Best Practices | Manufacturing Business Technology

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Five Manufacturing Revenue Growth Actions for 2020

As you move forward in 2020, there are five “Do No Harm” actions that every manufacturing leader should take to grow revenue.

Abigail Disney, granddaughter of Walt Disney Co. co-founder Roy Disney, speaks with reporters at the Capitol in Sacramento, Calif., Wednesday, Jan. 15, 2020. Disney testified before state lawmakers in support of a bill that would raise taxes on some of the country's largest corporations. The size of the tax increase would depend on the gap between what a company pays its CEO versus the average salary for employees. The larger the gap, the higher the tax increase.

California Targets Big Pay Gaps

The size of a new tax increase for large corporations would depend on how much its highest-paid executive makes compared to its employees.

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GM: 1,350 Temps to get Full-Time Jobs

The workers got a path to full-time status in contract negotiations between the United Auto Workers union and the company.

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Want to Sell on Amazon? Weigh the Pros, Cons

Amazon provides small businesses many benefits, but the costs can be hard for some to absorb.

Volvo Worker Allegedly Fired for Not Being Swedish

The only suggestion for how he could improve his job performance was to “become more Swedish in his interactions with coworkers,” the lawsuit said.

An emergency alert issued by the Canadian province of Ontario reporting an unspecified “incident” at a nuclear plant is shown on a smartphone Sunday, Jan. 12, 2020. Ontario Power Generation later sent a message saying the alert “was sent in error.'

Officials Accidentally Push Nuke Alert

A cellphone alert warned citizens of an “incident” at a nuclear plant just east of Toronto, but were later told it was a mistake.

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Labor Dept. Clarifies 'Joint Employer'

The issue mostly affects franchise businesses, but also firms that have outsourced services such as cleaning and maintenance.

In this Jan. 30, 2019, file photo, Insys Therapeutics founder John Kapoor leaves federal court in Boston. Kapoor and former top employees of the pharmaceutical company are facing a reckoning for their role in a bribery scheme that prosecutors say boosted sales of a powerful, highly addictive painkiller and helped fuel the national opioid epidemic.Starting Monday, Jan. 13, 2020, seven people who worked for Insys Therapeutics will appear in Boston to be sentenced by a federal judge.

Ex-Drug Co. Execs Face Reckoning

Prosecutors say officials paid millions of dollars in bribes to doctors so they would overprescribe Subsys, a fentanyl-based oral spray.

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Water Producer to Pay $5M Over Illegal Waste

The maker of Crystal Geyser was accused of discharging wastewater with high levels of arsenic.

WSJ Sells Dumpster Food on Amazon

One expert says there's 'absolutely nothing' preventing 3rd party sellers from listing literal garbage.

Employees and contractors watch as the core stage of NASA's Space Launch System rocket, that will be used for the Artemis 1 Mission, is moved to the Pegasus barge, at the NASA Michoud Assembly Facility where it was built, in New Orleans, Wednesday, Jan. 8, 2020. It will be transported to NASA's Stennis Space Center in Mississippi for its green run test.

Rocket Part Ferried on Mississippi

A huge component of a new rocket system was wheeled slowly from a New Orleans spacecraft factory on Wednesday to a barge that will float it up the Mississippi River for testing.

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Salvage Co. to Extract Capsized Ship

The ship, roughly the size of a 70-story office building, has sat overturned in the sound for four months.

In this Nov. 24, 2019, photo, a saleswoman talks about a Tesla Model 3 car at a Tesla showroom in Hangzhou in eastern China's Zhejiang Province. Tesla's Shanghai factory delivered its first cars to customers Monday, Jan. 6, 2020, and chief executive Elon Musk said the electric automaker plans to set up a design center in China to create a model for worldwide sales.

Tesla Delivers First Chinese-made Model 3

Producing in China insulates Tesla from possible duty increases on imported U.S.-made vehicles from Beijing's tariff war with Washington.

In this July 1, 2013, file photo, gas emissions rises from a coal-burning power plant in Colstrip, Mont. One of the largest coal-fired power plants in the western U.S. will close two of its four units by Saturday, Jan. 4, 2020, as the Montana facility edges toward an eventual total shutdown.

Montana Coal Plant Closing Two Units

The plant employs about 300 people and is the main driver of the economy for the surrounding town of Colstrip, which has about 2,300 people.

In this July 18, 2019 file photo, speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi joins fellow Democrats and activists seeking better pay as the House approved legislation to raise the federal minimum wage for the first time in a decade — to $15 an hour, at the Capitol in Washington.

2020 Brings Higher Labor Costs for Small Biz

As of Jan. 1, there are higher minimum wages in a quarter of the states, and new federal overtime rules, along with several regional factors.

In this Feb. 7, 2018, file photo, former Uber CEO Travis Kalanick leaves federal court in San Francisco. Former Uber CEO Kalanick will resign from the company's board next week, effectively severing ties with the company he co-founded a decade ago.

Uber's Ex-CEO Exits Board

Company co-founder Travis Kalanick was ousted as CEO in the summer of 2017 with the company mired in numerous lawsuits.

In this Tuesday, Nov. 26, 2019, photo shows a Gucci gown on display in The Vault at the Saks Fifth Avenue Flagship in New York. Millennials and Generation Z accounted for 47% of luxury consumers in 2018 and for 33% of all luxury sales worldwide in 2018, according to a study by consulting firm Bain & Co. Together, however, they contributed to virtually all of the market's growth, compared with 85% in 2017.

Luxury Stores Adapt to Changing Shopper

For luxury department stores that once had a lock on where the well-heeled could shop, online competition has forced them to reimagine their approach.

Metal Container Supplier Fined Nearly $200K

OSHA cited Wright Metal Products Crates for exposing employees to amputation, chemical and other safety hazards at a worksite in Lavonia, GA.

Startup Fires CEO Over Expense Reports

Turvo’s board accused co-founder Eric Gilmore of expensing $76K at strip clubs over a three-year span.

More Mfg Workers Have Degrees

40 percent of manufacturing workers reportedly now possess a college degree, compared to 20 percent in the early 1990s.

This undated self-made photo provided by Nancy Glynn shows Glynn, of Manchester, N.H., with her son Hunter. Glynn works for several non-profits, including MomsRising, a group that advocates for paid parental leave and other policies. As a waitress, she belonged to the group least likely to have paid parental leave: Part-time workers.

Most Workers Still Lack Paid Leave

Just 9% of wage earners in the bottom 25% have access to paid family leave.

QVC Founder Joseph Segel Dead at 88

His ideas 'changed the way the world shops.”

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Manufacturing 2020: 3 Major Predictions

The technologies and strategies that will have the greatest impact on U.S. manufacturing in the coming year.

DuPont Wants Chemours Suit Dropped

DuPont's attorney rejected the notion that DuPont deliberately shifted hundreds of millions of dollars in environmental liabilities to it.