The initial tariffs imposed in 2018 on imports from China didn’t
affect Cooley Group, a Pawtucket-based company that manufactures an array of
engineered materials, used in waterproof liners, inflatable boats and oil
containment booms.
But when the trade dispute between the U.S. and China spiraled beyond aluminum and steel imports, a second set of tariffs in August 2018 hit two of the divisions within Cooley, according to CEO and President Daniel Dwight.
At Vertikal6, we’re helping our clients use their real-time data in the mainstream of everyday business, not just during yearly planning sessions or monthly reviews. From real-time dashboards to data visualization to advanced analytics, Microsoft Power BI makes these capabilities possible for organization of any size.
The J.P. Morgan Global Manufacturing PMI contracted for the fourth straight month, albeit up from 49.3 in July, the lowest reading since October 2012, to 49.5 in August. There continued to be some optimism that future output would rebound over the coming months.
United States job openings declined in July to a five-month low, signaling a pause in demand for workers ahead of a cooling in August payrolls growth that indicates the labor market may be gradually losing momentum.
United States factory activity unexpectedly contracted in August for the first time in three years as shrinking orders, production and hiring pushed a widely followed measure of manufacturing to its lowest level since January 2016. The Institute for Supply Management’s purchasing managers index fell to 49.1 in August, weaker than all forecasts in a Bloomberg survey of economists, data released Tuesday showed.
California is preparing to implement its Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA), a data privacy law that is among the strictest in the country. The landmark law requires certain for-profit businesses abide by rules and restrictions regarding the consumer data they collect. With the law going into effect in 2020, businesses need to ensure that they are in compliance with these new data privacy regulations.
In Case You Missed It: Davies Career-Tech High School unveils new advanced manufacturing center.
Investing in programs like this one is important to the entire state because it will help the manufacturing industry across Rhode Island thrive into the future, said Stefan Pryor, the state’s secretary of commerce.
“We need to ensure that our young people are preparing for careers in the manufacturing sector and that we’re providing an adequate, well-skilled pipeline of talent to our manufacturing employers,” Pryor said. “This project helps to fulfill those goals.”
Surprisingly, we found employees want the basics first: better air quality, access to natural light, and the ability to personalize their workspace. Half of the employees we surveyed said poor air quality makes them sleepier during the day, and more than a third reported up to an hour in lost productivity as a result. In fact, air quality and light were the biggest influencers of employee performance, happiness, and wellbeing, while fitness facilities and technology-based health tools were the most trivial.
Worries about a global economic slowdown-which has been exacerbated by renewed trade uncertainties-has caused financial markets to fall dramatically. On a more encouraging front, job openings in the manufacturing sector were unchanged at 503,000 in June, continuing to be an all-time high. Over the past 12 months, job openings have averaged nearly 483,000 per month—a highly elevated pace. With that said, the pace of hiring and separations slowed in June, mirroring other economic activity and employment data.
Reshoring
and foreign direct investment in the U.S. increased 38% during 2018, the
highest level in history according to the Reshoring Initiative, the agency
formed to advance the effects of “reshoring.” The term describes the
phenomenon of manufacturers relocating manufacturing activity and services, or
sourcing, to the U.S. from overseas. For
2018, the combination of reshoring and FDI represented 145,000 jobs, the second
highest annual rate of job increases on record. The total job increases
credited to reshoring, including upward revisions of 36,000 jobs in prior
years, is over 757,000 since the 2010 low-point for domestic manufacturing
employment.