U.S. Dept. of Labor (BLS) March Employment Situation

Leadership & Talent Nuggets from John Maxwell

Life Sciences:

New Cancer Super Drug in Development Stage

Healthcare is America’s Best Bet for Opportunity

Energy & Power Generation:

Where the Green Jobs Really Are

Gas Boom Expected to Continue

Governor McCrory’s Offshore Energy Plan

Multi-National Lean Manufacturing:

Why GE is Betting on Manufacturing

ZF Transmission Thriving in South Carolina

 

Human Capital Solutions, Inc. (HCS) www.humancs.com is a Global Executive Search and Recruiting firm focused in Energy / Power Generation, Life Sciences, Multinational Lean Manufacturing and Technology. Visit our LinkedIn Company Page to learn more about HCS and receive weekly updates.

HCS has created the Prosperity at Work proposition which focuses on creating prosperous relationships between companies and their employees (associates). HCS assists companies in improving bottom line profitability by efficiently planning, organizing and implementing optimized, practical and value-added business solutions.

The Employment Situation – March 2013

Nonfarm payroll employment edged up in March (+88,000), and the unemployment rate was little changed at 7.6 percent, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported today. Employment grew in professional and business services and in health care but declined in retail trade.

Household Survey Data

Both the number of unemployed persons, at 11.7 million, and the unemployment rate, at 7.6 percent, were little changed in March. (See table A-1.) Among the major worker groups, the unemployment rates for adult men (6.9 percent), adult women (7.0 percent), teenagers (24.2 percent), whites (6.7 percent), blacks (13.3 percent), and Hispanics (9.2 percent) showed little or no change in March. The jobless rate for Asians was 5.0 percent (not seasonally adjusted), little changed from a year earlier. (See tables A-1, A-2, and A-3.) In March, the number of long-term unemployed (those jobless for 27 weeks or more) was little changed at 4.6 million. These individuals accounted for 39.6 percent of the unemployed. (See table A-12.) The civilian labor force declined by 496,000 over the month, and the labor force participation rate decreased by 0.2 percentage point to 63.3 percent. The employment-population ratio, at 58.5 percent, changed little. (See table A-1.) The number of persons employed part time for economic reasons (sometimes referred to as involuntary part-time workers) fell by 350,000 over the month to 7.6 million. These individuals were working part time because their hours had been cut back or because they were unable to find a full-time job. (See table A-8.) In March, 2.3 million persons were marginally attached to the labor force, essentially unchanged from a year earlier. (The data are not seasonally adjusted.) These individuals were not in the labor force, wanted and were available for work, and had looked for a job sometime in the prior 12 months. They were not counted as unemployed because they had not searched for work in the 4 weeks preceding the survey. (See table A-16.) Among the marginally attached, there were 803,000 discouraged workers in March, little changed from a year earlier. (These data are not seasonally adjusted.) Discouraged workers are persons not currently looking for work because they believe no jobs are available for them. The remaining 1.5 million persons marginally attached to the labor force in March had not searched for work for reasons such as school attendance or  family responsibilities. (See table A-16.)

Establishment Survey Data

Total nonfarm payroll employment edged up in March (+88,000). Over the prior 12 months, employment  growth had averaged 169,000 per month. In March, employment increased in professional and business services and in health care, while retail trade employment declined. (See table B-1.) Professional and business services added 51,000 jobs in March. Over the past 12 months, employment in this industry has grown by 533,000. Within professional and business services, accounting and bookkeeping services added 11,000 jobs over the month, and employment continued to trend up in temporary help services and in several other component industries. Job growth in health care continued in March, with a gain of 23,000, similar to the prior 12-month average. Within health care, employment increased by 15,000 in ambulatory health care services, such as home health care, and by 8,000 in hospitals. Construction employment continued to trend up in March (+18,000). Job growth in this industry picked up this past fall; since September, the industry has added 169,000 jobs. In March, employment continued to expand among specialty trade contractors (+23,000). Employment in specialty trade contractors has increased by 128,000 since September, with the gain about equally split between the residential and nonresidential components. Within leisure and hospitality, employment in food services and drinking places continued to trend up in March (+13,000). Over the past year, the industry added 262,000 jobs. In March, retail trade employment declined by 24,000. The industry had added an average of 32,000 jobs per month over the prior 6 months. In March, job declines occurred in clothing and clothing accessories stores (-15,000), building material and garden supply stores (-10,000), and electronics and appliance stores (-6,000). Within government, U.S. Postal Service employment fell by 12,000 in March. Employment in other major industries, including mining, manufacturing, wholesale trade, transportation and warehousing, information, financial activities, state government, and local government, showed little change over the month. The average workweek for all employees on private nonfarm payrolls increased by 0.1 hour to 34.6 hours. The manufacturing workweek decreased by 0.1 hour to 40.8 hours, and factory overtime rose by 0.1 hour to 3.4 hours. The average workweek for production and nonsupervisory employees on private nonfarm payrolls was unchanged at 33.8 hours. (See tables B-2 and B-7.) In March, average hourly earnings for all employees on private nonfarm payrolls, at $23.82, changed little (+1 cent). Over the year, average hourly earnings have risen by 42 cents, or 1.8 percent. Average hourly earnings of private-sector production and nonsupervisory employees, at $20.03, changed little (-1 cent) in March. (See tables B-3 and B-8.) The change in total nonfarm payroll employment for January was revised from +119,000 to +148,000, and the change for February was revised from +236,000 to +268,000.     http://www.bls.gov/news.release/empsit.nr0.htm

 

 

Leadership & Talent Nuggets from John Maxwell’s Beyond Talent

What are ways leaders can go beyond talent? The reality is: “As long as there are people in the world, there will be plenty of talent. What’s missing are people who have made the choices necessary to maximize their talent. Employers are really looking for talent-plus people.”

Each of us has the chance to be talent-plus. You will not stand out with talent alone, but giving a little “extra” will multiply your efforts. As we close out this series of blog posts, we’d like to highlight a few more ways to go beyond talent based on John Maxwell’s book, Beyond Talent.

Passion Energizes Your Talent
“Passion is more important than a plan. Passion creates fire. It provides fuel.”
Passion is what allows talent-plus people to move forward until they succeed. Without passion, empowerment is difficult. Passionate people move beyond talent with enthusiasm and vigor.

Courage Tests Your Talent
“To develop and discover our talent, we need courage. The English word courage comes from the French word coeur, which means ‘heart.’ And we need to recognize that if we display courage, our hearts will be tested continually.” As leaders, our hearts are of the utmost importance. Courage molds our hearts. It allows us to know the truth, seek change, be challenged and grow.

“Perseverance begins with the right attitude – an attitude of tenacity. But the desire to persevere alone isn’t enough to keep most people going when they are tired or discouraged. Perseverance is a trait that can be cultivated. And the initial step to developing it is to eliminate its five greatest enemies.”

Perseverance requires determination. If you take the time and effort to cultivate tenacity, you can achieve the impossible. However, there are endless temptations, false beliefs, and distractions that can lead to abandoning what once seemed of the utmost importance.

According to Beyond Talent, we must eliminate the five greatest enemies of perseverance. Eliminating the following five things will bring greater chance of success:

1. A lifestyle of giving up
“Talent without perseverance never comes to full fruition. Opportunities without persistence will be lost. There is a direct correlation between perseverance and potential. If you have a habit of giving up, you need to overcome it to be successful.” There is no doubt that giving up is the easy thing to do in many situations. When we’re presented with opportunities, we are programmed to want to take the easy route. However, taking the difficult path will allow us to see our talent come to full fruition.

2. A wrong belief that life should be easy
“Having the right expectations going into anything is half the battle.” It’s common to expect that life should be handed to us on a silver platter. However, expectations don’t always match reality. When faced with tough situations, we have two choices. We can either give up, or we can dig in and get down in the trenches. Perseverance is choosing the trenches.

3. A wrong belief that success is a destination
“If you think you have arrived, then you’re in trouble. As soon as you think you no longer need to work to make progress, you’ll begin to lose ground.” Success is not a destination. Success is a path we choose to walk down each day. When we stop seizing opportunities, we hit plateaus. As leaders, we constantly have the chance to learn, grow and move forward. With a bit of perseverance, we can move beyond our “success” and through open doors.

4. A lack of resiliency
“We must not become dry, brittle, and inflexible. And we must endeavor to bounce back, no matter how we may feel.”
We can’t let discouraging moments break us. Instead, we must be resilient. By persevering through tough times and taking struggles on, we have the ability to go beyond our talent.

5. A lack of vision
“People who display perseverance keep a larger vision in mind as they toil away at their craft or profession. They see in their mind’s eye what they want to create or to do, and they keep working toward it as they labor.”

6. What is your vision? Let that be your guiding light as you persevere through the less than desirable moments in life. Know that through perseverance, your talent will be lifted, ultimately reaping great benefits in the end.

Overall, take the time to think through which of these enemies is hindering your ability to persevere as a leader. Once you identify these strongholds, you will be able to rise above any situation and accomplish even the loftiest goals.

 

 

New Cancer “Growth Blocking Super Drug” Patents Filed

The “Super Drug” in the cancer world refers to a drug that may be used to treat multiple types of cancer and their various strains. There is now an emerging world class sprinter in the race to create the “Super Drug” – Kalos Therapeutics

The pharmaceutical world has been racing for the cure for cancer for decades with what most experts agree is limited success. The current drugs are either so toxic and damaging to the body that many patients have to weigh the benefits of their use or the drugs are only designed to treat specific types of cancers and often only specific “strains” of specific cancers. There is now an emerging world class sprinter in the race to create the “Super Drug” – Kalos Therapeutics. The “Super Drug” in the cancer world refers to a drug that may be used to treat multiple types of cancer and their various strains while avoiding the additional trauma often caused by chemotherapy, radiation and many of the current cancer drugs. Kalos Therapeutics is an emerging biomedical company with the exclusive patent to develop the ANP (Atrial Natriuretic Peptide) family of peptides as a new mechanism for the treatment of cancer. Kalos is pioneering an approach to cancer treatment by developing peptides made primarily in the heart, as a cytostatic therapeutic for treating aggressive cancers by engaging known pathway receptors more efficiently without the side effects associated with chemotherapeutic or small molecule compounds. George Colberg, the CEO of Kalos Therapeutics, has amassed a who’s who dream team representing the best and brightest of the cancer and bio-tech worlds. More importantly is the fact that the team has the ability to think differently about what is the most effective way to treat cancer. It is that difference in thinking that appears to be producing a game changing cancer therapy.

Anti-Cancer Bio-technology

“Kalos has successfully leveraged the natural antiproliferative activity of the Atrial Natriuretic Peptide (ANP) family of peptides in our patented Kalos Motif (s) exhibiting never before seen anti-cancer growth properties” says CEO, George Colberg. Kalos’ drug has demonstrated remarkably broad anti-cancer activity, including inhibition of pancreatic, lung, prostate, breast, ovarian, colon, and melanoma cells in culture and of pancreatic, breast, and lung cancer tumors in models of human cancer. The strategy is simple – stop cancer growth at an early stage before it has the chance to proliferate and inflict the damage to the body that we all fear from cancer. Kalos and their legal teams have been very active in its patent filings both in the US and internationally.

http://www.prweb.com/releases/2013/2/prweb10409473.htm

 

 

Why Healthcare is America’s Best Bet for Business and Opportunity

By: Chris Seper

Silicon Valley is hands down the Capital of Technology. But when it comes to healthcare, it’s just one face in the crowd. And that’s what makes healthcare such an amazing business opportunity for this country (and the world). In the United States alone, you have 15 “Silicon Valleys:” cities where new products are built; the investors, entrepreneurs and big customers live in high volumes; and the thought leaders who will drive future innovation are located. And, just as fun, there always seem to be another half dozen cities ready to join the crowd with new jobs, innovations and a concentration of big thinkers. Let’s set aside the fact these new innovations will make us healthier. It’s also exciting to have an industry that isn’t so concentrated in one place, so more people can share in the distributed nature of healthcare innovation. Don’t believe me that healthcare is everywhere? Consider these recent developments. Big-money bets… in Danville, Pennsylvania. Oak Investment Partners, which in the last 35 years has invested more than $9 billion in smart ideas, recently put $40 million in a startup spun out of Geisinger Health System of Danville, Pennsylvania. That’s just one example. Consider that new investment dollars will be coming into healthcare via the South, thanks to a new $125 million investment fund in Durham, North Carolina. The most promising new flu vaccines are from… Boston, Massachusetts; Blue Bell, Pennsylvania; Ann Arbor, Michigan; and, well, you get it. In Minnesota, a $6 billion medical growth plan. In a testament to how competitive healthcare is, the renowned Mayo Clinic will spend $3.5 billion as part of a larger $6 billion effort to ensure that Mayo and Minnesota are the medical destinations of choice for people worldwide. “Mayo Clinic not only intends to protect its current status as one of the world’s premier medical institutions but to significantly expand our highly-effective practice model and medical assets to be clearly recognized as a global destination medical center for decades to come,” Mayo’s CEO said. Life science crowdfunding: Everywhere but the Valley. Crowdfunding is a national obsession with startup types. And the most interesting models in the life sciences are coming from places like Utah, Washington state and Rochester, New York. Digital Health: California rules. But others are there, too. Approaches to mobile apps, electronic health records, big data and other digital solutions are white hot in healthcare. California and Boston get the most investments, but other hot spots include Texas, Tennessee, Florida and Illinois. New thinking on jobs – in Indiana. You don’t need to look far to find a company laying off workers (and that goes for healthcare, too). But there is more thinking about how to retrain the workforce in healthcare than many other industries. This Indiana initiative mirrors what’s happening in other states: training programs on advanced manufacturing in areas like orthopedics. It’s good to have a capital of politics. It’s exciting to have a capital of tech like Silicon Valley that captures the world’s imagination. But it’s also a very good thing that the capital of healthcare may be close to you – no matter if you’re in Cleveland, Palo Alto or Danville, PA.

http://www.linkedin.com/today/post/article/20130218005502-107961-why-healthcare-is-america-s-best-bet-for-business-and-opportunity

 

 

Where the Green Jobs Really Are

by Maynard Webb

There’s much brouhaha about “green jobs” those that arise from new clean-tech companies, created to help solve the climate crisis. I’m all for this — we need this kind of innovation — but green jobs are hardly the economic cure-all they are often made out to be. In fact, they only account for a small fraction of the U.S. workforce. It’s time to take a different approach to green jobs. We can transform the way people work to achieve change on a mass level, and every manager can encourage sustainability by making one modification that would benefit the environment. Additionally, this change can positively affect employee morale and productivity, as well as company efficiency and profitability. So here’s what you need to do:

Stop working in the office. Offices and office hours once made good sense. Before the advent of the Internet and personal computers, you had to go to work to gain access to information. If you weren’t at work you couldn’t do work. Today, of course, that’s unbelievably outdated. We’ve seen the advances technology brings to our everyday lives: we can pay bills online and shop 24/7; we don’t need to wait for the morning newspaper to be delivered to the driveway; and we can check in for a flight online instead of waiting in line. More than 2 billion people use broadband Internet, up from perhaps 50 million a decade ago. Now, it’s estimated that approximately 40% of jobs could be performed remotely, at least part of the time. In addition to not needing the office to communicate, we are doing a poor job of utilizing the office space we do have. Studies by the U.S. General Services Administration show that at any given time, over half the workspace in the United States and Europe is not being used.

So what does this have to do with the environment? Offices account for about 38% of all greenhouse gas emissions. And according to the U.S. Green Building Council, over approximately the next 20 years, greenhouse gas emissions from offices are expected to grow faster than those in any other sector. Getting to the office also generates problems; American workers spend on average 40 minutes a day commuting — this amounts to eight weeks a year spent in the car. In total, this can waste more than 3.7 billion hours in lost productivity and 2.3 billion gallons of gas annually. What a price for something most of us don’t like doing: sitting in traffic.

What about my bottom line? Let’s say you are like me: a business executive, not a Greenpeace ambassador. You want to know how this affects your company. For most, real estate is the second-largest expense. Sun Microsystems, now part of Oracle, embraced a telework initiative in 2000 that ultimately resulted in more than half of the company’s employees working remotely and a net savings of $80 million a year in facility costs. Sun was so pleased with the results it achieved that, in 2008, it spun the initiative into a separate company, now called Better Workplace, to bring these benefits to other companies throughout the world. Defense contractor Northrop Grumman worked with Better Workplace to develop a mobile work strategy, devising a plan to achieve annual savings of $110 million based on 20% employee participation. In 2008 TIAA-CREF, a Fortune 100 financial services organization, started using Better Workplace’s software tools to manage and scale a flexible work initiative that resulted in the reduction of 75 thousand square feet of office space in midtown Manhattan and cost savings of $15 million a year.

But how does working outside the office affect employees? At TIAA-CREF, managers were initially concerned about performance issues with employees working remotely. But after the program’s implementation, nearly every manager who participated in a survey responded that employees performed as well — or better — when working from home. More than anything else,employees want flexibility: almost 80% of employees say they would like to work from home part of the time, and more than a third say they’d choose the option to work from home over a pay raise.

Happy employees yield healthier companies. Home-based workers are sick or absent less often than people who work in an office. That’s not because of contagious germs circulating office buildings, but because there is a whole population of people who fake an illness to shirk work. Sometwo-thirds of employees who call in sick aren’t really sick. That’s costly: these unscheduled absences cost employers $1,800 per employee per year — totaling $300 billion per year to U.S. companies. On the flip side, allowing people to work from wherever they want enhances attraction and retention.

