start a union.
In light of another widely reported trend — employees’ new, post-pandemic bargaining power — does this mark the beginning of a new era in labor relations? HR pundits say, “Stay tuned.”
“The Sweet Spot” According to Mary Weissman, an officer and consultant with The Weissman Group, a Dayton, Ohio-based labor relations consulting firm, “There has been a significant uptick in unionization efforts in all sectors.” Read Article
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Want to Achieve Real Improvement? Stop Blaming the People! |
IndustryWeek - John Dyer
Fixing broken processes is the better choice for increased productivity and a more engaged workforce.
“A bad system will beat a good person every time.” Dr. W. Edwards Deming
One of my favorite quotes from Dr. Deming is, “A bad system will beat a good person every time.” This is one of the many lessons to be learned from Dr. Deming’s Red Bead Experiment. I had the opportunity to see Dr. Deming do his experiment twice. The second time I tried to capture every word he said because I knew that someday I would incorporate this activity into my own training classes.
Here’s a quick recap of the Red Bead Experiment: Dr. Deming would first ask for volunteers to fill six “willing worker” positions. He then told these workers to dip a paddle with 50 indentations into a bowl of beads that were about 20% red and 80% white. The red beads represented defects and, as the boss, he made it clear that red beads were unacceptable. Of course, statistically speaking, it was nearly impossible to pull out the 50 random beads without a few of them being red. Each time this happened, Dr. Deming would say something like, “I am very disappointed with your work. You do want a job, don’t you? Maybe you should try a little harder next time!” Read Article
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Access Proactive Technologies' Recent "Proactive Technologies Workforce News" Article Quicklinks |
Located on the left panel below, this includes articles on structured worker development, achieving worker "full job mastery," engineering/quality/safety compliance, ISO/TS/AS quality program support and compliance, and many other contemporary worker development and management topics. |
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Recent Proactive Technologies News Article Quicklinks |
July
by Dean Prigelmeier, President of Proactive Technologies, Inc.
by Stacey Lett, Director of Operations - Eastern U.S. - Proactive Technologies, Inc.
by Proactive Technologies, Inc. Staff
by Dean Prigelmeier, President of Proactive Technologies, Inc.
June
by Dean Prigelmeier, President of Proactive Technologies, Inc.
by Stacey Lett, Director of Operations - Eastern U.S. - Proactive Technologies, Inc.
by Stacey Lett, Director of Operations - Eastern U.S. - Proactive Technologies, Inc.
by Dean Prigelmeier, President of Proactive Technologies, Inc.
by Proactive Technologies, Inc. Staff
May
by Dean Prigelmeier, President of Proactive Technologies, Inc.
Director of Operations - Eastern U.S. - Proactive Technologies, Inc.
by Frank Gibson, Workforce Development Advisor, retired from The Ohio State University – Alber Enterprise Center
by Dean Prigelmeier, President of Proactive Technologies, Inc.
APRIL
by Dean Prigelmeier, President of Proactive Technologies, Inc.
by Stacey Lett, Director of Operations - Eastern U.S. - Proactive Technologies, Inc.
by Dr. Dave Just, formally Dean of Corporate and Continuing Education at Community Colleges in MA, OH, PA, SC. Currently President of K&D Consulting
MARCH
by Dean Prigelmeier, President of Proactive Technologies, Inc.
by Stacey Lett, Regional Director of Operations - Eastern U.S. - Proactive Technologies, Inc.
by Frank Gibson, Workforce Development Advisor, retired from The Ohio State University – Alber Enterprise Center
by Dean Prigelmeier, President of Proactive Technologies, Inc.
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Proactive Technologies, Inc. Partners With Educational Institutions, Workforce/Economic
Development Groups, Government Agencies
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Structured on-the-job training attracts and engages employers in workforce development partnerships...some projects sustainable for more than 18 years!
This creates a steady need for your related technical instruction, services and a pathway for employment.
These partnerships:
- enhance your institution's opportunity to market your products and services to incumbent workers;
- allow your organization to include structured on-the-job training as a capstone to preemployment preparation;
- document a trainee-to worker's increasing value to the employer - the key to retention - rather than leaving it to chance;
- properly aligns workforce development resources and maximizes the impact and results; allows you to engage an employer's facility, equipment and staff in the training process;
- provides the best, sustainable infrastructure for apprenticeships and internships that last!
