Blogs

Somewhat surprisingly, U.S. markets staged a rally of sorts on Sept. 1 with the Dow rising 219.14, (2.19%), Standard & Poor’s  up 27.08 points (2.58%), and the more technology-weighted Nasdaq up 53.24 points (2.52%).

Update: Former Labor Secretary Robert Reich is attributing much more of the bounce to China's improved Purchashing Managers Index, which had been in decline for three straight months, than anything else.

Industrial policy has been for many years as close to officially banned as anything ever could be in Washington, DC. Saying the words aloud was guaranteed to set off a shouting match, or worse. Often it still does, but things are changing. There's growing evidence that the U.S. is moving toward an industrial policy, even if at the speed of sludge.

As if you didn't involve enough concerns already: Computer hackers have found a new target, and plastics processors and other manufacturers need to be cognizant of the threat. Recently making the rounds of the world's manufacturing, food processing and other facilities was the Stuxnet worm, spread via infected USB sticks to industrial computer systems. Industrial espionage could be one reason for the attacks; blackmail could be another, with hackers threatening to disable a factory or plant unless they are paid. Regardless, be on your guard.

Yes, it's true, I carry a few more pounds than I'd like, and now with the help of new research I know where to place the blame: plastics and the awful chemicals in them. I was a rail-thin kid but once I got a desk job, and no doubt also started coming into contact with all of those chemicals, well, the pounds just seemed to stick.

Most free markets are driven by supply and demand. The equation is simple: If a product is in short supply, you pay more for it. Sure processors may have the liberty of switching from LDPE to LLDPE if pricing is more favorable for the latter but generally speaking, buoyant demand and/or restricted supply translates to higher prices. Case in point—Of late, I have seen many reports in the mainstream press reporting price hikes for a variety of staple foods, including wheat, sugar, coffee, and soy beans. These are being brought about by unusual climatic conditions the world over.

We've been contacted by someone seeking a recycler who can handle mixed toys made from ABS, HIPS, PE, PP, rigid PVC, steel, and SBS.

Maybe it is just election-season posturing - let's be for real, it certainly is that too - but elected officials in the U.S. on both sides of the aisle slowly, very slowly, are coming to grips with the need to better support the country's manufacturing sector. How they go about creating and funding this support is subject to heated debate.

There's been a lot of hew and cry from many manufacturing trade organizations—the United States Business & Industry Council (USBIC), the Alliance for American Manufacturing (AAM), the National Assn.

SupplierBusiness (an IHS Global Insight company) recently reported that Chrysler's new purchasing head, Dan Knott, announced that the company is revising its terms and conditions for its suppliers as part of a greater effort by the Detroit Three carmakers to improve their relationships with their supply base. In a report due to be published this month, Knott told SupplierBusiness that "improving supplier relations is his top priority."

That challenge, familiar to many plastics processors, is described in this article in today's NY Times. With unemployment high, and so many manufacturing workers losing their jobs in the past few years, one might think that hiring would be easy. Indeed, hiring is easier than it's been in a long while, but hiring well remains as difficult or harder than ever.