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
Pultron Composites, a New Zealand‑based maker of corrosion‑resistant composite rebar, secured the City of Moreton Bay’s $1 million Ultimate HQ headquarters package after a live pitch at an Investor Safari. The award provides five years of rent‑free space at Moreton Bay Central, a $250,000 fit‑out contribution and professional services from partners such as BDO, Telstra and Westpac. The competition drew entries from six countries, representing over $500 million in prospective capital and 1,000 jobs. The new headquarters will sit alongside UniSC, enabling research partnerships and talent pipelines.
The Iran‑Qatar conflict has forced QatarEnergy to shut down the Ras Laffan helium plant, removing roughly one‑third of the world’s helium supply from the market. Experts warn that if the shutdown extends beyond two weeks, the disruption could linger for months,...
DARPA has launched the Carbon Crunch program to speed up manufacturing of carbon‑carbon aeroshell heat shields for hypersonic weapons. The initiative targets the slow, costly, and hard‑to‑scale production process of existing C‑C composites, not new materials. By encouraging radical process...
Siemens Smart Infrastructure has broadened its industrial control lineup by enhancing the semiconductor‑based SENTRON Electronic Circuit Protection Device (ECPD) and launching the SIRIUS 3RW5‑Z R11 refurbished soft starter, its first product built on circular‑economy principles. The upgraded SENTRON ECPD now...
Sanmar has delivered four fully electric ElectRA 2500SX tugboats to Turkey’s state‑owned energy company BOTAŞ. The tugs, named BOTAŞ HİLAL, BOTAŞ BAYRAK, BOTAŞ AY and BOTAŞ YILDIZ, will serve the Marmara Ereğlisi LNG Terminal and the Saros FSRU Terminal, providing 70 tons of bollard pull...
The McNAIR Center at the University of South Carolina has installed a Roctool induction‑heated platen press, integrating a 400‑ton hydraulic press with 150‑kW induction platens. The system can heat to 427 °C, enabling rapid cure of thermoset and thermoplastic composites and...
The pharmaceutical supply chain is a globally dispersed network dominated by China and India, where most active pharmaceutical ingredients (APIs) are produced. Stringent regulations such as the FDA’s Drug Supply Chain Security Act (DSCSA) demand full batch traceability, limiting rapid...
U.S. manufacturers are accelerating reshoring and onshoring, with Apple committing over $500 billion and Johnson & Johnson earmarking $55 billion for domestic production through 2029. Companies cite supply‑chain resilience, tariff pressures, and ESG goals as drivers, while surveys show cost remains the dominant factor...
CMA CGM announced a new standalone service linking India directly to the U.S. West Coast, extending its Pearl River Express loop. The weekly rotation will call at Nhava Sheva, Mundra, Karachi and Colombo, using a fleet of 13 vessels sized between 10,000...
A manufacturing‑focused CEO admits that deploying artificial intelligence is far tougher than hype suggests. He details cost overruns, data gaps, and the steep learning curve of retrofitting legacy equipment. The company is pursuing small‑scale pilots rather than a full‑blown rollout,...
Henry Ford’s success stemmed from daily, on‑site observation—a principle later called the gemba walk—but he abandoned it when he launched Fordlandia, a massive rubber plantation in Brazil. The venture, intended to secure rubber for tires, suffered from dense tree planting,...
A patent from Nanjing University of Aeronautics and Astronautics proposes a dual‑laser LPBF system that treats overhangs and bulk support as separate manufacturing problems. The low‑power micro‑laser (10‑40 µm spot, 10‑15 µm layers) prints overhang regions, while a high‑power, larger‑spot laser (60‑100 µm,...
Engineers at the University of Maine have introduced a hybrid method that blends advanced nonlinear finite‑element modeling with physical testing to predict the strength of gyroid‑infilled 3D‑printed parts. The approach outperforms traditional linear analyses by capturing plastic deformation and anisotropic...
Medochemie, Cyprus’s largest generic drug maker, has powered all nine of its GMP‑certified manufacturing sites with 100% renewable electricity as of 1 October 2025, covering roughly 18 million kWh annually and eliminating thousands of tonnes of CO₂. The transition aligns the firm with tightening...
Teledyne e2v unveiled the Perciva™ 5D camera, a single‑CMOS sensor solution that delivers simultaneous 2D images and occlusion‑free 3D depth maps. The device leverages Angular Sensitive Pixel technology and on‑board processing to fuse data in real time at short ranges. An...
Longi’s subsidiary Longi Solar Technology secured the top spot in an 800 MW PV module tender for Gansu’s Hexi new energy base, offering a bid of CNY 0.754 ($0.104)/W and committing to delivery by June 2026. Canadian Solar announced that its 2 GW heterojunction...