- is a win for the trainee, win for the worker, win for the employer, win for the institution and win for the community!
This approach has continued to prove itself since 1988, and does not compete with your school's or agency's products and services; it adds to your efforts the clear, tangible, measurable advantage that employers seek.
Copyright © 2022 Proactive Technologies, Inc.™ ALL RIGHTS RESERVED
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Tri-Rivers Career Center - Adult Education provides lifelong, continuous learning for a diverse adult population. We utilize practical skills with an eye toward technological advancement.
We partner with state agencies and employers to provide targeted skill development to future and incumbent workers.
Our RAMTEC (Robotic and Advanced Manufacturing Technology Education Collaborative) facility - one of many throughout the state - offers advanced technical training in specialized areas such as robotics, robotic welding, and engineering technology.
Copyright © 2022 Tri-Rivers Career Center - Adult Education - RAMTEC ALL RIGHTS RESERVED
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PROACTIVE TECHNOLOGIES, INC. CLIENT SERVICES |
To supplement onsite PROTECH™ system of managed human resource development classes, these regularly scheduled webinars are available to the registered staff of clients:
- Structured On-The-Job Training Instructor Certification
- Structured On-The Job Training Checklist Administrator Certification
- Management Structured On-The-Job Training Project Support Briefing
- Integrating Support for Plant-Wide ISO/AS/IATF Quality and Safety Systems with PROTECH Workforce Development System
- Supporting "Pay-For-Value" Systems
- Promoting Continuous Process Improvement While Implementing the PROTECH System for the Accelerated Transfer of Expertise™
- PROTECH Onsite Lead Trainer and System Administrator Certification
Contact US t o attend one of these seminars and we will send you an e-reservation. Include your client ID, name and user ID number and which webinar you would like to attend.
Copyright © 2019-22 Proactive Technologies, Inc.™ ALL RIGHTS RESERVED
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Jenoptik Industrial Metrology is now Hommel-Etamic |
Quality Magazine
Jenoptik announced that the company’s industrial metrology portfolio will now be presented under the familiar brand name Hommel-Etamic, with a new market appearance, enabling a more focused customer approach.
Hommel-Etamic manufactures metrology solutions for your industrial manufacturing processes, which include high-precision production metrology for inspecting roughness, contour, form, and dimensional part features in every phase of the production process, as well as in the measuring room. The primary product brands utilize tactile, optical and pneumatic technologies and are known in the marketplace as: Read Article
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The Food Safety System Is Failing
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IndustryWeek – Tinglong Dai, Kara Morgan
The FDA is slow to act and lacks transparency.
Opinion
Much has been written and said about the ongoing shortage of baby formula. It is a supply-chain challenge exacerbated by market concentration, lack of competition and restrictions to foreign entry. The safety issue that caused the shortage, however, is far more alarming and raises concerns about other food products regulated by the Food and Drug Administration.
Baby formula is one of the most strictly regulated food products, given the vulnerable population that consumes it. According to the FDA, all formulas marketed in the United States must meet federal nutrient requirements, and manufacturers must notify the FDA before marketing a new formula. However, at least four infants have died since early 2021 after consuming formula manufactured by an Abbott Nutrition plant in Michigan, and five additional deaths are being investigated but have not been directly linked to the plant. Read Article
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Aerospace Quality Management System (AQMS) Certification |
Quality Magazine – Brendon Hill
If you really want a QMS to work, you need to work at it.
Quality management systems have been around for many years now, but you might ask yourself, why set out to comply with a written standard, and why be certified? There are often discussions on this topic and whether it realizes benefits or is just a badge. The truth is that it is like anything else, you get out what you put in.
You could write a QMS, you could document it and keep it on the shelf and roll it out once a year to show a less-than-robust auditor and get an ISO9001 certificate. Indeed, there are non-IAF-accredited certification bodies out there that will write the QMS for you, then rubber stamp it. The result is you have no change in what you do or how you do it, so no benefits in efficiency, cost reduction, OTD, and critically, culture and leadership. Frankly, pointless. You know it, and your customers (if they understand the accreditation system) also know it. Read Article
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Here are the James Webb Space Telescope’s Stunning First Pictures |
ScienceNews – Lisa Grossman
We’ve now seen farther, deeper and more clearly into space than ever before.
