The Monthly Newsletter of the Council of Industry
August 22, 2024
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Council of Industry Updates
What's Happening in Your Association
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NAM Manufacturing Wins Campaign: Tax, Regulatory Policy are Key Issues for Manufacturers as Election Approaches
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The U.S. economy is strong and manufacturing is resilient—but Congress must take certain steps to maintain the industry’s competitiveness, NAM President and CEO Jay Timmons told Fox News host Neil Cavuto August 12th. When lawmakers return from their August recess next month, they should prioritize several tax provisions, Timmons said.
“When … Congress goes back, we’ve got to deal with interest deductibility, and we’ve got to deal with the research-and-development tax deduction,” he continued. “We’ve got to deal with full expensing. Those are things that have expired.” Other manufacturing-critical tax provisions are scheduled to expire or be reduced drastically at the end of next year, including the pass-through and estate-tax deductions. What’s more, “candidates on both sides of the aisle … are talking about raising taxes on businesses,” Timmons said. Individual tax rates and tax rates on manufacturers that operate globally are also set to rise at the end of 2025.
Manufacturers are also struggling with a “regulatory burden that is driving up the cost of doing business,” Timmons said. “We have restrictions on our ability to develop energy sources here, and we have a ban on exports of natural gas. All of those things lead to potential downsides in the economy.” The vast majority of Americans support exporting natural gas, a March NAM poll found, but the Biden administration’s indefinite pause on permits to export liquefied natural gas, imposed in January, continues.
Read more at NAM
Learn about Manufacturing Wins
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Golf Outing August 26th SOLD OUT! Thank You Sponsors!
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We are thankful for the overwhelming turnout for the golf outing August 26th at the Powelton Club in Newburgh. It promises to be a fun filled day. We especially want to thank our sponsors who make events like this one possible!
Corporate Sponsor – Thank you JPMorgan Chase
Shirt Sponsor – Thank you NRG
Cocktail Sponsor – Thank you Brightcore Energy
Lunch Sponsor – Thank you Langan Engineering
Golf Cart Sponsor – Thank you Ulster Savings Bank
Scramble Prize Sponsor – Thank you PC Construction
Yellow Ball Prize Sponsor – Thank you BELFOR Restoration
Best Ball Prize Sponsor – Thank you Rhinebeck Bank
Closest to the Pin Prize Sponsor – Thank you Optimum Window Manufacturing Corp.
Hole In One – Thank you Viking Industries
Longest Drive Prize Sponsor – Thank you Package Pavement
Tee Sign Sponsors – $335 (Tee signs to date: AMI Services Inc, Allendale Machinery, Bank of America, Charles IT, Eastern Alloys Inc, Elna Magnetics, Emergency One Urgent Care and Occupational Health, Fair-Rite Products Corp, GTI Graphic Technology, Harmon Printing, ITC Communications, Lakeland Bank, Metallized Carbon Corporation, NBT Bank, Orange Die Cutting Corp, President Container Group, Pursuit Lending, Putnam Precision, Ralph W. Earl, & Sono-Tek Corp.)
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Certificate In Manufacturing Leadership Kicked off July 17th – Registration Still Open for Individual Courses
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The Council of Industry's Certificate in Manufacturing Leadership program kicked off July 17th with 21 participants from 6 member firms. The program offers attendees a range of leadership skills through concentrations of courses. Participants who complete the required courses are presented with the Certificate in Manufacturing Leadership by the Council of Industry. All courses are interactive full day sessions (8:30 am to 4:00 pm) with lunch, scheduled breaks, networking, and group discussions.
The Classes are being held at the Center of Excellence for Industry & Innovation at DCC Fishkill. Though participants are encouraged to complete the course series for the most comprehensive supervisory education, the Council welcomes individual course registration as well. See the offerings and schedule below.
Individual Course Cost:
Individual Attendee: $275
Two or More Attendees: $250
- COMPLETED Fundamentals of Leadership (Day 1): July 17th - Rebecca Mazin, Recruit Right.
- COMPLETED Fundamentals of Leadership (Day 2): July 24th - Rebecca Mazin, Recruit Right.
- COMPLETED Problem-Solving & Decision Making: August 7th Ben Kujawinski, Ignition.
- COMPLETED Effective Business Communications: August 21st - Rebecca Mazin, Recruit Right.
- Environment, Health & Safety Risk Management: September 11th - Ron Coons, Reis Group Insurance.
- Making a Profit in Manufacturing: September 18th - Steve Howell, RBT CPAs.
- Human Resource Management: October 2nd - Tom McDonough & Rob Guidotti, Jackson Lewis.
- Best Practices and Continuous Improvement: October 9th - Joe Guarneri, Crossix LLC.
- Strategies for Motivation, Coaching, and Managing Difficult People: October 23rd - Rebecca Mazin, Recruit Right.
