CHICAGO (Islam Online) - A newly released report suggested that consumers have saved billions of dollars over the past five years because of technological, material and process advances in the manufacturing of machine tools, which are employed in the making of everything from cars to air conditioners to airplanes.
The findings conclude that with durable goods prices remaining flat from 1996 to 1999, consumers have saved in excess of $101 billion.
Prepared for the Association for Manufacturing Technology, it said advances in machine tools have helped drive down the costs, and enhanced the quality and energy efficiency of durable goods in recent years.
Increased productivity in durable-goods manufacturing added $618 billion to gross domestic product between 1992 and 1998.
Another survey conducted by the University of Texas (UT), and sponsored by Cisco Systems, said workplace efficiency and productivity soared as companies started incorporating the Web into their day-to-day operations.
According to the UT survey, companies integrating the Internet into their operations were 2.5 times more likely to see productivity gains, and more than 2.5 times more likely to see market-share growth than companies not utilizing the Internet.
But the report warned against personal use during office hours, arguing that employees can cut into productivity by using the Internet for personal e-mails, stock trading, general surfing and shopping, costing corporate American about $54 billion a year.
