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Report: American Manufacturing is Still Alive and Well

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According to a report from Ball State’s Center for Business and Economic Research (CBER) and Conexus Indiana, the American manufacturing industry is hardly in the downward spiral that some have projected — and they anticipate openings for new manufacturing jobs will range from 80,000 to 150,000 per year over the next 10 years.

“There are major misunderstandings among the public and the media about the manufacturing sector,” said Michael Hicks, director of CBER and the George and Frances Ball Distinguished Professor of Economics at Ball State. “The U.S. manufacturing base is not in decline, and we have recovered from the recession. Nor are jobs being outsourced because American manufacturing can’t compete internationally. Moreover, new jobs in manufacturing pay well above the average wage.”

The study notes that the Great Recession had lost its stranglehold by 2014, when U.S. manufacturers attained record levels of production.

“Changes in productivity, domestic demand and foreign trade all impact manufacturing employment in the U.S.,” Hicks said, “and it’s important to clarify those impacts in order to understand what is happening in the manufacturing and logistics industries.”

The study also found that:
• More than 87 percent of manufacturing job losses are due to productivity gains, including better supply chains, more capital investment and advanced technology.
• Only 4 percent of manufacturing jobs have been lost to international trade (also known as outsourcing) since 2000.
• Since the end of the Great Recession in 2009, the economy has added 750,000 manufacturing jobs.
• The biggest job losses occurred in low productivity sectors with low transportation costs.

The report points out baby boom generation retirees are leaving behind good, well-paying jobs in those sectors, and younger workers are filling those jobs at an unprecedented rate. Recent new hire salaries averaged $20.06 per hour — almost $42,000 a year. As millennials move into the workforce, wage gaps between new and existing jobs are primarily age- and tenure-related, he said.

The report, “The Myth and the Reality of Manufacturing in America,” and the individual state report cards may be found online.

Ball State Communications Program Gets Even Better with Studio Upgrade

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CA33pVcU0AACwpVBall State’s reputation for offering top shelf communications curricula is impressive — especially when it comes to sports programming. The school just issued a release on its new Unified Media Lab (UML), and it looks like another state of the art addition to this tremendous program:

Ball State University students are producing a wide range of programing in the newly opened Video News Studio, the final piece of the $4 million Unified Media Lab (UML).

With many of the same features found in the newest professional broadcast studios, the Video News Studio includes green screen technology, animated graphics and other special effects, as well as an audio production booth for radio programming and podcasts.

Ball State President Paul W. Ferguson said the new studio within UML makes the university a national model in the educational experience for future journalists and strategic communicators.

During his recent State of the University address, Ferguson unveiled the Centennial Commitment strategic plan, which includes the three major themes of being student centered, community engaged and a model 21st century public research university. Entrepreneurial learning is a hallmark, built upon such experiences as those available in the Unified Media Lab and nearby facilities.

“This facility will enhance the education of not only journalists but the next generation of communication professionals,” Ferguson said. “Collaboration, problem-solving and critical thinking skills are essential for today’s job market, and this Unified Media Lab provides our students with more opportunities that will make them even more prepared for the ever-changing workplace.”

More than an innovative facility, the UML provides a centralized and immersive newsroom to educate future journalists in solid writing, reporting and storytelling through collaborative, cross-platform media organizations. It offers nearly 50 writing and editing stations for student-run media outlets. There is also a digital news desk to coordinate collaboration and classroom seating for an immersive learning experience.

“This newly completed lab is just part of a combination of integrated course work, sophisticated facilities, engaged faculty and immersive experiences to prepare today’s journalists for competitive and rapidly changing industries,” said Roger Lavery, dean of Ball State’s College of Communication, Information, and Media (CCIM).

Student media operate independently and as cross-platform production teams. There are a printed newspaper, a printed magazine, daily television news programming, a radio station as well as online properties for each of these. The students also provide content for a central news website, Ball State Daily, and an app that offers breaking news, feature stories, commentary and a variety of multimedia content about campus life and surrounding communities.