Successful companies of tomorrow will evolve their office plan into a no-office plan. I understand that change is hard. People resist disrupting the status quo. But I’m asking you to think differently about how we work so that we all can enjoy a much smoother ride into the future. The long-term environmental cost is too great not to try. The journey alone — which will reduce costs and enable happier and more productive employees — is well worth it.

http://blogs.hbr.org/cs/2013/02/where_the_green_jobs_really_ar.html

 

 

Gas Boom Projected to Grow for Decades

By: Russell Gold

U.S. natural-gas production will accelerate over the next three decades, new research indicates, providing the strongest evidence yet that the energy boom remaking America will last for a generation. The most exhaustive study to date of a key natural-gas field in Texas, combined with related research under way elsewhere, shows that U.S. shale-rock formations will provide a growing source of moderately priced natural gas through 2040, and decline only slowly after that. A report on the Texas field, to be released Thursday, was reviewed by The Wall Street Journal. The research provides substantial evidence that there are large quantities of gas available that can be drilled profitably at a market price of $4 per million British thermal units, a relatively small increase from the current price of about $3.43. The study, funded by the nonpartisan Alfred P. Sloan Foundation and performed by the University of Texas, examined 15,000 wells drilled in the Barnett Shale formation in northern Texas, mostly over the past decade. It is among the first to study the geology and economics of shale drilling, a relatively recent development made possible by hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, in which a mixture of water, sand and chemicals is pumped at high pressure into rocks to release gas. Looking at data from actual wells rather than relying on estimates and extrapolations, the study broadly confirms conclusions by the energy industry and the U.S. government, which in December forecast rising gas production. ”We are looking at multi, multi decades of growth,” said Scott Tinker, director of the Bureau of Economic Geology at the university and a leader of the study. The shale-gas boom has led to a reorientation of the U.S. energy economy. This has led to a steep decline in coal consumption for electric generation and prompted companies to announce or consider multibillion-dollar investments to export gas and build chemical, steel and fertilizer plants that will consume enormous quantities of gas. If these investments go forward, but gas production were to slip, higher prices for the fuel—which now accounts for 30% of electricity production and heats half of U.S. homes—are likely. Art Berman, a petroleum geologist and consultant who has been a leading critic of what he says are overly optimistic projections of shale-gas production, said the research “is probably the most comprehensive study of the Barnett shale that will ever be done.” But he said it bolsters his view that only a quarter of Barnett wells generate an economic return. The question for the industry, he said, is, “why didn’t they identify the sweet spots initially, before spending $40 billion on land and wells?” The study does show that many of the wells drilled in the Barnett have been poor performers. And while the gas-bearing rock covers 8,000 square miles in and around Fort Worth, Texas, the study suggests it can be economically developed in an area only half that size. Some of the energy companies that spent enormous sums to lease thousands of acres in far-flung parts of the Barnett may be sitting on acreage of little value. Mr. Tinker agrees that the study shows the Barnett is highly variable, with some areas producing enough gas to make the wells profitable and other areas generating duds. Even so, the study concludes that 44 trillion cubic feet of natural gas will be recovered from the Barnett—more than three times what has been produced so far and about two years’ worth of U.S. consumption at current rates. The university also is examining shale formations in Pennsylvania, Louisiana and Arkansas, work that has led investigators to conclude that U.S. natural gas production won’t plateau until 2040. Reports on these formations are expected to be released next year. One reason there has been a dispute over projections of shale-gas production is that much of the research, even inside universities, has been funded by groups with either pro- or anti- energy-development agendas. Many of the latter have strong views about the environmental impact of fracking on the air and groundwater. The Sloan Foundation said it looked into whether the researchers who performed the new study were unduly influenced by outside ties and was satisfied that “potential conflicts of interest or sources of bias have not influenced the research.” The co-lead investigator of the study, Mr. Tinker, is paid to serve on the technical advisory boards of BP  PLC and two smaller energy companies. He also receives speaking fees a few times a year for appearances before industry groups and private companies. The Bureau of Economic Geology receives research funding from government, industry and the University of Texas. The other lead investigator, Svetlana Ikonnikova, didn’t disclose any potential conflicts to the university. Scott Anderson, who researches shale development for the Environmental Defense Fund, which is working on lowering the environmental impact of gas drilling, reviewed some of the study’s preliminary results. He praised the report as “robust” and “sophisticated.” The U.S. energy industry welcomed the conclusion that a large number of successful gas wells remain to be drilled. The American Petroleum Institute, the lobbying arm of large U.S. oil and gas companies, said in a statement that the study “underscores the fact that the U.S. has substantial and growing natural gas resources that will be able to supply future domestic markets and provide exports as well.” To get at all this gas will require tens of thousands of new wells, spread throughout rural and some urban parts of the country. Even in the Barnett formation, which has been drilled intensively for a decade, there still may be room for 13,000 more wells, said Mr. Tinker.  He said that existing wells “aren’t draining giant areas, but they are draining pretty efficiently from areas around them.”This means that even in densely drilled areas, he said, “there is a reasonable amount of good quality drilling still to be done.” The giant Marcellus Shale in Pennsylvania and neighboring states likely contains enough gas to support the drilling of tens of thousands more wells. This could heighten growing concerns about fracking, and calls for increased government oversight of the practice. ”There are health risks that we don’t have our arms around and that’s a problem, ” said Paul Gallay, president of Riverkeeper, a New York state environmental group critical of fracking. “We’re out ahead of our science and we need to be concerned about that.”

http://online.wsj.com/article_email/SB10001424127887323293704578330700203397128-lMyQjAxMTAzMDIwODEyNDgyWj.html

 

 

McCrory requests federal partnership for offshore energy

By: Ben Brown

The Obama administration should partner with North Carolina and its coastal neighbors in exploration for energy sources offshore, said a letter signed by Gov. Pat McCrory and counterparts Thursday. McCrory along with Virginia Gov. Bob McDonnell and South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley wrote that as governors, “we strive to pursue policies that help create jobs and make energy more affordable while protecting our states’ natural resources.” The three Republicans addressed the letter to U.S. Secretary of Interior nominee Sally Jewell and said they’ll be “listening intently to your answers [during nomination hearings] regarding energy exploration off the coasts of our states….”

Notes from the Southern Alliance for Clean Energy, citing the Department of Interior, in a report submitted in 2011 to McCrory’s predecessor, Democrat Bev Perdue, said the “economically extractable resource potential” off the coasts of North Carolina, Virginia, Maryland and Delaware was an estimated 1.15 billion barrels of oil and about 8.56 trillion cubic feet of natural gas. The report, from the prior Governor’s Scientific Advisory Panel on Offshore Energy, also noted the resources off North Carolina’s shore alone might be relatively insignificant, though “new, more intense exploration” might surface previously unknown reservoirs. “It’s estimated that energy production from the Atlantic [Outer Continental Shelf] could create more than 140,000 new jobs within the next 20 years,” said the letter McCrory signed Thursday, “and we hope you will ensure that the [Obama] administration is a partner with the states on this issue.” The idea of drilling off the North Carolina coast and elsewhere has drawn controversy for potential adverse environmental impacts. “We are opposed to offshore drilling and offshore exploration off the coast of North Carolina,” said Mac Montgomery, head of the N.C. Sierra Club’s Cape Fear Group and a former mayor of Kure Beach. “We think it’s disruptive not only to the environment but to the economy of North Carolina because we derive a tremendous amount of revenue in this state from the fisheries industry and tourism.” Montgomery said the oil resource’s size is unknown and not worth the perceived risk. “An oil spill … would completely devastate some of our coastal communities,” he said. The proposal from McCrory and company said the governors “understand the importance of regulatory oversight, environmental protection, and public health; after all, it is an essential part of our mission and duty to our citizens.” http://portcitydaily.com/2013/02/14/mccrory-requests-federal-partnership-for-offshore-energy/

 

 

Why We’re Betting on Manufacturing

By: Jeff Immelt

America can turn a slow recovery into a strong comeback, one that grows our economy and firmly reestablishes our country as a powerhouse of ideas and production. The key – and what will determine the winners and losers of an exciting new era – is our willingness and ability to lead the next “big waves” of productivity. There are four new drivers of productivity, and success in each depends on the technology and talent we develop. The first is how the sheer volume and increased access to shale gas in regions around the globe is changing the energy debate and the balance of energy power. It would require real infrastructure and pipeline integration between Canada, Mexico and the U.S., but North America could achieve energy independence within 10 years. The second driver for dramatically increased productivity is applying the lessons of social media to the industrial world and building what we call the Industrial Internet. By owning and connecting the analytical layers around industrial products – and using real time data to extract real time knowledge – we can improve asset performance and drive efficiency. The third driver is speed and simplification because the only way to serve our customers better and compete in a complex world is by working faster and smarter. The last productivity driver, and related to the other three, is the evolution of advanced manufacturing. Manufacturing excellence, forgotten for too long, is once again a competitive advantage. Today, we are convening a forum in Washington, DC to discuss the future of manufacturing and its impact on the economy. It’s an exciting time; we can reverse a trend where companies outsourced critical capabilities in their supply chain and focused too much on cheap labor rather than speed, innovation and market access. Now, advanced manufacturing — both imbedding technology into products and processes and creating the highly skilled workforce that can support these efforts — and other new innovations in manufacturing are changing what we make, where and how we make it, and even who makes it. Large or small companies that invest in their own capabilities and “own” or control a local supply chain have a competitive advantage as they develop their next breakthrough. Historically, we’ve manufactured jet engine components mostly by casting, stamping and cutting steel and alloys. Now, through 3D printing, or additive manufacturing, we can “print” complex parts layer by thin layer. At GE Aviation some of our newest jet engines will have printed combustion system components and other parts inside, reducing engine weight and saving our customers money. Now is the time to bring efforts like this to scale. The rise of analytics and software in the industrial world only multiplies the opportunity in front of us. America must capitalize. If we do, we can create new businesses and new industries. Advanced manufacturing will change not only the way we build complex machines but the entire competitive landscape. http://www.linkedin.com/today/post/article/20130207143128-230929989-why-we-re-betting-on-manufacturing

 

 

ZF’s transmissions in high demand

By: Liz Segrist

ZF Transmissions LLC has nearly sold 800,000 of its future Laurens County-produced transmissions before the plant has started production. In addition to Chrysler, which has announced itself as a ZF customer, ZF has four other, undisclosed customers for its eight- and nine-speed transmissions to be produced locally, said ZF CEO Lu Reckmann Wednesday at the S.C. Automotive Summit in Greenville. “The combined volume of all those customers will use our installed capacity completely,” Reckmann said, referring to the plant’s initial capacity to produce 800,000 transmissions after its launch. “We are pretty much sold out.” ZF plans to produce 120,000 transmissions in the local plant’s first year of production — which is set to begin in the second quarter — and ramp up to 800,000 transmissions produced by 2016. “This is a huge challenge for everybody,” Reckmann said. “Not only us, but for our suppliers.”ZF has the option to expand with another 400,000 square feet in the future. ZF is considering when and how to do that as demand ramps up for its transmissions, Reckmann said. Suppliers, suppliers Opportunities abound for automotive suppliers to come into the region. The German transmissions manufacturer needs more die-casting suppliers locally, Reckmann said. Of ZF’s 85 suppliers, 18 are in the Southeast. Seven current, undisclosed suppliers are located in South Carolina. “There is a huge growth opportunity here for suppliers to come here to support us and other automotive companies in the Southeast,” Reckmann said. The company had $23 billion in sales for 2012, marking 12% growth in sales globally and 35% growth in sales for North America last year. ZF announced plans to build a facility in Laurens County in 2010, later adding onto initial investment projections with plans to invest $430 million and create more than 1,200 jobs at the facility. Construction broke ground on the 947,000-square-foot facility off Interstate 385’s Exit 22 in Gray Court in February 2011. The company moved equipment in last month. The grand opening is set for July. The Laurens County facility will produce ZF’s eight- and nine-speed transmissions. The eight-speed automatic transmission is designed for real-wheel drive. The nine-speed automatic transmission is designed for front-wheel drive. The company has hired 450 employees thus far, with plans to hire 1,200 total employees by the end of the year. The recruitment of skilled CNC operators, manufacturing engineers and quality maintenance technicians has proved to be a challenge for ZF.

ZF Transmissions partners with ReadySC, Greenville Works and HTI Employment Solutions for recruitment and preparation of skilled workers. Piedmont Technical College has created a local training program. ZF also runs an internal apprenticeship program for new hires, as well as sends workers to Germany for training at its other facilities. The Friedrichshafen, Germany-based ZF Group is a worldwide automotive supplier for driveline and chassis technology. It now has 75,000 employees and 117 production locations in 26 countries. ZF has 22 plants in North America, with 16 in the United States and six in Mexico. ZF parts are in major car brands, such as BMW, Chrysler, Chevrolet, Lincoln, Ford, GM, Toyota, Volkswagen, Buick and Hyundai Kia Automotive, among others. http://gsabusiness.mappsite.com/news.php?link=http://www.gsabusiness.com/news/46684-zf-rsquo-s-locally-produced-transmissions-in-high-demand

 

 

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U.S. Dept. of Labor (BLS) January Employment Situation

Unemployment Improves in Hard Hit States

15 Ways to Be Happier at Work

Life Sciences:

GSK Adds Stand Up Desks to Boost Productivity

Technology:

Google Expanding in Berkeley County

RIM Changing Company Name

Energy & Power Generation:

GE Enters Software Business

Multi-National Lean Manufacturing:

Michelin Invests $200M in New Plant

 

Human Capital Solutions, Inc. (HCS) www.humancs.com is a Global Executive Search and Recruiting firm focused in Energy / Power Generation, Life Sciences, Multinational Lean Manufacturing and Technology. Visit our LinkedIn Company Page to learn more about HCS and receive weekly updates.

HCS has created the Prosperity at Work proposition which focuses on creating prosperous relationships between companies and their employees (associates). HCS assists companies in improving bottom line profitability by efficiently planning, organizing and implementing optimized, practical and value-added business solutions.

The Employment Situation – January 2013

Total nonfarm payroll employment increased by 157,000 in January, and the unemployment rate was essentially unchanged at 7.9 percent, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported today. Retail trade, construction, health care, and wholesale trade added jobs over the month.

Household Survey Data

The number of unemployed persons, at 12.3 million, was little changed in January. The unemployment rate was 7.9 percent and has been at or near that level since September 2012. (See table A-1.) (See the note and tables B and C for information about annual population adjustments to the household survey  estimates.)  Among the major worker groups, the unemployment rates for adult men (7.3 percent), adult women (7.3 percent), teenagers (23.4 percent), whites (7.0 percent), blacks (13.8 percent), and Hispanics (9.7 percent) showed little or no change in January. The jobless rate for Asians was 6.5 percent (not seasonally adjusted), little changed from a year earlier. (See tables A-1, A-2, and A-3.) In January, the number of long-term unemployed (those jobless for 27 weeks or more) was about unchanged at 4.7 million and accounted for 38.1 percent of the unemployed. (See table A-12.) Both the employment-population ratio (58.6 percent) and the civilian labor force participation rate (63.6 percent) were unchanged in January. (See table A-1.)  The number of persons employed part time for economic reasons, at 8.0 million, changed little in January. These individuals were working part time because their hours had been cut back or because they were unable to find a full-time job. (See table A-8.) In January, 2.4 million persons were marginally attached to the labor force, down by 366,000 from a year earlier. (The data are not seasonally adjusted.) These individuals were not in the labor force, wanted and were available for work, and had looked for a job sometime in the prior 12 months. They were not counted as unemployed because they had not searched for work in the 4 weeks preceding the survey. (See table A-16.) Among the marginally attached, there were 804,000 discouraged workers in January, a decline of 55,000 from a year earlier. (The data are not seasonally adjusted.) Discouraged workers are persons not currently looking for work because they believe no jobs are available for them. The remaining 1.6 million persons marginally attached to the labor force in January had not searched for work in the 4 weeks preceding the survey for reasons such as school attendance or family responsibilities. (See table A-16.)

Establishment Survey Data

Total nonfarm payroll employment increased by 157,000 in January. In 2012, employment growth averaged 181,000 per month. In January, job gains occurred in retail trade, construction, health care, and wholesale trade, while employment edged down in transportation and warehousing. (See table B-1.) Employment in retail trade rose by 33,000 in January, compared with an average monthly gain of 20,000 in 2012. Within the industry, job growth continued in January in motor vehicle and parts dealers (+7,000), electronics and appliance stores (+5,000), and clothing stores (+10,000). In January, employment in construction increased by 28,000. Nearly all of the job growth occurred in specialty trade contractors (+26,000), with the gain about equally split between residential and nonresidential specialty trade contractors. Since reaching a low in January 2011, construction employment has grown by 296,000, with one-third of the gain occurring in the last 4 months. However, the January 2013 level of construction employment remained about 2 million below its previous peak level in April 2006. Health care continued to add jobs in January (+23,000). Within health care, job growth occurred in ambulatory health care services (+28,000), which includes doctors’ offices and outpatient care centers. This gain was partially offset by a loss of 8,000 jobs in nursing and residential care facilities. Over the year, health care employment has increased by 320,000. Employment increased in wholesale trade (+15,000) in January, with most of the increase occurring in its nondurable goods component (+11,000). Since the recent low point in May 2010, wholesale trade has added 291,000 jobs. Mining employment increased (+6,000) over the month; employment in this industry has risen by 23,000 over the past 3 months. Employment edged down in transportation and warehousing in January (-14,000). Couriers and messengers lost 19,000 jobs over the month, following strong seasonal hiring in November and December. Air transportation employment decreased by 5,000 in January. Manufacturing employment was essentially unchanged in January and has changed little, on net, since July 2012. Employment in other major industries, including financial activities, professional and businesses services, leisure and hospitality, and government, showed little change over the month. In January, the average workweek for all employees on private nonfarm payrolls was unchanged at 34.4 hours. The manufacturing workweek edged down by 0.1 hour to 40.6 hours, and factory overtime was unchanged at 3.3 hours. The average workweek for production and nonsupervisory employees on private nonfarm payrolls edged down by 0.1 hour to 33.6 hours. (See tables B-2 and B-7.) Average hourly earnings for all employees on private nonfarm payrolls rose by 4 cents to $23.78. Over the year, average hourly earnings have risen by 2.1 percent. In January, average hourly earnings of private-sector production and nonsupervisory employees increased by 5 cents to $19.97. (See tables B-3 and B-8.) The change in total nonfarm payroll employment for November was revised from +161,000 to +247,000, and the change for December was revised from +155,000 to +196,000. Monthly revisions result from additional reports received from businesses since the last published estimates and the monthly recalculation of seasonal factors. The annual benchmark process also contributed to these revisions.

http://www.bls.gov/news.release/empsit.nr0.htm

 

 

Unemployment Finally Improves In Hard Hit States

By: Douglas A. McIntyre

Among the best measures of how strong the recovery of the U.S. economy has become is the improvement in the jobs rate in the states hit hardest by the recession. The upward turn was particularly notable in December, with no evidence that concern about the 2013 economy had badly hurt business sentiment in these troubled states. Although its real estate sector continues to be badly wounded based on home prices, sales, and foreclosures. Nevada’s unemployment rate dropped to 10.2% in December compared to 13% in the same month in 2011. Real estate must have improve, if only very modestly, and the gambling business staged a modest recovery, based on financial number from public companies with large operation in Las Vegas. Mississippi, which remains one of the most poverty plagued states, had an improvement from 10.4% to 8.6%. Its agriculture base has ticked up as demand for farm products has freshened. Improvements in unemployment Illinois and Ohio show that the industrial base has indeed found its legs. The jobless rate in Ohio dropped from 7.9% to 6.7%–well below the national average. In Illinois, the improvement from December to December was from 9.7% to 8.7%. Michigan, which is typically the hardest hit state in the Midwest in a recession because of the car industry, had an unemployment rate of 8.9%–stunningly in contrast to a level of 0ver 14% two years ago. The best signal in state jobs is from California, although unemployment is still high. California’s unemployment rate in December was at 9.8%, but that was down from 11.2% a year ago. California has 38 million people, and the spread of its jobs base by sector as large as any other in the U.S. If the pace recovery is measured by how the worst parts of the economy have done, as paced by jobs, the pick-up has accelerated.

http://247wallst.com/2013/01/21/unemployment-finally-improves-in-hard-hit-states/

 

 

15 Ways to Be Happier at Work

By: Geoffrey James

Learn how to manage your own emotions and the emotions of those around you. Your happiness at work (as in life) is largely dependent upon how well you manage your own emotions and the emotions of those around you. To achieve this, you must cultivate your “street smarts,” or “emotional intelligence,” advises Rob Scher, president of the performance consulting firm, the Scher Group. Here’s how:

1. Be Assertive - Express your feelings and thoughts with confidence but without needing to “win” the discussion.

2. Be Self-aware - Recognize and understand what you are feeling in any given situation and why you feel that way.

3. Be Emphatic - Understand and appreciate the feelings of others, even when you feel quite differently.

4. Be Solution-focused -Rather than complain about problems, isolate them and generate an effective solution.

5. Be Appreciative - Allow yourself to enjoy your work, the presence of your colleagues and your job’s ongoing challenges.

