Restoring The Roar: Ford Expansions

Ford Motor Company (NYSE: F) is spending more than $773 million on new equipment and capacity expansions across six manufacturing facilities in southeast Michigan as it delivers on a commitment to invest $6.2 billion in U.S. plants by 2015.

The investments in Michigan will create 2,350 new hourly jobs and allow the company to retain an additional 3,240 hourly jobs. The 2,350 new positions are part of the 12,000 hourly jobs that Ford is adding across the U.S. by 2015.

"Even as we wrap up an incredibly busy year of capacity expansions and product launches, we are continuing to look to the future,"  said Jim Tetreault, Ford vice president of North America Manufacturing. "These investments, many of which are already under way, will ensure our southeast Michigan manufacturing facilities can support our aggressive growth plans."

Expansion work at several plants started earlier this year to increase Ford's capacity to provide transmissions and axles to support growing demand for fuel efficient vehicles and F-Series pickup trucks.

In addition, over the next six months Ford will bring a new stamping press on line at Michigan Assembly Plant; install equipment for four new stamping presses at Dearborn Stamping Plant; and finish expansion work at Flat Rock Assembly Plant to produce the new Fusion next year.

Specifically, Ford is making investments at the following locations:

* Michigan Assembly Plant - $59.4 million for stamping press line expansion

* Dearborn Stamping Plant - $305 million for plant modernization, new press lines, scrap conveyor system and other machinery and equipment

* Flat Rock Assembly - $161 million for machinery and equipment to assemble the new Ford Fusion and as an additional production facility

* Sterling Axle Plant - $86 million for machinery and equipment investment to meet axle demand increase and future model changes

* Van Dyke Transmission - $87.7 million for machinery and equipment investment to meet capacity expansions for 6F35 and 6F50 transmissions

* Livonia Transmission - $74.7 million for machinery and equipment investment for transmission expansion and test equipment 

I will have more stories of the reinvention of manufacturing in Michigan in the Restore The Roar series of e-books that will be published in early 2013. The latest information on that will be available on this blog or at www.rodkackley.com.

 

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 Last Chance Mile: The Reinvention of an American Community is available now wherever books are sold including Schuler Books & Music in downtown Grand Rapids, Michigan and on 28th Street in Kentwood.

Hardcover, soft cover and e-book editions are also available from your favorite online retailers. Or you can simply click the Buy Now button at the top of this page for an autographed hard cover edition.

For free sample chapters of Last Chance Mile,  please go to www.rodkackley.com/

 

Whirlpool Gets Fed Support

The reinvention of manufacturing is a constant battle. Here is evidence of U.S. government support for American manufacturing, from Whirlpool Corp. in Benton Harbor, Michigan.

The U.S. Department of Commerce (DOC) took an important step Dec. 19, 2012 toward leveling the playing field for U.S. manufacturers as it gave its final ruling in a case involving imports of large residential washers from South Korea and Mexico. The DOC concluded that foreign manufacturers, including LG and Samsung, are dumping large residential washers into the U.S. market, violating U.S. and international trade laws.

The ruling was in response to a petition filed by Whirlpool Corporation (NYSE: WHR) in December 2011 to promote a fair and open global trading system, to provide U.S. consumers with greater choice and to reinforce its ability to continue to innovate and invest in the United States.

"This decision is an important victory for our 22,000 dedicated U.S. employees, the consumers we serve and the U.S. appliance industry," said Marc Bitzer, President, Whirlpool North America Region. "Whirlpool has made substantial investments to increase production here in the United States and to fuel innovation that creates superior products for consumers. On a level playing field, we are confident that Whirlpool will continue to produce leading innovative products demonstrating the vitality of American manufacturing."

In a separate case, the DOC also ruled that unlawful subsidies were provided on the same products from South Korea. The DOC determined countervailing duty margins of 72.30 percent for Daewoo and 1.85 percent for Samsung.

As part of the company's strategic commitment to invest in U.S. manufacturing to supply the U.S. market, Whirlpool Corp. has made significant investments at its Clyde, Ohio, plant where it manufactures large residential washers. As a result of these investments, Whirlpool Corp. now manufacturers all of its large residential washers for the U.S. market in Clyde, Ohio.