Adjacent to UML, the Unified Media Advertising Sales and Creative Suite houses a team learning about advertising, sales and how to harness data to grow audiences and drive results. Student sales executives work with real clients, close deals and produce results.

Along the same corridor on the second floor of the Art and Journalism Building, the recently opened Holden Strategic Communications Center fosters a similar collaborative environment for public relations and advertising students. It is the home of two student-run agencies, Cardinal Communications and Adapt, as well as the student chapters of the Public Relations Student Society of America and the American Advertising Federation.

Ball State’s Namesakes Subjects of New Documentary to Premiere Sept. 25

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Ball State University has become a state institution with quite a reputation for producing very skilled graduates. But you might not know much about its history. A group of students hope to remedy that with a new film project. Ball State reports:

A student-produced documentary will explore the impact the five Ball brothers have had on east central Indiana since the 1880s, when they moved their glass manufacturing business from Buffalo to Muncie — transforming the community into an industrial force in the Midwest. “A Legacy Etched in Glass: The Ball Brothers in Muncie” is an immersive learning project by Ball State University under the direction of Chris Flook, a telecommunications instructor. The film explores the lives of the five brothers, the family legacy in Muncie and the core values that propelled them to success: hard work, philanthropy, entrepreneurship and beneficence. The story weaves cinematography, motion graphic animation and archived material with interviews from historians. Building their factories on the south of side of Muncie, the Ball brothers expanded their operations enormously over several decades in the early 20th century. Even after the natural gas ran out, Ball Corp. continued to produce glass in Muncie well into the 20th century. Ball Corp. spun off two enterprises — today known as Jarden and the Ardagh Group — before moving fully to Colorado in the late 1990s. Ball Corp. currently focuses on avionics and beverage container manufacturing. “Legacy” not only explores the lives of all five brothers, their wives and other family members, but it also explores the wide-ranging philanthropic efforts of the family in Muncie over the past 120 years. The documentary will have its public premiere at 6 p.m. Sept. 25 at Minnetrista.

Watch a preview of the documentary, and learn more about the project online.

Chris Flook, who also serves as executive producer, may be reached at caflook@bsu.edu or 765-730-0841.

Throwback Thursday: Hail to Halloween!

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You like Halloween? You should; it's a fantastic holiday. Granted, it promotes childhood obesity, but vampires, werewolves, witchcraft and sticking your head in a trash can in pursuit of floating apples is the best! The Batesville Herald-Tribune helps us understand where all these whacky rituals came from.

Many rituals now commonplace during the Halloween season may have originated with the culture of the ancient Celts and their priests, the druids. Other civilizations adopted and changed the ancient rituals, such as bobbing for apples or donning disguises.

“Our Halloween celebrations are the remnants of the ancient pre-Christian Celtic celebrations,” said Fred Suppe, a Ball State history professor and an expert in Celtic folklore.

“The Celts can be traced back to 800 B.C. to what is now southern Germany and include the ancestors of the Scottish, Irish, Manx, Welsh, Cornish and Bretons. There are particular motifs of modern-day Halloween, such as the date and time it is celebrated, children trick-or-treating, the jack-o-lantern and bobbing for apples that are related to Celtic traditions.”

When Christianity was introduced to the Celtic people, church leaders tried to persuade the Celts to abandon their pagan celebrations and adopt the Christian calendar. Because these traditions were culturally ingrained, the church provided alternative holy days such as All Saints’ Day Nov. 1.

“The evening before All Saints’ Day became ‘Hallow’s Eve,’ with the word hallow meaning holy or saint and eve meaning the night before,” Suppe says. “Hallow’s Eve evolved to Halloween.”

Another origin for trick-or-treating comes from Scotland, where young men in their late teens donned disguises after the harvest.

“The Celts called them ‘guisers,’ which is where we get the word geezer,” he said, “The guisers would march around a house and demand hospitality, which evolved into small children asking for treats.”