6. Be Both Proud and Humble - Realistically appreciate your strengths while accepting your inevitable limitations.

7. Be Growth-minded - Follow pursuits that lead to the development of your abilities and talents.

8. Be Independent - Let yourself be self-directed and self-controlled in your thinking and actions.

9. Be Kind - Nobody is truly happy if they’re being mean to those around them.

10. Be Communicative - Foster and maintain emotional closeness through meaningful conversations.

11. Be Realistic - Differentiate between your emotional experience of reality and objective reality itself.

12. Be Flexible - Adjust your emotions and behavior to changing situations and conditions.

13. Be Optimistic - Maintain a positive attitude even when things don’t go as you’d planned or hoped.

14. Be Resilient - Learn to withstand adverse events, stressful situations, and strong emotions.

15. Be Prudent-  Regulate your emotions and resist the temptation to act in haste.

http://www.inc.com/geoffrey-james/15-ways-to-be-happier-at-work.html?goback=.gde_42596_member_208996538

 

 

Standing desks and walking stations replace office chairs at GSK’s new Philadelphia offices

By: Andrew Seidman

His coffee consumption level hasn’t changed. Nor has his sleep schedule. But Michael McTigue feels a lot more energetic at work these days, perhaps because he stands most of the time. Sitting at a traditional office desk, “I ended up exhausted at the end of the day,” said McTigue, director of digital media for pharmaceutical giant GlaxoSmithKline. “There was nothing stimulating me.” About a year ago, Glaxo set up a pilot program in which employees could work at adjustable-height desks, among a slew of other workplace design changes in preparation for the company’s move from its Center City offices to the Navy Yard on Monday. Now, McTigue said, “I have a ton more energy.”

The office changes — more open space, sunlight, and incentives to move around — have been in the works for more than two years and are designed to improve productivity by eliminating barriers to collaboration. They also show an approach to tackling what some scientists call a public health crisis: prolonged sitting. Researchers have linked sedentary behavior to increased risk of several forms of cancer and blood clots, which can cause strokes and heart attacks, among other health problems. More than 1,000 studies have been published in the last year. Companies across the country are experimenting with office designs similar to Glaxo’s to try to control health-care costs, said David Trippany, senior researcher and corporate ergonomist at Steelcase, a global manufacturer of office furniture. But no one has found the solution to the sitting epidemic, said Marc Hamilton, of the Pennington Biomedical Research Center in Baton Rouge, La., who founded the field of inactivity physiology. “Whoever does discover something that works should get the Nobel Prize,” he said. “It’s going to have more of a public health impact than anything I can think of.” More than a dozen global companies have sought his consultation. Hamilton’s studies have shown that prolonged inactivity can shut down genes that control cholesterol levels and prevent blood clots and inflammation. What makes those findings even more alarming is that regular exercise is not an antidote. In one of Hamilton’s studies, he instructed physically fit, regular exercisers to sit for a day. The gene that prevents clots shut down within hours, even though the participants were trim and fit, he said. Researchers have complemented Hamilton’s lab work with human behavior studies. In July, one of Hamilton’s colleagues at Pennington conducted a meta-analysis of underlying studies of nearly 167,000 people, which found that sitting for less than three hours a day could increase life expectancy by two years. In 2011, researchers in Australia found that people who spent 10 years in sedentary work — activities that require very limited energy expenditure — were twice as likely to contract distal colon cancer and had a 44 percent increased risk of rectal cancer than those who had never held sedentary jobs. Companies like Glaxo are taking note: It already has some of the new features in other branches, but the Philadelphia project is the only one built from the ground up in this way, said Ray Milora, the company’s project executive for its move to the Navy Yard. The design of the 208,000-square-foot Navy Yard office is “180 degrees from where we are today,” he said, describing the current setting as a “cubicle world” not optimal for morale, productivity, or health. In the new office space, no one has a designated seat; desk drawers have been replaced with lockers; trash cans and printers are in centralized areas to encourage movement; phones are embedded in computers; and workers could be typing away while sitting on a yoga ball or on a chair. And there are treadmill desks, known as “walking stations.” The changes are not designed solely to address employee health. They are part of a broader plan to boost efficiency and collaboration. Of the 1,300 employees in Glaxo’s Philadelphia offices, about 400 have completed a two-week pilot program in which they worked in an office setup similar to the one at the Navy Yard. Dozens more like McTigue have been working for more than a year on the 16th floor of one of the company’s Franklin Plaza buildings outfitted with adjustable desks, yoga balls, and other equipment prominently featured at the new office. Ron Joines, vice president and medical director in the company’s environmental health and safety group, said he gets to work early to snag one of the standing desks because they fill up faster than any others. A physician, Joines cited studies that showed the perils of sitting and noted people can burn 150 to 200 calories a day by standing at work. His goal? Four hours a day. Not all Glaxo employees appeared convinced; most were sitting. Media reports about the dangers of a sedentary lifestyle caught the attention of employees at Susquehanna International Group’s Bala Cynwyd headquarters. Last year, about 1,200 studies were published. Shawn Hoffman, an operations manager at the investment firm, has worked there for 16 years and sat for 15 of them. Now he stands for six to seven hours a day. About two dozen employees began using standing desks over the summer, he said, and 50 more want in. The reason? “All the research saying it’s healthy,” Hoffman said. The company has looked into buying more equipment but is waiting to see whether employees remain committed to standing before they invest a lot of money in expensive desks. Two recently returned to their chairs. Glaxo’s manufacturer for the new equipment, Haworth, declined to say how much it costs. “There’s definitely a lot of people who’ve gone from sitting to standing,” said Cathy Grimes, Glaxo head of human resources. “Whether they stay that way, we don’t know.” That’s a key concern for Hamilton. “We have to be careful about saying, one, ‘Is it effective?’ And two, ‘Is it a human behavior that’s feasible?’ ” he said. He noted practical concerns with standing: It can be uncomfortable for women who wear heels and can hurt people’s knees. As for the yoga balls: “You can slouch on those,” Hamilton said. McTigue said that when colleagues who were not familiar with the new setup first saw the 16th-floor space, “it was like being in a zoo.” Moreover, no scientific evidence has emerged suggesting any of the companies’ strategies will be successful. They are great efforts, Hamilton said, “but let’s not pretend like we found this holy grail of good health we’re looking for until the science supports it.”

http://medcitynews.com/2013/02/standing-desks-and-walking-stations-replace-office-chairs-at-gsks-new-philadelphia-offices/#ixzz2Jxfip9bB

 

 

Google expanding in Berkeley County

By: Matt Tomsic

Google will spend another $600 million on a new data center facility in Berkeley County, company and government officials announced today. “We are such a cool state,” said Gov. Nikki Haley during the groundbreaking. “We have Google; we have Honda; we have Boeing; we have BMW. All of these great companies are making us the ‘it’ state.” Google’s presence in South Carolina is another feather in South Carolina’s cap, Haley added. Local and state leaders gathered in an empty field between two data centers Google operates in Berkeley County for the groundbreaking. The company announced the first data center in 2007 and announced plans for a second facility in 2010. The company has already invested $600 million and created 150 jobs on its campus, and today’s announcement brings its total investment to more than $1.2 billion. Eric Wages, operations manager for the data center, said construction will begin as soon as possible, and the building would be constructed during the next few years. Once operational, Google will begin hiring security personnel, network engineers, computer technicians plus other supporting staff, but Wages said he didn’t have figures for the number of jobs that could be created by the expansion. Berkeley County and Mount Holly Commerce Park offer Google the right mix of developable land, low cost power and water systems, community support and other criteria Google analyzes as part of its decisions to expand or open facilities, Wages said. The expansion marks a large step in improving Google’s capacity and will support the company’s overall growth, he said. Haley and other speakers talked about Google’s impact on Berkeley County since 2008. Google has awarded more than $850,000 to Palmetto State nonprofits and schools, funded and implemented a free Wi-Fi network for the city of Goose Creek and mentored students at Stratford High School. “Google has become part of the fabric of our community,” said Elaine Morgan, CEO of the Berkeley Chamber of Commerce. “We’re blessed to have them here.”

https://www.charlestonbusiness.com/news/46478-google-expanding-in-berkeley-county

 

 

RIM Changes Company Name to BlackBerry

By: Hugo Miller 

Research In Motion Ltd. (RIM), taking the name of its best-known product, will now be known simply as BlackBerry, part of a comeback plan that includes unveiling a redesigned line of smartphones today. The new name has been approved by the board and the company will begin trading under the ticker BBRY on the Nasdaq Stock Market and BB in Toronto, Chief Marketing Officer Frank Boulben said in an interview. The change is designed to put the Waterloo, Ontario-based company’s iconic product at the heart of its corporate branding, he said. “What’s very important as we start the marketing of BlackBerry 10 in the U.S. is to signal that it’s a new start, that we’ve made a number of radical changes,” Boulben said in an interview. “We’re coming back with something truly different.” Chief Executive Officer Thorsten Heins is unveiling the first phones built on the BlackBerry 10 operating system this morning in New York. The new software is designed to let users multitask more effectively than on rival devices, including the iPhone. Heins is looking to grab the attention of smartphone buyers who have dumped their aging BlackBerrys in recent years for Apple Inc. (AAPL) and Google Inc.’s Android.BlackBerry is set to introduce two models today: a touch- screen version and one with a physical qwerty keyboard. The touch version will go on sale first, with the other following in the coming weeks.

Fruit Resemblance

The name BlackBerry was coined in 1999 because of the resemblance of the device’s black keys to a berry’s drupelets. The brand went on to eclipse the renown of the Research In Motion name, which was coined by company founder Mike Lazaridis. Customers in many parts of the world already know the company as BlackBerry, Boulben said. The company has discussed dropping the RIM name for some time, said Boulben, who was hired as marketing chief last May. “The idea had already been floating around before my arrival,” he said. “But I certainly started to push and advocate for it as soon as I joined.” Since taking the post, Boulben also has sought to streamline a fragmented marketing organization, which had local executives reporting to the company’s country heads rather than the marketing boss. Adding to the muddle were the names for the different smartphone models and its PlayBook tablet, which not all users associated with the company, he said. “We were becoming a house of brands — with Research In Motion, BlackBerry and then all those franchises: Bold, Curve, Torch, PlayBook,” he said. “We said, ‘We should put the BlackBerry brand at the center.’”

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-01-30/rim-changes-company-name-to-blackberry.html?cmpid=linkedin

 

 

GE Goes Into the Software Business: The Energy Sector Industrial Internet

By: Peter Gardett

Utilities are using only one fifth of the data they collect and create in analysis that can create efficiencies and improve performance, GE says, and the industrial giant is turning up its information technology efforts to help those companies better see and optimize their surging data agglomeration. The new Grid IQ Insightanalytics platform that GE is launching at this week’s high-profile DistribuTECH conference is part of the larger company’s focus on the “industrial internet,” a wave of monitored and intelligent infrastructure that can wring $150 billion of unrealized efficiencies out of the economy, Grid IQ insight product line leader Giri Iyer told AOL Energy in a recent interview. Although the new technology platform will incorporate a dashboard format, Iyer is keen to note that the responsiveness and customization levels for the data feeds provided by the platform make it a 21st century evolution from traditional dashboards that have limited key performance indicators to watch. ”This is not just another dashboard, but an immersive analytics system; A predictive world is what big data and analytics is all about,” Iyer said. The utility industry is ripe for products that can help them get on top of the data explosion coming not only from existing measurements but from the continued rollout of often-underused smart meters across the US. “Run to failure is a stated business model” for many utilities unable to invest in manned inspections of equipment that they allow to break and then dedicate assets to fixing them – causing what Iyer says is more than a hundred billion dollars in power disturbance costs in the US each year. Using remote sensors to monitor equipment and sending out maintenance crews when models demonstrate failure is approaching could improve reliability. Improved reliability could go some way to assuaging the concerns of the energy regulators at both the state and federal level, where worries about heavy spending on “smart” equipment that might go unused is compounded by concerns about the security of customer information. The design of GE’s platform allows for deployment as what Iyer called a “private cloud” that uses existing firewall security infrastructure on a utility or large customer’s while running the data mining algorithims on the secure data.  Iyer says that while there can be challenges in making both regulators and financiers confident in systems like Grid IQ, the new layer of grid automation and sensor hardware is already rolling out and will require next generation analytic software infrastructure to operate at its promised potential. http://energy.aol.com/2013/01/30/ge-goes-into-the-software-business-the-energy-sector-industrial/?a_dgi=aolshare_linkedin

 

 

Michelin invests $200M in Starr plant expansion

By: Liz Segrist

Greenville-based Michelin North America announced Thursday a $200 million expansion of its Starr manufacturing plant to increase the rubber supply for tire production in North America. The rubber compound material produced in Anderson County will be used for all different types and sizes of Michelin’s tires, of which demand has been steadily increasing in North America, said Pete Selleck, Michelin North America chairman and president. The investment is expected to create more than 100 jobs. Over the past 21 months, Michelin has announced $1.15 billion in investments in South Carolina, creating 870 manufacturing jobs in the state. “A job in manufacturing will have the spillover affect of five to seven additional jobs created in those communities,” Selleck said. Construction on the Starr plant expansion, which will be adjacent to the current facility at 1 Bib Way in Anderson, is underway. Production of the rubber mixture is expected to begin in 2014, said Rich Kornacki, executive vice president of Michelin North America and head of the specialty product lines. Nearby the ongoing expansion, construction continues for Michelin’s earthmover tire plant in Anderson. Construction is on schedule and the plant is expected to begin producing the massive earthmover tires before the end of the year, Selleck said. Michelin announced in April plans to invest $750 million and employ 500 people between its Lexington and Anderson counties’ facilities to meet the growing demand for its earthmover tires.

Expansion in Greenville too?

In December, Greenville County Council approved an incentive plan for Michelin to expand there. Selleck said the company does not have an announcement to make for Greenville County at this time. Selleck said the company continuously works with the local government of the counties in which it operates to see the framework for incentives. “We are constantly going to the communities in which we operate to see the framework for incentives,” Selleck said. “There are other things we’re thinking about in the future. There are many things we’re thinking about. We have a strategy and a vision. We are always looking for opportunities.” Michelin is making investments in modernizing existing equipment and facilities within Spartanburg and Greenville counties. Michelin continues to expand its global footprint. Last week, it announced plansfor a $73 million expansion of its truck-tire plant in Nova Scotia. It has two plants starting up in China; a truck-tire plant starting up in India and its first tire plant underway in South America, located in Brazil. “Most of our growth today is in emerging markets,” Selleck said. “Our group is investing at its highest level in history and what’s remarkable is that our financial performance is such, that even with all of the investment, we still have positive cash flow.” For the Starr plant expansion, Michelin seeks production workers and maintenance technicians and engineers. The new jobs are hourly. The hourly wage was not disclosed. The 12-year-old Starr facility is one of Michelin’s two semi-finished rubber production plants in Anderson County. The company’s largest rubber-producing plant in the world is a few miles away in Sandy Springs, built in 1975 as one of Michelin’s first U.S. manufacturing facilities. Michelin officials attributed Anderson County’s infrastructure, electricity, incentives, local government, Tri-County Technical College and especially the skilled workforce as the reasons for continually attracting Michelin investment into the county. “This facility produces the quality rubber compound used in Michelin’s tires, and its ability to meet the strong demand for our products is critically important,” Kornacki said. “We are proud to place yet another one of Michelin’s key plants in Anderson County, an area that has been great for our business.” Michelin has 14 S.C. locations and currently employs more than 8,000 statewide. It has 24 U.S. facilities, according to the company. Michelin designs, manufactures and sells tires for every type of vehicle, including airplanes, automobiles, bicycles, earthmovers, farm equipment, heavy duty trucks and motorcycles.

https://www.gsabusiness.com/news/46547-michelin-invests-200m-in-starr-plant-expansion

 

 

 

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HCS has created the Prosperity at Work proposition which focuses on creating prosperous relationships between companies and their employees (associates). HCS assists companies in improving bottom line profitability by efficiently planning, organizing and implementing optimized, practical and value-added business solutions.