Next Steps:

 The U.S. International Trade Commission (ITC) is expected to vote in mid-January 2013regarding injury to the domestic industry caused by the dumped and subsidized imports

Final orders are expected to be published with the issuance of final affirmative determinations from the DOC and the ITC.

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Last Chance Mile: The Reinvention of an American Community is available wherever books are sold, like Schuler Books & Music in downtown Grand Rapids, Michigan and on 28th Street in Kentwood, Michigan.

It is also available online from www.rodkackley.com where you will find links to your favorite online retailers to order in hardcover, soft cover or e-book formats. Or you can simply click on the Buy Now button to order your autographed hard cover copy.

 

 

 

Good News, Bad News For Office Furniture

 

Herman Miller Inc. reported net sales in the Zeeland company’s second quarter of $441.8 million; a decrease of 0.9% from the same quarter last fiscal year. New orders in the second quarter of $475.8 million were 8.1% higher than the prior year. Sequentially, net sales in the quarter decreased 1.8% from the first quarter of this fiscal year, while orders were up 5.3% over the same period.

Brian Walker, Chief Executive Officer, stated, "While the quarter's sales came in below our expectations, we see progress and momentum in our strategy, evidenced by solid growth in consolidated orders and backlog,” CEO Brian Walker said in a statement issued along with the second-quarter earnings report.

“A combination of factors contributed to lower than anticipated sales in the quarter, including long-leadtime orders, disruption caused by the East Coast storm, and further weakening of demand in Europe,” he also said. “However, we're encouraged by the increased order activity reported by each of our segments and by the particular strength of our key growth initiatives."

Let’s flashback to 11 months ago, when Crain’s reported that the air was leaking out of the West Michigan office furniture industry’s ball that was bouncing higher in 2011. As Walker said in his earnings statement, new orders are there, the air is being pumped back in, but still the ball…for now…is laying flat on the floor.

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Steelcase Inc. reported third quarter revenue of $727.2 million and net income of $23.6 million, or $0.19 per share. Excluding restructuring costs, adjusted earnings were $0.22 per share. Revenue and earnings per share were in-line with company estimates. Steelcase reported $719.4 million of revenue and earnings of $0.17 per share in the third quarter of the prior year, including restructuring costs of approximately $0.02 per share.

 Organic revenue growth in the third quarter was 1 percent after adjusting for $8.2 million of unfavorable currency translation effects and a favorable impact of $6.0 million from recent dealer acquisitions. The Americas posted 3 percent organic growth over the prior year while EMEA experienced a 1 percent organic decline. Revenue continued to include a higher mix of project business from some of the company's largest corporate customers as compared to prior year.

 "We were pleased that the Americas expanded their adjusted operating margin by 110 basis points in the third quarter compared to the prior year, despite modest revenue growth," said James P. Hackett, president and CEO. "While growth rates have moderated, we expect the fourth quarter will mark the twelfth consecutive quarter of organic revenue growth in the Americas."

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Last Chance Mile: The Reinvention of an American Community is available wherever books are sold.

 

 

21st Century Marketing-Corvette Shows The Way

First Drive of Seventh Generation Corvette Prototype

Camouflaged 2014 Corvette offered as free download in Gran Turismo®5

Here's a manufacturing company that understands 21st century marketing. You can't just buy a flight of TV or radio ads, combined it with some print ads, and boom...it's time for three martinis.  

Forget about that. It is not going to be 1972 again....ever

So Corvette blazes a new path and shows the way.

When fans fire up their PlayStation®3 (PS3™) systems they'll have a chance to become part of Corvette  history.  Chevrolet  and Sony Computer Entertainment America, LLC (SCEA) are giving gamers a first-of-its-kind driving experience by offering a camouflaged Corvette C7 Test Prototype as a vehicle download in the critically acclaimed PS3™ racing game Gran Turismo®5.

Chevrolet and Polyphony Digital Inc., the developers of the award-winning Gran Turismo® franchise, collaborated to provide an authentic driving experience in a seventh generation Corvette prototype currently available to only a handful of people in the world.