To Register For Individual Classes: Click Here
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For information on advertising in this and other CI publications
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Manufacturing Industry News
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The Future Of Manufacturing From an Insider: Steel Craft CEO on How AI, Robotics And Data Are Revolutionizing Our Industry
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Data is driving the future of manufacturing. We are seeing rapid evolution in the sector as key trends and innovations are reshaping how companies operate in 2024 and beyond. Rapid technological advancements in AI, robotics and internet of things are an opportunity for manufacturers to address shortcomings in their workforce to stay competitive, says Kevin Stevick, president and chief executive of Steel Craft. This strategic shift allows manufacturers to enhance efficiency, reduce costs and meet rising demand for products amid a rapidly evolving technological landscape.
Identifying repetitive and time-consuming tasks that can be automated eases the burden on employees and can help reduce burnout. As companies continue to delegate more monotonous tasks to machinery, investing in upskilling and cross-training also gives employees new growth opportunities. Boosting motivation is key to fully harnessing the expertise of team members and bringing your operations to the next level through collaboration between humans and machinery.
Read more at Forbes
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Citrin Cooperman’s Releases Manufacturing And Distribution Survey Report
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Peter Katz of Westfair Communications talks with Anthony Harrypersad, a partner at Council of Industry Associate member Citrin Cooperman who provides audit and business consulting service to many manufacturing clients. They dive into Citrin Cooperman’s 2024 Manufacturing and Distribution Survey Report, which gathered information from key business executives on various operational issues and keys to success.
Among the report’s key findings:
- 48% identify the high cost of capital and interest rates as the biggest challenge for 2024.
- 35% note stabilizing their supply chain is the key to future growth.
- 68% denote supply chain transparency from their ERP platform is needed to be competitive.
- 36% report needing to upgrade equipment and fixed assets.
Listen Here at Westfaironline
Get a copy of the report at Citrin Cooperman
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Risk Is Different With AI. Here’s How to Think About It.
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In the manufacturing sector, AI is already beginning to play an important role in defect detection, automated production using robots, predictive maintenance, inventory control, supply chain management and worker training to boost human productivity and improve the efficiency of manufacturing operations. However, AI is not a technology without deficiencies. Therefore, deployment of AI may pose several risks that need to be carefully managed. Unfortunately, most people in the current workforce had no exposure to AI technology when they attended school. This makes it challenging for them to identify, manage and mitigate risks associated with AI.
This article provides a high-level framework for thinking about these risks and what factors need to be considered to make sound decisions regarding the deployment of AI tools and effectively utilize them including: Auditing of Training Data to Understand Vulnerabilities. Understanding potential source of errors. Verification and validation of AI tools. Identifying and mitigating risks associated with data privacy concerns. And Identifying and mitigating risks associated with data security concerns.
Read more at Industry Week
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Why Businesses Must Foster A Data-Quality Culture
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Data is a cornerstone of strategic decision-making and operational efficiency for businesses across all industries in today’s digital landscape. However, as the volume of data continues to expand exponentially, the challenge of maintaining its quality becomes increasingly complex. Poor data governance and quality costs organizations an average $12.9 million per year and can lead to misguided strategies, operational inefficiencies, and missed opportunities. These repercussions can have a large impact on organizations and lead to an erosion of trust in both customers and staff which can in turn impact profitability and overall performance.
Data governance is a critical framework that ensures data quality and user engagement by establishing the policies, procedures, and standards for managing data assets. As Artificial Intelligence (AI) develops, and organizations have a greater reliance on AI and data systems to automate complicated work processes, the significance of effective data governance has grown. Put simply, AI models perform better and deliver more accurate and reliable information to an organization if they function using organized data. When armed with this accurate and reliable information, organizations open the door to a variety of benefits including the ability to make better informed decisions, improved data security, timely data availability, and increased confidence.
Read more at Tech Radar
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Key Elements of Sustainable Procurement Strategy
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Taking an iterative approach to sustainable procurement can set up a virtuous cycle that drives value creation. That’s one of the key lessons from Cecovadis’ most recent Sustainable Procurement Barometer, which seeks to identify leaders in the field and gain insights into what they’re doing right.
The results of this year’s Barometer indicate that there are four key elements of a sustainable procurement strategy: a holistic approach; data integration; “paying it forward” by investing to benefit suppliers; and stakeholder engagement. This iterative cycle revolves around several key steps: investing in sustainable procurement initiatives, generating data to convey the story to stakeholders, realizing and communicating sustainable procurement benefits, and then reinvesting to repeat the process.
Read more - Material Handling & Logistics
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New 3M CEO: Time to Invent Stuff Again
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Speaking to analysts and investors July 26 after 3M Co. reported its second-quarter earnings, Bill Brown noted that various factors—the recent spinoff of the company’s healthcare business as Solventum Corp. as well as spending on work to wind down PFAS “forever chemicals” businesses and fix a supply chain rattled by COVID-19—have in recent years pulled research and development dollars away from activities that for decades shaped 3M’s identity. To fuel his top priority of producing good organic growth, Brown said, R&D needs a reset.