A stellar birthplace, a nebula surrounding a dying star, a group of closely interacting galaxies, the first spectrum of an exoplanet’s light. These are some of the first images from the James Webb Space Telescope, released in a NASA news briefing on July 12. This quartet of cosmic scenes follows on the heels of the very first image released from the telescope, a vista of thousands of distant galaxies, presented in a White House briefing on July 11. Read Article
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New Process Turns Mixed Plastic Waste Into New Car Parts |
Assembly Magazine
Chemical recycling of mixed plastic waste is both technically feasible and environmentally and financially promising.
KARLSRUHE, Germany—Chemical recycling of mixed plastic waste is both technically feasible and environmentally and financially promising, according to new research from Audi and Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT).
The researchers have invented a way to turn mixed plastic waste from automotive manufacturing into pyrolysis oil, which could replace petroleum as a raw material for the production of new plastic parts for cars. Together with partners from the chemical industry and KIT, Audi is now researching ways to industrialize the recycling process. Read Article
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Monkeypox Virus Mutations ‘Challenging’ What We Know |
DeutscheWelle
New research suggests that monkeypox is mutating surprisingly fast in Europe and North America. The study shows how little we know about the virus.
The genetics of the virus that causes monkeypox are relatively unknown. This is the kind of skin rash that the virus causes, viewed under a microscope.
The monkeypox virus spreading across the US, Europe and the UK is mutating surprisingly fast, according to a study conducted by Portuguese researchers and published in the journal Nature Medicine. The study offers the most in-depth look at the genetic makeup of the virus so far.
Scientists sequence virus genomes because the genome is the virus’s playbook — the genome is the genetic material of an organism, and, in the case of a virus, it tells us what the virus is, what is does and how it is likely to spread. Read Article
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The World is Making Progress on Clean Water and Sanitation, But is Far Behind its Target to Ensure Universal Access by 2030 |
Our World in Data – Hannah Ritchie
All countries pledged to provide safe water and sanitation for everyone by 2030. How far are we from reaching these targets?
In 2015, all countries pledged to work towards universal access to safe drinking water, sanitation and basic handwashing facilities by 2030. We’re now one-third of the way into this 15-year period. We are still far from achieving universal access: 26% of people do not have access to safe drinking water; nearly half are without safe sanitation; and nearly one-third without basic soap and water.
The world is making progress but it’s far too slow. Progress will have to be more than three times faster over the coming decade if we’re to ensure everyone has access to these very basic resources by 2030. Read Article
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Huge Waves Hit Hawaii in ‘Historic’ Swell; Surf Crashes into Homes, Wedding party, Videos Show |
USA Today – Marina Pitofsky
Massive waves hit parts of Hawaii over the weekend and into Monday, with videos showing water crashing over homes, into celebrations and more.
Officials last week predicted a “historic” swell that would bring large waves to Hawaii’s south-facing shores. The Hawaii Department of Land and Natural Resources on Sunday confirmed that a 25-foot wave face was reported by the department’s Division of Conservation and Resources Enforcement. Read Article and See Videos
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Could Silk Solve the Microplastics Problem? |
IndustryWeek – MIT News
With bans in place as early as 2025, BASF, MIT search for a biodegradable substitute.
Microplastics, tiny particles of plastic that are now found worldwide in the air, water, and soil, are increasingly recognized as a serious pollution threat, and are now found in the bloodstreams of animals and people. Some of these microplastics are intentionally added to a variety of products, including agricultural chemicals, paints, cosmetics and detergents. This amounts to an estimated 50,000 tons a year in the European Union alone, according to the European Chemicals Agency. The EU has already declared that these added, nonbiodegradable microplastics must be eliminated by 2025, so the search is on for suitable replacements, which do not currently exist.
Now, a team of scientists at chemical company BASF and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology has developed a system based on silk that could provide an inexpensive and easily manufactured substitute. The new process is described in a paper in the journal Small. Read Article
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As the Planet Heats Up, It’s Now or Never for Manufacturers to Act |
IndustryWeek - Diane Kappas
PPG’s Sustainability Leader: ‘It’s a pivotal moment’
One of my favorite Chinese proverbs states, “The best time to plant a tree was 20 years ago. The second-best time is now.”
