The Urethane Blog
October 20, 2025
They are at the top end of the historical range . . .
October 20, 2025
In partnership with the University of Wisconsin-Stout, Ashley installed CNC equipment in its advanced manufacturing lab.
65,000 students and counting: How Ashley is closing the skills gap
Amina Accram Brooks //October 20, 2025
ARCADIA, Wis. — Ashley Furniture, a leading U.S. manufacturer and distributor of home furnishings, is tackling the skills gap in U.S furniture manufacturing by training, educating and upskilling students.
Since 2016, more than 65,000 students have benefited from its educational programs, and the company credits its comprehensive networks of partnerships, training and foundations with creating opportunities that prepare students for careers in manufacturing and related fields.
Cole Bawek, vice president of public relations and communications for Ashley, said this number represents everything from its foundations, upskilling programs, national manufacturing initiatives for K-12 and post-secondary initiatives, to STEM projects and programs for technical colleges and university systems.
“When you add up all the amount of students since 2016 that have been impacted through Ashley or the Ronald and Joyce Wanek Foundation, more than 65,000 students have been positively impacted through our educational programs,” Bawek said.
A national challenge
According to a report released last year by the Manufacturing Institute and Deloitte, “Taking Charge: manufacturers support growth with active workforceLinkstrategies,” as many as 3.8 million additional employees could be needed in manufacturing between 2024 and 2033.
Further, the report showed 1.9 million jobs could remain unfilled if manufacturers are not able to address the skills and applicant gaps. Also, $454 billion in manufacturing output is at risk by 2028, the report estimated, which is the added value U.S manufacturing could lose if the gap in filling open jobs continues.
That national challenge is one Ashley Furniture is working to address. Bawek said Ashley wants to counter the “we don’t have skills narrative” by directly building American-made skills pipelines.
“Ashley recognized very early there was a significant skills gap in the workforce and wanted to address it,” he said. “We required a strategic and long-term approach to developing the talent pipeline.
“Most recently, over the past five years, we’ve invested billions of dollars into our organization as a whole that’s focused on manufacturing and distribution capabilities, technology and, most critically, in talent development.”
The company, which is also upskilling its current workforce, says it views investing in educational programs as vital for both business and social responsibility. That commitment, executives say, is central to preparing employees for evolving industry demands.
Current, future workforce
Bawek stressed the importance of upskilling, noting its role in the workforce of today and the future given the rapid advances in artificial intelligence, robotics and automation.
“Part of our talent is upskilling our current workforce through comprehensive leadership programs,” he said. “We train team members in our advanced technology maker centers; we’ve created a new Ashley career program. We’ve also implemented AI training and development initiatives to help ensure our workforce stays ahead of our technological advancements.”
In addition to its internal workforce programs, Ashley has invested heavily in educational initiatives spanning K-12 programs through universities that create career pathways for students. Ashley says through these networks they can build a bridge betwee education and industry.
“Our educational programs and initiatives span from elementary classrooms to university, with laboratories across multiple states,” said Bawek. “It’s really paired between Ashley Furniture and the Ronald and Joyce Wanek Foundation to build that comprehensive network to prepare students for tomorrow’s challenges.”
Some of Ashley’s educational programs include:
- The Wanek Center of Innovation at Western Technical College, in Wisconsin: It opened in August 2025 and will serve more than 1,000 students annually in fields of advanced manufacturing such as cybersecurity and mechatronics.
- The Whitehall Regional Emerging Technology Laboratory Center in Wisconsin: This lab’s curriculum allows students to earn college credits while still in high school, giving them seamless transition to higher education. Students at this center can explore robotics, automation, AI, drones, coding, engineering and fabrication.
- University of Wisconsin-Stout partnership supported the transformation of the university’s advanced manufacturing program, leading to articulated agreements have enhanced polytechnic capabilities by bridging high school and technical college competencies into their credited pathways.
- Invested in the use of the Ashley Mobile Skills Laboratory in Mississippi and Wisconsin, allowing students the opportunity to learn about and work with automation, robotics and Industry 4.0 technoloyg, all which supports advanced manufacturing pathways.
- STEM 101: A program that spans multiple states where Ashley has a partnership with The STEM Academy, which a non-profit organization that provides a comprehensive curriculum across all grade levels and teaches practical hands-on K-12 STEM educational programs. STEM 101 includes summer camps and classroom initiatives.
- October Manufacturing Month: During the month, Ashley invites thousands of students to its factories to experience manufacturing.
Building on community
Ashley operates manufacturing and distribution centers in Mississippi, North Carolina, Florida, Wisconsin and Pennsylvania, and it tailors its educational and workforce programs to the needs of each community.
“We have to evaluate the opportunities based on the community need, the alignment with our business objectives, as well as the potential for truly meaningful impact as well,” said Bawek, adding, “We have to realize that maybe what we have developed in one area may not fulfil the needs of another area.”
The home furnishing giant says it will continue to assess the needs of educational programs and training in the areas where it is manufacturing and distributing. It plans to continue its investment in its educational and training facilities and programs to strengthen both its workforce and local communities.
October 19, 2025
India’s exports to US plunge as Trump’s 50% tariffs bite
2 days ago
Abhishek DeyBBC News, Guwahati
India’s goods exports to the US, its largest foreign market, dropped sharply by 20% in September and nearly 40% in the last four months, as Trump’s steep tariffs took effect, data shows.
September was the first full month of Washington’s 50% tariffs on Indian goods, which kicked in on 27 August. This includes a 25% penalty for Delhi’s refusal to stop buying oil from Russia.
