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Despite Tough Economy PLM Investments Continue

October 19th, 2009 | 5 Comments | Posted in Finance

Cited: Apparel News

Fashion 2Many apparel manufacturers have decided to proceed with their product lifecycle management (PLM) incentives despite the rough economy.  In fact, a couple of IT providers have been signing on some big clients like Madura Garments in India has installed Minneapolis-based Lawson Software, Lawson Fashion PLM.  This is a web-based software application that helps manage preproduction items.  Labels such as Allen Solly, Van Heusen, and Louis Philippe produced by Madura Garments which has been a challenge for the company in managing brands over a large supply chain.  This helps the company with various collections and across multiple seasons to deal with hundreds or thousands of points of information

In addition, the company has been on a growth track, so it was looking for PLM to help it become more efficient in gaining access to information.

“We are already deriving value from the added capabilities [of Lawson PLM] that help us better manage our products from the time we begin designing an item until it’s ready for the retail shelves,” said Neeraj Pal Singh, Madera’s vice president of information systems.  Up to three weeks have been saved for fabric-sample request cycles, company officials said.

The implementation process also gave Madura an opportunity to re-engineer its business processes and help structure systems to provide better transparency of information across the company’s supply chain. In addition, the new system enables product- development activities to work simultaneously, which helps reduce product-development timelines for new collections and reduce time-to-market, Singh added.

Meanwhile, Campbell, Calif.–based Centric Software Inc. is also making inroads on the PLM front, having signed Rigby, Idaho–based Klim USA to use its Centric 8 PLM and Fashion 1sourcing applications to manage Klim’s technical motorcycle- and snowmobile-gear business.

Klim’s suppliers are spread throughout Canada, Sweden and Asia, and the company is looking to product lifecycle management to put everyone on the same page during the sample-making process, explained Blake Summers, director of information technology at Klim.

“This will enable us to maintain our high-quality standards while reducing costs and bringing products to market more quickly,” he said.  Summers said he was drawn to the collaboration aspects of PLM so that crossed signals between various suppliers would not be an issue during sample-making.

Summer is also said that there is compromising on the quality Klim is known for.  The technical equipment used by some of the best dirt-bike and snowmobile riders in the country is produced by Klim.  This is the reason that the collaboration aspects of PLM for keeping communication open between for suppliers.

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My Take: You have to spend money to make money when you own a business.  It seems that there is always something to help business owners expand and grow in the field of technology.  The downside of this is that they pass that expense on to the consumer.

Any company that can expand through technology without passing that expense on to their customers would probably make more money than they would if they did pass on the expense.  That goes a long with an economic studies theory that if you reduce the retail price of an item you will sell more and make more money in the long run.  However, not many business owners like this theory.

There is one business that could possibly do this and make tons of money doing it.  That is the fashion industry!  One thing is definitely sure; everybody needs clothes, unless I lived in a nudist colony.  Let’s take the most popular piece of clothing in America, cool T shirts.  Everybody wears T-shirts!  Whether they are funny T-shirts, offensive T-shirts or the rude offensive tees somebody is wearing one.

There are so many different T-shirt designs on the market today that people have a large for rioting to choose from and yet the price of a T-shirt is outrageous.  That means even if the price were lower you would still be a little find cool T-shirt designs that you would love.  It also means that you would probably buy more than your normal would.

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US Senior Citizens Returning to Work Due to Recession

October 19th, 2009 | 1 Comment | Posted in Finance

Cited: Reuters and CBS News

Senior Citizens 1Senior Citizens are being forced out of retirement and back to work by the worst US economic recession in 70 years, leaving them fighting for jobs against younger people or risk homelessness, according to a private study.  The study released on September 20 by Experience Works, indicated that out of a group of 2000, over 55 people, 46% needed to find work to keep their homes.  The study also indicated that for almost a year they have been looking for work.

Experience Works is the nation’s largest nonprofit provider of community service, training and employment opportunities for older workers. The study was conducted in the past two months and covered 30 states and Puerto Rico.

“These people are at the age where they understandably thought their job-searching years were behind them,” said Cynthia Metzler, president and CEO of Experience Works.  “But here they are, many in their 60s, 70s and beyond, desperate to find work so they can keep a roof over their heads and food on the table.”

According to the study, many of the participants had no intention of working past their 60th birthday, but had to change plans after being laid off or following the death of a spouse. Over a third of the participants had retired.  Also, 90% of respondents 76 years and older planned to continue working for the next five years.

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Huge medical bills due to a personal illness or that of a spouse were also reasons for coming out of retirement, the survey found. The longest and deepest economic slump since the 1930s is making finding a job for the low-income elderly workers a difficult challenge.

According to Labor Department data, there were 2 million unemployed workers over the age of 55 in August, an increase of 69% from the same period last year. Between August 2008 and August this year, the number of unemployed workers 75 years and older increased by 33%.  The unemployment rate among workers 55 years and older was 6.7% in August after shooting to a record 7.1% in July. The national unemployment rate was at 9.7% in August, the highest in 26 years.

The Experience Works study found that 46% of the elderly jobseekers were sometimes forced to choose between paying rent, buying food or medication. Almost three-quarters believed their age made it harder to compete for jobs with younger workers.Senior Citizens 2

“This study underscores the need to create policies that remove barriers to employment for older workers and provide additional programs and services specifically aimed at helping older people re-enter the work force or remain working,” said Metzler.

