Tag: workforce

May 16, 2017

Ford Motor Co. is preparing major reductions to its worldwide workforce amid CEO Mark Fields’ renewed efforts to hike profits and address the company’s falling share price, The Wall Street Journal and Reuters reported, citing people briefed on the move. […]

May 15, 2017

Desperate to overcome Japan’s growing shortage of labor, mid-sized companies are planning to buy robots and other equipment to automate a wide range of tasks, including manufacturing, earthmoving and hotel room service. According to a Bank of Japan survey, companies […]

May 12, 2017

Employers expect the Trump administration to “prioritize” easing workplace regulation, but they’re less confident in whether that change will actually happen, and if it does happen, whether it will affect them. A survey of 1,229 in-house corporate attorneys, HR professionals […]

May 8, 2017

Most of us like to think of ourselves as unbiased. We make a sincere effort to ensure that stereotypes and preconceived judgments do not play a role in our decision-making, especially when it comes to hiring and promotions. Yet, there […]

May 2, 2017

Keurig Green Mountain, maker of the ubiquitous K-Cup coffees and coffeemakers, has its roots in Vermont, where everyone in town either knows each other, or knows each other once removed. It’s owned by a global private equity firm today—with 6,000 […]

May 1, 2017

It’s considered a management best practice that every company should conduct an employee survey of its workforce at least once a year, but the UTC Aerospace Systems–Aerostructures plant, based in Foley, Ala., takes an “even better” best practice approach when […]

April 21, 2017

Many manufacturers are missing a critical talent pool, which could aid in closing the skills gap – women. A study, “Women in Manufacturing: Stepping up to make an impact that matters,”  released on April 19 by The Manufacturing Institute, Deloitte […]

April 20, 2017

For anyone trying to figure out what President Donald Trump’s “Buy America” policy means for the domestic steel industry, take a ticket and line up. Trump on April 18 signed a “Buy American” order that included a reaffirmation of the […]

April 18, 2017

Boeing Co. (IW 1000/29) plans to lay off hundreds of engineers in Washington state and other locations — and may eliminate more jobs later this year as the planemaker contends with slowing aircraft sales. The latest workforce reduction, which should […]

April 17, 2017

Chicago has been a food and beverage manufacturing hub since the days when James Kraft delivered cheese by horse and buggy and the newborn National Biscuit Company went on a bakery-buying bender. In 1914, the city became “hog butcher to […]

April 17, 2017

Employers are busy trying to come up with strategies to both retain and attract Millennial workers. As this group now surpasses Generation X as the largest share of the U.S. workforce, employers are trying to determine what values they must embrace […]

April 14, 2017

If all goes as planned, by 2022, employees of Cruise Automation, General Motors’ autonomous technology subsidiary, will have a lot more co-workers to have an after-work beer with. On Thursday, GM announced it will invest $14 million in a research and development facility […]

April 12, 2017

With thousands of “baby boomers” retiring in the next decade and few new employees getting into manufacturing, manufacturers are worried about their futures. The industry is dealing with a severe shortage of workers equipped with the knowledge and skills needed […]

April 11, 2017

Secretary of Commerce Wilbur Ross is reaching out to the manufacturing community as he explores the facets of his new job. In addressing his staff last month he pointed out that under the Trump administration the Department of Commerce, has […]

April 5, 2017

There is a common lean phrase, “Bad systems beat good people.” Sometimes it is attributed to Dr. W. Edwards Deming although it isn’t actually his quote. I’ve used it for 20 years but couldn’t tell you if I heard it […]

April 5, 2017

Boeing Co. landed its second jetliner sale to an Iranian airline since the 1970s, a $3 billion deal that sets up a test of the planemaker’s ties with President  Donald Trump. The pact with Iran Aseman Airlines to purchase 30 […]

March 28, 2017

President Donald Trump is taking bold steps to boost the declining coal industry, but the moves won’t restore many of the jobs lost by coal miners in West Virginia, Ohio and Pennsylvania who helped the president win his job in […]

March 24, 2017

The lack of diversity in the tech industry is pretty well understood by now — by everyone except those who work there, it would seem. According to a recent survey of 1,400 tech employees, 94% of American tech workers give the industry, their […]

March 23, 2017

In early 2016, the International Organization of Standardization (ISO) published ISO Technical Specification (TS) 15066, which outlines safety requirements for collaborative robots. The American National Standards Institute, ANSI, adopted ISO/TS 15066 later that year as ANSI/RIA Technical Report R15.606 (RIA […]

March 22, 2017

But President Trump’s budget proposal would cut such programs. German Chancellor Angela Merkel came to Washington on Friday to meet with President Donald Trump for the first time. You probably already know how it went. Yeah. It was awkward. While […]