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A Floyd County man is charged with multiple counts of felony drug possession after a raid of his home late Sunday by drug task force agents, reports stated.
According to Floyd County Jail records:
James Edward Salmon, 54, of 31 Surrey Trail, is charged with felony possession of marijuana with intent to sell, valium with intent to sell, possession of xanax with intent to sell, possession of hash with intent to sell, possession of an unidentified controlled substance and possession of all the above drugs.
Rome-Floyd Metro Drug Task Force agents allegedly found the equipment to manufacture marijuana as well as amounts of the above listed drugs.
He is also charged with use of a communication facility during a felony for using e-mail to further the distribution of the controlled substances.
Additionally, he is charged with misdemeanor drugs to be kept in original container and possession of drug related objects.
He remained in jail Monday without bail.
http://romenews-tribune.com/pages/full_story/push?article-Report-+Man+found+with+marijuana+manufacturing+equipment%20&id=3728187-Report-+Man+found+with+marijuana+manufacturing+equipment&instance=home_news
Employers took 2,690 mass layoff actions in August that resulted in the separation of 259,307 workers, seasonally adjusted, as measured by new filings for unemployment insurance benefits during the month, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported on September 23. Each action involved at least 50 persons from a single employer. The number of mass layoff events in August increased by 533 from the prior month, and the number of associated initial claims increased by 52,516. Over the year, the number of mass layoff events increased by 803, and associated initial claims increased by 70,356. Year-to-date mass layoff events (21,184) and initial claims (2,162,202) both recorded program highs through August. In August, 900 mass layoff events were reported in the manufacturing sector, seasonally adjusted, resulting in 93,892 initial claims. Over the month, the number of manufacturing events increased by 279, and associated initial claims increased by 21,626.
During the 21 months from December 2007 through August 2009, the total number of mass layoff events (seasonally adjusted) was 44,669, and the number of initial claims filed (seasonally adjusted) in those events was 4,556,636. (December 2007 was the start of a recession as designated by the National Bureau of Economic Research.)
The national unemployment rate was 9.7 percent in August 2009, seasonally adjusted, up from 9.4 percent the prior month and up from 6.2 percent a year earlier. In August, total nonfarm payroll employment decreased by 216,000 over the month and by 5,830,000 from a year earlier.
Industry Distribution (Not Seasonally Adjusted)
The number of mass layoff events in August was 1,428 on a not seasonally adjusted basis; the number of associated initial claims was 125,024. Average weekly layoff events rose from 285 in August 2008 to 357 in August 2009, and average weekly initial claims increased from 28,000 to 31,256. Seven of the 19 major industry sectors reported program highs in terms of average weekly initial claimants for the month of August: construction; wholesale trade; retail trade; management of companies and enterprises; educational services; arts, entertainment and recreation; and accommodation and food services. (Average weekly analysis mitigates the effect of differing lengths of months.)
The manufacturing sector accounted for 31 percent of all mass layoff events and 33 percent of initial claims filed in August 2009. A year earlier, manufacturing made up 29 percent of events and 37 percent of initial claims. Within manufacturing, transportation equipment comprised the largest number of average weekly claims (2,269) despite experiencing the largest decrease in average weekly initial claims over the year (-1,688) among three-digit NAICS industries. The administrative and waste services sector accounted for 14 percent of mass layoff events and 12 percent of initial claims, down from 15 and 14 percent, respectively, the previous August. Construction accounted for 11 percent of events and 10 percent of initial claims, an increase from 10 percent of events and 7 percent of claims in August 2008.
Of the 10 detailed industries with the largest number of mass layoff initial claims, three reached a series high for August: motorcycle, bicycle and parts manufacturing; warehouse clubs and supercenters; and casino hotels. The industry with the largest number of initial claims was temporary help services (11,533).
Geographic Distribution (Not Seasonally Adjusted)
Among the four census regions, the West registered the highest number of initial claims in August due to mass layoffs (36,897), followed by the Midwest (32,197) and the South (29,486). Average weekly initial claims associated with mass layoffs increased over the year in three of the four regions, with the Northeast experiencing the largest increase (+2,064). In 2009, the Northeast reported its highest August level of average weekly initial claims (6,611) in program history.