1437 Military Cutoff Road  |  Suite 201  |  Wilmington, NC 28403 | o. 910.338.2790 

f. 910.256.4036  |  www.humancs.com |  info@humancs.com | Prosperity at Work

U.S. Dept. of Labor (BLS) December Employment Situation

5 Steps to Becoming a More Empowered

Finding a Job You Love

Energy & Power Generation:

Repsol Expected to Sell Natural Gas Business

Life Sciences:

PPD Staying in Wilmington

Alkermes Developing a New Psychiatric Drug

Technology:

2013 ~ What is new in Tech

 

 

Human Capital Solutions, Inc. (HCS) www.humancs.com is a Global Executive Search and Recruiting firm focused in Energy / Power Generation, Life Sciences, Multinational Lean Manufacturing and Technology. Visit our LinkedIn Company Page to learn more about HCS and receive weekly updates.

HCS has created the Prosperity at Work proposition which focuses on creating prosperous relationships between companies and their employees (associates). HCS assists companies in improving bottom line profitability by efficiently planning, organizing and implementing optimized, practical and value-added business solutions.

 

The Employment Situation – December 2012

Nonfarm payroll employment rose by 155,000 in December, and the unemployment rate was unchanged at 7.8 percent, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported today. Employment increased in health care, food services and drinking places, construction, and manufacturing.

Household Survey Data

The number of unemployed persons, at 12.2 million, was little changed in December. The unemployment rate held at 7.8 percent and has been at or near that level since September. (See table A-1.) Among the major worker groups, the unemployment rates for adult women (7.3 percent) and blacks (14.0 percent) edged up in December, while the rates for adult men (7.2 percent), teenagers (23.5 percent), whites (6.9 percent), and Hispanics (9.6 percent) showed little or no change. The jobless rate for Asians was 6.6 percent (not seasonally adjusted), little changed from a year earlier. (See tables A-1, A-2, and A-3.) In December, the number of long-term unemployed (those jobless for 27 weeks or more) was essentially unchanged at 4.8 million and accounted for 39.1 percent of the unemployed. (See table A-12.)  The civilian labor force participation rate held at 63.6 percent in December. The employment-population ratio, at 58.6 percent, was essentially unchanged over the month. (See table A-1.) The number of persons employed part time for economic reasons (sometimes referred to as involuntary part-time workers), at 7.9 million, changed little in December. These individuals were working part time because their hours had been cut back or because they were unable to find a full-time job. (See table A-8.) In December, 2.6 million persons were marginally attached to the labor force, essentially unchanged from a year earlier. (These data are not seasonally adjusted.) These individuals were not in the labor force, wanted and were available for work, and had looked for a job sometime in the prior 12 months. They were not counted as unemployed because they had not searched for work in the 4 weeks preceding the survey. (See table A-16.) Among the marginally attached, there were 1.1 million discouraged workers in December, little changed from a year earlier. (These data are not seasonally adjusted.) Discouraged workers are persons no currently looking for work because they believe no jobs are available for them. The remaining 1.5 million persons marginally attached to the labor force in December had not searched for work in the 4 weeks  preceding the survey for reasons such as school attendance or family responsibilities. (See table A-16.)

Establishment Survey Data

Total nonfarm payroll employment increased by 155,000 in December. In 2012, employment growth averaged 153,000 per month, the same as the average monthly gain for 2011. In December, employment increased in health care, food services and drinking places, construction, and manufacturing. (See table B-1.)  Health care employment continued to expand in December (+45,000). Job gains occurred in ambulatory health care services (+23,000), in hospitals (+12,000), and in nursing and residential care facilities (+10,000). In 2012, health care employment rose by 338,000. In December, employment in food services and drinking places rose by 38,000. In 2012, the industry added an average of 24,000 jobs a month, essentially the same as in 2011. Construction added 30,000 jobs in December, led by employment increases in construction of buildings (+13,000) and in residential specialty trade contractors (+12,000). In December, manufacturing employment rose by 25,000, with small gains in a number of component industries. In 2012, factory employment increased by 180,000; most of the growth occurred during the first quarter. Employment in retail trade changed little in December, after increasing by 143,000 over the prior 3 months. Within the industry, employment in clothing and accessories stores fell by 19,000, following gains that totaled 55,000 over the prior 3 months. Elsewhere in retail trade, employment in automobile dealers and in food and beverage stores continued to trend up in December. Employment in other major industries, including mining and logging, transportation and warehousing, financial activities, professional and businesses services, and government, showed little change over the month. In December, the average workweek for all employees on private nonfarm payrolls edged up by 0.1 hour to 34.5 hours. The manufacturing workweek edged up by 0.1 hour to 40.7 hours, and factory overtime was unchanged at 3.3 hours. The average workweek for production and nonsupervisory employees on private nonfarm payrolls edged up by 0.1 hour to 33.8 hours. (See tables B-2 and B-7.) Average hourly earnings for all employees on private nonfarm payrolls rose by 7 cents to $23.73. Over the year, average hourly earnings have risen by 2.1 percent. In December, average hourly earnings of private- sector production and nonsupervisory employees increased by 6 cents to $19.92. (See tables B-3 and B-8.) The change in total nonfarm payroll employment for October was revised from +138,000 to +137,000, and the change for November was revised from +146,000 to 161,000. http://www.bls.gov/news.release/empsit.nr0.htm

 

 

5 Steps to Becoming a More Empowered You in the New Year

By: Jen Groover

Each year, people start off the New Year with a resolution that’s probably similar to one made in previous years. And every January, there’s a new commitment to making it really work this year. Here’s the problem: People who make these “renewed” resolutions aren’t really committed to changing who they are on the inside. So these resolutions — whether it’s getting in shape or growing a network or improving productivity — become simply a test of willpower. What needs to happen instead is a true change of perspective: Who you are, why you are here and what life really means to you. The truth is, once you decide to look at yourself in the mirror every day and commit to holding yourself accountable to be the “best you” you can be, then all of your goals and resolutions become more easily attainable. That’s because the real change is happening from within. The self-sabotaging habits begin to diminish and confidence, self-esteem and self-worth increases. In life we have control of one thing only — our perspective. No matter what happens, you can train yourself to see the good or lesson in everything that is happening around you. This can make your feel empowered instead of powerless in many circumstances. As a serial entrepreneur, I’ve adopted these mantras in order to create a more positive perspective, both professionally and personally. By following them, you can take control of your life and get empowered to live the life you truly desire.

1. “Someday is Today.” Stop procrastinating and creating excuses for why you can’t have what you want. Take control. Announce to yourself “someday is today” every day, to seize the day and eradicate an excuse mentality.

2.”Have More Fear of Regret Than Failure.” Remind yourself that the feeling of regret is so much worse than trying something (even if it doesn’t work out) and living with no regrets. Realize fear is an illusion that holds you back. By doing so, you will set yourself free to live to your fullest potential.

3. “I Only Have Good Days.” Remember, the only thing in the world we have control over is our perspective. You can choose to adopt a consistently positive perspective and find the good in everything. Or you can be negative, and attract more negative things into your life. The mantra “I only have good days” reminds you to see the positive for a better outcome.

4. “Opportunities Lie Within Every Obstacle.” It can be tough to dig deep and find the positive, especially when confronted by challenges. But if you choose the positive, you will find the opportunity and nuggets of wisdom in every obstacle that presents itself in your life.

5. “Live With Passion and Purpose.” Stop asking “what should I be doing” and start understanding “who you want to be.” What do you want your legacy to be? As you reflect, you will begin to understand your purpose. That will make it easier to live with more passion and stay further away from needless and draining distractions or drama. Identifying your purpose and living with passion is the most authentic way to be empowered all day, every day. Keep these mantra’s handy. Perhaps post them on a mirror or wall so that you will be reminded how to “mentally reset” when you fall into old patterns and perspectives that can sabotage your best efforts. Empower yourself to have a happier, more fulfilling, successful life. Then this yearreally can be THE year to achieve your goals and live the life you desire.

http://www.entrepreneur.com/article/225388?affiliate=&utm_medium=NYNC&utm_source

 

How to Find a Job You Love

By: Bruce Kasanoff

Before you can find a job that you love, you need to be honest with yourself about what you love. Most people aren’t. That’s my son in the photo above. No, he’s not injured or tired, just delighted to see snow after being forced to endure another balmy summer and fall. He doesn’t care that the white stuff is coming from a snow gun, or that it’s really cold and wet under that gun. Matt loves snow.

What do you love?

Don’t edit your answers. What do you love so much that you’d gladly do it all week and happily skip the weekend to keeping doing it? I’d like to suggest that most people skip or minimize this step. They dismiss the question, saying it’s not practical. They argue that to support yourself, you have to make compromises. But if you skip this step, how will you compete with people who actually love what they do? They’ll work longer and harder than you ever could. They’ll bring more energy and creativity to their work, and they will inspire the people around them. To figure out what you love, you might have to think a long way back in time. Observing how much I love coaching kids on the ski mountain, my wife recently stunned me by observing that it was too bad I never paid attention to how much I loved working at a summer camp while in college.  I actually didn’t understand her comment at first. Did she mean I should have been a professional camp counselor? (No.) She was simply saying that for a few decades I never gave serious thought to teaching or coaching, and that might have been an oversight. The most attractive thing in the world may be a human being who is completely comfortable in his or her own skin. You could be one of those people. Don’t miss the things that you love. Be honest with yourself.

http://www.linkedin.com/today/post/article/20130114142715-36792-how-to-find-a-job-you-love

 

 

Repsol Said to Expect $2.7 Billion LNG Sale by February

By: Patricia Laya, Todd White & Tara Pate

Repsol SA (REP), Spain’s largest energy company, expects to sell liquefied natural gas assets for about 2 billion euros ($2.7 billion) by early February, according to a person familiar with the matter. The sale price excludes debt, said the person, who declined to name the buyer or be identified because the deal hasn’t closed. The disposal, which includes assets in Peru, Trinidad and Spain, is taking longer than planned. Repsol said in November it aimed to sell the assets by the end of last year. A Repsol official in Madrid said company executives wouldn’t comment on the sale’s progress. An advertising logo stands outside a Repsol YPF SA gas station near Valdemoro, Spain. Repsol reported operating profit from liquefied natural gas business, which stretches from Canada to Peru, more than tripled in 2011 to 386 million euros, or 8 percent of the total. The Spanish oil driller is trying to pay off debt to keep its investment-grade rating by selling 4.5 billion euros of assets by 2016. Moody’s Investors Service cut its rating to one level above junk and gave Madrid-based Repsol’s debt a negative outlook after the Argentine government seized its YPF business in April and refused to pay compensation. The unit had accounted for almost half Repsol’s oil reserves. GDF Suez (GSZ) SA, the biggest buyer of gas in Europe, was “looking” at Repsol’s LNG assets, Suez’s Chief Executive Officer Gerard Mestrallet said in an interview in October. Asked last week about Repsol’s LNG assets, Mestrallet said the question “very relevant,” declining to comment further.

GDF Suez

The Paris-based company is in talks with Repsol about buying at least some of the assets, according to a person familiar with the situation, who asked not to be named because the discussions are private. The utility has to balance any acquisitions with a pledge to sell 11 billion euros of its own assets in 2013 and 2014. Shares in Repsol climbed 0.5 percent to 16.505 euros at 9:40 a.m. in Madrid, as the Euro Stoxx Oil & Gas index rose 0.2 percent. Repsol reported operating profit from its LNG business, which stretches from Canada to Peru, more than tripled in 2011 to 386 million euros, or 8 percent of the total. For Repsol, selling LNG assets “will prove enough” to maintain its investment-grade credit rating and “avoid the need to sell treasury shares immediately or convert the preference shares,” said Lydia Rainforth and Rahim Karim at Barclays Plc, lead writers of a Dec. 14 report. Repsol’s credit rating was reduced to one level above junk also by Fitch Ratings and by Standard & Poor’s, which have the company’s debt outlook at negative and stable, respectively.

Preference Shares

Even as company has considered swapping its preference shares into mandatory convertible bonds to reduce interest payments, its debt has rallied, helped by about 1.9 billion euros so far of asset sales and a stronger Spanish sovereign bond. The 1.9 billion euros includes a 5 percent sale of treasury stock, gas assets in Chile and partial sale of an offshore producing block in Ecuador. Repsol’s 4 7/8 coupon euro bonds due in 2019 have gained, shrinking the spread to similar-term benchmark German bonds. Since Repsol announced plans to sell its LNG assets in July, the spread has narrowed by 346 basis points to about 232 yesterday, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. Among the assets put up for sale were the company’s stake in a liquefaction plant in Pampa Melchorita, Peru, which has an annual capacity of 4.4 million tons, and the Atlantic LNG plant in Trinidad and Tobago, of which GDF already owned a stake. The assets also include the Bahia de Bizkaia regasification plant in Bilbao, Spain, and the Canaport facility in Canada, which pipes natural gas to markets in northeast North America. China Investment Corp., which bought a stake in the exploration and production business of GDF Suez last year, was planning to meet Repsol to discuss the sale on Dec. 19, according to a report in Spanish news website El Confidencial that cited unidentified people. LNG is natural gas cooled to minus 160 degrees Celsius (minus 256 degrees Fahrenheit) so it takes up about 600 times less space for transportation.

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-01-14/repsol-said-to-expect-2-7-billion-lng-asset-sale-by-february.html

 

 

PPD Staying in Wilmington for the Long Haul

By: Wayne Faulkner

Last year about this time, one of the Wilmington area’s largest and most prominent employers got a new owner.

Facts By The Numbers

1985 – Year founded
$3.9 billion – Price paid to take company private.
12,500 – Employees worldwide
1,700 – Employees based in Wilmington
12 – Stories in downtown tower.

PPD Inc. was bought by private equity firms The Carlyle Group and Hellman & Friedman in a $3.9 billion deal that closed Dec. 5, 2011. Shareholders approved the $33.25-a-share deal on Nov. 30, 2011. It had been announced Oct. 3 last year. The deal made millions for shareholders, but made many in Wilmington nervous about possible job cuts and how committed PPD would be to keeping its headquarters here. The worries so far appear unfounded. Mayor Bill Saffo is impressed by David Simmons, PPD’s chairman and CEO, who was brought on after the buyout. Saffo said Simmons told him “he was not going to be part of a company that was going to be dismantled,” that there is a lot of growth potential with PPD, and that Simmons “wanted to come on with a company that was going to be around for the long term.”

The changes

The buyout changed PPD – a contract research organization, or CRO – in a few obvious ways. For one, PPD was taken private and its shares are no longer traded on the Nasdaq Stock Market. It means that PPD – whose name was tweaked to PPD LLC – does not have to report financial data to the federal Securities and Exchange Commission and the company’s financial information is therefore no longer open to the public. PPD, which had three CEOs in its final two years as a public company, got a leader in Simmons, who came from giant pharmaceutical company Pfizer. The StarNews could not obtain an interview with Simmons for this story, the company citing time constraints. But Simmons did offer comments in a statement issued last week that gave a peak into what’s happening in the 12-story headquarters building on Wilmington’s northern riverfront.  “Since joining PPD, I’ve been truly impressed with how dynamic a company PPD is,” he said. “PPD underwent privatization and a CEO change in the past year, yet the leadership team and employees across the business did an exceptional job navigating the transition.”

Jobs are steady

Despite a rumor or two to the contrary, it appears that PPD has not cut its workforce here or elsewhere despite the common belief that private-equity takeovers often result in such actions. At the end of a major, multi-year push of its businesses abroad, PPD has nearly 12,500 employees, with 1,700 of them in Wilmington. In fact, PPD made approximately 3,200 new hires globally in 2012 and grew from having offices in 44 countries to 46, the company said. Despite the change of ownership, PPD’s team of principal company officers has remained intact. One noticeable absence from the board of directors – and PPD in general – is the company’s founder, Fred Eshelman. He now heads Furiex Pharmaceuticals, a company formed by the spinoff of PPD’s compound partnering division in June 2010. Eshelman, who was PPD’s executive chairman when the company was sold, did stay on at PPD as a senior adviser after the buyout. That job ended this month.

The business outlook

Simmons, in his statement, said he sees PPD as “in a leading position to succeed,” as “one of the only companies in this industry with the ability to take a compound from discovery through post-approval.” He also characterized the biopharmaceutical services industry as “a strong and growing sector.” “Our primary focus areas in the new year are twofold,” Simmons said. “First, to continue driving productivity and efficiency improvement in our core business to benefit our clients with an increasingly more effective and efficient drug development process. “Second, we are turning over every stone to find innovative growth opportunities across our business. …”

The outlook for major CROs like PPD is good because big pharmaceutical companies are forming long-term, strategic partnerships with them rather than hiring the companies on a contract-by-contract basis, said Lauren Migliore, an analyst with Morningstar in Chicago.

The reason? It’s cheaper to have CROs do the work, like clinical trials, than to do it themselves. Drug companies pulled back in 2008-09 amid the recession and the uncertainty of health care reform, Migliore said. CROs, including PPD, suffered financially as a result. But Migilore said CRO revenues started to pick up last year and are gaining steam in 2012. “Just this year we are starting to see earnings rebound,” she said.

Corporate citizen

PPD has played a major role in the community for years, and that doesn’t appear to have changed. “They have remained active – even more so,” Saffo said. The company is involved in major charities and has given itself a popular public face in its PPD Beach2Battleship Triathlon. It also remains engaged with the Blue Ribbon Commission, whose members include government officials, legal leaders and representatives of business and the community, Saffo said. The commission works to reduce youth violence and dropout rates and increase graduation rates.

“…PPD remains committed to being a good corporate citizen in the greater Wilmington area,” Simmons said, “and in communities around the globe where our employees live and work.”

http://www.starnewsonline.com/article/20121218/ARTICLES/121219673/1177?p=all&tc=pgall

 

 

Alkermes Aims for Psychiatric Drug That Won’t Pack on the Pounds

By: Luke Timmerman

Eli Lilly once made a fortune on a schizophrenia drug that helped a lot of people, but came with a nasty side effect—weight gain. Now Dublin, Ireland- and Waltham, MA-based Alkermes is wagering that it can get the benefits of the original treatment without causing patients to add so many extra pounds. Alkermes (NASDAQ: ALKS) is announcing to shareholders today that it has a new combo-drug strategy to improve upon Eli Lilly’s olanzapine (Zyprexa). This idea, to combine olanzapine with Alkermes’ proprietary compound ALKS33, is actually way beyond the “we’ve got an idea” stage. Based on encouraging results from a short-term study of 106 healthy volunteers, Alkermes says it is getting ready to take this compound into the second of three stages of clinical trials normally required for FDA approval.

