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Checking the check: Why billing mistakes slow down supply chains
Delany Martinez Distribution & WarehousingIn logistics, a great deal of discussion surrounds methodology — speed is crucial to the supply chain in terms of fulfillment. Money, however, tends to shift to the backburner — quotes, line items and invoices.
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Emerging bioplastic feedstock, material and application trends
Don Rosato EngineeringNew biomaterial technology trends that emphasize sustainability are advancing rapidly across the bioplastics supply chain. Let's take a look at some emerging bioplastic feedstock, material and application highlights from among other sources, the recent 2018 European Biopolymer Summit and World Bio Markets conferences.
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How to earn (and keep) project sponsor support
Deborah Ike Business Management, Services & Risk ManagementAs the project manager, your relationship with the project sponsor can make or break a project. If you work well together and understand each other's working style, that can make even the most challenging project easier to manage.
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Plastics industry pushes for more recycling infrastructure
R.V. Scheide Waste Management & EnvironmentalSomething must be done to stem the flow of plastic waste into landfills, waterways and oceans, and members of the plastics industry are working closely with recycling advocates and other stakeholders to ensure funding for recycling projects is included in the infrastructure spending bills currently being considered by Congress.
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Europe reviews F-Gas success
Andrew Gaved ManufacturingThe last time I wrote to you, I was full of tales of the pain being felt by the cooling industry in Europe as the F-Gas regulations started to squeeze the market for higher-GWP refrigerants via its combination of restrictions on supply and bans on use. Now I can tell you that the European Commission has confirmed that such pain is precisely what it had in mind to drive the European industry towards better solutions for the environment.
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US economy grows 313,000 jobs in February
Seth Sandronsky Business Management, Services & Risk ManagementThe U.S. hiring boom continues. The national economy added 313,000 nonfarm payroll jobs in February versus 200,000 new hires in January, while the jobless rate remained at 4.1 percent for the fifth straight month, the Bureau of Labor Statistics reported. Job growth occurred in construction, finance, manufacturing, mining, professional and business services and retail trade.
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Emerging plastic packaging trends and technologies
Don Rosato EngineeringThe Packaging Conference — just held Feb. 5-7 in Orlando — is an annual event with a strong new business and emerging technology focus in the plastics packaging industry. Solution-based plastic barrier packaging technologies are being developed in an environment of increasing global legislation directives and regulatory trends.
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Europe prepares for perfect storm over F-Gas
Andrew Gaved ManufacturingI promise not to make every dispatch this year an update on the general alarm surrounding the EU F-Gas regulations, but having declared a crisis back in January, I feel duty-bound to keep you abreast of what I believe the TV newsrooms call a developing situation.
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Can Trump sell apprenticeship programs to America?
R.V. Scheide ManufacturingChances are that more Americans are familiar with "The Apprentice," the reality TV show formerly starring the current president of the United States, than they are with apprenticeship programs. Today, graduates from such programs constitute just 0.2 percent of the labor force.
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Bridging the manufacturing skills gap: A work in progress
R.V. Scheide ManufacturingFor more than a decade, labor market specialists have been warning that the United States is not training the required number of students in science, technology, engineering and math to remain competitive in the digitized global economy. But where exactly these shortages exist and how exactly to do address them remain unanswered questions.
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