EoW July 2007

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EuroWire – July 2007 41
Manufacturing
The Bush administration appoints
a new manufacturing chief
After leaving the job open for months, the Department of Commerce (DOC) on 4th May
named Rear Admiral William ‘Woody’ Sutton (Retired) as the new Assistant Secretary
for Manufacturing and Services. Once confirmed by the Senate, he will advocate,
coordinate, and implement policies to help US manufacturers compete globally.
The position – vacated by its original holder in December, just before the opposition
Democrats took power in Congress – was created by President George W Bush during
his re-election campaign in 2004. Mr Bush acted in response to criticism that too many
American manufacturing jobs had been lost during his first term in office. As noted by
the Detroit News (5th May), Adm Sutton brings to the job a familiarity with the problem.
Until February he was president of the Air Conditioning and Refrigeration Institute (ARI),
a trade group representing the makers of more than 90% of the central air conditioning
and commercial refrigeration equipment produced in North America.
According to the ‘Business Insider’ feature of the newspaper, “Air conditioner makers
have faced tough times in recent years, closing several major US factories and moving
production abroad.” During his five-year tenure at ARI, Adm Sutton also served as an
officer of the Council of Manufacturing Associations of the National Association of
Manufacturers (NAM), as well as on the Board of Directors of the American National
Standards Institute (ANSI).
The conflation of manufacturing and services in Adm Sutton’s brief will have
him presiding over two markedly dissimilar sectors. For all its recent attrition,
US manufacturing, taken by itself, would constitute the eighth-largest economy
in the world. But DOC data for 2005 shows that manufacturing accounted for only
12.1% of US gross domestic product (GDP), as compared with 67.5% for services.
This last percentage represents the total output of private non-goods producing
industries and includes both wholesale and retail trade.
A notable feature of these statistics is the disproportionate domestic consumption
of services. The World Trade Organisation (WTO) reports that the US was the world’s
largest exporter of goods and services in 2006. Of these (reflecting 10.8% of GDP),
goods accounted for 7.7%; services, 3.1%. Both sets of exports are growing, but the
great bulk of the services are still being rendered and received Stateside. According
to the WTO, US exports by the end of April 2007 had grown 10.1% from their
year-before level at that point: the increase was 11% in goods exports, 7.6% in
services exports.
Automotive
Proceeding apace on its ‘Way Forward,’ Ford will close one
Ohio plant, and shut down another for a year
Ford Motor Co said on 7th May that it will close its casting plant in Brook Park, Ohio,
in 2009. The company will also mothball Cleveland Engine Plant 1 in Brook Park for at
least a year. A second engine plant at the complex just west of Cleveland will remain
open. Ford had already announced nine of the 16 closures to be completed by 2012
under its Way Forward restructuring plan. The casting plant – which makes crankshafts
for the company’s four-cylinder engines, bearing caps, engine blocks, and related items
– will be the tenth to go, and marks the company’s departure from the casting business.
Joe Hinrichs, vice president of Ford’s manufacturing operations in North America, told
the business press that Ford decided suppliers are well able to serve its casting needs.
The company intends eventually to have outside parts suppliers make all of its castings.
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