There’s a big potential market here if Alkermes can convince doctors and payers that it has something better than a cheap generic. Eli Lilly’s original olanzapine generated more than $5 billion in sales in 2010, the last full year of sales before its patent expired. The market was huge then, even after researchers began to better understand the drug’s side effect profile. One federally funded study from 2009 showed that patients who started on the drug, at an average weight of 118 pounds, ended up gaining 18.7 pounds on average after about 11 weeks on olanzapine. Despite those results, and evidence that showed olanzapine caused the biggest weight gains in its class, it continues to be widely prescribed in its generic form. Alkermes, knowing this, designed a study in 106 healthy volunteers (who don’t have schizophrenia), and randomly assigned them to get standard olanzapine or olanzapine plus ALKS33—a combo it is now calling ALKS3831. Although the volunteers were only followed for three weeks, researchers quickly saw a difference in weight gain. Patients on the Alkermes drug combo gained an average of 2.5 kilograms (about 5.5 pounds) compared with 3.4 kilograms (7.5 pounds) in the comparison group. The result is far from iron-clad proof that the new regimen offers a real medical benefit, but it was statistically significant—meaning researchers can say with confidence the result isn’t a fluke. The results were encouraging enough for Alkermes to invest its resources in a bigger and longer-term study of schizophrenia patients that will begin in 2013.

“We’ve been hammering hard on building this CNS [central nervous system] drug pipeline, and this is one example,” says Alkermes CEO Richard Pops. “Big Pharma isn’t doing much in CNS anymore, but the unmet need there is still vast.”

In terms of this experiment, Pops says, “we’d never argue this is definitive, but it certainly explains to our shareholders why we’d go into a Phase II trial in schizophrenia patients.” Many other pharmaceutical companies have experimented with new and improved versions of olanzapine, but none are thought to be as far along in development, Pops says. Israel-based Teva Pharmaceutical has expressed interest in the field publicly, he says.

Much work needs to be done to prove the Alkermes hypothesis. The Alkermes drug added to the mix, ALKS33, is an opioid receptor modulator that was designed to curb addictive behaviors. It has passed a mid-stage clinical trial as a treatment for alcohol dependence, but hasn’t been tested alone as treatment for weight loss. The drug’s future as a treatment for alcohol dependence is on hold for now, Pops says, until the company can agree with the FDA on mutually  acceptable goals for future studies.  For now, the proprietary Alkermes drug will need to be given in combination with olanzapine in clinical trials. If the combo continues to progress, Alkermes will want to move ahead with a drug that puts both active ingredients into a single pill. “Ultimately, it will be a single tablet, but we’ll have talk to FDA about it,” Pops says.

Alkermes made the announcement just a couple of days before jetting off to the JP Morgan Healthcare Conference in San Francisco, the biotech industry’s biggest annual event for investing and dealmaking. The company is also announcing today it has gotten a patent that lasts until 2030 on its once-monthly injectable form of aripiprazole lauroxil. That drug for central nervous system disorders, including schizophrenia, is designed to come as a once-monthly injection that it hopes will improve upon Bristol-Myers Squibb’s blockbuster treatment aripiprazole (Abilify). Alkermes is also planning to release clinical data in the first half of 2013 on ALKS5461, a combo drug for treatment-resistant depression that is also based partly on ALKS33.

The overarching story this year at Alkermes will be more about the R&D pipeline for central nervous system disorders, and less about the big merger with Elan Drug Technologies, first announced in May 2011. Essentially, that’s old news. And while people were rightly paying attention to how that merger would change the complexion of Alkermes, they might not have noticed some of the drugs that were progressing in the pipeline. “Our CNS pipeline is getting more exciting,” Pops says.                                                                                                  http://www.xconomy.com/boston/2013/01/03/alkermes-aims-for-psychiatric-drug-that-wont-pack-on-the-pounds/?utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=linkedin&utm_campaign=alkermes-aims-for-psychiatric-drug-that-wont-pack-on-the-pounds

 

 

2013: Talk Gets Cheaper, TV Gets Smarter

By: Walt Mossberg

Personal technology never stops changing. Some new products and services are game changers, like Apple’s iPhone and iPad. Others are clever twists or refinements, like each successive version of Google’s Android platform, which gets better and better. Others are bold gambles, like Microsoft’s new Windows 8, which hopes to combine both a tablet experience and a traditional PC environment in one operating system. But there’s always something new, from large companies and small ones. So here are a few things consumers will likely see in technology in 2013. Many of these began to take shape in the past year, but will be stronger trends in the new year.

Tablets vs. PCs

While the iPad line, including the new Mini, continues to dominate the tablet market, Android-based tablets are finally gaining traction. But the bigger story is that tablets will continue to erode the role of laptop PCs. Consumers are using tablets for more and more tasks formerly performed by laptops. Traditional computers aren’t going away—they still do certain tasks, like heavy content creation, better than tablets. But consumers seem, at the very least, to be replacing their laptops less often and spending discretionary funds on tablets, which are gradually replacing another device: the dedicated e-reader. Many analysts had expected Windows 8 to halt or reverse this trend, and it may yet do so. But early indications aren’t encouraging for that outcome.

Integrating Hardware and Software

Meanwhile, another big trend is emerging: Apple’s model of one company making the entire device—hardware, operating system, core apps and an online ecosystem—is beginning to take hold elsewhere. In October, Microsoft unveiled its first computer, the Surface tablet. The company will follow it up as soon as this month with a second, more powerful version. I wouldn’t be surprised if Microsoft also made its own smartphone this year. Google is also moving in Apple’s direction. It now sells three devices—a smartphone and two tablets—under its Nexus brand. These products are built by partner companies, but designed by Google. Now that Google owns its own hardware company, Motorola Mobility, I expect it to get deeper into the integrated model. Motorola, freshly stocked with former Google executives, is reported to be building advanced new hardware devices tightly integrated with Android.

Rethinking Television

Samsung and others already make TVs that can connect to the Internet, and stream Internet video and run tablet-type apps, without any special set-top box. But I find them clumsy, and their “smart TV” functions haven’t taken off with consumers yet. This may be the year they do. The biggest expectation is that Apple, which has been working hard on the problem, will finally unveil its long-rumored TV this year, with the goal of greatly simplifying the TV and smoothly melding Internet and cable content. Many, including me, thought it might appear in 2012, but the company reportedly ran into difficulties in negotiating with media companies for content rights. Meanwhile, Apple’s tiny, $99 Apple TV box, while still a relatively small seller, is gaining popularity, partly because the company has built into its laptops, tablets and phones a feature called AirPlay which can use an Apple TV box to wirelessly stream audio and video to a TV.

Cheaper Smartphones and Plans

Smartphones are everywhere in the developed world, but most are still expensive—around $200 after a carrier subsidy that requires a two-year contract. And the monthly service fees can easily approach or exceed $100, especially if you use a lot of data, which is the very essence of a smartphone’s purpose. There are already some smartphones, usually older, less capable or less popular models, available for $99 or $49 or even free with a contract. But I expect to see better smartphones at lower prices in 2013, especially those running the dominant Android platform, and the handsome, but low-selling Windows Phone platform from Microsoft. In addition, some companies are beginning to offer really cheap monthly plans. One example: Republic Wireless, which offers unlimited voice, text and data for $19 a month on a small, Android phone, the Motorola Defy XT, using older software that has been modified to make voice calls where possible over Wi-Fi instead of a costlier carrier network.

Costlier, Better Music Players

Audiophiles and recording artists have never much liked the compressed music files that now fill every iPod and smartphone. They complain that the richness of the original recording is lost because the song files are optimized for minimum space and download time, and because they are often made from CDs, not from the master studio tapes. So in 2013, there will be a push to sell a new kind of portable music player that can handle high quality music. The Korean electronics company, iRiver, has introduced the Astell & Kern AK100, a $700 player that can play much higher fidelity digital music. The legendary rocker Neil Young is backing a second venture, Pono, which is doing something similar. In addition to the price, there’s another downside: The files can be 10 to 20 times as large as standard digital songs, so many fewer tracks fit in a given amount of memory.

Fitness and Health Monitors

In 2012, sensor-packed wristbands like the Nike+ FuelBand and the Jawbone Up were introduced to measure how many steps people take in a day, how well they sleep, and other indicators of health and fitness. I expect this trend to continue in 2013, in different forms and with more sophisticated sensors. One new product, the Basis, is a watch with sensors on the back that measures resting heart rate. All of these devices tie into mobile apps or Web-based dashboards to track progress and offer advice.

Internet-Controlled Everything

Another trend I expect to see in 2013 is an expansion of apps and devices that let people wirelessly control many everyday objects, from light bulbs to appliances, using low-powered networks and smartphones or tablets. And we’ll likely see more smart devices with such intelligence built in, similar to the Nest intelligent thermostat, which is Wi-Fi powered. These are just a few of the trends likely to mark the consumer tech landscape in 2013. Others will also be prominent, most notably the continued reliance on the cloud, or remote servers, to store content and work collaboratively. One thing is sure: There are certain to be developments that will surprise us all, and can’t be forecast here.

http://allthingsd.com/20130101/2013-talk-gets-cheaper-tv-gets-smarter/

 

 

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HCS has created the Prosperity at Work proposition which focuses on creating prosperous relationships between companies and their employees (associates). HCS assists companies in improving bottom line profitability by efficiently planning, organizing and implementing optimized, practical and value-added business solutions.

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New Blackberry to Come out in January

Human Capital Solutions, Inc. (HCS) www.humancs.com is a Global Executive Search and Recruiting firm focused in Energy / Power Generation, Life Sciences, Multinational Lean Manufacturing and Technology. Visit our LinkedIn Company Page to learn more about HCS and receive weekly updates.

HCS has created the Prosperity at Work proposition which focuses on creating prosperous relationships between companies and their employees (associates). HCS assists companies in improving bottom line profitability by efficiently planning, organizing and implementing optimized, practical and value-added business solutions.

 

From the Desk of the CEO ~ Human Capital – Connections and Alliances to Navigate & Grow Your Business Internationally 

By: Bo Burch

Whether a business is seeking to expand domestically or globally, the success or failure of their efforts depends much more on their global network than just having a great product, service or an excellent marketing strategy. The success of any business venture rests largely on locating, developing, and retaining effective human capital that is capable of bringing your goals to fruition. The high costs associated with relocating managers abroad (estimated to be three times the cost of keeping the employee at home) and talent shortages in the American labor market as a result of retiring baby boomers have left many businesses seeking to tap international talent pools and relationships to meet the growing and dynamic demands of their business plan.

Regardless of whether a business intends to establish operations overseas or source international candidates for domestic positions, it is critical to the success of its recruiting efforts that the business constructs a proactive talent acquisition strategy targeted to their specific needs and goals. A trusted and established recruiting firm can be an invaluable advisor in this process. Established recruiters with experience in the discipline, industry, and geography of the firm’s talent needs can help craft a proactive strategy designed to discover and evaluate candidates much more efficiently and effectively. Placing a few want ads, reviewing resumes on a job board or even searching for candidates on LinkedIn may not render the optimal and desired results.

Established recruiters that are subject matter experts specialized in needs of an industry can add immense value to the talent acquisition operation, saving valuable time for the HR department by only bringing forth the most qualified of candidates that have undergone a rigorous and an exacting screening process. Likewise, qualified recruiters will likely have existing relationships with contacts in the target country that can be extremely helpful in overcoming the barrier of brand recognition when interacting in a foreign marketplace. Experienced recruiting firms can also bring to the table an understanding of local culture, compensation methodologies and product / service demand that can truly make the difference when expanding globally and executing the business plan.                                                                                                     For more information on this article or to send Bo Burch an email, go to www.humancs.com

 

 

The Employment Situation – November 2012

Total nonfarm payroll employment rose by 146,000 in November, and the unemployment rate edged down to 7.7 percent, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported today. Employment increased in retail trade, professional and business services, and health care.

Household Survey Data

The unemployment rate edged down to 7.7 percent in November. The number of unemployed persons, at 12.0 million, changed little. (See table A-1.) Among the major worker groups, the unemployment rates for adult men (7.2 percent), adult women (7.0 percent), teenagers (23.5 percent), whites (6.8 percent), and Hispanics (10.0 percent) showed little or no change in November. The unemployment rate for blacks (13.2 percent) declined over the month. The jobless rate for Asians was 6.4 percent (not seasonally adjusted), little changed from a year earlier. (See tables A-1, A-2, and A-3.)

The number of long-term unemployed (those jobless for 27 weeks or more) was little changed at 4.8 million in November. These individuals accounted for 40.1 percent of the unemployed. (See table A-12.) The civilian labor force participation rate declined by 0.2 percentage point to 63.6 percent in November, offsetting an increase of the same amount in October. Total employment was about unchanged in November, following a combined increase of 1.3 million over the prior 2 months. The employment-population ratio, at 58.7 percent, changed little in November. (See table A-1.)

The number of persons employed part time for economic reasons (sometimes referred to as involuntary part-time workers), at 8.2 million in November, was little changed over the month. These individuals were working part time because their hours had been cut back or because they were unable to find a full-time job. (See table A-8.) In November, 2.5 million persons were marginally attached to the labor force, essentially unchanged from a year earlier. (These data are not seasonally adjusted.) These individuals were not in the labor force, wanted and were available for work, and had looked for a job sometime in the prior 12 months. They were not counted as unemployed because they had not searched for work in the 4 weeks preceding the survey. (See table A-16.)

Among the marginally attached, there were 979,000 discouraged workers in November, little changed from a year earlier. (These data are not seasonally adjusted.) Discouraged workers are persons not currently looking for work because they believe no jobs are available for them. The remaining 1.5 million persons marginally attached to the labor force in November had not searched for work in the 4 weeks preceding the survey for reasons such as school attendance or family responsibilities. (See table A-16.)

Establishment Survey Data

Total nonfarm payroll employment increased by 146,000 in November. Since the beginning of this year, employment growth has averaged 151,000 per month, about the same as the average monthly job gain of 153,000 in 2011. In November, employment rose in retail trade, professional and business services, and health care. (See table B-1.) Retail trade employment rose by 53,000 in November and has increased by 140,000 over the past 3 months. Over the month, job gains occurred in clothing and clothing accessory stores (+33,000), in general merchandise stores (+10,000), and in electronics and appliance stores (+9,000). Employment in miscellaneous store retailers decreased by 13,000.In November, employment in professional and business services rose by 43,000. Employment continued to increase in computer systems design and related services. Health care employment continued to increase in November (+20,000), with gains in hospitals (+8,000) and in nursing care facilities (+5,000). Health care has added an average of 26,000 jobs per month this year. Employment in wholesale trade edged up over the month (+13,000). Since reaching an employment trough in May 2010, the industry has added 228,000 jobs. Information employment also edged up in November (+12,000), with the increase concentrated in motion picture and sound recording (+15,000). On net, information employment has changed little over the past 12 months.

In November, leisure and hospitality employment continued to trend up (+23,000). Over the past 12 months, the industry has added 305,000 jobs. Employment in construction declined by 20,000 in November, with much of the loss occurring in construction of buildings (-11,000). Since early 2010, employment in construction has shown no clear trend. Manufacturing employment changed little over the month. Within the industry, job losses in food manufacturing (-12,000) and chemicals (-9,000) more than offset gains in motor vehicles and parts (+10,000) and wood products (+3,000). On net, manufacturing employment has changed little since this past spring. Employment in other major industries, including mining and logging, transportation and warehousing, financial activities, and government, showed little change in November. The average workweek for all employees on private nonfarm payrolls remained at 34.4 hours in November. The manufacturing workweek edged up by 0.1 hour to 40.6 hours, and factory overtime was unchanged at 3.2 hours. The average workweek for production and nonsupervisory employees on private nonfarm payrolls edged up 0.1 hour to 33.7 hours. (See tables B-2 and B-7.)

In November, average hourly earnings for all employees on private nonfarm payrolls rose by 4 cents to $23.63. Over the past 12 months, average hourly earnings have risen by 1.7 percent. In November, average hourly earnings of private-sector production and nonsupervisory employees edged up by 3 cents to $19.84. (See tables B-3 and B-8.) The change in total nonfarm payroll employment for September was revised from +148,000 to +132,000, and the change for October was revised from +171,000 to +138,000.

http://www.bls.gov/news.release/empsit.nr0.htm

 

 

Must Have Job Skills in 2013

By: Ruth Mantell

Even as employers remain cautious next year about every dollar spent on employees, they’ll also want workers to show greater skills and results. For employees who want to get ahead, basic competency won’t be enough. To win a promotion or land a job next year, experts say there are four must-have job skills:

1. Clear communications

Whatever their level, communication is key for workers to advance. “This is really the ability to clearly articulate your point of view and the ability to create a connection through communication,” says Holly Paul, U.S. recruiting leader at PricewaterhouseCoopers, the accounting and consulting firm based in New York.

For job seekers in particular, clear communication can provide a snapshot of their work style to employers. “I can walk away from a five-minute conversation and feel their enthusiasm and have a good understanding of what’s important to them,” Ms. Paul says. As office conversations increasingly move online, some workers are losing or never developing the ability to give a presentation, for example. Others may be unable to write coherently for longer than, say, 140 characters. ”Technology in some ways has taken away our ability to write well. People are in such a hurry that they are multitasking,” and they skip basics such as spelling and proofing, says Paul McDonald, senior executive director of Robert Half International,RHI +1.11% a Menlo Park, Calif., staffing firm.

2. Personal branding

Human-resources executives scour blogs, Twitter and professional networking sites such as LinkedIn when researching candidates, and it’s important that they like what they find. “That’s your brand, that’s how you represent yourself,” says Peter Handal, CEO of Dale Carnegie Training, a Hauppauge, N.Y., provider of workplace-training services. “If you post something that comes back to haunt you, people will see that.”

Workers also should make sure their personal brand is attractive and reflects well on employers. “More and more employers are looking for employees to tweet on their behalf, to blog on their behalf, to build an audience and write compelling, snappy posts,” says Meredith Haberfeld, an executive and career coach in New York. Ms. Haberfeld has a client whose employee recently posted on her personalFacebook FB -1.36% page about eating Chinese food and smoking “reefer.” “I saw it on Facebook. Her supervisors saw it,” Ms. Haberfeld says.