This statement could not be more fitting as organizations continue to place emphasis on understanding their customers’ sustainability needs, evaluating their core emissions sources, prioritizing positive impacts in their communities and further refining overall governance for the company. Many organizations have historically invested in strategies to address these issues, but an increasing number of companies recognize the pivotal moment we now face in order to reverse the detrimental effects of climate change, and how strong environmental, social and governance (ESG) practices can further this journey. The time to act is now. Read Article
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Continental Launches First Tires with Polyester Made from Recycled Bottles |
Assembly Magazine
HANOVER, Germany—Continental is using polyester yarn made from recycled plastic bottles for high-volume production of tires.
Specifically, the new high-performance material is being used first in Continental’s PremiumContact 6 summer tires, EcoContact 6 summer tires, and AllSeasonContact tires. The material replaces conventional polyester yarn in the carcass of the tires. A set of standard passenger car tires uses yarn made from approximately 40 recycled PET bottles. Read Article
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Cyber Security And IT News |
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Examining the Intersection of Data Privacy and Civil Rights |
Brookings Institution - Samantha Lai, Research Analyst, Center for Technology Innovation - The Brookings Institution; Brooke Tanner, Research Intern - Center for Technology Innovation
For historically marginalized groups, the right to privacy is a matter of survival. Privacy violations have put these groups at risk of ostracization, discrimination, or even active physical danger. These tensions have long pre-dated the digital age. In the 1950s and 1960s, the government used surveillance programs to target Black Americans fighting against structural racism, with the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s (FBI)
Counterintelligence Program (COINTELPRO) targeting Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and members of the Black Panther Party. During the HIV/AIDs epidemic, LGBTQ+ individuals were fearful that with an employer-based healthcare system, employers would find out about a doctor’s visit for HIV/ AIDS and that individuals would then face stigma at work or risk losing their jobs.
Under modern-day surveillance capitalism, interested parties can collect and monetize online data at an unprecedented scale with little scrutiny or limitation. Read Article
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EU Found Evidence Employee Phones Compromised with Spyware: |
Global Bankiing & Finance Review - Raphael Satter
(Reuters) – The European Union found evidence that smartphones used by some of its staff were compromised by an Israeli company’s spy software, the bloc’s top justice official said in a letter seen by Reuters.
In a July 25 letter sent to European lawmaker Sophie in ‘t Veld, EU Justice Commissioner Didier Reynders said iPhone maker Apple had told him in 2021 that his iPhone had possibly been hacked using Pegasus, a tool developed and sold to government clients by Israeli surveillance firm NSO Group.
The warning from Apple triggered the inspection of Reynders’ personal and professional devices as well as other phones used by European Commission employees, the letter said. Read Article
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How to Find Out if Your Vehicle Has Been Recalled and is Safe to Drive |
USA Today - Kim Komando
Awhopping 50 million vehicles on the road have open recalls. Thousands of Fords, Nissans, Hyundais and Hondas were recently added to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration's list. Tap or click here to check if your model is affected.
Perhaps a manufacturer finds a part on a specific model wears out faster than expected and decides to replace it for everyone. Faulty or outdated software can pose significant problems. And sometimes, the problem is more urgent, like the Takata airbag recall that started in 2013.
If you own a car, this article is for you. I’m going to tell you how you can go online to find out if your vehicle is subject to a recall and get email notifications of future recalls. You should share this valuable intel with your family and friends too. Read Article
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Amazon, Microsoft, Apple: 10 Tech Company Customer Service Numbers You are Looking For |
USA Today - Kim Komando
When you need help, always find contact info on the company’s official website.
If the long wait times and hard-to-find numbers don’t make it clear enough, I’ll say it: Tech companies don’t want to talk to you.
Here’s a secret I bet you didn’t know. You can have Amazon call you if you have a problem with an order or anything else. Read Article
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Human Resource Management News |
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Staffing Misalignment Among Labor Woes |
IndustryWeek - Staff
Recruiting, overtime and onboarding costs are also affecting the bottom line.
