By Joe Brown

Without full details or even a reasonable explanation from General Motors, many people are scratching their heads as to why the all-but-signed deal to sell their subsidiary, Opel to parts-maker Magna, fell through.

Was it driven by the report that came out today stating October was the carmaker’s best year over year in a long time? I hope not. Regardless of the dynamics of the decision, I think this will go down as a key lesson in future business textbooks and case studies about the dangers of mixing Wall Street with Capitol Hill.

At this moment, our friends in Germany fall somewhere between annoyed and completely miffed. The thought–at least according to German workers–is that GM will likely make more cuts than Opel would have. Further, officials orchestrated a “bridge loan” to ensure Opel’s solvency while a buyer was found which they thought was finalized when Magna’s aspirations to become an even bigger player than it already was.

My concern lies with the solid relationship America had fostered with Germany may be strained slightly. The U.S. government is now the majority owner of GM (although they immediately issued a statement attempting to wash their hands of having any input in the decision) and their close ally is Germany’s Chancellor, Angela Merkel.

The Chancellor and her cabinet had strongly supported and worked feverishly on doing whatever it took to make this deal happen. Now, her office felt completely blindsided by this and I bet only stronger and more critical comments will be out from them in the coming days. One official from Merkel’s office stated that she is considering a call to President Obama to voice her displeasure.

“After many promises and months of negotiations, GM has left workers out in the cold. This attitude from General Motors shows the ugly face of turbo capitalism. It is completely unacceptable,” according to the Chancellor’s deputy leader, Juergen Ruettgers.

True to the old adage, you can’t please them all; the US finds itself smack in the middle of a situation they probably didn’t realize before becoming a majority shareholder of a giant company. Even Russia–strong supporters of the Opel-Magna deal–released a statement from Prime Minister Vladimir Putin’s office calling the decision, “absolutely astonishing.”

I worry that it may be difficult for our government to save face despite the best public relations money can buy stating they had no influence on this decision (which I do believe) yet they are technically the majority owner of the company. When’s the last time you heard of a group with a controlling interest (51 %+) in an organization not have any influence on a decision of this magnitude? It just doesn’t happen and is quite the conundrum.

Now, GM execs are scrambling to update a new restructuring plan for Opel and Vauxhall.

Joe Brown

In an “encyclical” letter issued this past summer, Benedict uses such phrases as “democracy at risk,” “dysfunctions and deviations,” and “grave imbalances” to describe the current system of maximizing profits through outsourcing of production from high-priced developed countries to low-cost developing nations. Globalization has developed at a “ferocious pace” that is leading to “new forms of economic marginalization” caused by tens of millions of people losing their jobs or being employed in deplorable conditions. “The current [financial] crisis can only make this situation worse,” according to Pope Benedict.

The growth of multinational companies and international financial institutions has led to an “economic scene marked by grave deviations and failures” and requires “a profoundly new way of understanding business enterprise,” writes the Pope. “Without a doubt, one of the greatest risks for business is that they are almost exclusively answerable to their investors, thereby limiting their social value….Outsourcing of production can weaken the company’s sense of responsibility toward the stakeholders, namely the workers, the suppliers, the consumers, the natural environment and broader society — in favor of shareholders, who are not tied to a specific geographic area and who therefore enjoy extraordinary mobility.”

The Catholic Church’s “growing conviction” is that business managers must not only look out for the interest of “proprietors” but must “assume responsibility for all the other stakeholders who contribute to the life of the business” — workers, suppliers and local communities in which they operate.

The Pope says that governments have contributed to growing social and global inequities by providing tax incentives and by lowering environmental and labor standards to attract companies to locate production in their countries. These inducements have led governments to “downsize social security systems as the price to be paid for seeking greater competitive advantage in the global market,” writes Benedict. The result: “grave dangers for the rights of workers, for fundamental human rights and for the solidarity associated with the traditional forms of the social state.”

