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JimPinto.com - Connections for Growth & Success™
No. 190 : 2 September 2005
Keeping an eye on technology futures.
Business commentary - no hidden agendas.
New attitudes, no platitudes.
Contents:
Click on any item to jump directly to that item
New job growth is just service-jobs, no professional jobs
You'd think from recent Bush administration releases and the US
Bureau of Labor Statistics payroll reports that lots of new jobs
are now being created in the US. But the job reports are misleading.
For example, in July 2005 it was reported that 207,000 new jobs
were created. On the surface things looked great. And indeed,
the Administration proudly proclaims a big "win" for the Bush
tax-cuts. However, a review of the composition of these newly
created jobs raises major concerns.
Of the new jobs, 26,000 (about 13%) are tax-supported government
jobs. That leaves 181,000 private-sector jobs. Of these, 177,000
(98%) are in the domestic service sector. Here's the breakdown
of major categories:
- 30,000 food servers and bar tenders
- 28,000 health care and social assistance
- 12,000 real estate jobs
- 6,000 credit intermediation
- 8,000 transit and ground passenger transportation
- 50,000 retail trade
- 8,000 wholesale trade
- 7,000 in construction - mostly filled by Mexicans immigrants
None of these jobs produces a tradable good or service that can be
exported, or even serve as an import substitute to help reduce the
massive and growing US trade deficit. The US economy is employing
people to sell things, to move people around, and to serve fast food
and alcoholic beverages. The products may have American brand names,
but they are mainly made offshore. For example, 70% of Wal-Mart's
goods are made in China.
Where are the jobs for the 65,000 engineers the US graduates each
year? Where are the jobs for the physics, chemistry, and math majors?
Who needs a university degree to wait tables and serve drinks,
to build houses, to work as hospital orderlies, bus drivers,
and sales clerks? What is the point of higher education when
the job opportunities in the economy don't require it?
These questions seem to be too difficult for the politicians and
the media. Instead, what we are told is: "Last month the US economy
created 207,000 jobs."
In the 21st century job growth in the US economy has consistently
reflected that of a Third World country - low productivity domestic
services jobs. This goes on month after month and no one seems to
notice.
This item is summarized from an excellent article by Paul Craig
Roberts in the political newsmagazine "Counterpunch".
Watching the Economy Crumble
The future of jobs and employment
Are jobs in the 'New Economy' different?
Return to the TOP
Wireless in industrial automation
You may know Frank Williams, previously VP Marketing and then
President of Action Instruments - the company I founded in San Diego,
now part of Eurotherm and Invensys.
Well, Frank is now focused on a hot new technology as Vice President
with ELPRO Technologies (based in Australia), a leader in industrial
wireless solutions. He is responsible for Marketing & Sales and
business growth for ELPRO in North America, and is in the process of
establishing a North American HQ for ELPRO in San Diego, California.
You might like to read Frank Williams' article on wireless security
in the August 2005 issue of InTech magazine.
Graham Moss, President of Elpro Technologies also wrote an excellent
article in the July 2005 issue of InTech. He discusses differences
in wireless technology, where it should be applied, and where it
shouldn't. Here are key points:
- Radio frequency - radio physics & performance differences.
- Radio power - FCC license-free bands can use 1 watt of RF power
- One-way vs. two-way devices
- Repeater functionality
- Expandability
- Security - The openness of wireless is a growing concern
- Wireless future - Significant growth arena
Hesh Kagan of Invensys is currently President of WINA - the Wireless
Industrial Networking Alliance. Hesh wrote the introduction to
Part 3 of my new book, "Pinto's Points" - which deals with Wireless,
Nanotech and Robotics.
If you're interested in wireless products for industrial automation,
you might wish to join WINA (web link below).
Intech July 2005 - What's what in wireless automation
Wireless Industrial Networking Alliance (WINA):
Elpro Technologies website
Frank Williams article, Intech Aug. 2005
Be vigilant - Don't make a hacker's job easy
Return to the TOP
Dick Morley involvement with ISA
I'm happy to let you know that ISA President Don Zee and Secretary
(next year's President elect) Ken Baker, met with Dick Morley this
week at Dick's barn in New Hampshire, to see how ISA could get Dick
involved with ISA. While no major changes were discussed, several
significant strategic and tactical shifts were outlined.
Dick Morley is acclaimed for his lateral-thinking abilities, his
"outside the box" ideas and solutions, his ability to solve problems
directly and simply. He has a gift to cut through all the BS and get
to the heart of things: Where are we now? Where do we wish to go?
How best to get there?
As Chairman of NCMS (the National Center for Manufacturing Sciences)
Dick Morley already has results-orientated experience with turning
around an organization of this type. It appears likely that he will
get Rich Pearson (President of NCMS) involved with ISA as well.
Their combined experience at NCMS will surely be useful in
strengthening ISA membership benefits and global outlook.
