Know What's Happening in Manufacturing
Know What's Happening in Manufacturing
Goodyear launches $320 million expansion of its Lawton plant
Goodyear Tire & Rubber Company announced a $320 million, four‑year expansion of its Lawton, Oklahoma facility, boosting capacity by nearly 30 % and adding the ability to produce an extra 10 million tires annually (about 120,000 per day). The upgrade targets higher‑margin, larger‑rim tires for electric vehicles.
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By the numbers: BlackRock acquires 5% stake in Samsung Heavy Industries
AutomationDirect has added Define Instruments digital panel meters, signal conditioners, and temperature transmitters to its catalog. The Merlin series meters accept current, temperature, voltage, potentiometer and pulse inputs, feature advanced scaling, USB‑based configuration and an IP65‑rated LED display. The LPI610 loop‑powered panel meter offers a compact front‑mount LCD with high resolution and IP65 protection, while the Javelin, TM and Sentry series provide DIN‑rail‑mounted signal conditioning with universal inputs and 4‑20 mA outputs. The TM‑2HL head‑mount transmitters deliver fast, low‑drift temperature readings for RTD, thermistor and thermocouple sensors.
AutomationDirect has added two new Datalogic Smart‑VS vision sensors to its catalog: the Smart‑VS Plus and the Smart‑VS EVO. The Plus model introduces a third object classification and expands image storage to 20 frames while maintaining a 50‑400 mm range and...
Australian freight forwarders, backed by APSA and the Freight & Trade Alliance, are seeking government assistance to offset soaring shipping costs caused by the US/Israeli war against Iran. Conflict‑related surcharges and end‑of‑voyage fees are adding up to about $4,000 per...
Flexport is suing former employees and rival startup Freightmate AI over alleged misuse of shipment documents to train AI tools. The dispute centers on thousands of real‑world freight documents that were downloaded and could give Freightmate a data advantage, rather...
In this 38‑minute live webinar, Steve Maurer—an industry veteran with 35 years of food‑processing experience—explains the hidden costs of expired inventory for small food manufacturers. He breaks down direct losses (raw material, labor, overhead) and indirect expenses such as storage,...
imc Test & Measurement UK is hosting a free, full‑day FAMOS Live Workshop on March 25 2026 at the British Motor Museum in Warwick. The hands‑on event targets engineers, test specialists and analysts, offering practical sessions on data visualization, import/export, automated workflows,...
Maximo, an AES‑incubated solar‑robotics firm, installed 100 MW of panels at the 1‑GW Bellefield project in Kern County, California, using a coordinated fleet of four robots. The robotic system achieved peak installation rates of 474 modules per day, boosting human installer...
Northrop Grumman’s Microelectronics Center has demonstrated a diamond‑based receiver‑protection component that endured more than 100 watts of power, roughly double the capacity of current semiconductor devices. The test confirms diamonds’ superior thermal conductivity—five times that of copper—and their ability to...
Renowned bike journalist Daniel Yang toured a Chinese carbon‑wheel factory, with Light Bicycle documenting the entire production line. The behind‑the‑scenes footage shows that the majority of Asian‑made carbon wheels are manufactured in China, regardless of brand origin. The visit highlights...
ASRock Industrial unveiled the AI BOX‑A395, a compact edge AI system powered by AMD Ryzen AI Max+ 395 processors. The device packs up to 16 Zen 5 CPU cores, a Radeon 8060S GPU, an XDNA 2 NPU delivering 50 TOPS of AI acceleration, and up to 128 GB of...
The AMPOWER 2026 report shows the industrial additive manufacturing market rebounded in 2025, posting a 5.6% revenue increase after a stagnant 2024. Growth was driven by a surge in lower‑cost machines and a remarkable 30%+ expansion in desktop polymer printers...
Nestlé has piloted Zest’s AI platform across its factories, instantly linking fragmented production data to pinpoint and reduce food waste. The system uncovered four times more edible surplus than manual checks, redirecting 201.9 tonnes—equivalent to about 480,000 meals—to people in need...
Mitsubishi Electric and RWTH Aachen University have created a digital‑twin system for CNC machine tools that uses edge computing to correct errors in real time. Tests from April 2023 to March 2026 showed up to a 50 % reduction in machining errors caused...
SimScale has partnered with AI Engineering GmbH to embed the PAMICS Smoothed Particle Hydrodynamics (SPH) solver into its cloud platform. Leveraging NVIDIA infrastructure, the meshless solver allows CFD simulations directly from CAD models, cutting meshing time and speeding up runtimes...
