Tuesday, March 9, 2010

“ITT names Dave Melcher, president of its defense business, senior vice ... - Minneapolis Star Tribune” plus 3 more

“ITT names Dave Melcher, president of its defense business, senior vice ... - Minneapolis Star Tribune” plus 3 more

ITT names Dave Melcher, president of its defense business, senior vice ... - Minneapolis Star Tribune

Posted: 08 Mar 2010 12:50 PM PST

WHITE PLAINS, N.Y. - Defense contractor ITT Corp. said Monday it has named Dave Melcher, president of its Defense & Information Solutions business, a senior vice president of the company.

Melcher, 55, joined ITT in 2008 as vice president of strategy and business development for defense. He was named president of ITT's defense business and elected a corporate vice president later that year, the company said.

Shares of ITT fell 48 cents to $53.01 in afternoon trading.

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Inc. Business Editors - Oregonian

Posted: 08 Mar 2010 05:55 AM PST

(AP) — ST. PAUL, Minn.-- (BUSINESS WIRE)-Mar. 08, 2010-- 3M announced today it has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire MTI PolyFab Inc., a manufacturer of thermal and acoustic insulation for the aerospace industry.

MTI PolyFab designs and manufactures a light-weight thermal and acoustic insulation system for a wide variety of aerospace customers to address unwanted airborne and structure-borne noise in aircraft. The combination of MTI PolyFab products with those of 3M's wholly-owned subsidiary, Aearo Technologies LLC, will provide a comprehensive range of solutions to the aerospace industry. Aearo offers high-performance soundproofing for noise and vibration control to enhance cabin comfort through its E-A-R brand thermal acoustic systems.

"The addition of MTI PolyFab complements and builds on our thermal acoustic and vibration damping portfolio for aircraft manufacturers and will allow us to expand into adjacent aerospace segments," said Denise Rutherford, general manager, 3M Aerospace and Aircraft Maintenance Department.

"MTI PolyFab and Aearo together are a natural fit," said Marc Simard, executive vice president, MTI PolyFab. "The combination of the companies' technical expertise and manufacturing capabilities will help to better serve our customers around the world."

MTI PolyFab employs approximately 130 people and has operations in Canada, Brazil and Germany. The transaction is expected to close in the second quarter, subject to customary closing conditions.

About MTI PolyFab Inc.

MTI PolyFab Inc, is a division of MTI Global Inc., a publicly traded company on the Toronto stock exchange, TSX: MTI. MTI PolyFab's aerospace division designs and fabricates energy management systems from a variety of flexible, cellular materials for the aerospace industry. MTI Global Inc. also produces and distributes specialty silicone elastomer products. MTI PolyFab's head office and Canadian manufacturing operations are located in Mississauga, Ontario, with international manufacturing operations located in Bremen, Germany, and a contract manufacturer venture in Ensenada, Mexico. The company also maintains an engineering support center in Brazil.

About Aearo Technologies LLC

Based in Indianapolis, Ind., Aearo Technologies LLC is a wholly-owned subsidiary of 3M. Through its E-A-R Thermal Acoustics Systems business unit, Aearo delivers concept-to-completion acoustic, vibration, shock and thermal solutions globally to a wide variety of original equipment manufacturers in the electronics, aircraft, transportation and industrial markets. Aearo's experienced engineers work closely with customer design teams to provide targeted engineered solutions that meet the customer's needs for quieter operation, improved thermal properties, enhanced precision and greater durability.

About 3M

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Business Economists See Fed Rate Hike in 6 Months - ABC News

Posted: 07 Mar 2010 09:12 PM PST

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Most U.S. business economists expect the Federal Reserve to raise benchmark interest rates within six months by between a quarter and a half percentage point, according to a survey released on Monday.

A majority of economists in the National Association of Business Economists' semiannual survey found the Fed's current stance of rates near zero percent is appropriate. A growing number, however, believe the U.S. central bank's policy's are too stimulative, according to a poll of 203 members taken February 4-22.

"A majority believes that a rise in interest rates is both likely and appropriate in the next several months," said NABE President Lynn Reaser.

The Fed has said continued high rates of unemployment and low inflation warrant holding rates exceptionally low for an extended period. Still, reports show the economy is recovering gradually, and some policy makers believe the Fed should begin to prepare markets for the beginning of the process of tightening financial conditions.

Economists polled in the NABE survey agreed that the end of the Fed's purchases of mortgage-backed securities would raise mortgage interest rates, with 42 percent seeing a bump of between a quarter of a percentage point and a half percentage point.