The discussions between ISA and Dick Morley are expected to continue
in the near future. He will be visiting ISA HQ in North Carolina
within the next few weeks, to meet with some of the staff. And he
expects to be involved in discussions with all the ISA Executive Board
members and ISA section Presidents at ISA Expo in Chicago, Oct. 2005.
Hey, this news is fresh - indeed, I had to beat Dick to a pulp just
to get these few tasty crumbs......
JimPinto.com eNews, Aug. 24 2005 - ISA at the crossroads
Automation World, August 2005 - ISA at the Crossroads
Return to the TOP
Pinto's Points - How to win in the automation business
Hey, please allow me this excitement about my new book - the
very first copy just came in. Having seen only e-copies till
now, it's an exciting moment to see the first actual paper copy.
It looks great, I'm delighted, and I think you'll like it!
"Pinto's Points: How to win in the automation business" covers
management topics, globalization, sales and marketing, technology
trends and futures, and far-out technology visions - and, of course,
some of my poetry. There are 174 "points" in 6 different parts,
each introduced by an industry guru.
The book just came in from the printer this week and is now ready
for immediate shipment on the ISA website, Amazon.com and other
bookstores. Websites such as Automation.com
and The Readout Instrumentation Signpost
in Ireland will soon be carrying it too. You can order your own autographed
copy NOW (web link below).
If you're a big-chief in your company, you might like to order
25 or 50 copies to distribute internally, or award as prizes.
If you sell books, ISA has good quantity discounts available:
- 10-25 books - 20% discount
- 26-50 - 25%
- 51-100 - 30%
- More than 100 - contact ISA
Contact Lois Ferson at ISA: LFerson@isa.org
After my recent announcement, "Pinto's Points" has already sold
over 250 pre-release copies. Those of you who already ordered -
your books should be going out early next week (Sept. 5 2005),
US Priority Mail. (Foreign orders, Global Priority Mail).
I'm experimenting with eSales; if you haven't already bought
an autographed copy, please click on the link below.
You know, it's likely that you won't read this 270-page book at once
- it's not a thriller. But it does have lots of points that take up
a page, or less - so it's like a "bathroom reader". After you've had
your initial read, rather than letting it gather dust on your
bookshelf, you might consider leaving it near your toilet...
Buy an autographed copy of "Pinto's Points":
"Pinto's Points" - Read the complete Table of Contents
Buy "Pinto's Points" from Amazon.com
Buy "Pinto's Points" directly from ISA Online
Buy a "Pinto book bundle" (Points & Unplugged) from Automation.com
Return to the TOP
Steve Jobs - you've got to do what you love
These are excerpts from the Stanford University commencement address
by Steve Jobs, CEO of Apple Computer and of Pixar Animation Studios,
delivered on June 12, 2005.
"I was lucky - I found what I loved to do early in life. Woz and
I started Apple in my parents garage when I was 20. We worked hard,
and in 10 years Apple had grown from just the two of us in a garage
into a $2 billion company with over 4000 employees. We had just
released our finest creation - the Macintosh - a year earlier, and
I had just turned 30. And then I got fired. How can you get fired
from a company you started? Well, as Apple grew we hired someone
who I thought was very talented to run the company with me, and
for the first year or so things went well. But then our visions
of the future began to diverge and eventually we had a falling out.
When we did, our Board of Directors sided with him. So at 30
I was out. And very publicly out. What had been the focus of
my entire adult life was gone, and it was devastating.
"I really didn't know what to do for a few months. I felt that
I had let the previous generation of entrepreneurs down - that
I had dropped the baton as it was being passed to me. I tried
to apologize for screwing up so badly. I was a very public
failure, and I even thought about running away from the valley.
But something slowly began to dawn on me - I still loved what
I did. The turn of events at Apple had not changed that one bit.
I had been rejected, but I was still in love. And so I decided
to start over.
"I didn't see it then, but it turned out that getting fired from
Apple was the best thing that could have ever happened to me.
The heaviness of being successful was replaced by the lightness
of being a beginner again, less sure about everything. It freed
me to enter one of the most creative periods of my life.
"During the next five years, I started a company named NeXT,
and another called Pixar. Pixar went on to create the worlds
first computer animated feature film, Toy Story, and is now
the most successful animation studio in the world. In a remarkable
turn of events, Apple bought NeXT, I retuned to Apple, and the
technology we developed at NeXT is at the heart of Apple's
current renaissance.
"I'm pretty sure none of this would have happened if I hadn't been
fired from Apple. It was awful tasting medicine, but I guess the
patient needed it. Sometimes life hits you in the head with a brick.
Don't lose faith. I'm convinced that the only thing that kept me
going was that I loved what I did. You've got to find what you love.
Your work is going to fill a large part of your life, and the only
way to be truly satisfied is to do what you believe is great work.
