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BRIEFLY:
National Payroll Week: September 4-8, 2006
National Payroll Week celebrates the hard work by America's 156 million wage earners and the payroll professionals who pay them. Together, through the payroll withholding system, they contribute, collect, report and deposit approximately $1.4 trillion, or 71 percent, of the annual revenue of the U.S. Treasury. Visit www.nationalpayrollweek.com for more information on how to stretch your pay further. And, take the NPW survey for a chance to win a free paycheck!
September: National Preparedness Month
National Preparedness Month is a nationwide effort held each September to encourage Americans to take simple steps to prepare for emergencies in their homes, businesses and schools. National Preparedness Month 2006 is sponsored by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security. The goal of the month is to increase public awareness about the importance of preparing for emergencies and to encourage everyone to take action.
Review National Preparedness Month information at http://www.ready.gov and plan to participate in this important effort.
Profile America: Boxing
Boxing history was made on September 6, 1920 — when the first prize fight was broadcast on the new medium of radio. In the match, Jack Dempsey knocked out Billy Miske in the third round. Seven years later, also in September, one of the most famous boxing matches of all time was broadcast, heard by an estimated half of the U.S. population. In the seventh round of a heavyweight title fight, Jack Dempsey floored Gene Tunney, but failed to move to the farthest corner — interrupting the referee's count and giving Tunney a few extra seconds to recover. Tunney went on to win the match on a decision. Dempsey lost an appeal and retired from boxing. Today, prize fights draw 2.7 million spectators around the country each year.
Source: U.S. Census Bureau
Manufacturing at its most amazing — Oct. 4 & 5
The Manufacturer Magazine launches a symposium in Chicago, and editor Dann Anthony Maurno tells us about it.
We're Chicago, we've seen dozens of industry shows — what's different?
It's different because of who's talking and who's attending. We have amazing people talking, and amazing companies. Our opening keynote is Albert Frink, who's the White House "manufacturing czar." This is the first Presidential appointment aimed at making U.S. manufacturing stronger.
We'll also have the Commerce Department there to talk about how U.S. companies get started in exports, and the EPA on how companies reverse rising energy prices through efficiency alone.
But the manufacturers come first. This show is about manufacturers sharing best practices with manufacturers.
Any examples?
Fifty of them, but here are a few exciting ones. Hewlett Packard will be there to tell us about its supplier conduct program for China. They actually train Chinese companies in how to treat their employees. GT Solar will tell us how a company can reverse rising energy costs with solar. Exostar will explain how to collaborate with companies worldwide but keep your trade secrets.
That's the quality of presentation, and our criterion. The presentations have to be useful.
Our UK office blazed the trail on this; they've run their version of LIVE since 2003. In 2004, at our UK LIVE, the director of Coors Breweries sat next to the director of Ricoh Copiers, and Coors said ‘we're fantastic at supply chain but not so in lean,' and Ricoh said ‘we're fantastic at lean but weak in supply chain,' and they swapped cards and over six to twelve months their management teams met to share best practices.
LIVE is the kind of place where you get a beer brewer and a copier plant sharing best practices.
Aren't trade shows on the decline?
Yes, but smaller, content-driven events like these are on the rise. CEOs don't want to trudge around a show floor collecting t-shirts, they want to leave with five or ten good ideas. Maybe they have been tearing their hair out about energy costs, and leave with ten ideas to bring those costs down, or have been discouraged from exporting only to hear a peer say, "I wish I'd done it years ago."
We aim for several hundred attendees, versus several thousand, and those attendees can talk to the speakers one on one.
Tell us about the LIVE Awards.
Those will be fun — the Awards ceremony is a black-tie gala on the first night of the show. We invited Suzanne LeMignot, the weekend anchor from Chicago's CBS affiliate, to host.
You could ask, who is The Manufacturer to judge, when there are the Baldridge awards and the Shingo prize? We don't aim to be those things; we aim to celebrate manufacturing. Baldridge is a tremendous honor, Shingo is a magnificent achievement, The Manufacturer is more like an Oscar.
Which is not to say they're not serious; we have as judges people like Jim Kirk, the business editor from the Chicago Tribune, and people from The Economist Intelligence Unit and MIT. They know their stuff.
For more information, The Manufacturer LIVE is online at www.themanufacturer.com/us/live.
Conference Board: Consumer Confidence Index declines
The Conference Board Consumer Confidence Index, which had increased moderately in July, posted a sharp decline in August. The Index now stands at 99.6 (1985=100), down from 107.0 in July. The Present Situation Index decreased to 123.4 from 134.2. The Expectations Index declined to 83.8 from 88.9 last month.
The Consumer Confidence Survey is based on a representative sample of 5,000 U.S. households. The monthly survey is conducted for The Conference Board by TNS. TNS is the world's largest custom research company. The cutoff date for August's preliminary results was August 22nd.
"Consumer confidence lost significant ground in August and is now at its lowest level this year," says Lynn Franco, Director of The Conference Board Consumer Research Center. "Less favorable business conditions coupled with a less favorable job scenario have resulted in the largest one month decline in confidence since Hurricane Katrina last year. Looking ahead, the glass remains half empty as consumers are growing increasingly more pessimistic about the short-term outlook."