Citizens have grown to be “powerless” in the current economic system, the Pope states. Workers’ unions are in decline and workers are losing their proponents. As such, the Catholic Church says the promotion of unions that can defend the rights of workers from being exploited by companies and governments “must therefore be honored today even more than in the past as a prompt and far-sighted response to the urgent need for new forms of cooperation at the international level as well as the local level.”

The Pope says the “dignity of the individual” is being compromised by the “systemic increase of social inequity both within a single country and between the populations of different countries.” These growing inequities caused by the corporate pursuit of profits are “placing democracy at risk,” writes the Pope. “Progressive erosion of ‘social capital’ — the network of relationships of trust, dependability and respect for the rules, all of which are indispensable for any form of civil co-existence — [are] at risk.”

Business executives’ focus on short-term profits, even at the expense of the long-term viability of the corporations they run, requires “further and deeper reflection on the meaning of the economy and its goals as well as a profound and far-sighted revision of the current model of development, so as to correct its dysfunctions and deviations,” writes Pope Benedict. Without some type of modification — without the guidance of “charity and truth” — globalization as it is currently practiced “could cause unprecedented damage and create new divisions within the human family.”

Benedict says that “commercial logic” must now be redirected away from the investment class “towards the pursuit of the common good.” For this to happen, politicians must step in. “It must be borne in mind that grave imbalances are produced when economic action, conceived merely as an engine for wealth creation, is detached from political action, conceived as a means for pursuing justice through redistribution.”

However 500 furloughed employees will be returning to work

Caterpillar said on Oct. 26 it was cutting about 2,500 jobs and had started to bring more than 500 laid-off employees back to work, in a sign of improving economic conditions.

About 550 furloughed U.S. employees have returned or will return to work before the end of 2010, including support, management and production employees, the company said.

“We are pleased that signs of recovery in the global economy allow us to return a selected group of laid-off employees to work,” said Caterpillar CEO Jim Owens. “But it’s important to remember that we are not close to the record-breaking demand we experienced from 2004 through 2008.”

Also on Oct. 26, Caterpillar began notifying about 2,500 laid-off U.S. employees that they would not be returning to work, without giving details. “The company is offering a separation package for those employees. A breakdown of impacted employees by location will not be provided.”

Since 2008, Caterpillar cut 18,700 jobs during the economic downturn.

Caterpiller reported third-quarter earnings of $404 million this is  down 53% from a year earlier, as revenue fell 44%.

Here’s a project from back in 2001 that might be of interest to some of you. It is a guide on how to build your own hot air pencil for SMD soldering.  He is using a super cheap 45W soldering iron from “the shack” combined with a pump type desoldering tool and an aquarium pump. He says it works pretty well, and we don’t see why it shouldn’t. This is a pretty elegant solution. There are also some more recent versions of this mod, but the idea is basically the same.
buy CNC related books and tools

This is Keith Johnson’s article from The Wall Street Journal’s Blog:

Like the “Jaws” character in the old James Bond movies, it seems nothing can stop the U.S. wind power industry.

So far this year, the U.S. has installed 5,800 megawatts of wind power—again, more than at the same time last year (4,200 megawatts). That’s nearly as much as the industry initially expected to install during the entire year.

That brings total U.S. wind power installations to more than 31,000 megawatts, which leads the world. (That’s the equivalent of 31 nuclear power plants on paper, and about 10 nuclear plants in reality.)

The U.S. wind industry is still nervous, though, and expects fourth-quarter performance will—finally–fall short of last year’s pace. The industry wants more help from Washington: “A firm, long-term national commitment to renewable energy” is still needed to boost wind-turbine manufacturing, said AWEA chief executive Denise Bode.

One American wind-power company seems to be doing alright at least. General Electric dominated the third quarter, supplying the turbines used in 10 of the 23 wind farms that were built.