BSU Report: Indoor Environments Can Trigger Migraines in Workers

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A new study from Ball State University reveals that migraine sufferers can have enhanced headaches due to indoor environments. It’s important that employers take this into consideration — especially if many of your staffers are inexplicably taking many sick days.

Office workers may suffer more intense migraines and more frequent headaches due to an uncomfortable indoor environment, more commonly known as sick building syndrome, says a new report from Ball State University.
 
"Headache symptoms and indoor environmental parameters: Results from the EPA BASE study" found employees working indoors may become sick due to abnormal levels of carbon monoxide, carbon dioxide, volatile organic compounds, light, humidity, temperature and sound.

The study found that when exposed to an uncomfortable indoor environment, 38 percent of participants reported having a headache one to three days a month while nearly 8 percent had daily headaches, said Jagdish Khubchandani, a community health education professor in Ball State’s Department of Physiology and Health Science. He conducted the study with Suchismita Bhattacharjee, a professor of construction management in the Department of Technology at Ball State.

"Millions of Americans and people worldwide are affected by migraines and headaches, mostly during the highly productive years of their lives," said Khubchandani, who also is a faculty fellow with the university’s Global Health Institute.. "Migraines and headaches lead to significant decline in quality of life, productivity and daily functioning."

Produced only once by the Environmental Protection Agency, this was a multicenter cross-sectional study of 4,326 office workers employed in 100 randomly selected large office buildings across the country. The largest study of its kind used the data collected by EPA for the Building Assessment Survey and Evaluation (BASE) study during 1994-1998. Results were recently published by the Annals of Indian Academy of Neurology.
As a result of the research, the authors found:

  • Females were more likely to report a headache in the last four weeks when compared to males (75 percent vs. 53 percent).

  • About 21 percent of employees admitted that a physician had diagnosed them with migraines. Females (27 percent) were significantly more likely than males (11 percent) to report a migraine diagnosis.

  • The highest levels of migraine diagnosis were for employees exposed to out-of-comfort range carbon monoxide and carbon dioxide in their office buildings.

  • Exposure to out-of-comfort range indoor environmental parameters was higher in groups that reported higher headache frequencies.

Because headaches related to office environment lead to loss of workdays and decrease productivity, the authors recommend that building managers implement effective intervention strategies to reduce the prevalence of headaches and other symptoms of sick building syndrome.

"Collection of periodic data on indoor environmental parameters should become a universal practice, and based on the data, a health risk management plan for the occupants should be designed," Bhattacharjee said. "Reviewing operation and maintenance of heating, ventilation and air conditioning systems should be made an integral part of the strategies to reduce harmful worksite exposures."

Study: Nearly 31% of Hoosiers are Obese

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Ball State University recently issued a press release stating a staggering 31% of Hoosiers are obese. Horrifying as that is, there are many initiatives going on statewide, including the Wellness Council of Indiana, that offer resources to help employers deal with this problem. Ball State reports:

Nearly 31 percent of Indiana’s adult population reports being obese, ranking the state eighth worst nationally in terms of percentage of population severely overweight, says a new study by Ball State University.

The Burden of Adult Obesity in Indiana, a study by the Ball State’s Global Health Institute (GHI), found obesity rates rose by 0.7 percent to 30.8 percent in the last year. The national rate has dropped slightly from 27.5 percent in 2011. Data for the study was provided by the Centers for Disease Control.
 
People are classified as obese when their body mass index (BMI), a measurement obtained by dividing a person’s weight in kilograms by the square of the person’s height in meters, exceeds 30.
 
"The percentage of adults who are obese has steadily increased over the past 20 years for both Americans and Hoosiers," said Kerry Anne McGeary, GHI director, and Phyllis A. Miller, professor of health economics. "Obesity poses a major risk for serious non-communicable diseases, such as cardiovascular disease, diabetes, musculoskeletal disorders and cancer."
 