3. Flexibility

The ability to quickly respond to an employer’s changing needs will be important next year as organizations try to respond nimbly to customers. “A lot of companies want us to work with their employees about how to get out of their comfort zone, how to adapt,” says Mr. Handal. “Somebody’s job today may not be the same as next year.”

The ability to learn new skills is of top importance, says George Boué, human-resources vice president for Stiles, a real-estate services company in Fort Lauderdale, Fla. “We want to know that if we roll out a new program or new tools that the folks we have on board are going to be open to learning,” he says.

4. Productivity improvement

In 2013, workers should find new ways to increase productivity, experts say. Executives are looking for a 20% improvement in employee performance next year from current levels, according to a recent survey by the Corporate Executive Board, an Arlington, Va., business research and advisory firm. “When you are at your job, do you volunteer for projects? Are you looking for creative ways to help your organization,” Mr. McDonald says. “The way to really differentiate yourself is to be proactive.”

Companies that are considering adding workers in coming years want current employees to operate in growth mode now. “My clients are looking for employees that have a great ability to understand what is wanted and needed, rather than needing to be told,” Ms. Haberfeld says. Even hiring managers need to work on certain skills as organizations consider expanding next year. “The ability to spot talent and hire people has fallen out of use over the last several years,” says Ben Dattner, an organizational psychologist in New York. “As the economy turns around, companies will have to work harder to retain talented employees. Companies have trimmed the fat, and now they have to build the muscle.”

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424127887324735104578118902763095818.html

 

 

Success Will Come and Go, But Integrity is Forever

By: Amy Rees Anderson

If I could teach only one value to live by, it would be this: Success will come and go, but integrity is forever. Integrity means doing the right thing at all times and in all circumstances, whether or not anyone is watching. It takes having the courage to do the right thing, no matter what the consequences will be. Building a reputation of integrity takes years, but it takes only a second to lose, so never allow yourself to ever do anything that would damage your integrity.

We live in a world where integrity isn’t talked about nearly enough. We live in a world where “the end justifies the means” has become an acceptable school of thought for far too many. Sales people overpromise and under deliver, all in the name of making their quota for the month. Applicants exaggerate in job interviews because they desperately need a job. CEOs overstate their projected earnings because they don’t want the board of directors to replace them. Entrepreneurs overstate their pro formas because they want the highest valuation possible from an investor. Investors understate a company’s value in order to negotiate a lower valuation in a deal. Customer service representatives cover up a mistake they made because they are afraid the client will leave them. Employees call in “sick” because they don’t have any more paid time off when they actually just need to get their Christmas shopping done. The list could go on and on, and in each case the person committing the act of dishonesty told themselves they had a perfectly valid reason why the end result justified their lack of integrity.

It may seem like people can gain power quickly and easily if they are willing to cut corners and act without the constraints of morality. Dishonesty may provide instant gratification in the moment but it will never last. I can think of several examples of people without integrity who are successful and who win without ever getting caught, which creates a false perception of the path to success that one should follow. After all, each person in the examples above could have gained the result they wanted in the moment, but unfortunately, that momentary result comes at an incredibly high price with far reaching consequences.  That person has lost their ability to be trusted as a person of integrity, which is the most valuable quality anyone can have in their life. Profit in dollars or power is temporary, but profit in a network of people who trust you as a person of integrity is forever.

Every one person who trusts you will spread the word of that trust to at least a few of their associates, and word of your character will spread like wildfire. The value of the trust others have in you is far beyond anything that can be measured.  For entrepreneurs it means investors that are willing to trust them with their money. For employees it means a manager or a boss that is willing to trust them with additional responsibility and growth opportunities. For companies it means customers that trust giving them more and more business. For you it means having an army of people that are willing to go the extra mile to help you because they know that recommending you to others will never bring damage to their own reputation of integrity. Yes, the value of the trust others have in you goes beyond anything that can be measured because it brings along with it limitless opportunities and endless possibilities.

Contrast that with the person who cannot be trusted as a person of integrity.  Warren Buffet, Chairman and CEO of Berkshire Hathaway said it best:, “In looking for people to hire, look for three qualities: integrity, intelligence, and energy.  And if they don’t have the first one, the other two will kill you.”  A person’s dishonesty will eventually catch up to them. It may not be today, and it may not be for many years, but you can rest assured that at some point there will always be a reckoning.

A word of advice to those who are striving for a reputation of integrity: Avoid those who are not trustworthy. Do not do business with them. Do not associate with them. Do not make excuses for them.  Do not allow yourself to get enticed into believing that “while they may be dishonest with others, they would never be dishonest with me.” If someone is dishonest in any aspect of his life you can be guaranteed that he will be dishonest in many aspects of his life. You cannot dismiss even those little acts of dishonesty, such as the person who takes two newspapers from the stand when they paid for only one. After all, if a person cannot be trusted in the simplest matters of honesty then how can they possibly be trusted to uphold lengthy and complex business contracts?

It is important to realize that others pay attention to those you have chosen to associate with, and they will inevitably judge your character by the character of your friends. Why is that?  It is best explained by a quote my father often says when he is reminding me to be careful of the company I am keeping:  “When you lie down with dogs you get fleas.” Inevitably we become more and more like the people we surround ourselves with day to day. If we surround ourselves with people who are dishonest and willing to cut corners to get ahead, then we’ll surely find ourselves following a pattern of first enduring their behavior, then accepting their behavior, and finally adopting their behavior. If you want to build a reputation as a person of integrity then surround yourself with people of integrity. There is a plaque on the wall of my office which reads: “Do what is right, let the consequence follow.” It serves as a daily reminder that success will indeed come and go, but integrity is forever.                                            http://www.forbes.com/sites/amyanderson/2012/11/28/success-will-come-and-go-but-integrity-is-forever/?goback=%2Egde_2748686_member_194047363

 

 

US to be World’s Top Energy Producer

By: Guy Chazan & Ed Crooks

The US will overtake Saudi Arabia and Russia to become the world’s largest global oil producer by the second half of this decade, according to the International Energy Agency, as the shale revolution redraws the global energy landscape.

The agency’s latest World Energy Outlook said the US could be almost self-sufficient in energy by 2035, marking “a dramatic reversal of the trend seen in most other energy-importing countries”. It said the US would overtake Russia as the largest gas producer by 2015. The resurgence in US oil and gas production, it said, was spurring economic activity “with less expensive gas and electricity prices giving [US] industry a competitive edge”. Last week, a Germany industry lobby group warned that US companies are enjoying a rising advantage in energy costs. New extraction techniques – most notably hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, and horizontal drilling – have unlocked huge hydrocarbon resources previously thought unrecoverable. The boom, which started in natural gas, has switched to “tight oil” in places such as North Dakota’s Bakken Shale and Eagle Ford in South Texas.

However, other analysts have warned that the US oil boom is still in its infancy and continued growth cannot be guaranteed. Fatih Birol, the IEA’s chief economist, noted that a drop in global oil prices would affect production, since tight oil requires a high market price to be economic. In contrast, Saudi oil is much cheaper to produce. If realized  the IEA’s prediction could have significant implications for global commodity markets and the broader geopolitics of energy. Some analysts have wondered whether an energy-independent US would still guard the world’s critical sea lanes such as the Strait of Hormuz in two decades’ time – and whether China, whose reliance on Middle East crude imports was growing, would replace it.

The increase in US domestic production comes as new fuel-efficiency measures in transport imposed by the first Obama administration are set to reduce oil demand sharply. That will lead to a fall in US oil imports, which the IEA says will plunge from 10m barrels a day to 4m b/d in ten years’ time. According to the IEA, which advises industrialised countries on energy policy, the US will be producing 11.1m b/d in 2020 compared to Saudi output of 10.6m b/d.

Despite America’s rise, Saudi Arabia, which boasts the world’s largest conventional oil reserves and substantial undeveloped resources, will still dominate oil markets in the long term. The kingdom will have regained its top spot by 2030, the IEA predicted, pumping 11.4m b/d compared to the US’ 10.2m b/d. It added that US production will continue to fall, to 9.2m b/d in 2035, while Saudi’s will rise to 12.3m b/d. The IEA also warned that a fall in oil imports would not insulate the US from developments in international markets or end its vulnerability to price spikes. The agency said no country was an “energy island”.                                                                                                       http://www.ft.com/intl/cms/s/0/8c2bcdf2-2c9f-11e2-9211-00144feabdc0.html#axzz2C2piMz8r

 

 

Why the iPad Mini is the Tablet Physicians Have Been Waiting For

By: Iltifat Husain

I was skeptical about the iPad Mini.  I’ve used my Retina display iPad (3rd generation) for the past six months and been satisfied with the experience. I’ve used it in the hospital setting during rounds, and even while talking to patients in the ER.  I’m able to easily pull up Epic’s EMR using the Citrix app, and I can easily store the iPad in my “iPad customized” white coat. With the smaller screen size and the loss of a retina display, I assumed I would hate the Mini.  Since I’m the editor of iMedicalApps, I felt it was my duty to report how the Mini functioned in the clinical setting, so I decided to give it a shot. After just a few days with the Mini, I realized my assumptions were completely off.

Plenty of “analysts” have written how and why Doctors will adapt to the Mini. Most of them have named price and size, but they have no idea how the typical patient encounter works or the workflow of a physician. There is one main reason why I have become a fan of the Mini, and it’s the reason cited by many of my colleagues when I ask them why they switched. Weight, 1.46 pounds verse .69 pound doesn’t seem to be a big difference — I truly did not believe it would be. But the change in weight is tremendous in the clinic setting.

There are two instances highlighting this.

When you slide the Mini into your white coat pocket, you instantly notice a difference from the full size iPad. No longer does one side of your white coat feel more weighty than the other. With the full size iPad, I would often have to “balance out” my white coat during rounds because one side of my white coat would drag verse the other. The other instance and the reason why I have switched to the iPad Mini is its handling when talking to patients. The full sized iPad feels like a brick in your hands during a patient encounter.  You have to hold it with two hands, or worse, you have to cradle it in one arm while you tap on the EMR with a stylus in your other hand.

With the iPad Mini, no arm cradling is required.  It doesn’t feel like a brick in your hands by the time you’re tapping the Physical Exam portion into the patient chart. You can comfortably hold it in one hand and the weight doesn’t distract you from your patient encounter. The Mini feels like the typical clipboard you would use for a patient encounter, rather than an electronic brick. Obviously, some caveats are important to mention.

If you have a Retina display iPad, you will definitely miss the higher screen resolution. But after a week you get used to a non-retina display, and you enjoy not having sore wrists after talking to a patient with your iPad. Some analysts have argued that it’s harder to use an EMR with the Mini’s display. This is garbage. The great thing about the Mini is you get the same screen real estate that you would on a full sized iPad.  Of course, the objects and text are slightly smaller. I used Epic — the most popular Hospital EMR, and had no issues with doing parts of my chart and also putting in patient orders with the Mini.

Yes — the iPad Mini’s smaller size makes it easy to fit into your white coat — you no longer need a custom white coat for your iPad. Yes — the cheaper cost is another advantage.  But no, those are not the two main reasons why the Physician community will adopt the iPad Mini.  The lighter weight is the reason why.  The Mini is the clipboard physicians have been waiting for.   http://www.kevinmd.com/blog/2012/12/ipad-mini-tablet-physicians-waiting.html

 

 

Bullhorn Acquires MaxHire Solutions and Sendouts ~ Market Leader Will Accelerate Recruiting Software Innovation

Bullhorn, the global leader in recruiting software, today announced that it has acquired two companies: Vancouver, Canada-based MaxHire Solutions and St. Louis-based Sendouts. Both MaxHire and Sendouts provide recruiting software-as-a-service. The combination creates the world’s largest and most experienced recruiting software team with an unequaled capacity to develop, service and support the most complete set of pure SaaS recruiting software capabilities available.

These acquisitions benefit both MaxHire and Sendouts customers by speeding the arrival of new features and capabilities while maintaining both companies’ current products and reputation for exceptional client service. Bullhorn customers will gain from MaxHire and Sendouts innovations such as integrated prospect data from Data.com and Hoover’s Inc., VMS integration, client portals, and more. Together, the combined customer base of over 5,000 staffing and recruiting agencies, representing small specialists up through the largest firms in the industry, will benefit from the performance, control and agility that true software-as-a-service provides.

“This is an incredible moment for Bullhorn customers,” said Art Papas, co-founder and CEO of Bullhorn. “We’re acquiring two extremely talented teams, both of whom have succeeded in delighting their large customer bases with a combination of product innovation and excellent service. These acquisitions dramatically increase our ability to execute on our vision of helping recruiters be more successful, develop new products, and serve our exponentially expanding user base.”

Operating under the Bullhorn brand, development, support, and other teams from both companies will continue working from offices in Vancouver and St. Louis. MaxHire CEO Peter Blitz will pioneer new ideas in recruiting software as Bullhorn’s product innovation officer while Sendouts CEO Brian Hopcraft will serve as general manager.

“Joining Bullhorn will speed our ability to deliver the next cross-platform, cross-browser, and mobile-friendly product update that MaxHire customers are looking for,” said Blitz. “Bullhorn and MaxHire have a shared vision for the future of recruiting software and we’re excited to bring it to reality together.”

“Sendouts and Bullhorn share a strong, positive culture as well as a passion for making elegantly usable software for recruiters,” said Hopcraft. “We’ve worked hard building a great team and look forward to applying our joint expertise to help even more recruiters connect job seekers with opportunities.”                                                     http://www.bullhorn.com/news-and-press/press-releases/bullhorn-acquires-maxhire-solutions-and-sendouts

 

 

RIM to Introduce New BlackBerry 10 Devices on January 30

By: Euan Rocha

Research In Motion Ltd plans to introduce its new line of BlackBerry 10 smartphones on January 30, the company said on Monday, giving investors a measure of confidence that the long-awaited devices are nearing completion. The Waterloo, Ontario-based company, a one-time pioneer in the smartphone industry, is betting its future on the new products, which will be powered by its new BlackBerry 10 operating system. Its shares rose 5.5 percent to $9.01 in trading before the U.S. stock markets opened. RIM has struggled over the last two years as its devices lost ground to snazzier and faster smartphones like Apple Inc’s iPhone and Samsung Electronics’ Galaxy line.

RIM said the twice-delayed launch would take place simultaneously in multiple countries. It will introduce two BlackBerry 10 smartphones as well as the platform that powers them. The company has said the first devices will have touchscreens. Phones with the mini QWERTY keyboards that many long-time BlackBerry users rave about will come a few weeks later. The company did not say when the devices will be available in stores. RIM says its new devices will be faster and smoother and have a large catalog of applications that are now crucial to the success of any new line of smartphones.

Last week, RIM said the new platform and devices had received U.S. government security clearance, potentially allowing U.S. and Canadian government agencies to deploy the new smartphones as soon as they are available. These were the first BlackBerry products to win Federal Information Processing Standard 140-2 certifications ahead of their introduction, the company said. RIM began carrier tests on the BB10 devices last month. The Canadian company hopes will help it win back some of the market share it has lost to the iPhone and devices that run on Google Inc’s Android operating system.

ALL OR NOTHING

Some analysts fear that RIM faces tough challenges in an ultra-competitive smartphone market. Pacific Crest analyst James Faucette said earlier this month that BlackBerry 10 was likely to be dead on arrival, with an operating system that gets “a lukewarm response at best,” due to the unfamiliar user interface and a shortage of apps. Others disagree. Paradigm Capital analyst Gabriel Leung said the devices could help reverse RIM’s market share losses in crucial markets such as North America.

“We believe the company has significantly improved its ability to attract developers to build apps for the BB10 ecosystem,” Leung said in a recent note to clients. RIM’s stock has fallen more than 90 percent from a peak of over $148 in 2008. But at Friday’s close, the shares were up about 20 percent over the last two months on signs that the BlackBerry 10 devices are finally likely to make it to market.                                                           http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/11/12/us-rim-blackberry-idUSBRE8AB0H920121112

 

 

 

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Human Capital Solutions, Inc. (HCS) www.humancs.com is a Global Executive Search and Recruiting firm focused in Energy / Power Generation, Life Sciences, Multinational Lean Manufacturing and Technology. Visit our LinkedIn Company Page to learn more about HCS and receive weekly updates.

HCS has created the Prosperity at Work proposition which focuses on creating prosperous relationships between companies and their employees (associates). HCS assists companies in improving bottom line profitability by efficiently planning, organizing and implementing optimized, practical and value-added business solutions.

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U.S. Dept. of Labor (BLS) October Employment Situation

Increase in Personal Spending

US Cities with the Highest Job Growth

Energy & Power Generation:

5 Million New Green Jobs

Multi-National Lean Manufacturing:

‘Made in the USA’ Still Selling Products

Technology:

Corning Provides Cables & Connectivity for Presidential Debate

 

Human Capital Solutions, Inc. (HCS) www.humancs.com is a Global Executive Search and Recruiting firm focused in Energy / Power Generation, Life Sciences, Multinational Lean Manufacturing and Technology. Visit our LinkedIn Company Page to learn more about HCS and receive weekly updates.

HCS has created the Prosperity at Work proposition which focuses on creating prosperous relationships between companies and their employees (associates). HCS assists companies in improving bottom line profitability by efficiently planning, organizing and implementing optimized, practical and value-added business solutions.

 

 

The Employment Situation – October 2012

Total nonfarm payroll employment increased by 171,000 in October, and the unemployment

rate was essentially unchanged at 7.9 percent, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics

reported today. Employment rose in professional and business services, health care,

and retail trade.

Household Survey Data

Both the unemployment rate (7.9 percent) and the number of unemployed persons (12.3

million) were essentially unchanged in October, following declines in September.

(See table A-1.)

Among the major worker groups, the unemployment rate for blacks increased to 14.3

percent in October, while the rates for adult men (7.3 percent), adult women (7.2

percent), teenagers (23.7 percent), whites (7.0 percent), and Hispanics (10.0 percent)

showed little or no change. The jobless rate for Asians was 4.9 percent in October

(not seasonally adjusted), down from 7.3 percent a year earlier. (See tables A-1,

A-2, and A-3.)

In October, the number of long-term unemployed (those jobless for 27 weeks or more)

was little changed at 5.0 million. These individuals accounted for 40.6 percent of

the unemployed. (See table A-12.)

The civilian labor force rose by 578,000 to 155.6 million in October, and the labor

force participation rate edged up to 63.8 percent. Total employment rose by 410,000

over the month. The employment-population ratio was essentially unchanged at 58.8

percent, following an increase of 0.4 percentage point in September. (See table A-1.)

