National Launch System: Structures and materials

The National Launch System provides an opportunity to realize the potential of Al-Li. Advanced structures can reduce weights by 5-40 percent as well as relax propulsion system performance specifications and reduce requirements for labor and materials. The effect on costs will be substantial. Advanced assembly and process control technologies also offer the potential for greatly reduced labor during the manufacturing and inspection processes. Current practices are very labor-intensive and, as a result, labor costs far outweigh material costs for operational space transportation systems. The technological readiness of new structural materials depends on their commercial availability, producibility and materials properties. Martin Marietta is vigorously pursuing the development of its Weldalite 049 Al-Li alloys in each of these areas. Martin Marietta is also preparing to test an automated work cell concept that it has developed using discrete event simulation

The Economic Effects of Unions in Latin America: Their Impact on Wages and the Economic Performance of Firms in Uruguay

This study examines the impact of unionization and the level of centralization in bargaining, at the level of the industry or the firm, on wages and on the economic performance of firms within the manufacturing sector in Uruguay, using a panel of establishments for the period 1988 to 1995. In doing so, we control for the degree of exposure to international and regional competition as well as for industry and firm characteristics. The main findings suggest that unionization increases wages and employment and promotes investment due to firms substituting labor by capital. Unions tend to organize in those plants with highest rates of profits, but promote increases in productivity and prevent profitability increases. The mechanism at work seems to be that firms moved to more capital-intensive technologies, hence increasing the rate of growth of labor productivity and reducing that of profitability. Given the negative effect of unionization at the industry level on the rate of growth of profitability of firms, results also suggest that unions tended to organize and to be stronger in those sectors in which extra rents were higher due to monopoly power. The evidence also suggests that firm-level negotiations take into account the interests of both parties, so that enhanced productivity and probably survival were achieved together with lower rates of substitution between labor and capital and/or lower profits.

Education, Tenure and Innovation in Manufacturing Firms

This study describes the stock of education and firm-specific work experience in a sample of Finnish manufacturing firms. The focus is in particular on the interaction of these competence measures with innovation. Generally speaking the levels of education are rising. Especially, the share of employees with a technical or natural scientific degree is increasing, together with the number of post-graduate degree employees. However, the sectoral differences are considerable. Industries of rapid technological change are very intensive in general and higher technical competences. In capital intensive industries, instead, the average tenure is clearly longer and the level of education lower. The differences between innovating and non-innovating firms are examined, as well. Innovating firms have a more educated labor force, and they are more profitable than non-innovators. The better economic performance may result from the flexibility of innovating firms. For instance, they recovered clearly more rapidly from the economic slump of the turn of the decade 1980-90. Product and process innovating firms are characterized also with principal components. The results lend support to the hypothesis that the size of the the firm affects the composition of R&D. It is observed that non-innovators are small and stagnating firms. Product innovators are slightly bigger, rather labor intensive, and endowed with high and increasing levels of general and technical competences. Comprehensive innovators, i.e. firms carrying out both product and process innovation remind in many respects product innovators, but are bigger, and have started to decrease their labor intensity. Finally, process innovators are the largest firms on average. Their labor intensity is significantly lower, and they rely more on research competences than general or technical skills

The post-reform performance of the manufacturing sector in India

Manufacturing played an important part in sustaining India’s economic growth in the 1970s and 1980s. The economic reforms of the early 1990s did not lead to sustained growth of the manufacturing sector. After an acceleration in the mid-1990s, growth slowed in the decade’s second half. The analysis presented in this paper reveals that manufacturing-sector growth in the postreform period is “input driven” rather than “efficiency driven,” with significant levels of technical inefficiency. The paper advocates policies to improve production efficiency by encouraging investment in research and development, technical training for workers, and technology-aided managerial processes

Improving Our Response to Workforce Needs: Recommendations for Reauthorization of the Workforce Investment Act (WIA)

