Feature Article

FPC advisory: Manufacturers need to plan now for 76 million boomer retirements

New York-based personnel consultancy FPC says manufacturers are ill prepared for the the massive baby boomer retirement wave expected in the next five years. "The mass retirement wouldn't be so bad if there were enough people coming into the workforce," says Ron Herzog, CEO and president, FPC.
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A slap in the wallet: EU imposes record fine for Microsoft’s "unfair benefits"

The European Union hit Microsoft with an 899-million euro (1.34 billion U.S. dollars) fine on Wednesday, alleging that the company has ignored the EU’s long-standing request to provide competitors key software at a fair price.
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Group Outlook: Raw materials, energy expenses are top of mind for SMEs

Chicago-based Prime Advantage, a buying consortium for small and midsize enterprises, says costs for raw materials and energy have been the top concerns of manufacturing executives in this sector during the early part of 2008.
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Integration on demand: Crossgate/SAP B2B connectivity yields 16 deals in first quarter

Crossgate AG, which offers business-to-business (B2B) integration and EDI services, is seeing strong response to its recently announced B2B 360 Services for use with SAP solutions, including the Business Ready Network solution for which 16 end users already are reaping the benefits.
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