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Stimulus Funds and Tax Breaks Expected to Boost Equipment Spending
 Government support expected to foster expansion in 17 of 24 key industries.
The Obama administration has enacted sweeping changes in the way it helps industry, providing a palette of stimulus programs and taxation changes. Together, they're expected to help the industrial world bounce back, improving efficiency by using advanced equipment.
A primary goal of the $787 billion economic stimulus act, formally known as the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009, is to spark employment with projects that rebuild or expand America's infrastructure. Government investments that help states and cities rebuild highways, bridges, and buildings will all require a lot of heavy equipment, as will many other government-funded work projects.
Many observers feel that the promise of this spending alone will help spark improvements in the economy, with solid growth coming next year when spending takes greater effect. The Manufacturers Alliance/MAPI U.S. forecasts a 2% increase in manufacturing production in 2010. That will be welcome after 2009, when MAPI expects manufacturing production to fall 12%
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OSHA Cracks Down on Machine Safety: End Users Beware!
 OSHA will ensure that user modifications don't reduce protection.
Over the past couple years, safety regulations in the U.S. have undergone a dramatic shift. National Consensus Standards, such as ANSI, are putting more emphasis on risk assessment for equipment manufacturers, equipment modifiers and in some cases, the end user. It is expected that future revisions of such standards will require more and more risk assessments be performed by end users. According to some current standards the end users may also be considered equipment modifiers.
“This puts more onus on the end user,” says Jim Washam, a safety specialist for Machine Safety Specialists of Columbus, Ohio. “That's important, since in some cases OSHA could use such standards as evidence of recognized industry hazards which are enforceable under OSHA's 5 (a) (1) General Duty Clause”... Read more
Integrated Safety Simplifies Installations, Upgrades
 Safety is now built in instead of bolted on.
Safety has undergone a major change since the start of the decade. Integrated safety has become the new watchword following a change to U.S. safety standards that eliminated the requirement for dedicated, hardwired safety architectures.
In 2002, the standards that dictate industrial safety in the U.S. were revised, allowing safety to be designed into controllers. That change from dedicated, hardwired safety systems marked a huge change in system design. This allowed for harmonizing the U.S. safety design with machines built in other countries around the world and now it's transforming the full spectrum of manufacturing equipment
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