Leaders often struggle to articulate quality standards for intangible work such as meetings, communication, and analysis, leaving expectations vague. The article proposes using checklists to convert these nebulous standards into concrete, binary criteria that are easy to apply and evaluate....
Supply chain losses from cargo theft jumped to about $725 million in 2025, driven by organized crime targeting high‑value freight. Wiliot, an Israeli‑San Diego IoT firm, offers battery‑free, paper‑thin Bluetooth tags that give each product a digital identity and real‑time visibility...
Tim Jurischka argues that LCL consolidators must shift from pure cost‑optimisation to building resilience amid persistent geopolitical and trade disruptions. He highlights that traditional, static consolidation networks struggle when routes are blocked or capacity tightens, leading to higher freight rates...
Dormer Pramet has launched a new high‑performance turning and milling portfolio aimed at steel, stainless steel and cast‑iron machining. The lineup includes the T9425 and T5405 turning grades, the ML chipbreaker, the G8415 multi‑layer coated grade, and the S9xx end‑mill...
Finsa, a Galician wood‑manufacturing giant, reported a 2024 turnover of €1.2 billion (about $1.31 billion) while operating ten plants across twelve countries. The company’s flagship La Conexión site showcases a fully visible, circular production line that processes 95,000 trucks and over 90 cargo...
WuXi Biologics reported record 2025 results, with revenue up 16.7% and IFRS gross profit climbing 30.9%, lifting its gross margin to 46%. The growth was driven by expanding research, development and manufacturing contracts and tighter cost control across its global...
General Motors announced a $600 million investment in its South Korean manufacturing operations, adding $300 million to a commitment made in December 2025. The funding extends GM’s presence beyond the 2028 deadline set by a 2018 rescue agreement and is intended to...
South Korea has rolled out the first KF‑21 Boramae fighter, officially beginning serial production after a 25‑year development effort. Korea Aerospace Industries (KAI) plans to scale capacity to over 50 jets annually, supporting both domestic needs and export orders. President...
Heineken announced it will wind down large‑scale brewing at its Tuas plant in Singapore, moving production to existing breweries in Malaysia and Vietnam by the end of 2027. The shift will affect about 130 employees and convert the Singapore site...
China's state‑backed surge in copper smelting and fabrication now accounts for roughly 80% of new global capacity, tightening markets as the United States lags in domestic investment. The imbalance has prompted 50% Section 232 tariffs and renewed calls for export...
U.S. regulators have announced a ban on the import of specific consumer routers, requiring manufacturers to source network hardware domestically. The move aims to tighten supply‑chain security and could ripple through the GovTech sector, affecting vendors, federal agencies and end...
Nintendo announced a 33% cut to Switch 2 production after the console failed to meet holiday sales targets in the United States. The move highlights pricing pressures, a thin game lineup and lingering tariff costs that could reshape the handheld market.
Decathlon, the world’s largest sporting‑goods retailer, reported that its Portugal warehouse doubled orders from 57,000 to 114,000 after installing Exotec’s Skypod autonomous sorting robots. The rollout across seven European sites also slashed picker walking distances and halved order‑picking incidents, underscoring...
The Federal Communications Commission placed every consumer‑grade Wi‑Fi router manufactured outside the United States on its Covered List, effectively banning the import and sale of new foreign‑made models. The move, driven by a national‑security determination, threatens the supply chain of...
Chinese EV battery manufacturers surged to a global installed‑capacity share of over 70% in 2025, up from under 50% in 2021. CATL led the market with a 39.2% share and posted a record net profit of RMB 72.2 billion (≈$10.5 billion), a 42%...
In this episode, Vice Admiral Robert Goucher, the Pentagon’s first “submarine czar,” and Chris Power, CEO of Hadrian, discuss the urgent need to rebuild the U.S. submarine fleet and the massive workforce gap threatening that effort. They explain how submarines...
Lego reported that 52% of the raw materials it purchased in 2025 came from renewable or recycled sources, up from 33% in 2024. The company uses a mass‑balance accounting method, meaning the plastics in each brick are a blend of...
The U.S. Navy has approved a $15.38 billion contract modification for General Dynamics Electric Boat to accelerate production and long‑term support of its Columbia‑class ballistic‑missile and Virginia‑class attack submarines through 2035. The funding, drawn mainly from the National Sea‑Based Deterrence Fund,...