Brown, a former Harris Corp. and L3Harris CEO who took 3M’s helm from Mike Roman May 1, made it clear that he’s not preparing to pour millions more dollars into R&D. His push, he said, aims to refocus investments—3M’s core business are on track to receive about $1 billion for innovation this year—on projects with the greatest potential returns. Brown also didn’t promise a quick turnaround on the R&D front. 3M’s product introductions steadily slipped from more than 1,000 about a decade ago to a pace of about 150 this year and reversing that will take time—and some surgery on 3M’s organizational chart. “There’s an opportunity to drive effective capacity of our engineering team,” he said. “We have an opportunity to drive velocity through the new product development pipeline.”
Read more at IndustryWeek
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BMW Announces Successful Testing Of Humanoid Robots In Manufacturing
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BMW Manufacturing and Figure AI have entered into a commercial agreement to evaluate the safe use of humanoid robots in an automotive manufacturing environment. This collaboration has successfully tested the ability of the Figure 2 robot to perform complex tasks that involve dynamic manipulation, intricate grasping and coordinated use of both hands, potentially improving economics and safety for BMW’s teams.
Oliver Bilstein, BMW Manufacturing’s vice president of control and logistics, emphasized the initiative's promising impact on economic efficiency and safety in a statement. The two-week testing period took place in Spartanburg County and yielded positive results. The Figure 2 robots demonstrated advanced capabilities, showcasing their potential contributions to the automotive sector.
Learn more - Watch at WYFF South Carolina
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This High-Tech Factory Makes Parts For Rockets And Fighter Jets 10 Times Faster
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Hadrian founder and CEO Chris Power has raised $180 million to manufacture metal parts at warp speeds at his California factory. Now he’s got plans to build a network of them across the country to make more parts better, faster and cheaper. Power’s vision is somewhat different from other startups building tech to make other companies’ factories more efficient: He’s developed proprietary software to run Hadrian’s own factory, which allows it to churn out all types of precision metal parts for aerospace, space and defense companies faster, more efficiently and with fewer people.
Now he wants to build out a network of cookie-cutter, high-tech machine shops across the country to shake up a giant and fragmented industry. That’s a difficult and capital-intensive project, but one that Power argues is crucial for America’s industrial base. Investors, including Andreessen Horowitz, Founders Fund and Lux Capital, have bet $180 million on it, and the company is now worth roughly $500 million. While the three-year-old business is still small, having just launched commercially in 2023, it’s growing fast. It brought in $3 million in revenue last year, and Power expects to increase that number 10-fold this year, reaching at least $30 million, as it ramps up production from its factory near Los Angeles. “I get bored of things going too slowly,” he said.
Read more at Forbes
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The 3 E's of TPS and How the Basics Never Go Out of Style
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The Toyota Production System is not a wishy-washy construct. It’s built on core principles that guide how the manufacturer builds product, grows people and improves operations. Among the continuous-improvement crowd, many of its tenets are embraced, built upon and launch endless discussions on the topic of manufacturing excellence. Brett Wood, president and CEO of Toyota Material Handling North America, recently spoke about the Toyota Production System during a keynote address at the IndustryWeek Operations Leadership Summit, held recently in Indianapolis.
The keynoter addressed several of the operating system’s key principles, “and just maybe it gives you a few reminders about what’s involved in the process of building things, making things and maybe [you] take home a couple of new ideas.” Here is a review of several TPS principles Wood touched upon including: Engage/Educate/Empower, Kaizen, 5 Whys and Seven Mudas (waste).
Read more at IndustryWeek
Learn about our Lean Six Sigma Yellow Belt Class
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Manufacturers Must Digitize Now. Here’s How.
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In the pursuit of growth and efficiency, manufacturers face massive disruption in the age of AI. Multiple competencies will be democratized, dematerialized, demonetized and digitized, leading to a significant shift in the role of humans. Historically, humans contributed skills, generated data, designed processes and made decisions, while systems provided data access. In the world that is now emerging, the human role will shift towards fine-tuning or validating decisions and outcomes, while machines and algorithms handle the rest.
So what’s holding manufacturers back from this essential evolution?
Several roadblocks stand in the way of progress: Lack of urgency from boards and investors to drive long-term transformation; CEOs nearing retirement who are unwilling to embark on multi-year change efforts; scarcity of digital talent and expertise within manufacturing organizations; high perceived costs and unclear ROI of large scale digitization initiatives. And perhaps most important of all, manufacturers are reluctant to disrupt or cannibalize existing profitable analog businesses.
Read more at Chief Executive
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NEW PODCAST EPISODE OUT NOW!
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