The SPESA 2026 State of the Industry report shows the sewn‑products sector steering through persistent tariff volatility, fragmented trade and geopolitical turbulence. Companies are swapping aggressive growth targets for stability‑focused strategies and building contingency plans. Investment in automation, AI‑driven analytics...
From Feb. 17‑19, the Sourcing trade show in Las Vegas gathered manufacturers, suppliers and fashion brands from across Asia, Africa and Latin America, highlighting Colombia’s growing apparel capabilities. Attendees explored “friendshoring,” a concept that blends nearshoring cost advantages with long‑standing...
The logistics sector is entering a "vibe coding" era where elegant software is easy to build, shifting competitive advantage from pure code to technology‑native business models. Floating Point Advisors, led by former Oscar Health founder John Loser, is backing early‑stage...
Eplus3D unveiled the EP‑M300L metal powder‑bed‑fusion printer paired with a production‑ready automation line designed for continuous, high‑volume manufacturing. The machine offers a 300 × 300 × 450 mm build volume, up to six lasers, and a modular build‑cylinder that can be swapped without halting production....
Researchers at the University of Melbourne, in partnership with GE Aerospace, leveraged the Frontier exascale supercomputer to run unprecedented 10‑20 billion‑cell simulations of high‑pressure turbine blades with microscale surface roughness. The study showed that traditional roughness models, based on simple geometries,...
Groundup.ai has launched Groundup Academy, a free global educational ecosystem aimed at upskilling industrial workers for Industry 5.0. The program offers two tracks – Whisperer for engineers to master predictive AI and Strategist for leaders to convert machine signals into ROI...
Intercontinental Exchange (ICE) announced plans to launch four container freight futures contracts on April 7, pending regulatory approval. The contracts will be U.S.-denominated, cash‑settled, and indexed to the New York Shipping Exchange’s Freight Indices covering routes between Asia, Europe and the United States....
Flashforge has filed a patent for a retractable filament cutter that stays outside the printable envelope until needed. The mechanism mounts on the printer frame and swings into the build area via a linkage, eliminating the permanent post that occupies...
Poland and Ukraine have formed the PK MIL SA joint venture to start manufacturing the Ukrainian‑designed Bogdana 155 mm self‑propelled howitzer in Poland. The move aims to bypass wartime production constraints in Ukraine and unlock export opportunities for both Polish and...
Lufthansa Cargo reported 2025 revenue of €3.4 bn, a 4% increase, and adjusted EBIT of €324 m, up 29%. Cargo tonne‑kilometres rose 7% to 9.1 bn while capacity grew 5.4% and load factor reached 63%. The airline added a Boeing 777F, new A321‑200P2F routes...
Freight rates from the Far East to the U.S. and Europe rose sharply after recent military strikes in the Middle East, according to Xeneta data. Spot prices jumped about 10% on West Coast routes and 9% on East Coast routes,...
RVmagnetics and Airbus are co‑developing an ultra‑thin sensing mat that replaces conventional thermocouples in out‑of‑autoclave (OOA) composite aircraft repairs. The mat uses RVmagnetics’ patented MicroWire technology, delivering real‑time, multi‑point temperature data up to 200 °C with a single connection. Tested through...
NextStar Energy, a joint venture between Stellantis and LG Energy Solution, inaugurated Canada’s first large‑scale battery cell plant in Windsor. The facility began series production in November 2025, manufacturing over one million stationary‑storage cells to date. Stellantis has exited the partnership,...
U.S. rail carriers posted a modest 1.6% rise in total traffic for the week ending Feb. 28, reaching 516,729 carloads and intermodal units. Carloads jumped 6.9% driven by a 20% surge in grain shipments, while petroleum, chemicals and metallic ores also...
DELKOR India has secured a major EPC contract with Arab Potash Company to supply a 50‑meter diameter thickener for the company’s Hot Leach Potash (HLP) capacity expansion. The thickener will be built from superalloy steel, feature a sealed, insulated tank...
Arconic Corp. announced a $175 million expansion of its Davenport Works casthouse in Iowa, dubbed Pit 10. The project will boost aluminum ingot casting capacity, increase scrap utilization, and improve energy efficiency. It is expected to create 40 new jobs and become...
Chinese inverter maker Solis has introduced the SolisStorage residential battery portfolio, adding three product lines—IntelliHome, FlexHome and FlexAIO—to its lineup. All units use lithium‑iron‑phosphate chemistry, support a 90% depth of discharge, and are rated for up to 8,000 cycles with...