French tubular solutions maker Vallourec announced a five‑contract win in Indonesia, covering roughly 36,000 tons of premium OCTG products. The orders, signed across February and March, will support about 140 offshore and deep‑water wells. All pipes will be heat‑treated and threaded...
Toyota plant managers warn that Japan's deepening labor shortage threatens domestic vehicle output, prompting the automaker to launch a dedicated support program for Filipino workers called Team Salamat Po. The initiative, which provides interpretation and cultural assistance, has achieved zero...
Thread Factory, a B2B fashion‑supply platform, secured a pre‑seed round of about $180,000, led by AJVC. The funding will boost its technology stack, expand the team, and grow its retailer‑manufacturer network across India. The startup reports an annual recurring revenue...
Researchers introduced PiGRAD—Physics‑informed Graph Neural Diffusion—a model that encodes additive‑manufacturing builds as graphs and uses a diffusion process constrained by heat‑transfer physics to predict temperature fields, melt‑pool geometry, and defect probabilities. By merging graph neural networks with physics‑based loss functions,...
In this episode, Kevin Lawton interviews Dave Gutierrez, VP of Sales at Olymp Warehousing, about their on‑demand warehousing marketplace that connects shippers needing immediate storage or freight services with 3PLs and warehouses. Olymp’s platform automates RFQ submissions, rapid bidding, and...
Cliffs Iron & Steel has abandoned its hydrogen‑based direct‑reduced‑iron (DRI) plan for the Middletown, Ohio mill, opting instead to refurbish the existing coal‑fired blast furnace and add a 70‑megawatt cogeneration plant that burns blast‑furnace gas. The shift follows the Trump...
Mobility in robotics is becoming hybrid. “Roadrunner” combines wheels and legs in a single system - switching between side-by-side rolling, inline movement, and stepping when needed. At just 15 kg, it’s lightweight, but the concept is bigger than the form factor. Real-world environments...
This #Robot Hand Bends Both Ways — Unlocking Superhuman Dexterity via @ZappyZappy7 #AI #Robotics #MachineLearning #ArtificialIntelligence #ML #MI https://t.co/hjiYhdanj6
HD Hyundai announced a strategic shift to commercialize its shipyard expertise, adding digital engineering and manufacturing platforms to its corporate purpose. The company will offer end‑to‑end shipyard construction services and smart‑factory solutions, including AI‑driven design tools, real‑time monitoring, and robotic...
Like the Inflation Reduction Act that had 920 announced and under construction manufacturing facilities? https://t.co/3GozcfkM29
I wrote about plastic prices in yesterday's Odd Lots newsletter ahead of today's episode (which you should definitely listen to) Packaging really is an underappreciated driver of inflation, and plastics prices are already spiking You can't buy a bag of carrots without...
India's air‑conditioner makers are confronting a sharp LPG shortage that is disrupting the brazing process essential for unit assembly. To keep lines running, firms have shifted to oxy‑acetylene, a fuel tied to Middle‑East limestone imports, raising exposure to geopolitical volatility....
Sany unveiled what it calls the world’s first intelligent hybrid pump truck, alongside an electric mixer truck and a 33‑metre pump truck, at a China product event attended by 600 industry guests and viewed online by over one million. The...
Rio Tinto has secured a landmark $2 billion taxpayer‑funded package from the Queensland and Australian governments to support its Boyne aluminium smelter, the second‑largest in the country. The agreement also bundles roughly $7.5 billion in green‑energy investments aimed at decarbonising the plant...
Acumatica unveiled its 2026 R1 release, adding AI Studio—a no‑code framework for building AI‑driven workflows—alongside a Shop Floor Kiosk and enhanced omnichannel commerce tools. The upgrades target manufacturers, distributors and retailers coping with volatile demand and fragmented supply chains. Market...
3DMakerpro introduced Raven, an entry‑level LiDAR scanner that dramatically reduces cost and complexity compared with traditional metrology systems. The handheld device delivers up to 2 cm accuracy at 10 m, a 50 m detection range, and captures roughly 150 000 points per second. Weighing...
Renishaw has launched a new multi-degree-of-freedom optical encoder system that delivers true‑absolute position measurement across up to six axes. The solution pairs RXMA30 1.5D scales with RESOLUTE™ absolute readheads, providing direct X and Y measurement without homing and enabling real‑time...
Rio Tinto, the Queensland and Commonwealth governments have sealed a A$2 bn ($1.4 bn) partnership to guarantee power for the Boyne aluminium smelter through 2040, extending its competitive edge beyond the current contract that expires in 2029. The deal builds on Rio...
