So Much For Knowledge-Based Replacing Manufacturing Jobs

It's the new sensation, our newest salvation. Not just in Windsor mind you but everywhere. "Knowledge-based technology." But keep reading, right to the end of the BLOG because something is still bugging me, again.

I heard Eddie talking about it yesterday on his CKLW interview show. In the globalized market we were going to have to transition into a Knowledge-based economy. That transition we are told does not happen overnight.

That is certainly true in Windsor. Two years we have been playing with an Economic Development Corporation whose CEO will be announced Friday. If my sources are right, that person will be Matthew Fischer. http://www.matthewfischer.on.ca/ is his website. I think I found his photo on the internet too

Welcome to Windsor. Of course it is only our future that is riding on your abilities. As Eddie said, we had our eggs in one basket, manufacturing, and now what we need to do is diversify. So make sure Matt that we don't hang our heads down but stand up and make the transition as Eddie demands.

Whew, Eddie's job is done now. It's your fault Matt if this does not work. (But keep on reading)

So get onboard folks...we are "transitioning" to become the next Silicon Valley. Everything undertaken will be Leading Edge, State-of-the-Art, innovative research projects with research excellence. We'll be a global player and a global leader. The world is flat so don't fall off the edge.

The Star gushed:

• "Knowledge-based sector holds promise
  
  If the experience in Moncton, N.B., is any indicator, Windsor has the potential to develop a thriving "knowledge" sector based on the new call centre operation opening here this month."

Doesn't that sound an awful lot like what casinos were going to do for cities and what it was going to do for tourism in Windsor.

Of course we had the chance to be a real leader three years ago, when the head of an Ontario city's innovation group wanted to move to Windsor and kick-start an IT revolution here but we were too stupid to hire him. That city had already set up a group whose function it was to help their City with economic diversification in Information Technology or knowledge based industries. We could have saved years of effort and time and money but of course we did not. I guess we are an Eddie-come-lately community after all.

When Mike Hurst was Mayor, Dennis DesRosiers "recommended that the City of Windsor aggressively pursue a strategy of attracting "intellectual capital" to the area. Research, design, development and testing activities annually amount to over $20 billion in the North American automotive sector and these activities have to continue whether a company is doing well or not."

It was a smart strategy and we can see by the results that it has helped Windsor. It resulted in over $1 billion in investment in intellectual activity with about 20 significant 'intellectual' investments in the area. For our future, Dennis suggested that "Why not reposition Windsor - Essex County as the "Intellectual Capital" of Canada's automotive sector and one of the key intellectual centres in the entire global automotive sector. Now that's dreaming big and a lot more reachable than digging a billion dollar tunnel under the Ojibway environmental reserve."

Clearly we have to build on what Dennis suggested. But I am not so sure that this is our salvation since "knowledge" jobs are going overseas too. The reason why follows (Thanks to Allenparkpete for the story idea. As he said, once the "intellectual knowledge is lost...and it aint ever coming back.). It's an older story but still relevant:

• Engineers' work goes overseas, GM says
  Next cuts in Mich. set for this month
  April 6, 2006
  
  BY MICHAEL ELLIS
  FREE PRESS BUSINESS WRITER
  
  General Motors Corp. will cut its engineering staff in Michigan for a second time later this month as it continues to shift some work to emerging markets such as Brazil, where GM is hiring engineers to develop the next-generation small pickup.
  
  The job cuts, following last week's forced layoffs of hundreds of GM white-collar workers, will be the last round for the engineering department, and Michigan will continue to be home of GM's largest engineering center, a top GM official said Wednesday.
  
  "North America is still huge. By far, it's our largest center, and it will continue to be our largest engineering center," Jim Queen, GM vice president of global engineering, told the Free Press.
  
  "It's just that we're going through a difficult business period right now and it's getting right-sized."
  
  Queen and a GM spokesman declined to say how many engineers, technicians and others would lose their jobs in the next round.
  
  GM officials did not specify how many white-collar workers lost their jobs in last week's cuts, other than to say it was less than 500.
  
  GM's engineering department employs 22,000 worldwide, with most clustered in 12 engineering centers.
  
  Last week's U.S. job cuts were aimed primarily at GM's Tech Center campus in Warren, but they also affected about 30 other facilities in the United States. They follow one of the worst years in the automaker's history.
  
