Spurred on by strong gains in manufacturing, overall economic productivity rose 4.2% during the third quarter, according to preliminary data released by the US Department of Labor's Bureau of Labor Statistics.

Manufacturing productivity increased 5.9% during the third quarter, as output grew 3.4% and hours of all persons fell 2.4% (seasonally adjusted annual rates), according to the Department of Labor report, which measures output per hour of all persons for the quarter. The manufacturing gains including an 8.8% increase in durable goods manufacturing and 2.0% in nondurable goods manufacturing. A 4.2% increase in labor productivity was recorded in the second quarter, reflecting a 3.5% increase in output and a 0.7% decline in hours.

Total manufacturing output has increased in each of the last three quarters, after having fallen in each of the six previous quarters. In durable goods, productivity grew 8.8% in the third quarter as output increased 4.5% and hours of all persons fell 4.0%. Productivity increased 2.0% in nondurable goods, as output rose 2.1% and hours of all persons increased 0.1%.

Hourly compensation of manufacturing workers increased an average of 4.5% during the third quarter, the largest increase since the third quarter 2000, when it grew 9.5% (seasonally adjusted annual rates). Unit labor costs in manufacturing decreased 1.3% in the third quarter, representing the fifth consecutive quarterly decline in these costs, including durable unit labor costs falling 4.1%.

Don Carlson, president of the Association for Manufacturing Technology, elected to take early retirement, effective Dec. 31. Carlson, who has served as AMT's president since 1997, cited personal reasons for his decision, and will work on a transition with Albert W. Moore, former AMT president, who will serve as interim president of AMT until a new president is elected.

In other moves, AMT also announced that Charles F. Carter, Jr., vice president, technology, has retired and that Brian Papke, president of Mazak Corp. (Florence, KY), has been named to the AMT board. Carter, FSME, LSME, CMfgE, PE, also served as president of SME during 1982 - 83. Prior to joining AMT, he was program manager for General Research Corp. in the review and recommendation of various manufacturing initiatives for the US Air Force. Carter will be replaced by Paul Warndorf, former AMT director of technology. Papke was named president of Mazak in 1989, and has served Mazak in several management positions, including as executive vice president.

Mitutoyo America Corp. (Aurora, IL) has named Tsuyohsi Yamamura as president, effective January 1, succeeding Noel Ryan. Previously Mitutoyo's executive vice president, Yamamura has been with the metrology manufacturer since 1970. He earlier worked for Mitutoyo in the Asian Pacific region, and at Mitutoyo America's parent company headquarters in Tokyo.

Unova Inc. (Woodland Hills, CA) named its new manufacturing unit and management team for the company resulting from the Cincinnati Machine (Cincinnati) and Lamb Technicon (Warren, MI) merger announced October 1. The new Unova unit, which will be based in the Detroit area at a location yet to be determined, will be called Unova Manufacturing Technologies.

Part of Unova's Industrial Automation Systems (IAS) business, Unova Manufacturing Technologies combines the engineering, manufacturing and resources of Cincinnati Machine and Lamb Technicon. Jim Herrman, Unova senior vice president and IAS Group Executive, was named president of the new Unova division. Hermann will continue his current responsibilities for Landis Grinding Systems, which is still operating as a separate unit under the Unova IAS group. Among other moves, Cincinnati Machine President Dan Janka was named as vice president, sales and marketing, for United Manufacturing Technologies; Dave Nowicki, senior VP of Lamb's North American Operations, was named as vice president, manufacturing; and Doug Harmon, Lamb's senior VP, operations, was named vice president, engineering, for the new unit.

Software

Larry Harper is president of WinWare Inc. (Marietta, GA), developer of CribMaster tool-crib inventory control management software.

Manufacturing Engineering: How do you define toolcrib inventory management software?

Harper: Tool management and inventory control management are basically the same thing, an effective way of managing inventory not only in the toolcrib but outside of the toolcrib. First and foremost, it's gaining control of the inventory reorder points, who's using what and where it's being used, and managing the information in a way that will reduce your overall inventory levels while providing fewer stock-out situations. You have to track where the tools are going, who's got the tools, and what users, departments, or any cost centers using the tools.

ME: How can shops implement effective tool management?