She also pointed out that an obese person in the United States spends about $1,400, or roughly 42 percent, more each year on health care than a healthy-weight person. Overweight and obesity are the fifth leading risk for global deaths, resulting in 2.8 million deaths per year.
 
Ball State’s research also found that In Indiana:

  • 30.9 percent of males report being obese compared to 30.8 percent of females.
  • Among adults under 65, the percentage who report being obese increases with age, while obesity levels decrease for those with higher levels of education.
  • 13.3 percent of adults who report obesity also have cardiovascular disease as compared to 7.2 percent of adults who reported a healthy weight.
  • 42.2 percent of African-American adults are obese, compared to 34.7 percent of Hispanic adults and 29.5 percent of white adults.
  • 18.7 percent of adults who report obesity also report having diabetes compared to 4 percent of healthy weight adults.

McGeary also points out that while obesity is preventable, medical costs associated with the condition are skyrocketing. In 2008, the annual direct medical cost of obesity in the U.S. was estimated to be as high as $147 billion, rising to nearly 10 percent of all medical spending.
 
"By 2030, the majority of states could have obesity levels above 50 percent and Indiana could hit that 50 percent level well before then," McGeary said. "If the average BMI of the population could reduce by just 5 percentage points by 2030, millions of people could avoid obesity-related diseases and billions of dollars would be saved."
 

Perfect: Richmond Brother/Sister Tandem Boast Remarkable Attendance Record

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Getting up and going to school was not often easy. Heck, it’s not even easy for many adults to go to work — and they get paid. But this story about Anthony and Alexa Thompson in the Richmond Palladium-Item is quite eye-opening. Not only did Anthony recently graduate without missing a day of school in 13 years, his younger sister is one year away from accomplishing the same feat. Kudos to their no-excuse-taking mom — and their remarkable immune systems.

Anthony Thompson graduated from Richmond High School this month without missing a day of school.

Actually, not once in 13 years.

In fact, he only came close once, said his mother, Sonja Thompson.

“When Anthony was 8, he played Pop Warner football. He had recovered a football and he fractured his elbow,” she said. “We stayed in the ER until 3 a.m., but he still got up to go to school. I think the motivation was that he wanted to show everyone his cast.”

But the 18-year-old Thompson said he simply didn’t want to be out of the loop.
“I just would feel like I’m missing out on something,” he said.

Anthony remains soft-spoken, even surprised, when asked about the feat in the weeks following his graduation.

“I hadn’t really thought about it,” he said. “I just came to school every day.”
Plenty of others, though, think pretty highly of the accomplishment.

At RHS’ commencement, Thompson was honored, along with several of his classmates, who had long-standing records of perfect attendance for five, even eight years.

But not 13.

“I think that is an admirable accomplishment because it’s one of the qualities employers seek in any new employee,” RHS Principal Rae Woolpy said. “Attendance is just an issue everywhere. To me, this is indicative of a dedication to not only his academics but forming a lifelong habit.”

He was also among the 82 students recognized in this year’s School is Cool drawing for a free car, which he did not win. Contestants qualified by having perfect attendance in their senior year and maintaining at least a 2.0 grade point average.

Sonja said she always stressed good attendance at school, but never had a goal for her son to achieve perfect attendance. That changed after Anthony started getting recognized in Texas, where they lived previously, for stringing several years of perfect attendance together.

“Pretty much, I was a mother of no excuses,” she said.

Anthony said he will take his attendance record with him first to Ivy Tech Community College and then, after one semester, transfer to Ball State University in Muncie. He plans to study sports management.

While he embarks on college, his 17-year-old sister, Alexa, will attempt to match his accomplishment. She has perfect attendance for 12 consecutive years.

Hat tip to Chamber President Kevin Brinegar for passing along the article.

