Size Up State¡¯s Business Climate in 51 Key Economic Areas 2008 Competitiveness Redbook Gives Snapshot of State Economies for Decision Makers (14382)
To see where your state is headed, it is important to gauge where it stands. The 2008 Competitiveness Redbook¡ªNational Edition (Redbook) provides essential information about a state¡¯s business operating climate to help assess how it could impact a business this year. Decision-makers in business, government, economic development and other organizations can tap into 51 economic indicators. Concise tables rank each of the 50 states on key areas such as: ¡ñ Cost of doing business index ¡ñ Wages & output of production workers ¡ñ Estimates of state & local taxes in manufacturing ¡ñ Non-agricultural employment growth ¡ñ Union membership ¡ñ Unemployment insurance taxes ¡ñ Educational statistics ¡ñ And many others

Parker TFD Offers Flexible Equipment Acquisition Programs (14299)
COLUMBUS, Ohio, Whether the project requires tube bending, tube end preparation, presetting or general cutting and deburring, having the right tools for a fabrication or assembly is essential in getting the job done. However, obtaining the equipment needed can be challenging when overhead costs are involved. Parker Hannifin’s Tube Fittings Division is making its equipment more accessible through a variety of programs, including a one-year, 0% financing option on new equipment purchases through June 30.

Turning New Ideas Into Jobs (14280)
The growing popularity of business incubators may play a key role in breeding new positions for the manufacturing industry

Job Creation Tax Credits Approved for Twelve Ohio Businesses for Expansion (14226)
Columbus, Ohio -- Lieutenant Governor Lee Fisher has announced that the Ohio Tax Credit Authority has approved Job Creation Tax Credits for businesses involved in location or expansion projects that, if located in Ohio, are expected to create at least 1,242 jobs, and retain 1,144 positions for Ohioans.

Winning The Race For Workers (13982)
Mazak Corp. in Florence, Kentucky, was in a race to find workers when they thought of new and exciting ways to bring in employees. The company, which produces machine tools and systems for precision machining, hits the career fairs, offers employee referral bonuses and lets local technical schools use classroom and training equipment during off-hours. But, the most 'popular' of the incentives, was thought of ten years ago, when the company began picking up the rent check for student co-op workers to live in nearby apartments

GROWTH PROMPTS NEW HIRES AT LITE (13794)
The Louisiana Immersive Technologies Enterprise (LITE™), one of the world’s leading 3-D immersive visualization and supercomputing resource centers, is essentially doubling the size of its staff with the addition of eight new team members. The need for additional staff is a result of the continued growth in the number of projects being worked on at the facility. Additional staff may be added as more organizations begin to discover the capabilities and services the facility has to offer

UPM Raflatac RFID Tags(12409)
Multiple system configurations, which hold between 550 and 3,500 units of inventory, are engineered and built with state-of-the-art technology including advanced robotics, wireless WANs and RFID-tagged merchandise to provide near-real-time insights into the availability and financial performance of each system, as well as its inventory.

San Diego\'s InfoSonics to Relocate Its Corporate Headquarters(12380)
InfoSonics is one of the premier providers and distributors of wireless handsets and accessories in Latin America and the United States. For the wireless telecommunications industry, InfoSonics provides flexible and cost effective solutions, including product assembly, purchasing, marketing, selling, warehousing, order assembly, programming, packing, shipping, and delivery.

San Diego's Digitaria and Sitecore Announce Strategic Partnership (11745)
“Digitaria is committed to delivering technologies that are compatible with the preferred operating environments of our customers,” said Digitaria CEO, Daniel Khabie. “We recognize Sitecore’s expertise and total impact in the technology marketplace, and are pleased to be able to offer their solution to clients such as the Atlanta Falcons that run on the .NET environment.”

Houston's National Oilwell Varco Completes Gammaloy Acquisition (10920)
Gammaloy and Marlex rent and lease non-magnetic drill collars and other downhole tools used within the bottom-hole assembly, and provide manufacturing and support services for various downhole tools requiring high-precision machining. Gammaloy currently operates in the United States and Marlex currently operates in Canada.