March 28, 2017 According to Industry Week and the Reshoring Initiative, after two decades of job losses, we have turned the corner. In 2014, we had a net gain of 10,000 reshored jobs. And, clearly, this is picking up steam especially as we are in the thick of 2017. [...]
March 22, 2017 According to CFO, Duke University and CFO Global Business Outlook Survey suggests strong optimism! In fact, the survey's optimism index for the quarter jumped to 69 (on a 100-point scale) which is the highest level in 14 years. This is also significantly higher than the long-run [...]
March 14, 2017 According to Industry Week, the Fed's survey of the economy expressed optimism; however, it also noted that labor markets are tightening. Since I'm also embarking on refrehsing my 2013 Skills Gap research report, thus far, I've noted the same concerns for high-skilled positions. I hear far [...]
March 7, 2017 Well, let's start with a definition of digitization. According to CIO.com, McKinsey defines it as technologies that virtualize and automate products, services and supply chains. We certainly hear about digitization in the news frequently; however, according to McKinsey, even though CIOs embrace it, digitization is a [...]
February 27, 2017 Trump has proposed a rather dramatic increase in defense spending. His proposed $20 billion boost in military spending isn't pocket change and will have a dramatic ripple effect on manufacturers across-the-board. It doesn't matter what gets approved in the end - the direction is clear. How [...]
February 20, 2017 According to the 2017 Deloitte Global CPO Survey, 85% of those surveyed felt that talent was the largest factor in driving procurement performance yet 60% think they have a skills gap to deliver on their procurement objectives. My clients are experiencing this same phenomenon, no matter the [...]
February 14, 2017 According to the Institute for Supply Management's Manufacturing Purchasing Managers' Index, manufacturing is on an upswing. The composite index rose in January, making it the fifth straight monthly expansion. New orders and production grew strongly! And the Dallas Federal Reserve Bank reported that manufacturing activity expanded [...]
February 7, 2017 As one of the panelists at the Manufacturers' Summit last week said, "Have you ever seen manufacturing in the news more than it has been lately?" Quite an intriguing point.... The Summit had an expert panel on the future of manufacturing - and what the Trump [...]
January 30, 2017 Well, you'd have to be living under a rock to have not heard all the controversy about Trump and trade. Tariffs, restrictions and general chaos.... Currently, the U.S. trades significant volumes with China, Mexico and a whole host of other countries as we live in a [...]
January 23, 2017 On Trump's first full day in office, he backed out of TPP, as expected - and promised. The concept behind this Trans-Pacific Partnership was to deepen economic ties among countries that border the Pacific Ocean. Will this have an effect on trade? At the same time, [...]