The number of persons employed part time for economic reasons (sometimes referred to

as involuntary part-time workers) fell by 269,000 to 8.3 million in October, partially

offsetting an increase of 582,000 in September. These individuals were working part

time because their hours had been cut back or because they were unable to find a

full-time job. (See table A-8.)

In October, 2.4 million persons were marginally attached to the labor force, little

different from a year earlier. (These data are not seasonally adjusted.) These

individuals were not in the labor force, wanted and were available for work, and had

looked for a job sometime in the prior 12 months. They were not counted as unemployed

because they had not searched for work in the 4 weeks preceding the survey. (See

table A-16.)

Among the marginally attached, there were 813,000 discouraged workers in October, a

decline of 154,000 from a year earlier. (These data are not seasonally adjusted.)

Discouraged workers are persons not currently looking for work because they believe

no jobs are available for them. The remaining 1.6 million persons marginally attached

to the labor force in October had not searched for work in the 4 weeks preceding

the survey for reasons such as school attendance or family responsibilities. (See

table A-16.)

Establishment Survey Data

Total nonfarm payroll employment increased by 171,000 in October. Employment growth

has averaged 157,000 per month thus far in 2012, about the same as the average monthly

gain of 153,000 in 2011. In October, employment rose in professional and business

services, health care, and retail trade. (See table B-1.)

Professional and business services added 51,000 jobs in October, with gains in

services to buildings and dwellings (+13,000) and in computer systems design (+7,000).

Temporary help employment changed little in October and has shown little net change

over the past 3 months. Employment in professional and business services has grown by

1.6 million since its most recent low point in September 2009. Health care added 31,000 jobs in October. Job gains continued in ambulatory health care services (+25,000) and hospitals (+6,000). Over the past year, employment in health care has risen by 296,000.

Retail trade added 36,000 jobs in October, with gains in motor vehicles and parts dealers

(+7,000), and in furniture and home furnishings stores (+4,000). Retail trade has added

82,000 jobs over the past 3 months, with most of the gain occurring in motor vehicles

and parts dealers, clothing and accessories stores, and miscellaneous store retailers.

Employment in leisure and hospitality continued to trend up (+28,000) over the month.

This industry has added 811,000 jobs since a recent low point in January 2010, with

most of the gain occurring in food services. Employment in construction edged up in October. The gain was concentrated in specialty trade contractors (+17,000). Manufacturing employment changed little in October. On net, manufacturing employment has shown little change since April.

Mining lost 9,000 jobs in October, with most of the decline occurring in support

activities for mining. Since May of this year, employment in mining has decreased

by 17,000.

Employment in other major industries, including wholesale trade, transportation and

warehousing, information, financial activities, and government, showed little change

over the month.

In October, the average workweek for all employees on private nonfarm payrolls was

34.4 hours for the fourth consecutive month. The manufacturing workweek edged down by

0.1 hour to 40.5 hours, and factory overtime was unchanged at 3.2 hours. The average

workweek for production and nonsupervisory employees on private nonfarm payrolls edged

down by 0.1 hour to 33.6 hours. (See tables B-2 and B-7.)

In October, average hourly earnings for all employees on private nonfarm payrolls edged

down by 1 cent to $23.58. Over the past 12 months, average hourly earnings have risen

by 1.6 percent. In October, average hourly earnings of private-sector production and

nonsupervisory employees edged down by 1 cent to $19.79. (See tables B-3 and B-8.)

The change in total nonfarm payroll employment for August was revised from +142,000 to

+192,000, and the change for September was revised from +114,000 to +148,000.

http://www.bls.gov/news.release/empsit.nr0.htm

 

 

Personal Spending, Income Up in September

By: The Associated Press

Americans increased their spending in September at twice the rate their income rose, a sign of confidence in the economy. The Commerce Department said Monday that consumer spending increased 0.8 percent in September. That followed a 0.5 percent gain in August and was the best showing since February. Personal income rose 0.4 percent, an improvement from a slight 0.1 percent gain in August and the best gain since March.

Consumer spending is important because it drives nearly 70 percent of economic activity. A pickup in consumer spending helped lift economic growth in the July-September quarter to a 2 percent annual rate. While that is faster than the 1.3 percent rate in the April-June period, it’s still too weak to create enough jobs to rapidly lower the unemployment rate.

The spending gains reflect in part rising consumer confidence. The University of Michigan reported Friday that its final consumer sentiment index for October had hit a five-year high. Falling gas prices and a slightly better job market were credited with lifting consumers’ outlook.

With eight days until the election, the economy is being kept afloat by a revitalized consumer and the early stages of a housing recovery. But the nation continues to struggle because businesses are reluctant to invest, and slower global growth has cut demand for American exports. Republican nominee Mitt Romney is telling voters that President Barack Obama’s policies have kept the economy from accelerating.

Obama says his policies helped to stabilize the economy after the worst downturn since the Great Depression. He says the economy is slowly recovering under his administration and that Romney is advocating policies that would undo that progress. The unemployment rate fell to 7.8 percent last month, the first time it has been below 8 percent since January 2009, the month Obama took office.

http://www.npr.org/2012/10/29/163855914/personal-spending-income-up-in-september

 

 

Click Here to See the List of US Cities with the Highest Job Creation 

 

 

The 5 Million Green Jobs That Weren’t

By: Ira Boudway

In 2008 candidate Barack Obama promised to create 5 million green jobs. He laid out a plan to invest $150 billion over 10 years that would advance a clean-energy economy built around biofuels, hybrid cars, low-emission coal plants, and renewable sources such as solar and wind. How many has he actually created?

The Bureau of Labor Statistics began tracking green jobs two years ago, but it counts only how many existed as of the end of 2010. It doesn’t keep a running total of newly created jobs, so there’s no way to tell how many existed before Obama’s election. The Brookings Institution also has a tally, but it too goes only through 2010, and of the nearly 2.7 million green jobs it identifies, most were bus drivers, sewage workers, and other types of work that don’t fit the “green jobs of the future” that Obama imagined. The report does zero in on cleantech, which includes the wind, solar, fuel-cell, and smart-grid industries. In 2010, Brookings shows, there were 184,699 such jobs nationwide—up 2,642 since the president took office in 2009.

The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 set aside $90 billion in renewable energy grants and loans for a grab bag of thousands of projects—wind farms, solar installations, natural gas fueling stations, biofuel research, and a $5 billion weatherization project for low-income homes. Digging into the public records of the $21 billion spent so far through 19 U.S. Department of Energy programs reveals 3,960 projects that employ 28,854 people.

That’s not 5 million. In November 2010, the President’s Council of Economic Advisers said federal recovery spending had “saved or created” 225,000 clean-energy jobs, including “both the direct jobs of people involved in the construction of a particular project and also the jobs generated by the additional economic activity sparked by these projects.”

There’s no way to know whether this multiplier effect really resulted in the number the administration claims. But if you take it as true and generously assume similar growth for 2011 and 2012, that’s 675,000 jobs created at best—and 4,325,000 to go.

http://www.businessweek.com/articles/2012-10-11/the-5-million-green-jobs-that-werent

 

 

‘Made in the USA’ Still Sells

By: Felix Gillette

Not long ago, the Red Peak Group, a global brand-consulting firm with offices in New York, began researching names for a new product in China—a pay-per-view and video-on-demand platform that would allow people to stream licensed Hollywood movies into their homes. Along the way, they market-tested a range of Chinese-style names for the product. But in the end, the feedback was clear. Consumers in China preferred an American-sounding brand. The marketers went with “YOU On Demand.”

“What we found was that if you’re associated with a positive part of America, which Hollywood is, they want you to be more American, rather than more local,” says Red Peak Chief Executive Officer James Fox. “There’s still a status associated with American brands.”

These days the same holds true, marketers will tell you, in the emerging middle classes in developing countries around the world. In Brazil and India, Russia and China, the value of America as a brand-enhancing, anabolic sales booster has never been stronger.Budweiser (BUD), General Motors (GM), Tiffany (TIF), Jack Daniels (BF/A), Levi’s—the more American-sounding, the better. In the first six months of 2012, Harley-Davidson’s (HOG) retail sales were up 16.5 percent in the Asia-Pacific region and 58 percent in Latin America. Tiffany’s sales in Japan jumped 13 percent in the same period. In the past two quarters, Yum! (YUM), the parent company of KFC and Pizza Hut, has opened 328 restaurants in China. “Very American brands are doing incredibly well outside the home market,” Fox says.

U.S. brands have been helped overseas by the Obama administration’s increased focus on trade liberalization. In 2011, the president pushed through three previously stalled free-trade agreements, with Panama, Colombia, and South Korea. Over the past four years, U.S. exports have grown from $133 billion in December 2008 to $183 billion in July 2012.

In May top representatives of America’s liquor industry traveled to Seoul to toast the uncorking of a new market. “We are honored to be here in Seoul to celebrate the U.S.-Korea Free Trade Agreement and to showcase the heritage and flavors of American whiskeys,” said Frank Coleman of the Distilled Spirits Council of the United States. “Premium bourbons and Tennessee whiskeys are experiencing significant growth in global markets because of their authentic heritage, their distinctive flavors, and their versatility in cocktails.”

Translation: U.S.A.! U.S.A.!

Allen Adamson, the managing director of Landor Associates, a global branding firm, says that an association with the U.S. helps companies even more now than four years ago. That’s in part, he says, because the U.S. has emerged from the financial crisis in better shape than many countries in Europe. “Success is a major dimension of the American brand,” he says. “What was derailing that four years ago was the weak business performance with the meltdown of the financial world.”

As the American economy has slowly bounced back, so too has the marketing value of brand USA. These days, says Adamson, American companies are benefiting from the collective glow thrown off by the success and ubiquity of U.S. tech companies like Apple (AAPL), Facebook (FB), and Google (GOOG). The cachet of Silicon Valley looms large in the global imagination.

“The language of the Web is rooted in American brands, American imagery,” Adamson says. “Look at the role the social networking sites played during the Arab Spring. Facebook and Twitter have become ambassadors for the American brand, the way Ford Motor (F)and GM and General Electric (GE) were 50 years ago.”

http://www.businessweek.com/articles/2012-10-11/made-in-usa-still-sells

 

 

Corning Provides Fiber Optic Network Cabling and Connectivity for Final Presidential Debate

Corning Cable Systems LLC, part Corning Incorporated’s (NYSE:GLW) Telecommunications segment, is providing the fiber optic network cabling and connectivity for the final presidential debate on Oct. 22 at Lynn University in Boca Raton, Fla. President Barack Obama and Mitt Romney, the Republican nominee, will discuss foreign policy issues for 90 minutes with CBS’ Bob Schieffer serving as moderator.

The presidential debate will be aired on more than 10 major networks and covered by hundreds of media members, requiring a lightning-fast, high volume of bandwidth with proven connectivity. The final debate in the 2008 presidential election was watched by 56.5 million viewers, with a similar size audience expected to watch this year’s final debate.

“Corning has stepped up to the plate and has brought forward a fantastic and cutting-edge solution for our debate infrastructure,” said Chris Boniforti, Lynn University chief information officer. “This will permit us to run network equipment at 10GB speed and allow us to take advantage of high-speed networking equipment. We are really excited that this same key infrastructure will get re-used by our students after the debate. This is a wonderful partnership, and we are excited about our future with Corning.”

“Corning is honored to be a critical part of this historic event, and we are confident that Lynn University will have the high-performing network it needs for the debate to be an enormous success,” said Stuart Hoiness, senior vice president, Enterprise Networks, Corning Cable Systems. “The future-proof reliability and bandwidth potential of this infrastructure should serve the campus well for many years to come.”

To meet the demand for more bandwidth, Corning has installed its LANscape® Solutions. The new fiber optic network will remain after the debate for the university to use. The network includes FREEDM® One indoor/outdoor fiber optic cable, newly designed Closet Connector Housings, UniCam® field-installable no-epoxy/no-polish connectors, and a UniCam® Connector Installation toolkit.

Corning has become an industry leader in expanding the communications capabilities in large venues such as M&T Stadium, home of the Baltimore Ravens, and for events such as Super Bowl XLVI, CTIA WIRELESS 2012, and multiple venues associated with the 2012 Democratic and Republican national conventions.

 

 

Please visit our  Candidates page and click on Search Career Opportunities to see our open positions.

Human Capital Solutions, Inc. (HCS) www.humancs.com is a Global Executive Search and Recruiting firm focused in Energy / Power Generation, Life Sciences, Multinational Lean Manufacturing and Technology. Visit our LinkedIn Company Page to learn more about HCS and receive weekly updates.

HCS has created the Prosperity at Work proposition which focuses on creating prosperous relationships between companies and their employees (associates). HCS assists companies in improving bottom line profitability by efficiently planning, organizing and implementing optimized, practical and value-added business solutions.

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U.S. Dept. of Labor (BLS) September Employment Situation

US Exports Expected To Increase

Energy & Power Generation:

Pros & Cons for Alternative Energy Subsidies

Life Sciences:

2012 Meningitis Outbreak

Multi-National Lean Manufacturing:

GM Plans to Add Jobs in Texas

Technology:

Health IT Company Changing Registration System

Founder of Twitter “Never Wanted to Be an Entrepreneur”

Human Capital Solutions, Inc. (HCS) www.humancs.com is a Global Executive Search and Recruiting firm focused in Energy / Power Generation, Life Sciences, Multinational Lean Manufacturing and Technology. Visit our LinkedIn Company Page to learn more about HCS and receive weekly updates.

HCS has created the Prosperity at Work proposition which focuses on creating prosperous relationships between companies and their employees (associates). HCS assists companies in improving bottom line profitability by efficiently planning, organizing and implementing optimized, practical and value-added business solutions.

The Employment Situation – September 2012

The unemployment rate decreased to 7.8 percent in September, and total nonfarm payroll employment rose by 114,000, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported today. Employment increased in health care and in transportation and warehousing but changed little in most other major industries.

Household Survey Data

The unemployment rate declined by 0.3 percentage point to 7.8 percent in September. For the first 8 months of the year, the rate held within a narrow range of 8.1 and 8.3 percent. The number of unemployed persons, at 12.1 million, decreased by 456,000 in September. (See table A-1.)  Among the major worker groups, the unemployment rates for adult men (7.3 percent), adult women (7.0 percent), and whites (7.0 percent) declined over the month. The unemployment rates for teenagers (23.7 percent), blacks (13.4 percent), and Hispanics (9.9 percent) were little changed. The jobless rate for Asians, at 4.8 percent (not seasonally adjusted), fell over the year. (See tables A-1, A-2,and A-3.)

In September, the number of job losers and persons who completed temporary jobs decreased by 468,000 to 6.5 million. (See table A-11.) The number of persons unemployed for less than 5 weeks declined by 302,000 over  the month to 2.5 million. The number of long-term unemployed (those jobless for 27 weeks or more) was little changed at 4.8 million and accounted for 40.1 percent of the unemployed. (See table A-12.)

Total employment rose by 873,000 in September, following 3 months of little

change. The employment-population ratio increased by 0.4 percentage point to

58.7 percent, after edging down in the prior 2 months. The overall trend in

the employment-population ratio for this year has been flat. The civilian labor

force rose by 418,000 to 155.1 million in September, while the labor force

participation rate was little changed at 63.6 percent. (See table A-1.)

The number of persons employed part time for economic reasons (sometimes

referred to as involuntary part-time workers) rose from 8.0 million in August

to 8.6 million in September. These individuals were working part time because

their hours had been cut back or because they were unable to find a full-time

job. (See table A-8.)

In September, 2.5 million persons were marginally attached to the labor force,

essentially unchanged from a year earlier. (These data are not seasonally

adjusted.) These individuals were not in the labor force, wanted and were

available for work, and had looked for a job sometime in the prior 12 months.

They were not counted as unemployed because they had not searched for work

in the 4 weeks preceding the survey. (See table A-16.)

Among the marginally attached, there were 802,000 discouraged workers in

September, a decline of 235,000 from a year earlier. (These data are not

seasonally adjusted.) Discouraged workers are persons not currently looking

for work because they believe no jobs are available for them. The remaining

1.7 million persons marginally attached to the labor force in September had

not searched for work in the 4 weeks preceding the survey for reasons such

as school attendance or family responsibilities. (See table A-16.)

Establishment Survey Data

Total nonfarm payroll employment increased by 114,000 in September. In 2012,

employment growth has averaged 146,000 per month, compared with an average

monthly gain of 153,000 in 2011. In September, employment rose in health care

and in transportation and warehousing. (See table B-1.) Health care added 44,000 jobs in September. Job gains continued in ambulatory health care services (+30,000) and hospitals (+8,000). Over the past year,

employment in health care has risen by 295,000. In September, employment increased by 17,000 in transportation and warehousing. Within the industry, there were job gains in transit and ground passenger transportation (+9,000) and in warehousing and storage (+4,000). Employment in financial activities edged up in September (+13,000), reflecting modest job growth in credit intermediation (+6,000) and real estate (+7,000). Manufacturing employment edged down in September (-16,000). On net, manufacturing employment has been unchanged since April. In September, job losses occurred in computer and electronic products (-6,000) and in printing and related activities (-3,000).

Employment in other major industries, including mining and logging, construction,

wholesale trade, retail trade, information, professional and business services,

leisure and hospitality, and government, showed little change over the month.

The average workweek for all employees on private nonfarm payrolls edged up by

0.1 hour to 34.5 hours in September. The manufacturing workweek edged up by

0.1 hour to 40.6 hours, and factory overtime was unchanged at 3.2 hours.

The average workweek for production and nonsupervisory employees on private

nonfarm payrolls was unchanged at 33.7 hours. (See tables B-2 and B-7.)

In September, average hourly earnings for all employees on private nonfarm

payrolls rose by 7 cents to $23.58. Over the past 12 months, average hourly

earnings have risen by 1.8 percent. In September, average hourly earnings of

private-sector production and nonsupervisory employees increased by 5 cents

to $19.81. (See tables B-3 and B-8.) The change in total nonfarm payroll employment for July was revised from +141,000 to +181,000, and the change for August was revised from +96,000 to +142,000.

http://www.bls.gov/news.release/empsit.nr0.htm

 

 

Here’s Why U.S. Exports are Set to Surge

By: Meghan Foley

According to new research by the Boston Consulting Group, U.S. manufactured exports are set to surge. As manufacturers shift their production to take advantage of lower costing labor, natural gas, and electricity in the United States, 2.5 to 5 million jobs will be created by the end of the decade.

