My last column in February targeted some politico/economic factors that could affect the global and domestic forging industry through 2020. What wasn’t on that list was any mention of COVID-19, the virus-induced petroleum price war between Saudi Arabia and Russia and the U.S. stock exchanges plummeting toward the earth’s molten core.

With the new year freshly underway, it seems a good time to gaze in the crystal ball and consider what trends will likely impact the climate for manufacturing in the U.S. and abroad during this year.

Employee engagement is quite the buzzword in today’s society. As leaders, we know it is important, but do we really understand how to engage our employees?

Welcome to the inaugural installment of this new column in FORGE. It will be dedicated to the financial issues facing manufacturing businesses, providing guidance on financial matters to those who may not have a dedicated CFO on staff and providing additional financial insight to those who do.

As was reported in this column in October 2019, the National Safety Council reports that Americans became more likely to die from an accidental opioid overdose than from a motor vehicle crash at some point during the past three years.

According to Wikipedia, in 1982 Carnegie Mellon University of Pittsburgh installed a Coke machine in one of its buildings.

The National Safety Council reports that at some point during the past three years Americans became more likely to die from an accidental opioid overdose than from a motor vehicle crash.

On March 16, 1926, Professor Robert H. Goddard was scurrying around a snow-covered field in Worcester, Mass. He was preparing to ignite a small rocket assembly mounted on a metal-framed “launch pad.”

The U.S. Labor Department reports a national unemployment rate of 3.6% for the latest available statistics (May 2019).

In 1956, there was a workshop at Dartmouth College attended by scientists from industry and academia.