“US has become India’s most severely affected market since the tariff escalation began,” said Ajay Srivastava of Global Trade Research Initiative (GTRI), a Delhi-based think tank.
Negotiations for a trade deal between the two countries are under way, with the goal of concluding an agreement by next month.
According to GTRI, the most significant impact of the tariffs has been felt by labour-heavy sectors such as textiles, gems and jewellery, engineering goods, and chemicals, which have suffered the heaviest losses.
Shipments to the US have seen four consecutive months of decline, and are down 37.5% – from $8.8bn (£6.5bn) in May to $5.5bn in September.
The drop in exports have also contributed to India’s trade deficit (the gap between what a country imports and exports), which widened to a 13-month high of $32.15 billion in September.
Some of the reduction in exports to the US was cushioned by improved trade with countries like the UAE and China.
Trade negotiations between India and the US resumed last month after months of stalling over a number of differences. An Indian delegation is currently in the US for talks.
On Wednesday, Trump said that Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi has agreed to stop buying Russian oil, as the US seeks to put economic pressure on the Kremlin as part of efforts to end the war in Ukraine.
A spokesperson of the Indian foreign ministry said discussions were “ongoing” with the US administration which had “shown interest in deepening energy co-operation with India”.
But major sticking points over trade still remain, including access to agriculture and dairy.
For years, Washington has pushed for greater access to India’s farm sector, seeing it as a major untapped market. But India has fiercely protected it, citing food security, livelihoods and the interests of millions of small farmers.
Until recently, the US was India’s largest trading partner, with bilateral trade reaching $190bn in 2024. Trump and Modi have set a target to more than double this figure to $500bn.
October 19, 2025
Some LTL producer prices record biggest rise in years
“2025 is pacing to be an above-average year for PPI growth,” C.H. Robinson noted in a monthly report.
Published Oct. 14, 2025
David TaubeReporter
Dive Brief:
- A producer price index for long-distance LTL rose 10.5% year over year in August — the biggest increase since November 2022, per preliminary federal data.
- The index measures price change from the sellers’ perspective and excludes imports. In contrast, the consumer price index is from the purchasers’ perspective and includes imports.
- “2025 is pacing to be an above-average year for PPI growth,” C.H. Robinson Worldwide said in a monthly report.
Dive Insight:
A 32-year average of LTL PPI is 4.6%, according to C.H. Robinson, but every month this year has exceeded that benchmark.
That above-average trajectory is also in contrast to 2022, which averaged negative 1.4%, and 2023 averaging 3.4%, according to a Trucking Dive analysis of Bureau of Labor Statistics data.
Diesel prices could be a key factor, where a year-over-year uptick reversed over two years’ worth of YoY declines, C.H. Robinson noted.
Since late July, diesel prices have consistently risen every Monday compared to a year ago. Increases were particularly pronounced in September, averaging from 3% to 6% higher than those in 2024, based on data from the U.S. Energy Information Administration.
The Oct. 6 national average was 3.5% higher YoY.
“With difficult comparables for diesel prices expected over the next several months, further increases in diesel costs are likely,” C.H. Robinson reported. “This upward pressure is expected to flow through to the LTL PPI, contributing to above-average y/y changes in 2025.”
But diesel prices are not a primary driver of the LTL PPI, and they have been down 7% to 8% for the first half of the year compared to the same timeframe a year ago, the brokerage giant said in an email to Trucking Dive.
And while the index may be trending toward an above-average year for the industry as a whole, “not everyone is experiencing above-average rates,” Greg West, C.H. Robinson’s VP for LTL, said in the email.
https://www.truckingdive.com/news/ltl-ppi-ch-robinson-2025-diesel/802438
October 16, 2025
EIA Approves Wanhua Fujian’s 1.5 MTPA MDI Expansion
On October 11, 2025, the Fuzhou Ecological Environment Bureau issued the “Approval Opinion on the Environmental Impact Report for the 1.5 million t/a MDI Technology-Upgrading and Capacity-Expansion Integration Project of Wanhua Chemical (Fujian) Isocyanate Co., Ltd.”, approving the project to be built at the location, in the nature and on the scale specified in the Report, and with the environmental-protection countermeasures set out therein.
The project is located on the reserved land within the existing plant area of Wanhua Chemical (Fujian) Isocyanate Co., Ltd. in the Jiangyin Port-City Economic Zone of Fuzhou. On the basis of the original 800 kt/a MDI plant, the MDI refrigerant, condensation, phosgenation and separation units will be technologically upgraded to match a 1.5 million t/a MDI capacity. Synchronous revamping and expansion of related utility and auxiliary facilities will be carried out, and reactors, towers, heat exchangers, pumps and other ancillary equipment will be procured and pre-installed. The project will add 700 kt/a MDI, 340.5 kt/a HCl and 2.6 kt/a methanol.
According to the evaluation conclusions of the Report and the technical review report (No. 2-2025-030) issued by the Fuzhou Environmental Impact Assessment Technology Centre, the project complies with the national industrial policy,meets the ecological-environment zoning-control requirements of Fujian Province and Fuzhou City, and is in line with the Fuzhou Chemical Industry Development Special Plan (2025-2030), the Jiangyin Port-City Master Plan (2018-2035) and the Industrial Development Plan for the Fuzhou Jiangyin Port-City Economic Zone as well as their respective plan-EIA requirements. Provided that all pollution-prevention and risk-prevention measures proposed in the Report are fully implemented, the project is environmentally feasible. This Bureau hereby approves the project to be constructed at the location, in the nature and on the scale specified in the Report, and with the environmental-protection countermeasures set out therein.
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