Of the nine geographic divisions, the Pacific (30,781) had the highest number of initial claims due to mass layoffs in August, followed by the East North Central (25,962) and the Middle Atlantic (23,491). Seven of the nine divisions experienced over-the-year increases in average weekly initial claims, led by the Middle Atlantic (+1,786). This year, the Middle Atlantic, Mountain and South Atlantic divisions reached program highs for August in terms of average weekly initial claims.
California recorded the highest number of average weekly initial claims in August, with 6,521, even though it had the largest over-the-year decrease in average weekly claims (-704). The over-the-year decrease was largely due to a drop in claims from the administrative and support services industry. The states with the next highest number of average weekly initial claims were New York (2,851), Pennsylvania (2,481) and Florida (1,949). Thirty states and the District of Columbia experienced overthe-year increases in average weekly initial claims, led by Pennsylvania, New York and Illinois. In 2009, eight states reached program highs in average weekly initial claims for the month of August: Alaska, Arizona, Hawaii, Illinois, Nevada, New York, Rhode Island and Wisconsin.
Read the full report and view all of the data tables by clicking on the link below:
http://www.bls.gov/news.release/mmls.nr0.htm
A Sydney service station was cordoned off amid fears of an explosion after drug-making equipment was found in a passing car occupied by a man with bikie gang links, police say.
Specialist police stopped a car driving along Victoria Road at Rozelle about 1pm (AEST) on Tuesday.
“The vehicle was pulled over into a service station on Victoria Road and a search conducted,” police said in a statement.
“That search uncovered a number of items which could be used in the manufacture of prohibited drugs and possibly cause an explosion.
“The area was immediately sealed off as a crime scene …”
A short time later emergency service personnel specialising in hazardous materials attended the scene and declared it safe.
A 43-year-old Ermington man with alleged links to the Finks bikie gang and two South Australian men, aged 47 and 35, were arrested.
The trio was charged with possessing drug manufacturing equipment, while the 47-year-old was also charged over an outstanding warrant.
A subsequent search of the Sydney man’s home allegedly found cash and more drug manufacturing equipment.
http://news.smh.com.au/breaking-news-national/drug-equipment-sparks-explosion-fear-20090923-g2iw.html
SOUTH SAN FRANCISCO — California should explore tax incentives and other measures to keep biotechnology companies like Genentech from moving parts of their operations to other states or countries, those in the industry and lawmakers said Monday.
“We need to hear practical solutions,” state Sen. Mark Wyland, R-Carlsbad, said during a hearing of the Assembly Select Committee on Biotechnology. “We are in a fiscal crisis, and so-called tax breaks are difficult to achieve, but we have to find ways” to help the state’s biotech companies.
The hearing came as South San Francisco-based Genentech, which launched the biotech industry three decades ago, builds a new manufacturing plant near Portland, Ore. — its first such enterprise outside California.
Genentech cited income-tax disparity as the reason for bringing that plant and its 200 high-quality jobs to Oregon, according to the office of Assemblyman Jerry Hill, D-San Mateo, who chairs the committee.
In a similar move, San Diego-based Amylin Pharmaceuticals Inc., having taking advantage of California’s research-and-development tax credits, established a diabetes-treatment manufacturing plant in Ohio because of an eight-year, 75 percent tax break, Hill’s office said.
“Most companies want to stay here,” Andrea Jackson, director of government affairs for Genentech, said during the hearing, which was held at South San Francisco biotech firm Exelixis Inc. “But oftentimes we
can’t afford it. We want to be partners in how we grow our industry. We want to do it responsibly. We want to do it here in California. But we’re feeling a little lonely, to be honest with you.”
Among the ideas from the hearing to keep biotech firms from going out of state is giving them sales-tax breaks on manufacturing equipment, Hill said.
“That’s already done in enterprise zones, but maybe it can be done individually,” he said.
A model that the state could expand on is a business center in San Jose where the layout is ready-made for biotech firms, he said: “It’s all laid out as a complete lab for them to start out without investing in all the equipment.”
The committee is scheduled to conduct other hearings before a bill is possibly introduced by the end of February to encourage biotech firms to stay and grow in California, said Hill, who serves the 19th Assembly District — home to many such companies.
“We want to craft some legislation that could (give incentives) and help an industry that has brought so much to California and to this district,” he said.
http://www.insidebayarea.com/sanmateocountytimes/localnews/ci_13388522
OTTAWA – The Canadian government plans to permanently eliminate all remaining tariffs on imports of machinery and equipment used by manufacturers, offering some relief to businesses pained by a sharp rise in the currency.
