Michigan Ladder Co., a 111-year-old Ypsilanti business that assembles wood and fiberglass ladders for the industrial market, used to buy its fiberglass ladders from suppliers in China. But the company recently decided getting ladders from suppliers that were thousands of miles away didn’t make financial sense. So, it began assembling its own fiberglass ladders in […]
China
Posted inTalent & Education
Is a student from China taking my kid's college slot?
As state funding for public universities drops, do the chances of your son or daughter getting in the University of Michigan also drop? That’s the question parents are asking, as U-M and Michigan State University increase the shares of their incoming classes that are made up of out-of-state and international students. Bridge uses the charts below to tell […]
Posted inPhil's Column
Michigan, let's target and sideline special interests
Travel often gives you new ways of looking at things … and that is certainly true of travel to China. My wife Kathy and I just got back from visiting our son, who lives and works in Shanghai. We were there for 10 days, and it’s good to be home. But even through the fog of […]
Posted inBusiness Watch
Marquette ski builder dodges cost moguls
David Ollila, a serial entrepreneur who has started seven companies, took on a tough personal challenge in launching one new business in 2009. Ollila, 42 and of Marquette, came up with an idea for a ski-snowboard hybrid that he hoped could be built profitably in Michigan — not in China, which he’d relied on for manufacturing […]