Of the 51 farms currently under construction which have announced tbeir turbine maker, GE has 21. Other manufacturers in the hunt are Siemens and Vestas, with 8 farms each. Notably absent from the current pipeline—Spain’s Gamesa, one of the global heavyweights

Thanks for the tip to http://toolanddieing.com/

David Shepardson / Detroit News Washington Bureau

Washington — The nation’s auto suppliers urged the Senate Friday to boost credit to the struggling industry.

Dave Andrea, vice president, industry analysis & economics for the Original Equipment Suppliers Association, testified today before the Senate Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs Subcommittee on Economic Policy urging Congress and the Obama administration to take new steps to help suppliers.

The administration created a $5 billion supplier support program for General Motors Co. and Chrysler Group LLC Tier 1 suppliers in March — a program since whittled down to $3.5 billion that many argue is inadequate and doesn’t cover enough suppliers.

Andrea urged the Senate to assure sufficient capital for restructuring, consolidating, and diversifying the industry; address specific needs of small suppliers for sufficient capital for ongoing operations; and create technology funding programs that support long-term innovation.

“Bankruptcies are happening and will continue to happen,” said Neil De Koker, president and CEO of the Original Equipment Suppliers Association. “Suppliers continue to struggle under the weight of this economic crisis, and we are eager to work with the members of the Subcommittee in a coordinated effort to preserve the industry’s employment base and technology innovation going forward.”

But officials in the administration note that there haven’t been as many bankruptcies by suppliers in recent months as forecast. The Motor & Equipment Manufacturers Association had predicted 50 to 60 additional supplier bankruptcies in the months following GM’s bankruptcy filing.

But MEMA notes at least 47 suppliers sought bankruptcy protection this year — including Visteon Corp., Metaldyne Corp. and Lear Corp.

And suppliers have for the most part been able to get private financing during bankruptcy — though some have relied on automakers for part of their bankruptcy financing.

Last month, GM said it would speed payments to suppliers. Starting Nov. 1, it will pay suppliers weekly rather than every 47 days.

Michigan Gov. Jennifer Granholm met with top Obama administration economic advisers in early August, seeking $1 billion for a program to help suppliers obtain credit to diversify into other businesses. The state has a $12 million pilot program to offer loans to Michigan suppliers on a much smaller scale.

But so far the administration has shown no appetite to do more to help suppliers.

One area for which suppliers might get help is if the administration agrees to their request to increase the limits for loan programs within the Small Business Administration as current limits typically do not cover the investments suppliers make to assist with the design, engineering and tooling for a component on a new vehicle program.

Automotive suppliers are the largest manufacturing employers in eight states: Indiana, Kentucky, Michigan, Missouri, Ohio, Oklahoma, South Carolina and Tennessee. They employ more than 500,000 people directly.

Leading PV Technology and solar-polar manufacturer, Suniva, plans to invest $250M in the Saginaw, Michigan area.

Emma Hughes, from PV-tech.org, wrote:

Michigan Gov. Jennifer M. Granholm has announced that Georgia-based Suniva will invest US$250 million in a new solar manufacturing facility in Saginaw County’s Thomas Township.  With this development, Suniva will create 500 new jobs over the next five years subject to receiving a Department of Energy (DOE) loan guarantee, which the company recently applied for.

“Today we welcome Suniva to our growing list of world-class green manufacturing leaders that are establishing operations here,” Granholm said.  “They’re coming here for the skilled workforce, strong work ethic and competitive business climate that are synonymous with Michigan.”

The Michigan Economic Growth Authority (MEGA), on Michigan Economic Development Corporation recommendation (MEDC), has approved a PV Michigan Business Tax (MBT) credit valued at US$15 million over five years.  Michigan’s PV MBT credit provides a refundable tax credit for the construction and operation of a facility that develops and manufactures solar PV technology, PV systems or PV energy.