  GM lost $10.6 billion in 2005 because of declining U.S. vehicle sales and rising costs, which spurred many analysts to conclude that the automaker could be forced into bankruptcy unless it turns the corner.
  
  Emerging markets
  
  GM's cuts last week to its engineering staff stem not just from cost-cutting efforts, but from continued efforts to rely more on its far-flung engineering centers in emerging markets, where wages are lower. These centers have grown in recent years with the addition of GM Daewoo in Korea and new engineering expertise in China.
  
  "There's significant emerging markets elsewhere in the world where we're going to be adding resources, and we're going to be adding to it this year," Queen said.
  
  GM is close to announcing that it will codevelop the new pickup trucks in Brazil with Isuzu Motors Ltd., Queen said.
  
  GM will again work with Isuzu despite disappointing sales for the current pickup, which was also codeveloped with Isuzu. In addition, GM confirmed last month that it is in talks to sell its 7.9% stake in the Japanese automaker.
  
  Over the last six months, GM has sold its most of its stake in Japan's Suzuki Motor Corp. and all of its shares in the parent company of Japanese automaker Subaru.
  
  But GM will continue to work with Suzuki and Isuzu to develop vehicles in an effort to cut costs, Queen said.
  
  GM will add some engineers in Brazil for the small pickup truck program, Queen said.
  
  Before that program starts, they will also work with Europe on developing the next-generation small- and midsize cars like the Chevrolet Cobalt, Saab 9-3 and Opel Astra.
  
  Asia expands, too
  
  GM also is adding jobs in India.
  
  The automaker has posted want ads on its Web site for several jobs at its recently established research and development lab in Bangalore, India, including positions such as research engineers and senior statisticians.
  
  GM also has notified professors at Wayne State University's College of Engineering, asking whether any Indian nationals earning a degree are interested in the positions.
  
  India already does much of the design for automotive parts and components for many vehicles engineered elsewhere around the world, Queen said.
  
  Despite growing engineering work in emerging markets, North America will remain the center for developing large pickups, SUVs, small crossovers and rear-wheel-drive luxury cars, Queen said.
  
  By making one of GM's engineering centers responsible for a particular type of vehicle, the automaker can eliminate overlap and cut costs.
  
  For example, GM used to develop five different types of midsize cars. But now, all the midsize cars share a similar set of components referred to as the Epsilon architecture.
  
  That focus will allow GM to "do more with less," Queen said.
  
  "That's exactly what we want and what we need to have if we're going to survive as a company."

Now you know what I think about Eddie...you never really know what he is planning. I think all of this Knowledge stuff is irrelevant to him. It's another diversion to his Real Plan. If you want to know what it is, go back and read my BLOG on Thursday, October 27, 2005,
"Deep Throat" http://windsorcityon.blogspot.com/search?q=wall+journal+new++jersey

It was a throw away in the Schwartz Report for dreamers but he brought it back with his Cansfield lunch remarks.

• "We want to engage the province to arrive on a solution the city can be proud of," Francis said.
  
  The mayor said simply presenting the provincial government with one option -- a tunnel -- was not the best course of action because a whole range of solutions are needed, including reducing the number of rail tracks in the city and creating a transportation hub at the airport. "

You got it...Windsor's future is the same as New Jersey's. We are to become an important transportation hub in rail, air, truck and marine (Hwy H2O). Why do you really think Remo Mancini was brought in as Chair of the Developmnet Commission. After working at the Bridge Co. for years, he knows distribution better than knowing how to turn on a PC!

I read in Councillor Halberstadt's BLOG that "Speaking of the mayor and the Bridge, I understand they are meeting today in the mayor's office at the request of Matty Maroun." I sure hope that conversation goes well.

If this is really Eddie's PLAN, then Matty Moroun ought to be Eddie's biggest ally. Who better than he knows how to move goods from POINT "A" to POINT "B." That's is how he made his money, the bridge just came along for the ride! And that is really why we need a proper border solution that involves the Ambassador Bridge Company. Much more than the border is involved

I asked a question in my New Jersey BLOG and I'll ask it again: Does Mayor Eddie have the guts to try and partner with the Bridge Co.? I'll read Alan's BLOG to see if my question is answered.