Turkey Day has come and gone, and we hope you had a filling feast with your friends and loved ones. Despite this being a holiday week, so many interesting conversations held our attention on Twitter. Though we specialize in manufacturing guided motion technologies like linear slides and rotary guides, so many advancements in science and industry capture our attention. Here's a sample of what made us pause and think on Twitter this week. Keep up with the action in real time by following us at @BWCnews! Enjoy your leftovers!
1. A New Era of Thrift on Manufacturing Executive blog: Could the recent recession and a continued weak economy have created a new era of penny pinchers? If so, what implication could that have on the manufacturing sector? Columnist Chris Chiampinelli asks that question in a blog post he published this week. He says, "I think it will. And the consequence will be a new era of thrift. We’ve seen it even in the quarterly numbers of the software providers we cover. Businesses are looking to patch what they have instead of buying up to the latest release. Consumers, too" What do you think? Do you believe that consumers are less likely to spend, even with an uptick in economic vitality?
2. Stanford Engineer Gets Girls Thinking Outside the 'Barbie Box' on Deseret News: A lot of ink, digital and actual, has been spilled over the question of how to attract more children to the wonder of engineering and manufacturing. But what about girls, specifically? What toys, media and marketing has been directed toward the young female demographic to ignite their interest in "making things?" One Stanford grad developed a tactile answer to that in the form of a new kind of toy, one that's appealing to girls without degrading them to purely pop culture and fashionista-flavored interests.
3. A Manufacturing Renaissance on National Association of Manufacturers: As the manufacturing industry debates over how to revive domestic manufacturing, no matter how interconnected the industry is to the larger global economy, NAM has published a report that crystalizes some ideas into four simple points about how to ressurect U.S. industry. We tweeted a link to the report and even blogged about the topic earlier this week. We'd love to hear your thoughts about it!
4. A Journalist Tries to Debunk the Manufacturing Workforce Shortage on Manufacturing Executive blog: So many stories pop up about the shortage of skilled workers compared to the need for them in the manufacturing sector. But is the discrepancy as severe as it's been reported? Some journalists beg to differ. Then again, there's always a rebuttal. Here's a good distillation of the discussion right here. Does the reported shortage affect your business? How severe is the shortage to your company? Myth or fact?
5. The Potential of Data and Human Capital to Change the World on Fast Company: For the first time in history, we have massive amounts of data at our fingertips. We can connect millions of peopel through the internet. We can exchange ideas in a way we've never been able to interact before. It's a crazy advanced time to innovate, to brainstorm. Fast Company this week published a blog post on exactly how valuable a resource we have in that interconnectivity. What about you — has that availability of human resource, of data, helped advance your own research? What does that mean for manufacturing?