For many older Americans, retirement is not a viable option; many are postponing retirement, while others are going back into the work force, driven by personal or financial reasons.  The trend is evident in the number of older workers — the number of people 55 and above in the work force rose to 22.7 million in May, up from 22 million in 2003 and 20.7 million the year before that, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.

The increase in older workers coincides with a shift in employers’ attitudes — while there has long been an aversion in corporate America to hiring seniors, who were deemed expensive or difficult to train, that view is changing somewhat at a time when the government is forecasting a significant labor shortage by the end of the decade.

The AARP estimates that 1-10 Americans age 65 and older lives below the poverty level.  In part, this explains the need to work because of the need of money.  This does not mean that most seniors are poor, they may have limited savings, expensive medications or loss of a spouse that maybe the reason for a lack of funds.

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My Take: I will never understand why people cannot understand that Social Security does not pay enough!  It makes no difference whether it is retirement, disability or widow’s pension; it is never enough to truly live on especially if you have health issues.  They take out $150 a month for Medicare and then Medicare does not pay for everything.

I also do not understand why companies will not hire an older person.  If they are qualified for the position and they have the right amount of experience, it seems that they would be of benefit to the company.  There may be a problem in training because an older person is set in their ways, but that could also highlight problems in the company.  That means the company would improve because of them.

And the reason that Social Security does not provide enough is simply because the cost of living keeps rising and the benefits are only about 75% of what you were earning the last three months of work.  Then those same benefits do not increase as much as they should put the cost of living.  That increase is only about .02% or about $20 a month on average.  It depends on how much you get per month.

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Stocks Highs and Lows Put Wall Street on Seesaw

October 5th, 2009 | No Comments | Posted in Finance

Cited: CNNMoney.com

Stock Market SeesawInvestors are keeping an eye on the housing market, falling dollar and higher commodities as Wall Street rides a seesaw.  The question on everybody’s mind is if Wall Street collapses will panic prevail.  That is the same question they were asking themselves September 15, 2008 when Lehman Brothers fell.

Stocks struggled at the end of September, as strength in global markets and U.S. commodities vied with some investor caution after the recent rally.  The Dow Jones industrial average (INDU) was little changed more than an hour into the session. The S&P 500 (SPX) index added a few points. The NASDAQ composite (COMP) was barely changed.

Stocks were mixed, with only the NASDAQ managing a fresh one-year high, as investors showed some caution after a more than six-month rally.  That hesitation continued, with investors looking to the Federal Reserve meeting, the series of housing reports this week and the Dow’s climb toward 10,000. Although 10,000 is not a key technical level, it is a significant psychological level.

Since bottoming at a 12-year low March 9, the S&P 500 has gained 57.4% and the Dow has gained 49%, as of Monday’s close. After hitting a six-year low, the NASDAQ has gained 68.5%.  Stocks have risen during those 6-1/2 months on signs that the economy is starting to recover — and extraordinary amounts of fiscal and monetary stimulus.

Among early stock movers, financial shares rose, including Dow components American Express (AXP, Fortune 500), Bank of America (BAC, Fortune 500) and JPMorgan Chase (JPM, Fortune 500).  Citigroup (C, Fortune 500) rose after Singapore sovereign wealth fund GIC said it sold half of its stake in the company. GIC had bought a 9% stake in Citigroup at its lows and opted to cash in on the recent market rally to earn $1.6 billion.

Fed: The central bank began its two-day policy meeting Tuesday with an announcement expected Wednesday afternoon. The Fed is expected to hold short-term interest rates unchanged at levels near zero.  Fed chief Ben Bernanke said last week that the recession is likely over, but the labor market still has a long way to go.

Economy: July home prices rose 0.3%, according to a report from the Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) released shortly after the start of trading. That was short of forecasts for a rise of 0.5%, according to Briefing.com survey of economists. Home prices rose a revised 0.1% in June.

World markets: Global markets rallied. In Europe, London’s FTSE 100, France’s CAC 40 and Germany’s DAX all advanced. Asian markets ended higher.Stockmarket Seesaw 2

Forecast: Record low rates hold

Currency and commodities: The dollar fell against the yen and euro, after having advanced for the past few sessions.  The falling greenback lifted dollar-traded commodities such as oil and gold.

U.S. light crude oil for October delivery rose $1.32 to $71.03 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. COMEX gold for December delivery rose $10.90 to $1,015.80 an ounce. Gold closed at a record high of $1,020.20 last week.

Bonds: Treasury prices rose, lowering the yield on the benchmark 10-year note to 3.46% from 3.48% Monday. Treasury prices and yields move in opposite directions.

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My Take: I never was much of a stock market person.  However, I have heard the recent recession compared to the “Great Depression”.  When I heard was that it was almost as bad.  The only difference I can see is that people were not jumping out of windows because of it.

I truly believe that there was in so many greedy people in the financial world, this problem would not have happened.  People like Medoff lied, cheated and stole millions of dollars from people.  There are probably more like him running around, but they have just been lucky enough not to be caught.

One thing is for sure; all those businesses would not need a commercial loan workout if they had not been lied to.  Instead, they would be looking for more commercial real estate loans so they could make more money.  As the saying goes, hindsight is always 20/20.

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