A government official, speaking on condition of anonymity, told Reuters that Ottawa would launch public consultations on the planned measure on Friday.
In its January budget, the Conservative government lowered duties on some imported goods used as inputs by manufacturers in sectors such as energy, forestry and food processing. At that time, it said the measures would generate savings of C$440 million ($413 million) for industry over five years.
The government source said the new measures would generate an additional C$250 million to C$300 million in savings, but did not specify over what time period.
Even before the January announcement, almost 90 percent of all such imports entered the country duty-free, according to the government. On Friday, it will commit to dropping the remaining tariffs to zero.
The announcement will come after a key budget vote in Parliament on Friday that is likely to keep the minority Conservative government in power, at least in the near term.
The Conservatives need the support of at least one of the three opposition parties to pass legislation, and the main opposition Liberals have vowed to bring down the government at the first opportunity.
The government may try to fast-track some of its more popular measures to ensure support from the smaller New Democratic Party or the Bloc Quebecois for as long as possible.
The official said the tariff measure is aimed at giving a short-term boost to the beleaguered manufacturing sector, to help them compete globally in the long run.
Exporters have been particularly hurt by the Canadian dollar’s rise of more than 20 percent against the U.S. dollar since hitting a four-year low in March. A strong currency makes their goods less price competitive and reduces gains on foreign exchange.
The Canadian dollar touched an 11-month high of C$1.0591 to the U.S. dollar, or 94.42 U.S. cents, on Thursday.
Exporters have been lobbying the government to soften the blow, either by helping them get credit, offering tax credits for new investments, or other measures.
The Bank of Canada has fretted loudly over the past several weeks that the Canadian dollar’s appreciation could hamper the economic recovery but few believe the bank is ready to formally intervene to prevent the currency from rising further.
Despite the difficult environment, there are signs that manufacturers are slowly regaining their footing after the economic crisis. Factory sales rose 5.5 percent in July, their fastest pace in 11 years, mainly because some auto assembly plants resumed operations after prolonged shutdowns.
http://www.thestar.com/business/article/697348
Italian manufacturers who pursue efficiency through streamlined production processes and energy savings pass value on to customers through lowered costs and timely deliveries.
Forward-looking manufacturers around the world have adopted segments of lean practices. These companies consider an expenditure of resources for any goal other than creation of value for the end user to be wasteful, and thus a target for elimination. From a customer perspective, value is any action or process that a customer would be willing to pay for. Lean attempts to create more value with less work. Efficiency through the optimization of workflow is a theme throughout quality-driven Italian manufacturing facilities.
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According to U.S.-based analyst Julie Fraser of Cambashi Inc., a management and marketing consultancy firm (www.cambashi.com), “Machinery and equipment has two major facets to consider for the customers. First is revenue-generating capacity and capability. Now at this point with the volatile economy, flexibility and quick change-overs are probably more important than pure throughput for some segments. However, machines are valued based on ability to generate revenue, remembering that revenue right now is both products and the information required to meet environmental regulations for the producers. And second is the Total Cost of Ownership (TCO) which might be commonly associated with lean—how to get value from something that has little waste. Managing costs is critical in this economy—think lean.”
A philosophy of lean
OMT BIELLA S.r.l. (www.omt-biella.com) pays close attention to its internal production system in order to supply its customers with products that meet the highest standards of quality and delivery.
Since 1963, the family-run business has designed, built and sold machines and systems used in the opening and blending of textile fibers. All the machines can be linked to create specific systems. Complete solutions are developed to design and build complex and very large systems. Customers, spread across five continents, are characterized by the company as seekers of high-quality machinery, generally demanding and never satisfied with run-of-the-mill equipment.
The production philosophy values the lean manufacturing model, characterized by tools aimed at achieving a pull system in production management. (“Pull” in lean production is a response to the pull, or demand, of the customer.) Concurring with the belief that a reduction of waste leads to an increase in profits, OMT BIELLA embraces lean.
Among their methods is an in-house self-governing laser cutting system that operates on a 24/7 capacity. Operation is also for third parties. It allows OMT BIELLA to obtain, in very short time periods, all the carpentry work necessary for machines designed and constructed according to its technical drawings.
Collaboration and harmony among employees (credited to knowledge-sharing), and the effort made by each employee to maintain a clean, efficient workplace, adhering to the 5S method, represents the best way to prevent errors.
