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People

Anne Conroy was named president of the Dutchess County Economic Development Corp., a nonprofit agency in New York.

People

Kansas Technology Enterprise Corp. named Trish Costello as its newest Entrepreneur in Residence.

People

The U.S. Senate confirmed Robert Cresanti as the Department of Commerce's undersecretary for technology, succeeding Phil Bond as head of the Technology Administration.

People

Krisztina Holly was named executive director of the University of Southern California's Mark and Mary Stevens Institute for Technology Entrepreneurship and Commercialization.

People

President Bush selected Idaho Gov. Dirk Kempthorne to replace Gale Norton as secretary of the Department of Interior.

People

Thad LeVar was appointed deputy director of the Utah Department of Commerce. LeVar replaces Jason Perry, who was named director of the Utah Governor's Office of Economic Development (GOED). Richard Bradford, the former director of GOED, retired from state government after 13 years of service.

People

Georgia Gov. Sonny Perdue appointed Debra Lyons to lead the newly created Office of Workforce Development.

People

Anthony Martoccia was appointed associate deputy administrator for the U.S. Small Business Administration's Office of Government Contracting and Business Development.

People

Sally Stroup, assistant secretary for postsecondary education for the U.S. Department of Education, is stepping down to pursue other interests.

People

The Ohio Business Alliance for Higher Education and the Economy named Reginald Wilkinson to serve as its executive director.

NAM Report Identifies Challenges for Small and Medium Manufacturers in 21st Century Economy

Innovation, flexibility, speed to market, and closeness to the customer are the common characteristics shared by successful small and medium manufacturers (SMMs), says a new report from the National Association of Manufacturers (NAM). The report reveals 15 best practices that are followed by successful SMMs and identifies challenges faced by manufacturers in an increasingly competitive global marketplace.

The Future Success of Small and Medium Manufacturers: Challenges and Policy Issues is a follow-up to a 2001 report on the importance of SMMs during the height of the 1990s prosperity boom. Since that time, a major recession has occurred causing many shifts in the manufacturing industry.

Useful Stats: Value-added Manufacturing by State, 2001-2004

The U.S. Census Bureau recently released Geographic Area Statistics: 2004, a report that details manufacturing statistics collected from the 2004 Annual Survey of Manufactures (ASM). The report provides data on the number of all manufacturing employees, number of production workers, all employees payroll, value-added by manufactures, cost of materials, and value of shipments by state. The report also includes data by industry groups, including food, textiles, lumber, fuel, computers and transportation equipment.

Using Bureau data, SSTI has prepared a table showing the state rankings for the percent change between 2001-2004 for value-added by manufacture, value of shipments, and average value added per employee. The total value-added by U.S. manufacturers increased by 9.28 percent over the four years. Nationally, the average value-added per employee also increased by 29.68 percent.