Worn Again Technologies has commissioned a demonstration‑scale textile‑to‑fibre recycling plant in Winterthur, Switzerland, targeting poly‑cotton blends. The pilot uses a proprietary chemical process to separate polyester and cotton, achieving high recovery rates. Early data suggest fibre quality comparable to virgin...
Ayala’s Integrated Micro‑Electronics Inc. (IMI) posted a $13.5 million net profit for 2025, marking its return to profitability after a multi‑year restructuring. Revenue reached $996 million and core gross margin rose to 9.6%, up from 7.3% the prior year. Adjusted EBITDA jumped...
Scientists at Karlstad University have shown that highly purified recycled cotton waste can directly replace virgin wood pulp in viscose production. Using pulp derived from the Circulose process, the research demonstrated comparable fiber quality to traditional wood pulp. The findings...
InnovMetric announced that FARO Creaform’s auto‑referencing multi‑line 3D scanners are now natively integrated into PolyWorks|Inspector. The integration enables real‑time scan visualization, automatic scan‑to‑CAD alignment and built‑in dimensional analysis directly within the inspection software. It was driven by OEM feedback seeking to...
Trimble and Hyundai announced a partnership that lets civil contractors upgrade Hyundai excavators from the factory‑installed 2D grade‑control system to Trimble’s Earthworks 3D platform. The aftermarket upgrade adds the “autos” mode, where the system automatically controls boom and bucket while...
Researchers have demonstrated a bioinspired additive manufacturing (AM) strategy that simultaneously increases robotic limb stiffness and embeds strain‑sensing capability. By allocating stiffer polymers along high‑stress paths and compliant, piezoresistive material where strain is most informative, the printed limb achieves higher...
The Additive Manufacturing Users Group (AMUG) announced its 2026 scholarship winners: Dr. Li Yang, an industrial‑systems engineering professor at the University of Louisville, received the Randy Stevens Scholarship for educators, while Abby L. Stamper, a mechanical engineering student at Boise...
EON Reality unveiled Genesis 3.0, its latest enterprise training platform. The solution adds Genesis Interact and EON Multi, delivering immersive simulation and true multi‑platform publishing for desktop, tablet and VR. It introduces a “Show Me, Train, Let Me Try, Evaluate...
🚨 Time is running: PCS NEO is coming – are you prepared? With the successor of PCS 7, Siemens Digital Industries Software is introducing a new generation of process automation. PCS 7 will still be supported for years. But: If...
Above the Fold: Supply Chain Logistics News (March 6, 2026) - https://t.co/Ik5UOSH8lS @DescartesSG @apllogistics #IranWar #trucking #supplychain #logistics #AI #TrumpTariffs
FreiLacke marks its centennial by showcasing a unified system coating concept that blends powder, liquid and electrocoating technologies. The portfolio now includes EcoOne 2K ETL, low‑temperature powders, water‑based and PFAS‑free formulations, and new design‑focused colour collections. Innovations such as a...
U.S. defense industry is built for short, sharp wars not long ones. New from @jlmcardle01 in the @CNASdc New American DIB series: allied manufacturing can close the gaps domestic industry can't fill fast enough. Timely w/expenditure rates against Iran. https://t.co/TInxSDERsE
Polymer welds are integral to medical devices, yet their fatigue resistance often goes untested. EWI’s recent study showed that under‑welded joints, which lack intermolecular diffusion, appear flawless but fail quickly under cyclic loading. Using Heated After Cross‑Section (HACS) analysis, the...
The closure of Bosnia’s New Zenica Steelworks threatens the survival of the Railways of Republika Srpska (RRS), which derives about 60% of its freight revenue from the plant. Earlier bankruptcies at the Lukavac coke plant and the looming collapse of...
Researchers from Fraunhofer IWS, Fraunhofer IAPT and RMIT University completed the UltraGRAIN project, demonstrating in‑process control of metal grain structures during laser‑based directed energy deposition. By applying pulsed‑laser excitation to the melt pool, the team achieved grain‑size reductions of up...
Mazak hosted a two‑day "Discover More with Mazak" open house at its Dallas Technical Center on March 11‑12, showcasing a suite of high‑performance machines aimed at motorsports part production. Attendees saw the Variaxis i‑700T five‑axis center, QT‑Ez 12MY horizontal turning...
This week’s railway supply chain updates include a high‑pressure water‑jet paint‑stripping system from BvL Oberflächentechnik that trims axle processing to under 23 minutes, UNIFE’s warning that the EU Industrial Accelerator Act could leave rail manufacturing exposed without strategic‑sector status, Finland’s...