2013 Corvette

During the creation of the virtual Corvette prototype, careful attention was paid to the tiniest details from the creases and wrinkles in the soft camouflage used to disguise the new design to specific driving characteristics that are currently being tuned and refined ahead of the vehicle's official debut in January.

All six previous generations of the Corvette have been available to players of the Gran Turismo series since the game's inception and the Chevrolet nameplate remains one of the most popular vehicles to race. The camouflaged Corvette C7 Test Prototype is immediately available for download through the PlayStation® Store from your PlayStation®3 at no additional cost and can be driven on some of the world's renowned race tracks, including Daytona International Speedway and the infamous Nurburgring - one of the track surfaces used in testing to evaluate the new Corvette's driving dynamics.

 

The Gran Turismo series has sold more than 67 million games since its inception and remains the highest-selling PlayStation-exclusive franchise of all time.

Chevrolet will introduce the 2014 Corvette on Sunday, Jan. 13, 2013. 

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Last Chance Mile: The Reinvention of an American Community is on sale now wherever books are sold. Order your copy online today at Amazon, Barnes & Noble, or Abbott Press. Or you can simply click the Buy Now button at the top of this page. 

Last Chance Mile is also available at Schuler Books & Music in downtown Grand Rapids and in Kentwood, Michigan, as well as the main branch of the Grand Rapids Public Library, where this photo was taken.

Best Days Yet To Come, 2013 Manufacturing Forecast

The reinvention of manufacturing is underway, and the outlook is good. Our factories are running again, humming again, working again. But where are the people? If there is any bad news in this report from ISM it is that we are not expecting employment to increase in 2013.

Where are the people to restore the roar in this manufacturing renaissance?

Economic growth in the United States will continue in 2013, say the nation's purchasing and supply management executives in their December 2012 Semiannual Economic Forecast. Expectations are for a continuation of the economic recovery that began in mid-2009, as indicated in the monthly ISM Report On Business ®. 

The manufacturing sector is optimistic about growth in 2013, with revenues expected to increase in 17 manufacturing industries, and the non-manufacturing sector predicts that 14 of its industries will see higher revenues. 

Capital expenditures, a major driver in the U.S. economy, are expected to increase by 7.6 percent in the manufacturing sector and by 7 percent in the non-manufacturing sector.

Manufacturing, however, expects that its employment base will grow by less than 1 percent, while non-manufacturing expects employment growth of 1.3 percent.

These projections are part of the forecast issued by the Business Survey Committee of the Institute for Supply Management ™ (ISM). The forecast was released Dec. 12, 2012 by Bradley J. Holcomb, CPSM, CPSD, chair of the ISM Manufacturing Business Survey Committee; and by Anthony S. Nieves, C.P.M., CFPM, chair of the ISM Non-Manufacturing Business Survey Committee .  

Manufacturing Summary

Expectations for 2013 are positive as 62 percent of survey respondents expect revenues to be greater in 2013 than in 2012. The panel of purchasing and supply executives expects a 4.6 percent net increase in overall revenues for 2013, compared to a 4 percent increase reported for 2012 over 2011 revenues. 

The 17 manufacturing industries expecting revenue improvement over 2012 — listed in order — are: Primary Metals; Petroleum & Coal Products; Computer & Electronic Products; Wood Products; Furniture & Related Products; Printing & Related Support Activities; Food, Beverage & Tobacco Products; Paper Products; Chemical Products; Plastics & Rubber Products; Apparel, Leather & Allied Products; Miscellaneous Manufacturing; Transportation Equipment; Machinery; Nonmetallic Mineral Products; Electrical Equipment, Appliances & Components; and Fabricated Metal Products.

"Manufacturing purchasing and supply executives expect to see continued growth in 2013. They are optimistic about their overall business prospects for the first half of 2013,” said Holcomb, “and are even more optimistic about the second half of 2013.” 

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Last Chance Mile: The Reinvention of an American Community is available now at Amazon, Barnes & Noble and Abbott Press. 

