The Commerce Department reported a 1.9% gain in orders for durable goods in September, with orders for nondefense capital goods minus aircraft up by 1%. Durable goods are down 10.1% for the year to date compared with last year.
Chipmaker AMD will acquire competitor Xilinx in a $35 billion deal aimed at gaining ground in the data center market. Xilinx has been working on processors that speed up video compression and provide digital encryption, and its acquisition by AMD comes as both companies seek to challenge Intel.
Harley-Davidson is reducing its dealerships, the number of vehicle models and the number of key markets under CEO Jochen Zeitz, and it's also focusing on core customers rather than marketing as much to younger people. A two-month factory shutdown because of the pandemic, coupled with the reduction in motorcycle varieties, could help reduce supply glut.
Reell Manufacturing is structured under an employee stock ownership plan and has grown since the Great Recession by shifting its manufacturing to the medical and automotive industries. "We have 175 employees today instead of 200 before the cuts in 2009, but we are better diversified with more profitable products," says CEO Kyle Smith.
The coronavirus pandemic and trade disputes have highlighted the supply chain risk of relying on China, and businesses will continue shifting operations out of the country no matter who wins the race for US president, according to PwC US Chairman Tim Ryan. "[W]e're seeing US companies planning to spread that out more, and that's a trend that's been underway for the last couple years that we expect to continue," Ryan says.
Digital twins, augmented reality and other technological innovations are making inroads in offshore oil and natural gas operations around the world, assisting companies in keeping workers safe and operations running smoothly. "We saw the vast majority of our customers cutting operating expenditure, but not cutting budgets in digitalization," said Paula Doyle, senior vice president of sales and marketing at digital-twin systems provider Cognite AS.
Concerns regarding climate change, the loss of natural resources and globalization have spurred businesses to adopt sustainable practices, writes Pierre-Francois Thaler, co-CEO and co-founder of EcoVadis. He predicts sustainability will be a big focus during the 2020s as companies use it to manage risk and integrate social purpose into their core business commitments.
Oregon State University's Mechanical, Industrial and Manufacturing Engineering Laboratory now boasts a waterjet cutting machine to help students bridge the gap between computer work and the real world. Paired with 3D modeling software, the waterjet and other machines in the lab allow students to "realize that they can dream something up and have a prototype in the hand in an hour," said lab manager Brian Jensen.
The competitiveness of the manufacturing sector in the US has been discussed extensively in the press and economic literature in recent years. This joint study by KPMG and the Manufacturing Institute provides a current assessment of how the US compares to its main trading partners as a location for manufacturing. Specifically, it found that primary costs (compensation, property, utilities, taxes and interest rates) in the US are on average 16% higher than in the other markets -- yet the US ranks fairly high on the list overall at #5.