The line in the business section stopped me:  "Manitowoc builds ships, cranes, and ice machines. . ." 

You can sort of see the ship-crane connection. Once upon a time, the company was building a really beasty boat, and they couldn't get a crane big enough to top it off with whatever you'd plunk atop such a vessel. So they built the crane themselves, or so I imagine. But the ice machines? So much for the "narrative arc," the storyline with a beginning, middle, and end that makes some kind of sense.

One of those things doesn't belong, and the Manitowoc Company has decided it's the ships. I'd have guessed the ice makers, even knowing that the marine business had become the smallest chunk of the pie. After all, people who work in a business identify with the things they create. We're all the heroes of our own lives, and even if it's the same sweaty work, "My daddy builds combat ships and luxury yachts" trumps "well, mine builds honking big stock pots for restaurants."

But when your company's mission is "to continuously improve economic value for our shareholders," I guess it doesn't matter what you do.

It's hard for me to get my head around that. Whatever you spend your time doing is full of meaning, and most businesses start out of a combination of passion and opportunity. So selling off the marine division to an Italian company, Fincantieri, seems an act of kindness. Let the ships sail across the ocean to someone who loves them.

Fincantieri knows what its business is. They've diversified into submarines and ferries, but it's all ships all the time. "With 120 years heritage, 400 vessels and 100 submarines built, Muggiano yard has the reputation for excellence in high-tech, high-quality and high-performance vessels including warships and 'Destriero', holder of the 'Blue Riband' for an Atlantic crossing at over 53 knots average speed." In this, Fincantieri claims it helps to be Italian, with a tradition of mastering sexy design.

In looking only at the bottom line, it's easy not to think much about what choosing ice makers means for the shipyard workers in Manitowoc, Marinette, and Sturgeon Bay. Maybe they'll get to build restaurant equipment and be glad they have any kind of a job. The odds don't seem good, though, when your business has slipped out of a mythic identity that connects it with people and place,

And all things being equal, I bet most employess would rather work for a company like Fincantieri that builds speed, beauty, and excitement for all to see, not just "economic value for shareholders."