“For the United States to reach its potential as a leader in renewable energy, it must support not only new innovative technologies, but also must revitalize its manufacturing base to aid these technologies in achieving swift scale,” said John Baumstark, CEO of Suniva.  “All states have a powerful role to play in bringing new jobs and new technologies to market, and we applaud Michigan’s efforts.
from joe at Tool and  Dieing Blog

Proudfoot Consulting recently released its 2008 Global Productivity Report—an annual study of sectors that includes automotive, energy, mining and general manufacturing. Much of the 88-page study, which you can download, is founded on feedback from more than 1,200 managers in 12 countries. The managers were queried about current productivity levels, potential for productivity gains and barriers to improving productivity.

Among other findings, this year’s report reveals that managers around the world believe they have the potential to boost productivity by an average of 14 percent next year. However, they will likely leave 30 percent of that possible productivity on the table. Managers in the United States say they will lose out on nearly half of their potential productivity gains.

If you similarly feel your shop will fall short on its potential for improved productivity, then you’re likely ratcheting-up your efforts to improve the efficiency of your current processes. The fundamental way this happens is by identifying and eliminating waste, which is the prime goal of lean manufacturing. If that’s what you’re looking to accomplish, I suggest visiting our Lean Manufacturing Zone. There you’ll find a collection of stories that reveal how other shops have implemented lean techniques such as 5S organization, value stream mapping and visual workplace initiatives to reduce waste.

Here are a few stories that I think you will find particularly helpful:

• This Shop Really Shines…And Sorts, Simplifies, Standardizes And Sustains—The 5S principles proved to be a powerful prelude and prerequisite to lean manufacturing at this aerospace job shop.

• Lean Manufacturing For The Job Shop—Lean practices are not just for predictable production. Here are the common-sense ways a low-volume job shop has moved toward leaner processes.

• Picture-Perfect Manufacturing—Value stream mapping is a graphical tool that this contract manufacturer uses to create a production process with little waste.

• Lean From The Get-Go—This shop was lean from day one. Its visual management tools form its lean manufacturing foundation.

Our Lean Manufacturing Zone is one of more than two dozen knowledge centers covering specific machining and manufacturing topics. You can find them listed down the left side of our home page at www.mmsonline.com. We established these zones to make it more efficient for you to find the important information you need on your journey to boost productivity.

There are numerous reports of a new Twitter worm that steals your log-in information and spreads its evil cause. The worm comes in the form of a direct message from someone you may know, and maybe even trust.

The poster child for these attacks has been the Koobface worm, which has been circulating on Facebook and various other sites for several months. However, the term worm is something of a misnomer in this case, experts say, as Koobface in fact comprises a number of different components. In addition to the social networking propagation components, Koobface also now includes a network of malicious Web servers, URL checkers, a CAPTCHA breaker, a rogue antivirus program, data stealers and search-result hijackers, said Ivan Macalintal, a senior threat analyst at Trend Micro, in a presentation at Virus Bulletin 2009 here Thursday.

And that litany of capabilities doesn’t even include the botnet and associated command and control structure that Koobface has built. The botnet control is done over HTTP, and the updates that the Koobface authors make to the program, which sometimes happen as frequently as once a day, usually change the C&C structure, as well.

“It’s an unfinished product at this point and it’s in perpetual beta,” Macalintal said.

In June, Koobface still had just two main C&C servers controlling the botnet. A month later, after continued efforts from researchers to disrupt the botnet, the Koobface authors updated the infrastructure, adding a layer of proxies and making it more difficult to identify the specific servers controlling the bots.

Koobface also is now using blogs that are set up automatically, usually centered on a major news event and filled with entries with malicious links. The links lead to phishing sites or sites that host the Koobface malware itself.

And it’s not just Facebook that’s taking the hit. Twitter also has emerged a major target for attackers looking for phishing victims, personal information on potential victims and anything else that could be of use. There have been some incidents of botmasters using Twitter as a command mechanism, although experts say this is not of much use.