The Fed is on track to end a program of buying $1.25 trillion in mortgage-backed securities at the end of this month. The program was launched to provide extra support for the economy after policy-makers chopped rates to near zero.

A large share -- 44 percent -- thought inadequate regulatory oversight was the primary contributor to the deep financial crisis that plunged the economy into a painful recession.

Most of the economists thought trimming the Fed's regulatory powers, as some lawmakers have proposed, would make it less effective in conducting monetary policy.

A rising share of the economists thought current fiscal policy is about right -- at 44 percent, the highest percentage since 2007. However, a large majority said another fiscal stimulus package is not needed.

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A room with a view of Ground Zero at New York hotel - Seattle Times

Posted: 08 Mar 2010 01:19 PM PST

NEW YORK — Looking down into the construction site covering the 16 acres where the World Trade Center once stood, some might see a place shadowed by death.

But Cheryl Palmer sees a rebirth — and a business opportunity. She's vice president of Club Quarters Inc., the company opening the World Center Hotel — and as far as she's concerned, the property's location on the edge of the site of the Sept. 11 attacks is a selling point.

"People choose to be here because they want to be close to it. They want to feel it, they want to celebrate. They want to remember," she said, standing by an open-air patio overlooking the site. "We have a very accessible view on it."

The hotel, which began taking reservations last month, offers some rooms with floor-to-ceiling windows that open directly onto the construction. Guests and members will have access to the restaurant patio with views of giant cranes, jackhammers and metal scaffolding.

It seems to be the first area hotel to use its proximity to the site as a marketing strategy. The carefully chosen name telegraphs the hotel's location to prospective guests. And visitors to the hotel Web site are greeted by construction photographs and memorial images.

The Millenium Hilton nearby offers similar views from most of its rooms — which were devastated in the collapse of the twin towers and then rebuilt in the following years. With 85 percent of the hotel's current employees carrying with them memories of working there at the time of the attacks, it still feels too soon to incorporate ground zero into its marketing plan, said Jan Larsen, general manager of the hotel.

"People are sensitive to maybe being perceived as taking advantage of a tragedy by utilizing that in any kind of promotional information," Larsen said. "We still get customers here who didn't realize we were across the street from ground zero, and they get emotional about it."

Some, Larsen said, say that had they realized the location of the hotel, they would not have chosen to stay there.

But Club Quarters is making a bet that, for many, the site of the attacks is already becoming more what it will be — and less a shadow of what it was. The scar of metal and concrete gated off from the rest of the city will soon be brightened by trees to be planted before the 10th anniversary of the attacks, Palmer is quick to note. And the public memorial is set to open in 2011.

"They will have all those mixed emotions. But I think at the end of the day what people leave here with is the rebuilding," Palmer said.

Driving up to the hotel, Greg McKinless was excited to see how close to the construction he would be, he said as he checked in one day last week.

"I thought, 'Gee, wouldn't it be neat to be up on the sixth or seventh floor and really see the work in progress?"' the Baltimore salesman said. "You could say it's depressing, but you could also say it's been nine years, the Freedom Tower is going up and there's going to be a memorial. We're looking toward the future."

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For guests with the right view, the construction can be a 24-hour spectacle. The yellow bulldozers and workers in hardhats continue their work all day and night. The hotel has installed special soundproof windows that keep out much (though not all) of the noise. And dark curtains block the light from the work.

For now, the restaurant and patio are still a construction site. Most floors in the hotel have yet to be completed. The lower part of the building's shell is all that remains of the office building that was destroyed in the terrorist attack.

With 169 planned rooms (introductory rates as low as $99 on weekends and $179 weekdays) and corporate apartments, the hotel's planners would need to attract only a fraction of the nearly 4,000 people who visit the 9/11 Memorial Preview Site each day. Once the official memorial is open, officials estimate 7.1 million people will visit it in the first year.

Meanwhile, the view the new hotel affords of the site is an unusual one. With the fencing around much of the site blocking sightlines of the construction, camera-wielding tourists can be seen throughout the neighborhood craning their necks and trying to get a better look. The National September 11 Memorial & Museum directs frustrated visitors indoors, where they've set up a live-camera view of the site for those who want to see the rebuilding.

After climbing some steps in a fruitless effort to see inside the pit, Josh Rowlands said he would be glad to have a view over the site from his hotel room.

"You want to be able to see what's going on after you've traveled all this way," said the 23-year-old from Adelaide, Australia.

But not all are convinced they would want their vacation vista to include this particular construction site.

"I wouldn't stay there," Michael Meindorfer said on his visit to ground zero from Frankfurt, Germany. "To go everyday and come home and see something like this. ... It's sad."

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