Harper: It starts with the software application. You've got to have good software control of your inventory, and from there, you can add hardware devices, such as barcode scanners, barcode printers, and radio-frequency scanners, that will help you continue to improve the processes. Probably 80% of our installations use some form of radio frequency scanners, which improve the overall productivity of toolcrib employees by letting them do their job quicker and easier. Besides scanners, there are many automation devices--vending machines, lockers, toolcubes, large ASRS's, all types of different equipment, that can help manage that inventory. Our focus on is being a software provider. We want customers to look at their overall needs regarding any automation devices, and then we choose whatever device that we both agree is the best solution for their needs.

ME: What can manufacturers gain productivity-wise with an effective tool management system?

Harper: From a productivity standpoint, there are two things. If you can provide fewer stock-out situations, and make sure that the inventory's available on a consistent basis, then obviously that's going to increase productivity. If you are not shutting down machines or having to hunt tools and use alternative solutions because you're out of a particular item, then that's certainly a productivity gain. The second point is when you get into using an automation device, those devices are generally located at the point of use, which means that the shop-floor employees don't have to walk to and from the toolcrib to get their parts. They generally walk in a 15 to 20-foot range up to the automation device, bend down for the item they're looking for, and then they're back up and going, so their downtime is significantly less.

ME: How do most tool management systems work?

Harper: If you look at a lot of toolcribs today, they're run on just 3 X 5 cards--pieces of paper. It's amazing to me how many companies still operate that way. You take a step up from there and you have many that use an Excel spreadsheet, or maybe a small Access database. Again, it's not really tool management, or inventory control that they're doing, they're just trying to keep up with what they've got. When you get into inventory control, then you get into products that actually use economic order point and order quantity, do calculations on order points, and have things that are in place to notify suppliers when inventory runs low, when it needs to be ordered, or even when it hits critical levels, in which case an automatic notification can be sent by pager when inventory has dropped below the order point.

ME: What about using Internet-based actions with ordering?

Harper: We do use the Internet, mostly to transmit information, re-order information. One of the things we do is e-mail the orders directly across, or we can take the orders and put them out into a flat file or EDI file, and FTP them to the supplier. We can transmit databases live to the supplier over the Internet, and they can pull in the information directly in real-time. We also can link multiple facilities into one centrally located data warehouse so that inventories of multiple plants can be viewed and surplus inventory transferred from one plant to another, so we do make quite a bit of use of the Internet.

ME: What about using vending-machine types of toolcrib systems?

Harper: Vending machine systems are not toolcrib management. A vending machine or other automation devices are part of a toolcrib management system, just like a barcode scanner would be a piece of the system. Unless you have the software to control and to manage the inventory, the automation devices are nothing more than a fancy locker.

ME: What's a typical scenario for shops that don't employ a tool management system?

Harper: Lots of overnight shipments, lots of out-of-stock situations. You end up depending on somebody's recollection of how to buy items. And if you look at a typical toolcrib, they'll have anywhere from two to 15,000 different items and for one person to try to keep up with that, or even a couple of people in a manual system, it's just impossible. You can't keep up with the daily or fast-changing needs that a manufacturing facility has. Even at the smaller shops, it's difficult. If you're talking about a 20 or 30-man shop, maybe you can do it, but if you're a 100-man shop and up, it's tough just being able to keep up with not only the inventory that you've got, but also the usage and how the usage changes over time. When you're in an electronic system, it sees the change in usage and it stops the buying from happening.

Renishaw plc (Gloucestershire, UK) and Metrologic Group SA (Grenoble, France) are teaming up in a partnership under which Metrologic will develop its Metrolog II software to run on Renishaw's UCC1 universal CMM controller platform. The agreement will allow users of Metrologic's software to take advantage of the UCC1 controller, which optimizes the CMM/probe sensor interface for maximum part-checking speed and accuracy. The controller includes advanced scanning algorithms, which allow fast, accurate, adaptive part scanning at velocities limited only by the dynamic performance of the CMM.

GE Fanuc Automation North America Inc. (Charlottesville, VA) has released its new Cimplicity HMI Plant Edition Version 6.0 software, which features Cimplicity SQL 2000 and adds enhancements including VCR-like screen playback capabilities. The HMI Plant Edition software also adds view, alarm, and paging enhancements that help improve database archiving and reporting, speed process analysis, and decrease plant response time to manufacturing crises.