PHOENIX—Nearly 25 gaging company representatives gathered in the warm desert sun to discuss the current state of affairs in their industry.

DEARBORN, MI—Only one in four small to midsized manufacturers in the Northeast are pursuing lean manufacturing, according to a survey by the Society of Manufacturing Engineers.

Rolf Biekert has been named president of Trumpf Inc., the North American subsidiary of the Trumpf Group. He succeeds Peter Leibinger who has been named president of Trumpf Laser GmbH & Co.

AKRON, OH—Smithers Scientific Services Inc. has reorganized as The Smithers Group.

CLEVELAND—The fight to end the section 201 steel tariffs took a step forward in March when the House Ways and Means Committee submitted a request to the International Trade Commission (ITC) that it conduct an investigation to examine the impact of the steel tariffs on steel-consuming industries.

Leica Geosystems (Norcross, GA) announced that the Ford Motor Co. has purchased eight laser tracking systems for inspection and measurement operations in Ford's production plants.

NEW YORK—Manufacturers are not communicating with investors and analysts as effectively as they think they are.

The Walter P. Manufacturing Technology Academy (MTA, Waterford, MI) has been selected as winner of the 2001 Governor's Excellence in Practice Award given by the state of Michigan.

Manufacturers are paying more in taxes than the service sector, according to the Manufacturers Alliance.

National Quality Assurance USA (NQA USA, Acton, MA), an international quality registrar, has earned accreditation to assess and register the management systems of companies for the international aerospace quality standard, AS EN 9100.