And the only way to do great work is to love what you do.
"If you haven't found it yet, keep looking. Don't settle. As with
all matters of the heart, you'll know when you find it. And, like
any great relationship, it just gets better and better as the years
roll on. So keep looking until you find it. Don't settle."
This was a commencement address at prestigious Stanford University,
by a college dropout. Steve Jobs told 3 stories of his life; this
(above) was just one. The other two were about "connecting the dots"
and about his being diagnosed with cancer. Read his complete speech
(web link below)
Steve Jobs' Complete Stanford Commencement Address
Return to the TOP
eFeedback
Ron Liebis [r.liebis@verizon.net] looks at energy from a different
perspective:
"Just some thoughts on the price of oil. To my mind the price
of a barrel of oil is dependant on the price of the products
that can be made from that barrel. Since the US is mainly dependant
upon gasoline for transportation fuel, it's the price of gasoline
that moves the price of oil.
"It would not surprise me were we to see some individual creative
solutions emerging from the recent price increases in gasoline.
The real creative burst in information processing and electronic
technology started when the computer power became distributed on
the individual level rather than remaining centralized.
"What would permit the same economic and technological creativity
in regard to gasoline? I think it might be the emergence of
retrofits to auto engines that would permit them to use a number
of different types of fuel rather than only gasoline.
"I don't expect the technology to initially emerge from Detroit
but rather from China, India, Argentina and Brazil and possibly
some small US auto parts manufacturers. The technology exists and
is operating on millions of cars worldwide. Passenger cars are
being fueled by combinations of gasoline, natural gas, ethanol.
Diesel engines are operating on the aforementioned fuels in
addition to any type of vegetable oil.
"If the possibility existed of using multiple type fuels in
passenger cars in the US both the supply and the demand side
of the price of transportation fuels in the US would change.
"Pie in the sky thinking? No- GM, Ford, and all the other auto
manufacturers have been providing multi-fuel type engines for
years in Latin America.
"The multi-fuel auto engines would permit bypassing the time and
'NIMBY' (Not In My Backyard) bottleneck of refinery construction
at a much lower cost. It would also change the strategic importance
of oil. With over 230,000,000 million vehicles in the US
retrofitting might be the easiest solution to our energy problem.
But it might take a higher price of gasoline to overcome inertia.
"It would be nice if we could start some sort of 'groundswell' that
would lead to a free market and technologically creative solutions
to the price of energy."
Return to the TOP
Shreesha Chandra [Shreesha.Chandra@sg.yokogawa.com] provides some
insights on the competitive spirit in India:
"One of the interesting issues why Indians (may be Chinese) work
harder and longer hours is mainly due to the competitive environment
one grows up with.
"In India, it starts at a very young age, where even getting
admission to the preferred school means getting you and the child
interviewed! If the child is not smart enough, he/she may not get
the admission. This forces the child to work harder to bring the
smile of satisfaction on their parent's faces.
"This saga continues for college admissions and the competitive
courses for professional colleges. A professional degree is
respected by society as a gateway to better earnings and lifestyle.
"This spirit of competition thru out all walks of life cycle, makes
an average Indian deal with all kinds of adversity with greater
sense of determination, improved skill set and harder work culture.
"Another important element of growth in India is empowerment of
women: When women and girls prosper, communities thrive, and when
communities thrive, the world becomes a better place for everyone.
"Many members of the fairer sex is getting into professional degree,
allowed to work in BPO industries, held in high regards
to dedication and work output. This has set an irreversible
trend of 'Born to Win' approach among Indians.
"Lastly, despite whatever is said, world is round after all!
The business focus is once again moving from the Atlantic
to the Pacific to the Indian Ocean regions."
Return to the TOP
Andrew Bond [andrew@abpubs.demon.co.uk] gave us this update regarding
Invensys' ex-CEO Rick Haythornthwaite's new job:
"I found the following on the relevant government web site when
the post was advertised back in June:
"The time commitment for the appointment will be at least one
and a half days per week, but the Chair will need to be able
to make him/herself available on a flexible basis according
to need. The position is unpaid, but reasonable expenses are
payable to cover travel, subsistence and care costs."
"So why would he want to do it? Well, you've lived long enough
in the UK and the British Commonwealth, even Empire, to know how
these things work. After a few months in the job, probably in the
New Year's Honors next January 1st - he'll become Sir Rick
Haythornthwaite and if he adds a few more similar unpaid jobs
within a year or two more it will be 'Lord Haythornthwaite of
Wherever' - provided he keeps his nose clean and makes sure he has
friends on both sides of the political divide, just in case there's
a change of government. Then he'll be able to sit in the House of
Lords alongside his old chum Lord Marshall of Knightsbridge!
"Jim, you see what you could have achieved if you had stayed
in England? Sir James, and then Lord Pinto of Tonbridge.... "
Return to the TOP
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