It’s hard to tell the full story by the numbers.
While 89% of U.S. manufacturers, surveyed by The Workforce Institute at UKG in their report "Is Stability in Sight?" reported year-over-year growth in April 2022 compared to 54% in 2021 and 65% in 2022, there are still factors affecting their bottom line.
Supply chain and skilled labor shortages continue to be the predominant concerns, as detailed in the graph below. Read Article
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Lean Out: Employees Are Accepting Lower Pay In Order to Work Remotely |
NPR Planet Money - Greg Rosalsky
In 2020, office workers were liberated from their cubicle farms and nasty commutes, as companies embraced what was supposed to be a temporary experiment with remote work while the pandemic raged. Approaching three years later, more than a third of American workers say they’re still able to work from home full time, and almost a quarter say they can do so part time, according to a recent poll by McKinsey & Company. In total, almost six in ten of the 25,000 Americans polled said they could work from home at least one day a week. Read Article
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Nearly One-third of Workers Plan to Quit: Conference Board |
CFO Dive - Jim Tyson's, Senior Reporter
Dive Brief:
Nearly one out of three workers (31%) plan to quit their jobs in the next six months, and 94% of workers who left their companies during the past year do not regret the move, the Conference Board said, describing findings from a survey primarily of professional employees and office workers.
Only 38% of respondents said they plan to remain with their current employer in the next six months, the Conference Board said, citing the June 21-28 survey of 1,100 individuals. Nearly one out of four workers (22%) left their jobs for higher pay, while 17% quit for a more flexible work schedule.
“Despite worries of a recession — and the hiring slowdowns and layoffs that often result from a downturn — the labor market remains strong and this robust jobs market is continuing to empower workers,” according to Rebecca Ray, executive vice president of human capital at the Conference Board. Read Article
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The Financial Upside of Employee Recognition |
CFO.com - Scott Dussault
Avoid the financial risk of the Great Resignation by implementing an employee recognition program to help increase retention.
Across the U.S., employers are struggling with soaring turnover rates. According to new figures from Gartner, 37.4 million people will voluntarily quit their jobs this year, a quite staggering 20% increase on pre-pandemic levels.
The pernicious effects of employees leaving permeate throughout an organization, slashing productivity, damaging the corporate culture, and incurring significant replacement expenses. Studies suggest that on average, it costs a company six to nine months of an employee’s salary to replace them and costs U.S. companies more than half a trillion dollars annually. For enterprises currently hemorrhaging staff, the dollars quickly mount up. Given the financial impact of employee turnover, the Great Resignation is clearly a matter for the office of the CFO. Read Article
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Fewer Than 1 of 4 Workers’ Recognition Needs Fulfilled: Weekly Stat |
CFO.com - Vincent Ryan
Many workers actively looking for new jobs did not feel valued and validated by current managers or other company leaders.
The future of work, according to a report by Gallup and Workhuman, a cloud-based employee-management platform, is showing employees they are valued.
“Employees bring their wellbeing, or lack thereof, to work with them every day,” according to the report. “It shows up in their productivity levels, work quality, interactions with other associates,” and their contributions to the organization. Read Article
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Why Gen Z Workers Chose Your Company |
IndustryWeek - Staff
A recent Deloitte survey found, not surprisingly, that a good work/life balance was the top reason this generation chose their current employers.
As every generation likes to compare itself to the one prior, these days the comparison becomes a playbook for companies as they decide what talent strategies to pursue when competing for talent.
A survey, The Deloitte Global 2022 Gen Z and Millennial Survey, which was conducted between November 2021 and January 2022, surveyed 14,808 Gen Zs and 8,412 millennials across 46 countries to learn what was on their minds.
One of the more interesting findings was the reasons they gave for working for their current employers. Read Article
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Want to Lay Off Workers More Smoothly? There's a Startup for That |
NPR Planet Money - Greg Rosalsky
You might have heard about the fintech company Klarna, whose CEO recently played a prerecorded video at an all-staff meeting to tell his employees that many of them were about to be laid off. The company then made them wait for up to two days, in agonizing suspense, to find out whether they were the ones getting axed.