The Chicago Jobs Council (CJC) supports the concept of a system where job seekers of all skill levels and incomes as well as employers of all sizes and industry types can get the workforce development assistance they need. Developing public institutions that are free of categorical eligibility requirements and are alternatively driven by assessment of need is a long-term vision we promote. However, in the first couple of years of Workforce Investment Act (WIA) implementation, we have seen how the nation's most needy job seekers were negatively affected by the mandate that local areas create "universal access" without the necessary resources or capacity to do so. The lack of unified planning by federal and state agencies, the existence of misaligned program requirements and performance measures, entrenchment of state agencies, and significant budget crises at the state level have put WIA's universal access goal out of reach. Rather than supporting effective strategies that help job seekers with the fewest skills access career path employment and supporting needs of employers for qualified workers, time and funds have instead been poured into developing the infrastructure for local one stop systems that often do not meet their needs. Through reauthorization, we urge our congressional leaders to refocus WIA to achieve four primary goals: - Stable, quality employment for the chronically unemployed - Job advancement for low-wage adult workers entering the labor market - Skill attainment by low-income adults with limited education - Access to work experience, literacy and English as a Second Language instruction, high school or General Equivalency Degree (GED) completion, and post secondary education for low-income youth Employers will benefit equally from this refocusing. As baby boomers begin retiring and the global economy continues to produce widening skills and wage gaps, the public workforce development system must address the large population with limited academic, technological and vocational skills. Despite a downward-turned economy, many employers in several sectors such as health care and manufacturing report job openings that have gone unfilled because of a dearth of qualified candidates

Big Reforms but Small Payoffs: Explaining the Weak Record of Growth and Employment in Indian Manufacturing

India has undertaken extensive reforms in its manufacturing sector over the last two decades. However, an acceleration of growth in manufacturing, and a corresponding increase in employment, has eluded India. Why have the reforms not produced the intended results? Using Annual Survey of Industries data at the three digit level for major Indian states, for 1980-2004, we analyze the effects of the reforms that liberalized India’s industrial licensing regime on the performance of registered manufacturing. We find that the performance of the manufacturing sector is heterogeneous across states, as well as across industries. In particular, labor intensive industries and industries dependent on infrastructure have not benefited much from reforms. Industrial performance appears to be contingent on the state specific policy and economic environment. States with relatively inflexible labor regulations have experienced slower growth of labor-intensive industries and slower employment growth overall. Additionally, states with relatively competitive product market regulations and with better infrastructure have experienced larger benefits from reforms.India; Manufacturing; Product Market Deregulation; Labor Laws, Infrastructure

Peeling Back the Onion Competitive Advantage Through People: Test of a Causal Model

Proponents of the resource-based view (RBV) of the firm have identified human resource management (HRM) and human capital as organizational resources that can contribute to sustainable competitive success. A number of empirical studies have documented the relationship between systems of human resource policies and practices and firm performance. The mechanisms by which HRM leads to firm performance, however, remain largely unexplored. In this study, we explore the pathways leading from HRM to firm performance. Specifically, we use structural equation modeling to test a model positing a set of causal relationships between high performance work systems (HPWS), employee retention, workforce productivity and firm market value. Within a set of manufacturing firms, results indicate the primary impact of HPWS on productivity and market value is through its influence on employee retention

National Industrialization Strategies and Firm Level IR/HR Practices: Case Studies in Malaysia and Philippines

[Excerpt] Any economy is characterized by several different patterns of industrial relations (IR)and human resource (HR) practices at the level of the workplace. Often, the patterns of IR/HR practices of firms differ based on the nature of the industry, the nature of technology and production methods used, the specific economic circumstances facing firms, and in some cases the IR/HR philosophy of key individuals. Patterns of IR/HR practices also differ based on economic sectors, with IR/HR practices in the service sector showing differences with patterns in the manufacturing sector

Performance of Indian Manufacturing in the Post Reform Period

Many emerging countries in recent decades have relied on a development strategy that focused primarily on promoting the manufacturing sector and the exports of manufactured goods. However, an acceleration of growth of output and employment in manufacturing has eluded India. This is despite the fact that the central focus of the reforms in the 1980s and 1990s was to unshackle the manufacturing sector. Instead it is the services sector which has grown rapidly, contributing about two-third of GDP growth in recent years. This paper discusses the reasons behind the modest performance of the manufacturing sector in India post reforms. It argues that there are many factors that have inhibited the growth of industrial sector in India. One major factor is the rigid and strict labor laws which have affected the industrial performance in a number of ways, by keeping the size of the establishments small, by not encouraging the production of labor intensive goods, by pushing activities to the unorganized sector, and by keeping the Indian industry uncompetitive. Besides the labor laws other factors that are responsible for the modest performance of the manufacturing sector include difficulty in the acquisition of land for industrial use, inadequate financing and infrastructure, and cumbersome business climate. The paper presents arguments and evidence which shows the importance of these factors.Delicesning, employment, growth, India, infrastructure, labor market regulations, liberalization, manufacturing, reforms, services