Boston Consulting Group’s analysis, “Made in America, Again,” predicts that by approximately 2015, the United States will have a 5 to 25 percent export cost advantage over Germany, Italy, France, the United Kingdom, and Japan in an array of industries. Currently natural gas prices in this country are 50 to 70 percent cheaper than in Europe or Japan, and labor costs are predicted to be 20 to 45 percent cheaper than in other developed economies.

“Now, however, a combination of economic forces is fast eroding China’s cost advantage as an export platform for the North American market,” BCG wrote in their analysis. “Meanwhile, the U.S., with an increasingly flexible workforce and a resilient corporate sector, is becoming more attractive as a place to manufacture many goods consumed on this continent.”

Forecasts by the BCG place annual gains from increased exports at $130 billion dollars, with the biggest gains in machinery, transportation equipment, electrical equipment and appliances, and chemicals.  Although the reshoring trend is only in its infancy, several large manufacturers have announced plans to use the U.S. as a base for exports to other markets. Toyota (NYSE:TM) plans to assemble its Camry sedans in Kentucky and Sienna minivans in Indiana, Siemens(NYSE:SI) is building gas turbines for export to the Middle East, and Rolls-Royce began producing aircraft engine parts in Virginia. So far, U.S. exports have risen by 30 percent since 2006.

http://wallstcheatsheet.com/stocks/heres-why-u-s-exports-are-set-to-surge.html/

 

 

Do We Need Subsidies for Solar and Wind Power?

At a time of intense debate over the federal budget, government subsidies for wind and solar power are more contentious than ever. The question of whether those subsidies are justified has taken on fresh urgency with the looming expiration of a major wind subsidy.

The federal tax credit for wind-power producers will expire at the end of this year unless Congress extends it. There is widespread agreement that pulling the plug on the subsidy at this point could hobble the wind-power industry. Meanwhile, the biggest federal subsidy for solar power, a tax credit for 30% of the cost of installed equipment, is set to drop to 10% at the end of 2016. A cash grant for up to 30% of solar equipment costs expired at the end of last year.

Proponents say wind and solar subsidies are needed for a few more years to allow these clean, renewable sources of energy to develop to the point where they can compete on price with electricity produced from coal and natural gas. But opponents of the subsidies say that they simply cost too much, and that the supposed benefits of wind and solar power are overstated.

Mark Muro, a senior fellow and the policy director at the Metropolitan Policy Program at the Brookings Institution, argues in favor of the subsidies. David Kreutzer, a research fellow in energy economics and climate change at the Heritage Foundation, presents the case against them.

 Yes: They Are Doing Their Job

By: Mark Muro

Federal subsidies for wind and solar power production are working. In fact, they’re working so well that they don’t need to continue much longer. But we do need to extend them for a few more years so that they can fulfill their purpose. Let’s remember the point of these temporary subsidies: to help emerging clean-energy technologies gain toeholds in challenging markets and advance toward unsubsidized price-competitiveness.  The ultimate reward is cheaper, cleaner energy and greater energy diversity, which will help guard against price shocks, keep energy costs down through competition and lessen the damage our energy consumption does to the environment, among other things. The benefits are well worth the cost of temporarily extending these subsidies, which are a trivial portion of the federal budget.

Getting Close

Wind and solar need the help because the barriers for new technologies in the energy industry are tougher than those in any other industry in this country. Fossil fuels, with the help of their own government subsidies over the years, are thoroughly entrenched, with trillions of dollars’ worth of infrastructure in place. At the same time, utilities tend to favor established business models and are required by regulators to provide the lowest-cost power, all of which steers them toward fossil fuels.

Against this background, providing temporary support for wind and solar technologies so they can gain the level of scale and efficiency necessary to compete is one of the few ways the nation can reasonably hope to promote energy diversity. Is it working? The evidence is overwhelming that it is: Supported by subsidies but also by rapid technical advances, onshore wind and solar photovoltaic installations are way up, and the price of delivered renewable energy is way down.

Onshore wind power is on track to reach grid parity—the point where its cost equals the base-line price of power on the grid—starting in 2016, according to estimates from Bloomberg New Energy Finance, a research arm of Bloomberg LP. Solar photovoltaic energy will be largely cost-competitive at the residential level in California without the current subsidy by 2017 and in many other states shortly thereafter, according to Shayle Kann, a vice president at the GTM Research unit of Greentech Media Inc.

In sum, onshore wind is likely just a few years away from true subsidy independence, while several forms of solar aren’t far beyond. So Congress should finish the job it started by extending the present subsidies. But it shouldn’t just extend them for a year or two and then stage yet another politicized, all-or-nothing confrontation when the next expiration dates near.

A New Kind of Extension

Instead, Congress should provide a predictable, continual prod toward innovation and cost reduction by extending the subsidies further than it usually does but at the same time establishing a cutoff date. For example, the subsidy for wind power could be renewed and then phased out over four years or so. Key members of Congress already are discussing this “extend but discipline” approach.

Meanwhile, to help wind and solar meet new subsidy-independence deadlines, more attention should be given to expanding the opportunities for private investment. Currently, solar and wind infrastructure can’t be financed using master limited partnerships or real-estate investment trusts, two powerful tools. State governments also could pitch in by ratcheting up the requirements for utilities to generate a certain amount of their power from renewable sources. They could also dedicate some of the significant funds they manage through state energy offices to financing renewables, and establish clean-energy-finance banks. It all starts, though, with a new approach to subsidies. When key wind and solar supports come up for renewal, Congress should extend them so it can then end them.

No: The Benefits Are a Myth

By: David Kreutzer

The problem with subsidizing wind and solar power is that subsidies don’t make these unaffordable energy sources affordable, they just change who pays. Taxpayers foot a large part of the bill, instead of the producers and consumers of wind and solar power. And the costs that imposes on the economy aren’t justified by any of the supposed benefits of these energy sources. The argument that wind and solar energy are on the verge of being cost-effective is an old one, dating at least to the early 1990s. And yet we are still handing out subsidies that supposedly will push them over that line in just a few more years. It’s time to stop. With a phaseout or not, extending subsidies is just more of the same.

Economic Myths

Numerous studies purport to show that energy subsidies will stimulate the economy by creating jobs. But these studies consistently ignore the fact that draining taxes out of the general economy to pay for those subsidies runs the broader job-creating mechanism in reverse. The net effect is to shrink the economy, not grow it.

Another myth is that we need subsidies to stay competitive with countries whose economies will increasingly be propelled by wind and solar energy. That argument needs to be written on a dry-erase board, because the country that is supposedly outcompeting us on this front keeps changing. That’s because our competitors keep bailing out of their subsidy schemes. The purported European models, such as Spain and Germany, have drastically cut their subsidies, because they were unaffordable and unworkable.

The current name on the board is China. This is an economic role model? China’s per capita income ranks 92nd in the world. Yes, China’s economy has grown dramatically in recent decades, but only because they moved toward freer markets—that is, toward an economy a little more like ours. In any event, China’s total carbon-dioxide emissions are skyrocketing. Whatever they may be doing with wind and solar power pales in comparison with what they are doing with coal-fired electricity.

No Need

A third myth asserts that these subsidies will save the planet. Broad agreement that man-made carbon-dioxide emissions warm the Earth doesn’t mean we are headed to environmental catastrophe. Even the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, for instance, projects a sea-level rise of about seven to 24 inches over the next century—not 20 feet. Recent trends argue more strongly for the lower end of that range.

There is nearly universal agreement that an all-out carbon-cutting policy in the U.S.—of which wind and solar subsidies are only a small part—would do next to nothing to moderate any global warming. This is because future carbon emissions will come overwhelmingly from the developing world, which shows little appetite for squeezing economic growth to cut a few inches from sea level. Yet another myth is that we need subsidies to move us toward the energy of the future before we run out of fossil fuels.

Once again, the Malthusians are wrong. Thanks to technological advances in recent years, the world has centuries of untapped natural gas and coal at its disposal—much of it relatively cheap and right here in the U.S. It’s simple: We don’t need wind and solar to keep the lights on. Surely some alternatives to fossil fuels will be developed, but they will only work if they are affordable. Wind and solar aren’t, and that isn’t changed by shifting the costs from consumers and producers to the taxpayers. Bureaucrats and politicians shouldn’t be the ones deciding which technologies are the most promising or what timeline is too long or what losses are too deep. The market will do a much better job of answering the question: Are wind and solar power really viable?

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10000872396390444032404578008183300454400.html

 

 

Meningitis-linked steroid may have affected 13,000 people in U.S.: CDC

By: Tim Ghianni

Some 13,000 people in 23 U.S. states may have received steroid injections linked to a rare fungal meningitis outbreak that has killed eight people, but far fewer are likely to contract the disease, the Centers for Disease Control said on Monday. The CDC for the first time estimated the number of patients potentially affected, after previously saying only that it could be in the thousands. So far, 105 cases of the rare form of meningitis have been confirmed in nine states. In hardest hit Tennessee another person has died, bringing the national death toll to eight, the CDC and Tennessee state authorities said on Monday.

Nearly 1,000 people in Tennessee may have received injections from the three recalled lots containing 17,676 vials of potentially tainted steroid, Tennessee Health Commissioner Dr. John Dreyzehner said on Monday. Saint Thomas Outpatient Neurosurgery Center in Nashville received some 2,000 vials, more than any other facility in the country, he said.

The widening outbreak has alarmed federal and state health officials and focused attention on regulation of pharmaceutical compounding companies such as the one that produced the drugs – the New England Compounding Center Inc in Framingham, Massachusetts.

“We anticipate finding some additional infections,” said CDC spokesman Curtis Allen. He could not say if all 13,000 people had been contacted, but said efforts had been made to find them in the last few days and the recall should limit the outbreak. In Ohio, health officials said on Monday they were mobilizing community resources, including sheriff’s offices, to check on patients who have received the injections.

“If that means knocking on doors, then that’s what they will do,” Beth Bickford, executive director at the Association of Ohio Health Commissioners, said in a statement. The state has so far reported one case of fungal meningitis likely caused by a tainted epidural steroid injection.

The steroid is used as a painkiller, usually for the back. Meningitis is an infection of the membranes covering the brain and spinal cord, and patients started showing a variety of symptoms from one to four weeks after their injections. The potentially tainted drugs were produced as early as May and shipped to 76 facilities in 23 states through September, the CDC and Massachusetts Health Department said.

The company, which was previously the subject of complaints, has suspended its operations while an investigation proceeds. It initially recalled the three lots of the drug, and expanded its recall on Saturday to all products compounded and distributed at its Framingham facility.

A compounding pharmacy takes medications from pharmaceutical manufacturers and makes them into specific dosages and strengths for use by doctors. Complaints against the company in 2002 and 2003 about the processing of medication resulted in an agreement with government agencies in 2006 to correct deficiencies, the Massachusetts Health Department said.

LIMITED FDA AUTHORITY

In 2011, there was another inspection of the facility and no deficiencies were found. In March 2012, another complaint was made about the potency of a product used in eye surgery procedures. That investigation is continuing, the state health department said. The U.S. Food and Drug administration has limited authority over the day-to-day operations of compounding pharmacies, which are regulated primarily by state boards that oversee the practices, licensing and certification of pharmacies and pharmacists.

Compounded products do not have to win FDA approval before they are sold, and the agency has no jurisdiction over how the products are manufactured or labeled for use. Instead, the FDA investigates cases of adulterated drugs in cooperation with state regulators.

The FDA has tried to exert greater authority over compounded drug products under a section of the Food, Drug and Cosmetic Act that covers new drugs. But those efforts led to federal court challenges that resulted in two separate and conflicting rulings at the appellate level.

The nine states where fungal meningitis cases have been reported are Florida, Indiana, Maryland, Michigan, Minnesota, North Carolina, Ohio, Tennessee and Virginia.

Tennessee, where the outbreak was first detected, accounted for most of the cases, with 35, including four deaths. Many patients there remain hospitalized, some in critical condition. Virginia has 23 cases and one death, Michigan 21 cases and two deaths and one person has died in Maryland. Fungal meningitis is not contagious, the CDC said. Symptoms include fever, headache, nausea and neurological problems that would be consistent with deep brain stroke.

The steroid was sent to California, Connecticut, Florida, Georgia, Idaho, Illinois, Indiana, Maryland, Michigan, Minnesota, North Carolina, New Hampshire, New Jersey, Nevada, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Virginia and West Virginia, the CDC said.

http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/10/08/us-usa-health-meningitis-idUSBRE8970TQ20121008

 

 

GM To Hire Up To 500 For Texas Computer Center

By: Tom Krisher

General Motors is opening a new computer center in Austin, Texas, where it plans to hire up to 500 people.

The automaker said Friday that it will hire software developers, project managers, database experts and business analysts to run the first of several information technology innovation centers it plans to open in the U.S.

GM said it picked Austin because it has a ready workforce with the skills that it’s looking for. The Austin metropolitan area is home to a growing high-tech community that includes the University of Texas at Austin and computer maker Dell Inc. The Austin center is the first of several that the company plans to open in the U.S.

General Motors Co. already has operations in Austin and has begun hiring, spokeswoman Julie Huston-Rough said. She could not say how many centers GM will open or if there will be layoffs elsewhere. Other sites have not yet been picked, she said. The automaker planned to release more information on its plans during a conference call scheduled for Friday morning. GM says its information technology innovation centers will help to get breakthrough ideas into the company’s cars and trucks. It’s also intended to improve GM’s business processes and drive down costs.

“The next generation of IT workers, the talented visionaries we want contributing at the Innovation Center, are being trained at top computer science schools in Texas and surrounding states,” GM Chief Information Officer Randy Mott said in a statement.

Huston-Rough says the new technology centers are separate from a GM plan now under way to consolidate its 23 global data centers into two in an effort to cut costs and increase speed and efficiency. GM shares rose 6 cents to $22.51 in premarket trading.

http://www.manufacturing.net/news/2012/09/gm-to-hire-up-to-500-for-texas-computer-center

 

 

Health IT firm registration system hopes to cut doctor office wait times

By: Stephanie Baum

Health IT company RegisterPatient has created a flexible system to cut doctor office waiting times.

It hopes the platform for physician practices will make the process of going for doctors’ appointments less stressful, more efficient. Using a HIPAA compliant Facebook app, it helps patients start the registration process from home, request appointments, prescription refills and send secure messages and documents to a practice’s office. It is also expanding its enterprise side, which has services for physicians and electronic medical record vendors that can be provided one module at a time.

When CEO and founder David Williams was in the early days of setting up his Gainesville, Florida business, the technology landscape was quite different from what it is now, according to Chief Operating Officer James Davis. Internet connection outside of major cities was relatively slow, video-facing technology was not common and the smartest phones were Palm Pilots.

In 2009, about a year after RegisterPatient entered Synogen’s incubator program, the company got a board together. But the board members would invest only if Williams quit his full-time gig as a nurse and joined RegisterPatient full time, a move that required a big pay cut. Five of his six children are currently in college, with the youngest in high school. It graduated from the incubator in 2011.

The company believes that if patients can fill out registration documents from home, it will reduce the amount of time wasted in the doctors office, particularly if patients are running late for an appointment. If patients have the time to fill out the documents ahead of time, they won’t be liable to feel as rushed and won’t be as likely to leave out vital information, the company reasons. “If patients are rushed, you don’t get good information. There are ramifications for their treatment plan and for billing codes,” said Davis.

Its personal health record, Patient PHR, helps users locate new providers, list appointments, medications, allergies and insurance information. If the physician uses an integrated version of the company’s enterprise solution, the patient data flows into and is shared with any provider the patient approves, like a patient-centric healthcare information exchange.

The company’s enterprise system for EMR vendors helps them more easily integrate content into their systems and reflects feedback collected from EMR vendors over several years, said Davis. Although Meaningful Use Stage 2 requirements only came out last month, the company already has a module for companies that reflects those new requirements. Davis said it provides services to EMR vendors that would be too costly for many of them to develop themselves.

http://medcitynews.com/2012/09/health-it-firm-registration-system-hopes-to-cut-doctor-office-wait-times/

 

 

Jack Dorsey: “I Never Wanted to Be an Entrepreneur”

By: Lindsay Blakely

Silicon Valley is full of lore when it comes to how entrepreneurs really got started. When serial founder Jack Dorsey took the stage at TechCrunch Disrupt in San Francisco Monday, he wanted the audience to get a few things straight about his own founding story. “I never wanted to be an entrepreneur,” said Dorsey.

So what did he want to be? At one time or another, his list included the next Bruce Lee, a sailor, a tailor, and an artist–specifically, a surrealist. Of course, he went on to found two of the hottest start-ups in Silicon Valley: Twitter and mobile payments start-up Square.

But Dorsey was eager to explain that a start-up’s “founding moment” often isn’t what it appears to be. “There’s a lot of emphasis on the initial moments of a company, but that ignores the reality that companies exist and evolve over time,” he said. “A company has multiple founding moments.”

A company also has multiple founders, he said, including early employees who never wind up sharing the co-founder title. Dorsey said he considers business people like Starbucks’s Howard Schultz and Marissa Mayer, employee No. 20 at Google and current CEO at Yahoo, to be founders even though both joined those companies later.

In his own companies, he cited Twitter’s current CEO Dick Costolo and Square’s COO Keith Rabois as examples of employees who have made the kind of contributions that have changed the course of both companies. “A founder is not a job. It’s an attitude, it’s a role, it’s an idea that can happen again and again and again,” Dorsey said. The hard part, many entrepreneurs might say, is coming up with that idea again and again. Despire Dorsey’s track record, you might say it’s easier said than done.  But Dorsey offered some parting words of encouragement to the packed audience of aspiring tech titans:

“You don’t have to start from scratch to do something interesting, to do something worthwhile in the world. Twitter was not started because we wanted to start a company. It started out of a failed company. Pick a movement, pick a revolution, and join it. Pick something you believe in, that you want to make an impact in, and then question everything inside those companies or movements.”

http://www.inc.com/lindsay-blakely/jack-dorsey-twitter-i-never-wanted-to-be-an-entrepreneur.html

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Projected healthcare jobs by setting in 2020
Hospitals	36%
Health practitioners’ offices	29%
Nursing homes	16%
Home health care	11%
Other ambulatory care	8%