Study: Smoking a Costly Habit for Indiana Businesses

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The fact that smoking has been detrimental to Indiana and its businesses likely doesn’t surprise anyone at this point. However, the gravity of its destruction is quantified in a new report from Ball State University. Additionally, if your company needs laminated signs or window stickers reading "State Law Prohibits Smoking Within 8 Feet of This Entrance" to comply with the upcoming ban, you can purchase those from the Indiana Chamber.

As Indiana prepares for a statewide smoking ban on July 1, a new study from Ball State University finds that 21.2 percent of Hoosiers admit to regularly lighting up a cigarette, a habit costing the state nearly $2.6 billion in productivity losses and $2.2 billion in health care costs each year.

"Burden of Smoking among Adults in Indiana," a report by Ball State’s Global Health Institute (GHI) based on 2010 data from the Centers for Disease Control (CDC), ranks the state 42nd worst in terms of percentage of population among the 50 states and District of Columbia. Only eight states have higher smoking rates than Indiana."

"We have known for decades that smoking is counterproductive for our health and plays a major role for the spiraling health care costs facing both employees and their employers," said Kerry Anne McGeary , GHI director and Phyllis A. Miller professor of health economics. "When combined with our reports on obesity, this report demonstrates that on average Hoosiers have health issues and engage in behaviors that put them at risk for chronic conditions."

She pointed out that on average, about 9,700 deaths per year in Indiana are attributable to smoking while the habit is the leading cause of preventable death in the United States, accounting for one in five deaths or about 443,000 each year.

"Smoking causes cancer, heart disease, stroke and lung disease – ailments that are preventable simply by not lighting up in the first place," McGeary said. "Smoking kills half of its users. About one person dies every six seconds due to tobacco. This data sends a clear message to smokers that they are involved in a very dangerous habit."

The study also found:

* About 23.3 percent of males are currently smoking as compared to 19.3 of women.

• Adults older than 65 have the lowest smoking rate at 8 percent as compared to adults 18-24 years old at 21.2 percent, 25-44 years old at 26.1 percent and 45-64 years old at 22.6 percent.

• About 30.1 percent of African-American adults regularly smoke as compared to 20.6 percent of white adults and 16.8 percent of Hispanic adults.

• Smoking rates decrease as income increases. Smokers make up 39.4 percent with household incomes of less than $15,000, 30.9 percent with household incomes of $15,000-$24,999, 24.2 percent with household incomes of $25,000-$49,999, 16.6 percent with household incomes of $50,000-$74,999, and 11.1 percent with household incomes of more than $75,000.

• Smoking rates also decrease as education levels increase. About 35.1 percent with less than a high school education are smokers as compared to 25.3 percent of adults with a high school education, 24.8 percent with some college education, and 8.9 percent with a college education.

McGeary attributes anti-smoking policies as well as a combination of new tobacco taxes, anti-smoking campaigns and indoor clean air acts in playing a role in reducing the number of people taking up the habit.

The report found that percentage of current smokers in Indiana has dropped from about 29 percent in 1996 to 21.2 percent in 2010. About 60 percent of Hoosiers who smoke have tried to quit at least once, tying the national rate. In 1994, about 42 percent of Hoosier smokers tried to quit as compared to slightly more than 45 percent across the country.

Ball State Geothermal Project Heats Up Reputation Even More

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Considering my boss is a proud Ball State alum (actually, both of my bosses are) and he’s editor of BizVoice magazine, it’s no wonder I’ve gotten quite a few Cardinal-oriented story assignments in the last few years. However, the writing has really opened my eyes as to what an innovative institution the state has up in Muncie. While Ball State’s main claims to fame center around telecommunications and technology, their latest endeavor is in the field of on-campus energy production. Here’s text from a release from the school on its new geothermal program, and you can also read about its early stages in the July/August 2009 BizVoice:

In the shadow of two outdated smokestacks and four antiquated coal-fired boilers, Ball State has started the second and final phase of converting the university to a geothermal ground-source heat pump system – the largest project of its kind in the United States.