Consumers' overall assessment of current conditions was significantly less favorable in August. Those claiming conditions are "good" decreased to 26.1 percent from 27.3 percent. Those claiming conditions are "bad" increased to 16.7 percent from 15.0 percent. Labor market conditions were also less favorable. Consumers saying jobs are "plentiful" decreased to 24.4 percent from 28.6 percent, while those claiming jobs are "hard to get" increased to 21.1 percent from 19.6 in July.
Consumers' outlook for the next six months turned more negative in August. Those anticipating business conditions to worsen increased to 12.9 percent from 10.9 percent. Those expecting business conditions to improve edged down to 15.9 percent from 16.1 percent.
The outlook for the labor market was also less favorable. Those expecting more jobs to become available in the coming months decreased to 14.0 percent from 14.3 percent in July. Those expecting fewer jobs increased to 18.3 percent from 16.5 percent. The proportion of consumers anticipating their incomes to increase in the months ahead declined to 17.7 percent from 18.3 percent.
Source: August 2006 Consumer Confidence Index from The Conference Board
New manifest form required for all hazardous waste handlers
Beginning September 5, 2006, all hazardous waste generators and treatment, storage, and disposal facilities must use EPA's standardized hazardous waste manifest form. Since 1980, the manifest form has provided a complete paper trail of a waste's progress from generation to disposal. It also identifies the type, amount, and toxicity of hazardous waste being shipped. The standardized form that was recently implemented, will save waste handlers and regulators time and money, while guaranteeing the continued, safe management of hazardous waste.
The standardized form reduces or eliminates many of the variables in state requirements. EPA's new manifest form also provides check boxes and adds fields that allow for better tracking of complicated shipments, such as container residues, rejected wastes, and interstate shipments. The new form also makes it easier to collect data for hazardous waste reporting. EPA has ensured uniformity by authorizing printers and providing them with precise specifications. Like the old form, each standardized form carries a unique preprinted manifest tracking number. The standardized form also allows multistate waste handlers to register and use their own manifest forms everywhere they do business.
EPA estimates about 139,000 businesses in approximately 45 industries ship about 12 million tons of hazardous wastes annually. These businesses use between two and five million hazardous waste manifests.
Information on the Standardized Manifest Form can be found at http://www.epa.gov/epaoswer/hazwaste/gener/manifest.
A list of EPA-approved printers for the forms can be found at http://www.epa.gov/epaoswer/hazwaste/gener/manifest/registry/printers.htm.
IMA's Gregory W. Baise to address City Club of Chicago September 19, 2006
Location: Maggiano's Banquets, 111 West Grand Avenue, Chicago
IMA president and CEO Gregory W. Baise will be the keynote speaker for a Public Policy luncheon at the City Club of Chicago. A reception begins at 11:30 am and lunch at 12:00 noon. Contact: Moshe Zvi Marvit, Phone: 312-565-6500.
DATES OF NOTE:
More events may be found at http://www.ima-net.org/calendar.cfm
September 14, 2006
Illinois Business Matters Forum
The Westin O'Hare
6100 North River Road,
Rosemont, Illinois
8:00 am–11:15 am
Join a panel of experts, including Mark Denzler, IMA's vice president for government affairs, for this FREE half-day forum examining the upcoming Illinois elections and how manufacturers can get our agenda in front of candidates. From the halls of congress to the statehouse to the courthouse, become involved in making Illinois a thriving place to do business. A continental breakfast will be served.
Contact: Tiffany N. Adams
Phone: 202- 637-3118
Email: TADAMS@nam.org
September 20, 2006
Wage and Hour Law Update:
Pitfalls and Litigation Strategies
Neal Gerber Eisenberg Conference Center,
Two North LaSalle Street, Chicago, Illinois
Employers of every size and in every industry face employment law challenges which present risk and divert management's attention from other important business matters. Neal Gerber Eisenberg leads this interactive two hour workshop where participants will learn about the latest legal developments and explore ways to avoid liability by developing preventive strategies.
Contact: Heather Allgeier
Phone: 312-269-2926
Email: hallgeier@ngelaw.com
September 28, 2006
A Primer on the National Labor Relations Act and the Labor Relations Board
Northern Illinois University
Naperville - 8:30 am–12:30 pm
Presenter: Jim Spizzo, Vedder Price Kaufman & Kammholz, PC, Chicago. Our speaker will discuss the reach of the federal law and its application in your workplace. Practical advice and responses to your workplace problems will be a key focus of this interactive seminar.
Contact: Sara Liles,
Phone: 217-522-1240, ext. 3042
Email: sliles@ima-net.org
November 8, 2006
Sales and Use Tax Seminar
Northern Illinois University
Naperville - 8:30 am–12:30 pm
Presenter: Joe Bigane, Senior Tax Partner in the Tax and Financial Services Division of Wolf & Company. This seminar is specific to manufacturers. Contact: Sara Liles,
Phone: 217-522-1240, ext. 3042
Email: sliles@ima-net.org
Help the IMA reach you . . .
WHAT'S IN A NAME? Annoyance, if someone doesn't get it right.
We want to ensure that we have your name, address, title, phone number, company or business name, email address, and any other pertinent information absolutely correct.
Contact us if there has been a change in your information. Call Janie Stanley at 217-522-1240, ext. 3020, send a message via email to jstanley@ima-net.org, fax us at 217-522-2367, or send a note through the mail to: Illinois Manufacturers' Association, Attn: Janie Stanley, 220 East Adams Street, Springfield, IL 62701, www.ima-net.org
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