Monday Manufacturing Round-Up,

As we get into the second week of April, spring continues to progress as things clear up out here on the west coast. Three main sporting events also mark this week as a big one with both the men’s and women’s collegiate basketball championships, and the Masters golf tournament wrapping up the week. The early days of spring also signify the beginning of the home buying season. There are plenty out there that believe this is going to be a good year for home-sellers, and is helping in the overall optimism for the economy:

• Housing Wire is spreading the optimism and joy of home-sellers for the upcoming spring and summers seasons. Overall optimism about receiving a mortgage, and job stability are the two biggest reasons for the optimism.
• With the optimism of potential home-buyers, the NAHB index is on the upward trend. The NAHB sites an 88 rating nationwide, meaning that with the combination of more steady employment and housing availability, the country is running at 88 percent of a regular market.
• Along with the housing market in the US, the beer industry in Haiti got some recent good news. Heineken announced a $100 million investment into the facilities that make the lager, Prestige. The investment includes the construction of another 24,000 plus square-foot production plant.
• This could be huge for those of you constantly in need of charging your phone, as an Israeli start up claims to have a phone charger that charges your phone in 30-seconds. Too good to believe? There’s a link to a video of an example of their product in action.
• A child seat buckle manufacturer is recalling 1.3 million child seat buckles, due to potential difficulty in detaching in the case of an emergency. While there have been no injuries attributed to the buckles, Evenflo is taking no chances.

That’s it for this Monday. Here’s to a productive start to your week.