XPost: misc.invest.stocks, alt.politics.economics   
   From: Temp@NoSuchDomain.Info   
      
   Thanks to China, Japanese machine tool sector is booming.   
      
   >   
   > US MACHINE-TOOL SECTOR COLLAPSE SIGNS ECONOMIC DEBACLE   
   >   
   > Posted By: Rosalinda   
   > Date: Sunday, 23 November 2003, 1:16 p.m.   
   >   
   > [source: Walmart Street Journal A1, Timothy Aeppel, Nov. 21]   
   >   
   > "WALMART" STREET JOURNAL FRONT-PAGE ARTICLE HIGHLIGHTS DECIMATION OF U.S.   
   > MACHINE TOOL SECTOR, at the heart of the nation's once-mighty industrial   
   > economy.   
   >   
   > The National Tooling and Machining Association estimates   
   > that 30% of U.S. tool-and-die shops have shut down in just the past three   
   > years, and expects many more to close in the next few years.   
   >   
   > Manufacturers' orders for machine tools have plummeted 63% during 1997-   
   > 2002; and in the first nine months of 2003, have fallen 16%   
   > from the level in the same period last year.   
   >   
   > Machine tool makers produce the metal-cutting and -forming machines   
   > (such as dies and molds), used by manufacturers to make everything from   
   > televisions to cups, from car doors to surgical devices.   
   >   
   > The collapse of the machine tool sector, the Wall Street rag warns,   
   > also endangers national security.   
   >   
   > Unmanned drones and body armor for troops in Iraq,   
   > consist of composite materials made using special molds   
   > and advanced machine tools.   
   >   
   > Ingersoll, which recently declared bankruptcy, was one of only two U.S.   
   > companies that made tools needed to produce components of stealth   
   > aircraft.   
   >   
   > As an example of the destruction, the Journal cites the case of Ernst   
   > Buchmayer, the head of Western Industrial Tooling in Redmond, Washington   
   > state, who is depleting personal savings in order to keep his machine   
   > shop operating.   
   >   
   > He has already slashed more than 50% of his workforce, from 55 workers to   
   > 25. Sales have plunged 70% from their peak in the 1990s   
   > to just over $3 million in 2002, when the company lost $500,000.   
   >   
   > The plunge in machine tool orders reflects factory bankruptcies   
   > and manufacturers' moving of production to countries such as China,   
   > under the paradigm down-shift to a predatory consumer society   
   > dependent on cheap labor overseas.   
   >   
   > Manufacturers are demanding low-cost machine tools,   
   > some under pressure from Wal-Mart.   
   >   
   > As a result, some U.S. toolmakers, Buchmayer notes, are   
   > forming joint ventures with companies in China. Buchmayer's   
   > newest company client, has outsourced manufacturing to Singapore.   
   >   
   > -=-   
   > This message was posted via two or more anonymous remailing services.   
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