This story of the transformation of Grand Rapids, Michigan is also available at Schuler Books & Music in Grand Rapids and Kentwood, as well as the downtown branch of the Grand Rapids Public Library.

Or you can simply click the "Buy Now" button at the top of this page.

"Thelma and Louise" Moment In Manufacturing

AIA Warns 2013 Aerospace and Defense Outlook Threatened by Fiscal Cliff

Amway Hotel in Grand Rapids

The reinvention of our American communities continues. That is having an impact on manufacturing. Take a look at one industry leader's concern for the future.

Warning that "we're getting closer to a 'Thelma and Louise' moment, when we careen off into the void," Aerospace Industries Association (AIA) President and CEO Marion C. Blakey told attendees at AIA's Year-end Luncheon Dec. 5, 2012 that "the time for real work, real negotiation and a real solution" to sequestration "is now."

Although the 2012 numbers for the aerospace and defense industry "remain encouraging despite the headwinds," Blakey also said "it is far too easy to conclude that the companies, workers and communities that comprise this industry can withstand anything; that they can adapt to any change, no matter how sudden or harmful."

2012 aerospace and defense industry sales are projected to increase by 3.8 percent from $210.8 billion in 2011 to $217.9 billion, Blakey reported.  The sales increase, along with a healthy expansion of aerospace and defense exports from $85.3 billion in 2011 to an estimated $95.5 billion in 2012, is largely due to strong civil aircraft sales, Blakey noted. The industry's positive trade balance rose from $55.8 billion in 2011 to an estimated $63.5 billion in 2012, the largest trade surplus of any manufacturing industry.  

On the jobs front, aerospace employment increased modestly this year from around 625,000 at the end of 2011 to more than 629,000 in the last quarter of 2012, despite layoffs in some facilities supporting military programs – reflecting the increased output of the industry, particularly in the civil aircraft sector. However, the specter of sequestration cuts could significantly impact the defense, civil space and civil aviation workforce, Blakey observed.

"The fact that the world's arsenal of democracy has been relegated to the status of political bargaining chip is difficult to fathom," Blakey continued. "But I am even more concerned about the long-term consequences for our country's leadership position in terms of global security, technology and economic strength."

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Last Chance Mile: The Reinvention of an American Community is available now wherever books are sold, online at Amazon, Barnes & Noble and Abbott Press and in brick-and-mortar stores like the Schuler Books & Music stores in Grand Rapids, Mich.

Brewing Big Beer Bucks

The Merriam-Webster Dictionary defines "manufacturing" as "making something from raw materials by machine or by hand." 

Brewing beer is the latest form of manufacturing to take hold in West Michigan, specifically metro Grand Rapids.

The Grand Rapids City Commission granted a $430,000 tax break to Founders Brewing, one of the most active breweries in Grand Rapids, December 4, 2012. 

 Founders brought beer brewing back to Grand Rapids, moving into one of the iconic relics of Grand Rapids’ past; a rat and gang infested, broken down furniture factory on the west bank of the Grand River. Police and hazardous materials crews had to sweep the place clean before they would allow reporters in for a press conference to announce the antique wood-and-brick building’s rebirth in 1996.

 The company might be in the midst of a $6 million expansion, but Founders nearly went bankrupt a few years after opening. CEO and founder Mike Stevens, a self-described “beer geek,” admitted he and his partner Dave Engbers made some bad beer decisions. They were able to keep their doors open and their beer brewing by switching their strategy. Mike and Dave started brewing the kind of beer they wanted to drink.

Founders' early days might not have been easy, but they did have fun.

“When you are fighting for something you really believe in you tend to fight a little bit more. So, if times are a little bit tough you just come out swinging,” he said.

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I will have more on the pioneers of the reinvention of the West Michigan brewing industry in a new book that will be published early next year. -- Rod

Last Chance Mile: The Reinvention of an American Community, the story of the transformation of Grand Rapids into one of the centers of the biotech industry in Michigan, is available now wherever books are sold including Schuler Books & Music in Grand Rapids and Kentwood, Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Abbott Press and at www.rodkackley.com. Or you can simply click the Buy Now button on this page.