US Manufacturing Revived with High Tech

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(1) Chris Bryant, A German Model Goes Global; The dual system for training apprentices is gaining ground in other markets keen to emulate the country's success. Financial Times, May 22, 2012.
http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/4f43b5 ... 4-00144feabdc0.html

Quote:

“'Producing a Mercedes car is a hugely technical task in terms of the materials and process involved such as automation technology, laser welding and gluing,' says Marcus Schaefer, chief executive of Mercedes-Benz US International. 'That ultimately requires high-quality trained people' * * * [Pamela Howze, training manager at Siemens' gas and steam turbine plant in Charlotte, North Carolina says,] 'Everything in the factory is run by a computer, a robot or a laser – people don’t think manufacturing is like that.'

"The roots of Germany’s vocational training stretch back to the Middle Ages and foreigners have often viewed the system as complex, rigid and antiquated. Children are streamed for technical education earlier than in the UK or US, for example, and join one of about 350 prescribed trades that range from baking to floristry and industrial mechanics. * * * Some of VW’s trainees at its new plant at Chattanooga, Tennessee are 25-30 years old, compared with a typical starting age in Germany of 15-16.

Note:
(a) Tuscaloosa, Alabama
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tuscaloosa,_Alabama
(named after Tuskaloosa, the chieftain of a Muskogean-speaking people, who battled and was defeated by Hernando de Soto in 1540 in the Battle of Mabila; home of the University of Alabama
(b)
(i) Mercedes-Benz US International(, Inc) Tuscaloosa County, Alabama.
http://mbusi.com/pages/factory_home.asp

Please click the "Factory" box in the upper right corner, particularly "body," to view robotics.
(ii) Mercedes-Benz US International
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mercedes-Benz_U.S._International
(produced its first vehicle in 1997)
(c) The report mention the German noun "azubi" (singular), which means "trainee, apprentice."
(d) Apprenticeship
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apprenticeship
(section 7 Germany)


(2) John W Miller, Steel Mill Revived With Lessons Abroad. Steel working used to be 80% back and 20% nrain. Now ot's reverse, a union rep says. Wall Street Journal, May 21, 2012 (front page; under the icon Remade in the USA).
online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052702304444604577340053191940814.html

Quote:

(a) "In 2008, Burns Harbor was 'twinned' [or, paired] with a hypermodern mill in Gent, Belgium. Over 100 U.S. engineers and managers, who were flown across the Atlantic, were told: Do as Belgians do.

"Burns Harbor now enjoys record output [though not as good as the Gent counterpart]. Its furnaces, where steel is made out of iron ore, coal and limestone, is run by software developed in Belgium. Robots ar i. Pencils are out. Workers are learning to make the same amount of steel with nearly half the people it employed three decades ago. Productivity is nearing Belgian levels.  

(b) "Burns Harbor, just south of Chicago, was built by Bethlehem Steel in 1964 * * * sold it to then Mittal Steel [now Arcelor-Mittal] in 2005. * * * The Gent plant was also built in 1964

(c) The headquarters of Arcelor-Mittal dispatched hundreds of American steel workers from Burns Harbor to Gent, on a learning tour. "After seeingthe level of automation in bElgium, it wasn't hard to see what needed to be done back home. For example, in Gent, a computer coordinates the movement and processing of iron steel slabs, while in Burns Harbor, workers relied largely on phone calls, paper [with pencil] and brain power.

"One Belgian computer model called Coordi tells workers when to pour liquid iron into ladles, when to mix in alloys and when to cast the steel into slabs, which is critical in avoiding expensive reheating of steel [to re-cast it].

Note:
(a) Burns Harbor, Indiana
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Burns_Harbor,_Indiana
(In 1966 Bethlehem Steel offered its assistance in incorporating a new town; named after Randall Burns, a local)
(b) For Gent, see Ghent
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ghent
(started as a settlement at the confluence of the Rivers Scheldt and Lys and in the Middle Ages became one of the largest and richest cities of northern Europe; Most historians believe that the older name for Ghent, 'Ganda', is derived from the Celtic word 'ganda' which means confluence)

(3) James R Hagerty, Once Made in China: Jobs tricle back to US plants. Wall Street Journal, May 21, 2012 (front page; Remade in the USA).

Quote:

(a) Whirlpool "brought back production of that company's KitchenAid hand mixers, which for the previous years had been made by a contractor in huizhou, china, near Guangzhou.

"When Whirlpool decided to assemble the product in Greensville again, 'there were a lot of high fives going around, that's for sure,' {Bill] Good[, a plant manager] says. The net gain in Us jobs at Whirlpool? About 25.

(b) "Most of the parts for the mixers--including the motors--are still made in China because Whirlpool couldn't find US suppliers that would make them cheaply enough. Plastic parts for the mixers are being made in the US--but partly on equipment newly purchased from China.

(c) "Nevertheless, China and other Asian nations remain  very competitive on many products. Once expertise and supplier networks become entrenched, as they have for such things as smartphones in China, it is very difficult to move them. The US also suffers from a shortage of trained workers in some areas vital for manufacturing

Note: Close to Dayton, Ohio, this Greenville is
Greenville, Ohio
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greenville,_Ohio
(Greenville is the historic location of Fort Greene Ville, a pioneer fort built under General Anthony Wayne's command; Fort Greene Ville was named for Wayne's fellow General Nathanael Greene)

Not to be confused with
Greenville, South Carolina
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greenville,_South_Carolina
(Greenville may have been named for American Revolutionary General Nathanael Greene, or perhaps for an early resident, Isaac Green)


(4) Timothy Appel, A Crib for Baby: Made in China or made in USA? Wall Street Journal, May 21, 2012 (Remade in the USA).

Quote:

(a) "Stanley Furniture Co is betting baby cribs are among the few things Americans will pay a hefty premium for just because they carry a 'Made in USA' label.

"the 88-year-old company recently shifted its crib manufacturing back to the US from China, to a sprawling factory here [Robbinsville] that not long ago was earmarked for closure along with Stanley's other two domestuic plants.

(b) Stanley "doesn't recalls in its marketing * * * 'We let people imagine: This is American made, versus china made,' says [glenn] prillaman[, Stanlet's chief executive]. 'All the things they have heard about dog food, cribs--we let the consumer come to that on their own.

(c) "Furniture [including cribs] making is labor intensive and difficult to automate. * * * The upshot is that Stanley's US-made cribs, marketed under the name Young America, sell for about $700, while imports that look nearly identical can be had for $400.

Note: Robbinsville, North Carolina
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robbinsville,_North_Carolina