Business

Manufacturers Hope Tours Will Draw High Schoolers To Industry Jobs

By Annie Ropeik • Oct 5, 2017
Students from Carroll Junior-Senior High School get a tour of Kirby Risk in Lafayette. Their industrial technology teacher is Tyler Sausaman, center. (Annie Ropeik/IPB News)

Manufacturers across Indiana are hosting groups of high school students in their factories this week as part of an industry push to connect young people with manufacturing careers.

Students from Carroll Junior-Senior High School visited Ball Manufacturing in Monticello and Subaru of Indiana Automotive.

They finished their day at Kirby Risk in Lafayette. Workers there make electrical systems – miles of colorful wires, twisted by hand across plywood panels and through braiding machines.

Senate Confirms Indiana Ag Dir. McKinney To Key USDA Trade Post

By Annie Ropeik • Oct 5, 2017
(Photo courtesy of Indiana State Department of Agriculture)

Indiana’s top agricultural official will become the nation’s first undersecretary for foreign agricultural trade.

The U.S. Senate confirmed Ted McKinney to the newly-created Department of Agriculture post Tuesday.

In a statement, USDA secretary Sonny Perdue says McKinney will “wake up every morning seeking to sell more American agricultural products in foreign markets.”

Despite Problems, Monsanto Exec Says Dicamba Use Will Only Grow

By Annie Ropeik • Sep 29, 2017
Monsanto CTO Robb Fraley talks about the future of agriculture at Purdue University's Dawn or Doom conference. (Annie Ropeik/IPB News)

The herbicide dicamba has damaged large swaths of Midwest crops in the past year. But Monsanto, one maker of the weed-killer, says it’s a small-scale problem for a powerful tool.

The agritech giant’s CTO Robb Fraley addressed the issue during a recent talk at Purdue University’s Dawn or Doom tech conference.

Fraley basically invented genetically modified crops – mainly, ones that kill pests or tolerate certain chemicals.

Indiana Execs Say Corporate Tax Cuts Would Benefit Workers, Too

By Annie Ropeik • Sep 21, 2017
Consultant Lou Gerig, a former Reagan staffer, told Hoosier business leaders Thursday that they have to tell workers and the public what a corporate tax cut would do for the middle class. (Annie Ropeik/IPB News)

Indiana’s business community is waiting to see how federal tax reform plans, set for release next week, might impact their companies and workers.

At a roundtable in Indianapolis on Thursday, business leaders said they want to communicate to their workers and the public that lowering America’s corporate tax rate will be good for more than just executive paychecks.

Manufacturers Redouble Workforce Reform Goals For 2018 Legislature

By Annie Ropeik • Sep 21, 2017
Indiana Manufacturers Association president Brian Burton laid out the industry's 2018 legislative priorities alongside Hoosier factory executives at the Statehouse Thursday. (Annie Ropeik/IPB News)

Indiana manufacturers hope the 2018 legislative session will hone in on workforce and education reforms to help fill jobs.

The state’s top business sector wants lawmakers to realign $1 billion in existing workforce spending and create incentives to attract new workers.

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