“It’s not the best means of command and control, because it’s easily blocked after detection,” said Costin Raiu, (above, right) a security researcher at Kaspersky Lab, who gave a joint presentation with Morton Swimmer (above, left) of Trend Micro, on Twitter attacks.

Raiu and Swimmer are working on separate projects analyzing the volume and nature of threats and attacks on Twitter by pulling tweets from the site’s public timeline and putting them through a variety of automated analyses. Much of the activity right now consists of spam from automated Twitter accounts, malicious URLs leading to phishing sites and porn.

Unsurprisingly, this issue has not been addressed by Twitter on their blogs, just as that huge exploit that was discovered last month wasn’t. Twitter should probably do a better job of communicating such problems to users before more people fall victim. Mashable notes that they did contact the company about the issue, and they are aware of it, and “on the case.”

When aluminum is anodized, it receives a thin-film coating of aluminum oxide that protects the aluminum against further oxidation and corrosion. The anodizing process, however, occurs in several stages, and although it is regarded by many as an environmentally-friendly process already, new innovations have led to the further “greening” of aluminum anodizing. Several companies follow unique steps to keep anodizing safe and green.

The first stage in almost any basic anodizing process involves cleaning the substrate. Cleaning serves several purposes, but its main function is to remove and eliminate surface contamination that arises as a result of various forming processes (such as extrusion), manufacturing dust and lubricants, and additional workplace grease. After cleaning, the substrate is then rinsed to ensure previous reactions are completed and to further reduce the likelihood of cross-contamination.

After cleaning and rinsing, etching can begin. Successful etching reduces the substrate surface in order to produce a smooth, matte finish and eliminate any surface flaws generated by forming processes. Once the surface is sufficiently etched, it is then deoxidized and any additional metal oxides that may still remain after cleaning and etching are also removed. The surface is then deemed “active” and ready to undergo anodizing.

To create a thin-film anodic coating on the aluminum substrate, electricity is applied to the substrate to induce oxidation. The result should be a thin-film anodic coating comprised of aluminum and oxygen that will serve to protect the integrity of the component. If a colored coating is desired, an additional metal can be electrodeposited. Once anodizing is complete, the coating is sealed with a metal-based compound.

The anodizing process described above is already a relatively eco-friendly process. Toxic metals are not generally used, and very few toxins are released as a result. Additionally, byproducts are typically recyclable, and the aluminum end-product is also non-toxic and safe for a wide array of consumer uses, including those that designed for cosmetic and food and beverage applications.

To make anodizing even cleaner, companies such as Anomatic, Lintec, and DAC take several measures to make anodizing a sustainable, green manufacturing process.

For many companies, this process begins with the selection of aluminum—a metal that when recycled is already in a metallic state—which requires no additional purification and reduction, merely melting. Any leftover aluminum scrap that accumulates during the manufacturing process can be recycled. Additionally, recycled aluminum alloys (such as 3004) can be used, but care must be taken to ensure that the alloys meet regulations because some recycled alloys can contain higher amounts of heavy metals.

In the drawing process, when aluminum is formed and pressed into the desired shape, several kinds of oil and grease are used. Oil can typically be removed and reused, while scrap aluminum with oil residue can be subjected to a special oil removal process before being recycled. The aluminum substrate itself is degreased to recapture oils for reuse. The entire process doesn’t create any toxic byproducts or emissions.

During anodizing several inorganic acids are used to dissolve aluminum. To prevent contamination and pollution, the aluminum component is rinsed between stages and the excess acids are treated before being sent to a wastewater treatment plant.

Through applying these processes at various stages in anodizing, companies are making responsible strides toward an even cleaner kind of anodizing. The careful monitoring of waste, proper material selection and handling, and attention to ways in which all byproducts can be re-used or recycled has played an integral role in the greening of anodizing, and companies that abide by these practices and lead by example have been increasingly recognized for their commitment to greener anodizing.