The workplace organization method 5S uses a list of five Japanese words which, transliterated and translated into English, start with the letter S—a mnemonic for a methodology often incorrectly characterized as “standardized cleanup.” But it is more than cleanup. 5S is a philosophy and way of organizing and managing workspace to improve efficiency by eliminating waste, improving flow and reducing process unevenness.
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According to the Japanese interpretation, this is a poka-yoke or foolproof approach. The term means fail-safing or mistake-proofing. Poka-yoke is any mechanism in a lean manufacturing process that helps an operator to avoid (yokeru) mistakes (poka). Its purpose is to eliminate defects by preventing, correcting, or drawing attention to human errors.
During the worldwide economic crisis, it is not easy to level the work load of the production cell (Heijunka), but following guidelines of Kaizen (improvement), OMT BIELLA intends to equip its laser-cutting department with a robot to provide new energy to its already-successful Takt Time system (Takt is the German word for the baton that an orchestra conductor uses to regulate the speed, beat or timing at which musicians play).
Italian machine tool technology equates to lower costs
According to UCIMU-SISEMI PER PRODURRE (www.ucimu.it), the Italian Machine Tools, Robots and Automation Manufacturers’ Association, American users are well aware of the high quality of Italian machine tools. The Association reports that from 2003 to 2008, the number of Italian machine tools exported to the U.S. increased by 44 percent.
The question comes to mind: Are manufacturers becoming more aware of the impact that new machinery technology has on the cost of their products?
Fast-growing ILAPAK Group S.p.A. (www.ilapak.com) manufactures industrial wrapping machinery for primary packaging and specializes in high-quality packaging machinery produced in Nova Milanese and Arezzo, Italy, as well as Lugano, Switzerland.
ILAPAK solutions minimize food manufacturers’ cost-per-pack, whatever the style and level of pack presentation. The company’s emphasis on innovative technology and equipment, great service, low energy and material consumption leads to this goal.
Lean manufacturing, more than just a set of guidelines, becomes the workplace lifestyle in outstanding plants. ILAPAK puts energy-saving features into its machines—greater thermal efficiency of sealing jaws and rollers and energy recuperation systems in motor drives.
Reliability is built in through use of high-quality, commercially available electronic components, a user-friendly HMI to minimize operator error, a control platform capable of web connection to allow remote monitoring and software to predict component failures.
“In the business world it’s the results that count,” says Luciano Sottile, CEO of ILAPAK Group. “ILAPAK only has a future if we can add value to our customers and help them to be successful. Our philosophy of lowest cost per pack encompasses a consistent approach that we are taking to our products, services and organization which has one single objective—to improve the bottom line of our customers’ Profit and Loss accounts.”
50 percent more throughput
The new Delta VacMap flow-wrapper from ILAPAK lets manufacturers produce attractive, high-quality flow-wrap packs that provide the same shelf life as thermoformed packs at lower cost. Usable with all bakery and fresh food products, the patented unit has a 3-in-1 packaging solution—flow-wrap, modified atmosphere (MAP) and VacMap—in one efficient machine to substantially reduce production costs.
The high-performance, horizontal, form, fill and seal (HFFS) flow-wrapper puts vacuum and MAP packaging into one machine. In-line vacuum systems extract trapped pockets of oxygen from inside the product, particularly spongy bakery goods, to maintain freshness.
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This results in a comparable shelf-life to thermoforming but it’s more economical and efficient. Features include high throughput, fast product size changes, ease of use, reduced material and labor costs, fully automatic feeding and high-quality pack presentation. Manufacturers easily switch formats; if requirements change from an ambient product to a one requiring greater shelf life, they can quickly meet that demand and maintain full capacity.
Automatic product feeding means reduced labor. Changeovers are so quick that line disruption is minimal. VacMap achieves up to 50 percent greater throughput than typical thermoforming machines and reduces the cost of packaging material. For higher volume manufacturers, there are enormous financial and environmental benefits.
ILAPAK provides ultrasonic sealing technology on form fill and seal packaging machinery. This results in a molecular bond between thermoplastic materials created by mechanically-generated acoustic waves of specific amplitude and frequency.
Tangible benefits in flexible packaging are improved seal quality, lower energy consumption and reduced down-time, as well as a reduction in product waste.
Saving time, eliminating waste, meeting deadlines and streamlining across the enterprise comprises lean philosophy. As supported by Italian manufacturers, lean concepts change the face of modern manufacturing and create successful businesses.
