Latest Manufacturing Headlines and the PMI

The New York Times published an article in the February 3rd 2014 New York Times: Markets Sink as Manufactuirng Data Weighs on Investors. Stocks on Wall Street slumped on Monday, with the S.&P. 500-stock index hitting its lowest level since October, after weaker-than-expected data on the American factory sector provided investors with the latest reason to book profits. The United States manufacturing sector grew at a slower pace in January as new order growth plunged by the most in 33 years, while spending on construction projects barely rose in December.

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Obesity and Warehouse Productivity

There is an interesting article in Material Handling and Logistics on June 28, 2013: How to Compensate for Obesity’s Impact on Productivity. The article is worth reading if you manage a warehouse, factory, or other location where the demands on workers are more physical.

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The 2013 Supply Chain Challenge

We would like to wish our clients and friends a most happy, healthy, and prosperous 2013! The US and World economies continue to creep forward. No one is satisfied with the pace of recovery. The Great Recession began four years ago and no one can claim we have recovered to the pre-recession glory days of "irrational exuberance." We are, as we at CR Supply Chain have emphasized from the beginning, in a New Normal. We have been in it long enough that it is just the plain old normal now.

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Automotive Slump?

In the past few weeks, we have noticed a trend in automotive advertisements.  It seems in almost every ad we see, and as it is football season we are watching a fair amount of television, the offers are for for zeros:  $0 down, $0 first month payment, $0 security deposit, $0 due at signing.  This is, of course, for leases.  It is not much different than for purchases with $500 - 5,000 rebates and 0% financing up to 60 months.

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Right Shoring

A recent issue of American Shipper had the two word title: Right Shoring. These two words said it all. There was almost no need for the the subtitle "Global cost structures have manufacturers re-evaluating outsourcing phenomenon." It had to come. In the pendulum world of business fads and phenomenon, we could not Out-Source jobs fast enough in the earlier years of this century. It goes without saying that we did it with gusto and apparently to excess. We created that “giant sucking sound” that H. Ross Perot said during a presidential debate in 1992 and was summarily lampooned for. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rkgx1C_S6ls

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