The Illuminati Motor Works is a collection of Illinois “engineers, automotive technicians,
graphic artists and car enthusiasts” that contribute every available
hour to competing for the Automotive X PRIZE (AXP), a muti-phase competition to build super fuel-efficient cars.

The IMW guys and gals love manufacturing, have seized an enormous
challenge, and are up against some better-funded compe… Continue

On Feb 5, 2010, the United States and Canada announced the successful negotiation of an agreement intended to resolve concerns over the use of "Buy America" clauses in U.S. government spending bills and open up provincial and territorial government procurement to U.S. suppliers.It is currently anticipated that the text of the agreement will be released by February 10.

Canadian and U.S. Commitments under the Agreement

There are two importan

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“....... the resumption of
growth in the nation's output of goods and services is encouraging. But
far too many people remain unemployed, foreclosures continue at record
rates, and bank credit continues to contract. “ Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke's swearing in remarks… Continue

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Significant changes to the scope of the Commission’s RoHS recast proposal, which fundamentally focuses on consumer goods recovered from household waste, are being considered by the European Parliament and several Member States’ delegations in the Council without any impact assessment. The proposals under discussion would bring in nearly all capital goods which use electrical and electronic

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NCMS has a vision to help U.S. manufacturing leap into the future and regain a global competitive position of leadership.

The first step includes developing a national innovation network; a knowledge infrastructure to leverage the power of high performance computing (HPC) and bring together the wealth of talent, ideas and facilities within our universities, national labs and industrial research centers. This network will consist of numerous public-private sector collaborations called Predictive… Continue

I've just posted a video interview over at MOJO of this remarkable woman, entrepreneur, business owner, investor and manufacturer. She is lucid and no-nonsense about what she sees as manufacturing's current state and the solutions to turn it around.

I'd really like to hear your opinions of this and other items you'll find from and about her online, but for now here's mine:

I'm… Continue

The Quest for Bi-Partisanship
by Jerry Jasinowski
President Barack Obama’s appeal for bi-partisanship during his State of the Union address, and his riveting appearance before Congressional Republicans that followed, offers a faint glimmer of hope that we may yet find our way through the political traffic jam that has our government tied up in knots.
There can be little doubt the majority of the American people are disgusted with the status quo in Washington, and are eager for constructive actio… Continue

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More than $46 million in venture capital was invested in enterprise carbon accounting (ECA) startup companies in 2009, while software giants Computer Associates and Microsoft entered the market and EnerNOC, IHS and SAP made acquisitions, according to a new report from Groom Energy Solutions.… Continue

The following is an analysis from Daniel J. Meckstroth, Ph.D., Chief Economist for the Manufacturers Alliance/MAPI, regarding the Institute for Supply Management (ISM) report for January 2010:

“A first look at manufacturing activity in January by the Institute for Supply Management (ISM) is very encouraging,” said Daniel J. Meckstroth, Chief Economist for the Manufacturers Alliance/MAPI. “The ISM index at 58.4 in January was up from 54.9 in December (an index above 50 indicates growing a… Continue