9/16/12 - 9/18/12

44th Annual
Joint Meeting of
The Midwest U.S. -
Japan Association
and
The Japan - Midwest U.S.
Association

"Global Strategies for Economic Growth"

Hilton Hotel

Minneapolis, MN

Announcements

To read blogs by specific members select from the list below:





The Midwestern Governors Association (MGA) announced today that it will be co-sponsoring the Great Lakes Symposium on Smart Grid and the New Energy Economy taking place October 18-19 in Chicago.  The Illinois Dept. of Commerce and Economic Opportunity, the Illinois Science and Technology Coalition, the Illinois Institute of Technology, Argonne National Laboratories and others are also co-sponsoring this event.

  

This symposium will examine best practices on how to build a smarter electric grid. Participants will engage policy and thought leaders on opportunities for job creation, spurring innovation and increasing financial investments in smart grid technology.

 

Advancing innovative technologies, such as grid improvements and industrial energy efficiency, is a focus area of Illinois Governor Pat Quinn's agenda as MGA Chair. 


"We must ensure theMidwestremains a leader in developing cutting-edge and new energy technology solutions. Working together, theMidwestcan be more competitive, attract new investment dollars and be a leader in job creation," Quinn said. "I encourage people to attend this event to help increase awareness and understanding of ways we can build a better grid." 

 

Registration and additional information on the symposium are available at: http://greatlakessymposium.com
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The American RedCross has contributed nearly $245 million for relief and recovery from the   March 11 Japan earthquake and tsunami. Thisis about 82 percent of the total donations received by the American Red Cross fromthe public since the disaster, and more contributions will be made as pledgescome in.

The support of somany people and businesses has enabled the American Red Cross to be one of thelargest private, international contributors to the Japan earthquake and tsunamiresponse so far. These generous donations are being used to improve the livingconditions for people in evacuation centers, equip more than 90,000 familieswith household appliances, rebuild a temporary hospital in Ishinomaki City andhelp build a nursing school.

The American RedCross anticipates that donations from the U.S. will support more than half ofthe long-term recovery activities planned by the Japanese Red Cross.

 Since Japan’s earthquake andtsunami on March 11, the American Red Cross has contributed nearly $245 milliontoward relief and recovery initiatives.

To date, theAmerican Red Cross has contributed $241 million to its primary partner – theJapanese Red Cross. We are also funding some projects with other partners,including the UN World Food Programme. Additional money will be sent to helpthe survivors as pledges to the American Red Cross are fulfilled.

Four American RedCross advisors with extensive disaster management experience have traveled toJapan to assist the Japanese Red Cross in addressing the immediate and expectedlonger term needs.

American RedCross staff also assisted with the voluntary departure of 7,800 family membersliving on US military installations in Japan.

TheAmerican Red Cross investments in the Japanese Red Cross recovery planprimarily will be used to help the homeless, sick and elderly.

In May, theJapanese Red Cross announced a $350 million long-term recovery plan supportedby donations from the American Red Cross and other international partners.

The Japanese RedCross will use about two-thirds of the donations received from internationalpartners to improve the living conditions for people in evacuation centers andequip more than 90,000 families with household appliances, includingrefrigerators, washing machines and microwaves.

American Red Cross donations willalso support the rebuilding of a temporary hospital in Ishinomaki City, thestrengthening of the region’s only remaining critical care facility and thefuture construction of a permanent nursing school.

TheJapanese Red Cross also plans to use U.S. donations for social welfare programsfor the elderly and children, including nursing care, transportation and summercamp scholarships.
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Trend back toward U.S. Reinvestment

(Reuters) — The "Made in the USA" label may be poised for a comeback, a new study argues.

The next few years will bring a wave of reinvestment by U.S. multinational manufacturers in their home base, as rising wages and a strong yuan currency make China a less attractive production center, the paper by the Boston Consulting Group (BCG) predicts.

The study, published on Thursday, says U.S. reinvestment will accelerate as the United States becomes one of the cheapest locations for manufacturing in the developed world. If it came to fruition, such reinvestment could speed up a delicate economic recovery that has yet to gain much traction.

There is evidence the trend has already started:

  • Caterpillar Inc. has repatriated manufacturing of construction excavators, boosting investment in facilities in Texas, Arkansas and Illinois.
  • NCR Corp. brought back production of automatic teller machines to Georgia, creating 870 jobs.
  • Toymaker Wham-O moved production of Frisbees and Hula-Hoops from China and Mexico to the United States.

More such announcements are likely over the next year or two, BCG says, citing conversations with clients.

"If you work the math out using today's numbers, you'd still say it's a good idea to go to China," said Hal Sirkin, a senior BCG partner and lead author of the study. "(But) around 2015, you get to a point of indifference between producing in the U.S. and producing in China."

Wages in China are still a fraction of what U.S. workers earn. Direct pay and benefits for production workers in the United States are about $22 per hour, versus only about $2 in China, roughly 9 percent of the U.S. cost.

But that difference is expected to narrow, with the Chinese worker earning about 17 percent as much as his or her U.S. counterpart four years from now.

'MADE IN THE USA'

The study predicts China will remain a major global player — just less of an exporter to the United States.

China will still export to Europe, whose workers are less able to move for jobs than U.S. workers are. U.S. wage advantages could eventually reach the point that European automakers will export U.S.-made cars to Europe, the study said.

The appeal of a shorter supply chain and fewer headaches from issues like intellectual property will also help encourage jobs and production to come back to the United States, BCG said. Policy could also nudge manufacturers to make the move. High unemployment is driving state incentives to attract factories, while unions are becoming more flexible.

Still, the study's thesis is based on assumptions that may not play out.

One is that supply and demand of labor in China are increasingly moving out of balance. Another is that demand from a growing Chinese middle class will raise costs, as factories shift to producing for domestic consumption and workers demand more pay to pay for goods that were out of reach before.

Also, the yuan's rally could reverse. Since China first loosened restrictions on trading the yuan, its value has steadily strengthened from more than 8 yuan to the U.S. dollar in 2005 to fewer than 6.5 per dollar now.

The expected U.S. reinvestment, meanwhile, will affect some industries more than others.

Shoes or clothing are work-intensive and do not require highly skilled labor. But higher-value goods made in lower volumes, such as home appliances and construction equipment, are more likely to bear the "Made in the USA" label in coming years -- especially if they are large and expensive to ship.

General Electric Co's example supports the study's contentions. GE's appliance unit is in the middle of a four-year, $600 million plan to build up its manufacturing presence in Louisville, Kentucky, adding some 830 new jobs.

"The default has been to say: 'Let's put the next plant in China,'" Sirkin said.

"We're saying: 'Sit back and think through your options.'"

BCG is a management consulting firm that advises large manufacturers on issues ranging from strategy to operations.
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