The conversion, started in 2009 to replace the coal boilers, now provides heating and cooling to nearly half the campus. This phase of the project will be dedicated in March.

When the system is complete, the shift from fossil fuels to a renewable energy source will reduce the university’s carbon footprint by nearly half while saving $2 million a year in operating costs.

Ball State is installing a vertical, closed-loop district system that uses only fresh water. The system uses the Earth’s ability to store heat in the ground and water thermal masses. A geothermal heat pump uses the Earth as either a heat source, when operating in heating mode, or a heat sink, when operating in cooling mode.

Under the direction of Jim Lowe, director of engineering, construction and operations, work has begun on Phase 2, which includes installation of 780 of the remaining 1,800 boreholes in a field on the south area of campus.

Construction will continue throughout 2013-2014 and will include a new District Energy Station South containing two 2,500-ton heat pump chillers and a hot water loop around the south portion of campus. The system will then connect to all buildings on campus – eventually providing heating and cooling to 5.5 million square feet.

"When costs began to escalate for the installation of a new fossil fuel burning boiler, the university began to evaluate other renewable energy options," Lowe says. "This led to the decision to convert the campus to a more efficient geothermal-based heating and cooling system."

The project has caught the attention of universities and communities across the nation. Lowe is sharing information about the university’s new operation with others who want learn how they too can benefit from a geothermal system.

Ball State Report: Students Come to Indiana for College, but Will They Stay?

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Just passing along an interesting release from our friends at Ball State regarding Indiana’s "brain drain" situation. It appears as though the Hoosier state is a great draw as far as bringing students in for college (good news), but we can have a difficult time keeping them here afterward (not so great news).

Indiana is attracting fewer college-educated people between the ages of 25 and 64 than it needs to build a strong economy, but at the same time, more young people are migrating into the state to attend college, says a new Ball State University report.

Educational Attainment in Indiana from Ball State’s Center for Business and Educational Research (CBER) finds that of the 487,000 working age people that migrated into the state from 2006-09, about 20 percent had a bachelor’s degree or higher. Over the same time period, 73,000 people moved out of Indiana, with 37 percent possessing a bachelor’s degree.

"Migration patterns suggest that the state is attracting less educated people, which has serious ramifications for economic development," said Dagney Faulk, research director for CBER, a division of the Miller College of Business.

"Recent stories in the news media suggest that manufacturing establishments are experiencing shortages in skilled workers," she added. "Workers migrating into the state don’t appear to be helping this situation."

On a positive note, Faulk said Indiana’s reputation for high quality college, and universities may be a factor not only in increasing the number of Hoosiers seeking bachelor’s degrees but also for attracting out-of-state young people.

The study found that in 2008, 74 percent of freshmen on Indiana colleges and universities were state residents. The net migration of students into Indiana that year was 8,382, indicating that more students are coming to attend college than leaving. Indiana is ranked second behind Pennsylvania in net migration. New Jersey ranked last in 2008 with 28,000 migrating out of state to attend college.

"Indiana has a strong reputation for its public and private colleges, and we have lower tuition costs than many surrounding states," Faulk said. "High quality programs draw students from other states and countries. These students contribute to the diversity of the student bodies on campuses across the state."

Indiana has long battled "brain drain" as many well-educated Hoosiers move out of state seeking new opportunities. About 20 percent of Indiana residents have a bachelor’s degree. All the while the state is ranked in the top third of states in the nation in conferring degrees.

Faulk said 15 to 20 percent of Indiana’s recent college graduates have left the state for opportunities elsewhere, with Chicago being the primary destination for many.

She also pointed out that the growing number of Hoosier ninth-graders who go on to college and the increasing share of students who complete a baccalaureate in six years suggest that the proportion of Indiana’s population with a bachelor’s degree is likely to increase over the next few years.

"The modern job market necessitates this change," Faulk said. "If Indiana is to build a strong economy, it must increase the number of people possessing a bachelor’s degree or advanced degrees."