The Chinese government has raised the value added tax (VAT) rebates given to manufacturers of some textiles and garments. It's been reported (see here and here) that the rise is meant to ease cost pressures on China's textile producers slapped with rising costs. The move is minimal (from 11% to 13%) and isn't seen as a trend to reverse the drastic rebate cuts of the past year.

The rebates for some products, including zinc, silver and batteries (seen as highly polluting), were scrapped entirely.

The 2% increase for textiles is half of the 4% requested by China's textile and garment manufacturers.

My sources on the ground in Shanghai confirm that the recent rebates have been met with little attention, compared with the sweeping cuts of last year that that sent shock waves throughout all global manufacturing supply chains.

Clavardon (www.clavardon.com) is an online tool that allows you to invite others to co-browse any Web site with you and chat live with everyone in the process. As you surf a site, others can see what you're looking at, what you're pointing at and any text or item you want to highlight.

According to Clavardon, the utility was created to help e-commerce businesses and sales staffs to demo their sites to prospects. It certainly does that.

But SMB manufacturers can use it to their advantage as well. For example:

• Review your own Web site with offsite resources to develop or refine.
• Review and collaborate on any item - drawings, plans, or projects - that you've uploaded to the Web beforehand.
• Review documentation and information with customers or prospects.

But for the convenience and usability, this is a hard utility to beat - especially for the cost.

Hat Tip: Robin Good

The more you try to shave the cat, the more the thing will bite and scratch. I think it's best to leave its fur, and listen to its silky pur. Some people try to make life a little tougher than it is. - Cake

You can see the fruits of his "artgineering" pedigree at The Work & Sculpture of Christopher Conte.

It seems to me that Christopher's story and what he does offers something special that we shouldn't overlook. We've tried hard in the past to express that manufacturing in the 21st century is advanced, highly technical, rewarding, satisfying and modern. But we've sucked at it. Sites like Manufacturing Is Cool were launched with the best of intentions. They've tried desperately to convey those positives about manufacturing to a generation that doesn't believe it - and that's noble. But those efforts look tired and hackneyed. They look like your dad wearing a Slipknot t-shirt and telling you to eat your peas because they're good for you. Somehow - while their motives are pure - you just can't take them seriously.

Christopher Conte is what we should use as an example of modern manufacturing mojo and its vast potential. Manufacturing isn't just about making chips or welding anymore. Manufacturing is - because of the vast availability of inexpensive technology and communications channels - a blend of technology, business and expression. It doesn't - and shouldn't - have to carry the old, tired stigma.

You can't make someone see something they don't want to - they have to get it themselves, and on their own terms. The Christopher Contes of this world create a sphere of influence far more powerful than any other message we can come up with on our own. He's the ideal - perfectly expressed, and manifested in real life:

Manufacturing can, indeed, be cool.

American Machinist magazine's Web site has just launched a new collection of forums. Titles of the new forums include Machine Shop Management, Machining and Shop operations. The new forums were launched this week, after a long relationship between AM and Practical Machinist forums.

Have you heard of T. Boone Pickens' plan? Pickens, the successful U.S.-based investor, has proposed a plan to influence the incoming presidential administration to wean the U.S. off of foreign oil by migrating to wind power for electricity and natural gas for automobiles.

Building new wind generation facilities and better utilizing our natural gas resources can replace more than one-third of our foreign oil imports in 10 years.

Developing wind power is an investment in rural America.

To witness the economic promise of wind energy, look no further than Sweetwater, Texas.

Sweetwater was typical of many small towns in middle-America. With a shortage of good jobs, the youth of Sweetwater were leaving in search of greater opportunities. And the town's population dropped from 12,000 to under 10,000.

When a large wind power facility was built outside of town, Sweetwater experienced a revival. New economic opportunity brought the town back to life and the population has grown back up to 12,000.

In the Texas panhandle, just north of Sweetwater, is the town of Pampa, where T. Boone Pickens' Mesa Power is currently building the largest wind farm in the world.

In addition to creating new construction and maintenance jobs, thousands of Americans will be employed to manufacture the turbines and blades. These are high skill jobs that pay on a scale comparable to aerospace jobs.

Plus, wind turbines don't interfere with farming and grazing, so they don't threaten food production or existing local economies.