Monday Manufacturing Round-Up

Heading into the last day of the month, and the last second stretch to finish up tax filings, accountants across the country are making their final push to make it through another busy season. As for the rest of the country, job creation numbers have looked good so far in this first quarter, but some say that the job numbers aren’t the biggest determinant of a recovered economy. On to the links:

• Builder Online has a handful of graphs and stats on the generational breakdown of recent home buyers and sellers. Generation Y comes in as the largest share of the home buyers market at 31%.
• Manufacturing.net takes a look at the growing trend of BYOD, or, the Bring Your Own Device trend in manufacturing operations. The article notes the benefits and potential risks in allowing employees to bring their own mobile devices to help them with their daily tasks.
• USA Today has a brief on the lack of growth with household incomes. While unemployment is dropping, an economy doesn’t fully heal until average household incomes return to normal, the article states.
• Forbes Online takes a look at HP’s attempt to enter the 3D printing market. Forbes discusses HP’s current market share in the 2D printing industry, and why it wants to go after the 3D market.
• And in potential job creation news, Talk Business Arkansas has an article breaking down retail giant Wal-Mart’s desire to start selling patio furniture sourced from the US. The article states that the main reasons behind this change are the high freight charges involved from bringing big items from outside of the country, and an effort to reduce the company’s carbon footprint.

There are some of the biggest headlines in manufacturing for March 31st, 2014. Here’s to a productive start to your week!