Delivering the bad news with a boilerplate script as if they were robots, Klarna’s HR execs ended up sacking about 700 workers — ten percent of its workforce — via video calls. The calls lasted 2-3 minutes, and no questions were allowed. Ouch.
Or, how about Better.com, a tech mortgage company whose CEO laid off hundreds of employees in a single Zoom call — and then decided to kick them when they were down, accusing them of “stealing” from the company by not being productive enough. A few months later, in a second round of layoffs, the company accidentally sent soon-to-be-terminated workers severance checks. The problem: they hadn’t yet been told they were laid off. Read Article
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Environmental, Health & Safety News |
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Companies Worry about Effect of Inflation on Employees' Well-Being |
EHS Today - Staff
However, companies aren't sure about how to adjust pay to address inflation.
While many Americans are worried about the high rate of inflation, companies are also worried, albeit for a different reason.
A study released on July 12 from the Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM) Research Institute found that almost 73% of HR professionals reported similar concerns among their organizations—with the highest concentration being found in the industries of agriculture (97%), wholesale trade (95%), utilities and energy (82%), and manufacturing (82%). Read Article
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How Prevention through Design Improves Worker Safety in the Electrical Workplace |
EHS Today - Rachel Bugaris
The goal of PtD is to make electrical infrastructure safe for all workers, throughout the entire lifecycle of a facility.
Safety is a constant state of mind on the job floor and in the workplace, often woven into a company’s culture. Safety begins with design-first thinking. Safety by design is an achievable intervention that improves worker health and safety.
Designing to eliminate or avoid hazards altogether, before any exposure happens in the workplace, is also the top priority in the hierarchy of risk controls common to industry safety professionals. Known as Prevention through Design (PtD), it includes all efforts to envision and eliminate hazards to workers in facilities, the processes and procedures, as well as the tools, equipment, products and new technologies that come in contact with the people in the workplace. Read Article
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Having trouble finding, selecting, training and keeping the skilled workers you need? Are your employee turnover costs a concern?
Let's start with what we already know:
- Classes alone will not train workers to perform your tasks...
- Quality Control policies and Process Documents are not a substitute for task training...
- Putting 2 people together and hoping for the best is not a training strategy...
- Wishing and hoping won't develop the skilled workers you need...
The cost of one worker malperformance or one worker's under-capacity or under-performance - due to lack of proper training - can more than justify the investment to train all your workers properly!
AND, unstructured, uncontrolled, undocumented task training is going on all day, every day. But if you cannot explain the process, you surely cannot measure and improve it.
Proactive Technologies's approach to structured on-the-job training takes place where, and while, the work is performed. You need no additional staff and structured on-the-job training does not interrupt your work schedule like unstructured, haphazard and ad hoc training or classroom learning does.
You probably have most of the pieces are already in place; they just need structure around them to make the training experience work for everyone through the accelerated transfer of expertise™.
As part of every project, Proactive Technologies provides the support to set-up, implement, manage, document and revise the worker development system so you can stay focused on business.
Copyright © 2019-22 Proactive Technologies, Inc.™ ALL RIGHTS RESERVED
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EMPLOYERS!
If your organization sees training as a cost, not as an investment, maybe you should consider another approach!
- Cuts the employer's internal costs of training;
- Lowers the costs associated with turnover;
- Drives new-hires and incumbent workers to "full job mastery;"
- Increases worker capacity, work quality, productivity and compliance (ISO/AS/IATF training and records requirement, engineering specifications and safety mandates);
- Creates framework for cross-training, retraining and worker certification;
- Establishes the framework for employer specific/job-specific apprenticeships and internships - registered or not;
- Builds career development tracks and succession plans for hourly (and salary) workers;
- Ensures the increased and maintained "Return on Worker investment" through any type of change...
ALL OF THIS FROM ONE APPROACH!
This structured on-the-job training is performed where, and while, the work takes place!
You need no additional staff, and this will not disrupt your work schedule or burden your existing staff!
If your firm is partnered with local career and technical educational institutions, use of shared employer's equipment, facilities and paid wages of trainer(s) and trainee(s) are attractive match for potential grant assistance.
for more information.
Copyright © 2019-22 Proactive Technologies, Inc.™
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED
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Copyright © 1988 - 2022 Proactive Technologies, Inc.TM
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED
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