Friday, July 25, 2014

The New Switcharoo--Burst of Growth Continues for US Manufacturers



The Commerce Department's Report states that US manufacturing is growing at its most consistent pace. Major job growth in heartland states like Wisconsin, Indiana, and Michigan are coupled with a fledgling apparel and food manufacturing boom in Brooklyn, of all places.  This news and a contribution of 12.5 percent to GDP through 2013 adds to the widespread feeling that American manufacturing has not only recovered from the effects of the Great Recession, but has evolved into a dependent industry that differs from its pre-Recession identity since 1998 is of course very good news.  The numbers are healthy, no matter which way you look at it; 646,000 jobs created since 2010, with over 200,000 more needed to be filled.

In examining why, it's always crucial to look toward China's parallel trends, and it reveals just how joined at the hip (a hip the size of the Pacific Ocean) the two countries are.  Though most recent reports are showing an expansion in manufacturing on the continent, it's telling to see the average worker's wage rose exponentially by 187 percent in the past decade.  The trade-off of creating a middle class consumer society- higher wages- has finally rubbed out the labor advantage Chinese manufacturers enjoyed, to the point that the country is seeing its own outsourcing trend in nearby regions of  Cambodia, Myanmar, and Vietnam.  The shrinking wage discrepancy as well as the effect of automation and sustainability cycles adopted by American manufacturers all make that long supply chain across the Pacific not so cost-efficient anymore.  Not to be forgotten is the contradictory paths the nations' energy scenarios have taken.  China's electricity has risen in costs by 66 percent the past year, while US shale-gas innovation has kept costs contained well below that rate.

It all adds up to one massive role-swap.  US goods become cheaper to buy in China, especially as the yuan rises in value (30 percent since 2004) as the American manufacturing system becomes more efficient and cheaper to remain competitive.  The next decade may see China's middle class mimicking 20th century America's, buying goods produced by a steadily rising American manufacturing industry.  If this seems disheartening to the American worrying that a China with more capital to spend must mean a US with slave labor wages on the supply end, keep in mind China's true expansionist efforts are reflected in the over $14 billion it invested last year in the US.  There are still an abundance of Chinese manufacturers targeting American consumers and setting up factories and production centers all over the US.  The "who leads" argument may sound entertaining on CSNBC or Fox Business, but reality shows a growing interdependence in trade between both nations, which can translate very soon to substantial global growth.

Donal Thoms-Cappello is a freelance writer for Rotor Clip Company.

Tuesday, July 15, 2014

Paralyzed Man Moves His Hand With the Help of Bionics


Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center/Ohio State University Wexner Med
Read more: Bionic Breakthrough
Ian Burkhart last felt his hand move in 2010, before he accidentally dived into a sandbar and was paralyzed from the elbows down.  Severed spinal cords are one of the great mysteries of the medical world; without an electric current flowing through the body, the nervous system is useless, and the spinal cord is so specialized and unique, the body can't regenerate cells that can reactivate it.

However Battelle, a non-profit technology research organization, has come closer than anyone to bypassing this problem.  Nick Annetta, an electrical engineer for the group has worked with Ian to reach a breakthrough in medical as well as manufacturing science: creating a bionic apparatus that sends brain signals to a paralyzed limb, successfully moving it.  From the Washington Post:

"...doctors opened Burkhart’s skull. They crowned his head with a small metal cylinder, attached to bone by screws, and ran a wire between it and the chip they stuck like Velcro to his brain.

....The doctors knew the chip was in the right place to pick up the brain signals. The engineers knew their algorithm was translating his thoughts to movements. They believed the film strips strapped around his forearm, which they called a sleeve, would stimulate his muscles to make those movements a physical reality."

Three times a week, Burkhart would practice online with Battelle experts, concentrating on digital "drills" that were essential visualization exercises.  When it became time to try the tech out, Burkhart was able to visualize his hand opening and closing and with the help of the chip in his brain and the sleeve around his forearm, was able to turn his thoughts into motion.
Technology to send electrical impulses to limbs immobilized by spinal cord injuries is rapidly expanding
This is an astounding breakthrough for so many industries.  The medical world may have found a device that can help victims of spinal cord damage become self-autonomous, decreasing the need for expensive round-the-clock care.  The world of neuroscience has inched even closer to harnessing the miraculous possibilities of the brain, and the digital software world has blurred the lines further between computerized and biological thought.  Firms and investors most certainly should take the results of Mr. Annetta and Mr Burkhart's seriously enough to look at how fast the tech can be refined enough for efficiency and cost-effectiveness.  Although the medical aspects are clearly expensive (brain surgery is not getting fit for a dental retainer), the basic concept for the software is quite simple to reproduce, and the training aspects for the patient can only get better as more is learned.  The doctors involved in the experiment speculate as to the future of bionics, bringing up ideas such as portable smart phone apps that would decode and recode the brain signals, instead of a stationary computer system, or wireless chips that would obviously be less cumbersome in practice.

These are all developments that may be down the road, but take this into account: soon after the initial experiment, Burkhart demonstrated the ability to grab a spoon and release it, without any prompt or drills required.  His brain, and the computer, learned faster than anyone anticipated.

Donal Thoms-Cappello is a freelance writer for Rotor Clip Company.

Thursday, July 3, 2014

Researcher Finds Cheaper Way To Make Nanostructures: Diamonds


All innovations generally center around three principles: making things simpler, making them better in quality, and making the process easy to repeat.

In the ongoing world of nanotechnology, innovation is highly valued.  Moreover, because it's an industry that relies on materials that have to be artificially created on a microscopic scale, there is ample room for innovation in cost-efficient techniques.  Enter Hongyou Fan, a researcher at Sandia National Laboratories, who has received accolades from industry experts for his recently published paper in Nature Communications.  In it, he details a distinct method for creating nanostructures that shun the accepted but complex use of chemicals and embraces basic physics. As Phys.org elaborates:

"The pressure, delivered by two diamond plates tightened by four screws to any controlled setting, shepherds silver nanospheres into any desired volume. Propinquity creates conditions that produce nanorods, nanowires and nanosheets at chosen thicknesses and lengths rather than the one-size-fits-all output of a chemical process, with no environmentally harmful residues." 

If those principles are to be followed, Fan's research has hit all three checkmarks.  Instead of complex chemicals, which not only require time and skill to use, but maintenance and storing as well, Fan has simplified the process to using old fashioned embossing techniques.  Yes, it's never cheap when one of the components are diamonds, but that beats hazardous, chemical by-products any day.  Using this method also provides the opportunity to customize the type of structure, an automatic upgrade in quality over chemical methods.  Finally, though the novelty means it's unrefined, the long-term cost-efficiency of safer ingredients and a template that can be easily made in a generic factory setting is sure to draw interest.

The next step in products will be semi-conducters, and Fan's team is working to develop them as well.  If his work catches on, it could translate into a less expensive way for more investors to jump into a technology only beginning to show its true potential.

Donal Thoms-Cappello is a freelance writer for Rotor Clip Company.