Today's Manufacturing Pulse
Stellantis to pour $1.08B into next‑gen EV line at Mulhouse plant
President Emmanuel Macron announced Stellantis will invest more than €1 billion (about $1.08 billion) in a next‑generation electric‑vehicle production line at its Mulhouse facility, slated to start in 2029 as part of France’s push to electrify two‑thirds of new cars by 2030.
Also developing:
By the numbers: TIEA Connectors raises $8M Series A
How to Cut Parcel Damage in Automated Fulfillment
Automated fulfillment lines, projected to handle 85% of U.S. warehousing by 2030, are generating significant parcel damage due to high‑velocity vibrations and abrupt robot stops. The article recommends creating soft‑stop zones, calibrating sensor thresholds, and upgrading packaging to ISTA‑approved robotic standards to mitigate these forces. It also highlights hardware tweaks such as cushioned totes, friction testing, and variable‑speed conveyors, while urging the use of vision‑based chain‑of‑custody documentation and third‑party protection like Secursus for residual risk. Implementing these measures can preserve margins as warehouses become fully touchless.
Sharrow Engineering to Scale Production of Sharrow Propeller with 3D Sand-Casting in Partnership with Ford
Sharrow Engineering is partnering with Ford Motor Company’s Advanced Industrial Technology & Platforms team to scale production of its patented Sharrow Propeller using 3D sand‑casting. The new workflow slashes lead times from roughly 130 days with traditional investment casting to...
AbbVie Opts for North Carolina to House $1.4bn Manufacturing Site
AbbVie announced a $1.4 bn investment to build a new 185‑acre manufacturing campus in North Carolina, the largest single‑site spend in the company’s history. The facility will produce oncology, immunology and neuroscience therapies and incorporate AI‑driven advanced manufacturing technologies. Construction is...
HII Kicks Off Production of Four More ROMULUS USVs
Lockheed Martin’s Huntington Ingalls Industries (HII) announced the start of production for four additional ROMULUS 151 unmanned surface vessels (USVs) at its Breaux Brothers Enterprises shipyard in Louisiana, joining the first hull already under construction. The ROMULUS family is an...
GAC INTERNATIONAL and ALLUR Group Sign KD Production Industrial Cooperation Agreement to Advance Localized Production and Deepen Strategic Presence in...
GAC International and Kazakhstan’s Allur Group signed a KD production industrial cooperation agreement in Guangzhou, establishing a localized assembly line for GAC’s full model range in Kazakhstan. The partnership positions Kazakhstan as a strategic hub for GAC’s expansion across the...
Rising Cost Pressures Starting to Bug the Euro Area Economy
Euro‑area PMI data show a split in April: manufacturing held steady thanks to a surge in new orders, while services weakened amid softer demand and Middle‑East fallout. Input‑price inflation surged to a three‑year high, especially in Germany where firms are...
Hybrid Inkjet Electrodes On 3D Printed Parts
A recent ACS Omega study demonstrates a hybrid workflow that inkjet‑prints conductive electrodes directly onto polymer 3D‑printed parts. By merging rapid additive manufacturing with maskless digital deposition, the method can turn a plain plastic print into a functional electrochemical sensor in...
Firebird Battery Making Tech Gets $2M ARENA Grant
Firebird, an Australian battery‑technology startup, received a $2 million grant from the Australian Renewable Energy Agency (ARENA) to build a demonstration plant for its novel process that converts manganese ore directly into high‑purity manganese sulphate monohydrate, a key cathode precursor. By...
Hexcel Named Embraer Best Supplier of the Year for Second Consecutive Year
Hexcel Corporation received Embraer's Best Supplier award in the Standards & Materials category for the second consecutive year, highlighting its superior performance in quality, delivery, collaboration, and operational excellence. The award was presented at Embraer's annual Suppliers Conference in São José...
Russian Federal Passenger Company Signs USD 5 Billion Contract
Russia's Federal Passenger Company (FPC) has inked a $5.1 bn agreement with Tver Carriage Works (TVZ) to supply 2,700 passenger railcars by 2030, including 449 single‑deck coaches. TVZ will deliver 480 cars in 2026, leveraging recent plant upgrades. The contract deepens...
MacGregor Equipment Ordered for Ultra-Large Türkiye-Built CLVs
MacGregor secured a contract to supply offshore and merchant deck machinery, including high‑performance winches, for ultra‑large cable‑laying vessels being built at Turkey’s Tersan Shipyard. The order, booked in Q1 2026, targets delivery in 2027. The vessels are part of LS Marine...
Heavy Rain Threatens Hurricane Reconstruction as Cement Supplies Dwindle
Heavy rain following Hurricane Melissa has crippled Caribbean Cement Company Ltd, turning raw materials into mud and clogging feed bins. Production has been sharply reduced just as Jamaica rushes to rebuild homes and infrastructure. The company projects a return to...
Trelleborg Costa Rica Site Earns ISO 13485 Certification
Trelleborg Medical Solutions' Costa Rica manufacturing site earned ISO 13485:2016 certification, confirming its quality management for medical devices. The 107,600‑sq‑ft facility, opened in December 2025 in the Evolution Free Zone, is the company’s first Central American plant and supports nearshoring and supply‑chain...
First Graphene Successful Trial of Graphene Cement Roof Tiles
First Graphene Ltd completed a five‑month production trial with FP McCann, creating over 10,000 graphene‑enhanced roof tiles using 40 tonnes of specialised cement. The trial showed carbon emissions could drop up to 14% and cement volume shrink by as much as 8%...
Vossloh to Supply Equipment for a New Railway Line in Tanzania
Vossloh has secured a roughly €30 million (about $33 million) contract to provide switches and fastening systems for Tanzania’s new standard‑gauge railway. The deal covers Sections 3 (Makutupora–Tabora, 294 km) and 4 (Tabora–Isaka, 130 km), totaling 424 km of track. Vossloh will deliver around 130 switch sets...
LHM Transforms Botswana Mine House as FATs Due
LH Marthinusen (LHM), a division of Actom, has finished manufacturing two 30 MVA high‑voltage transformers for a mining house in Botswana. The delivery comes after the existing power infrastructure proved insufficient for the mine’s growing energy needs. LHM’s engineered transformers are...
Yasin Tekinarslan Named as Cimpor Africa CEO
Cimpor Africa announced Yasin Tekinarslan as its new chief executive officer. Tekinarslan, a 2017 hire, previously served as regional manager for concrete and aggregates and as country director in Côte d’Ivoire. The group highlighted his track record of delivering sustainable...
Irish Cement Sector Targets 90% Fossil Fuel Reduction Through SRF Use
Ireland’s cement producers aim to cut fossil fuel use by up to 90% over the next 15 years by scaling solid recovered fuel (SRF) in kiln operations. In 2024 the sector burned roughly 325,000 tonnes of SRF, representing about 22%...
CURA and TITAN Partner to Validate Low-Carbon Cement Technology
Canadian clean‑tech firm CURA Climate and Australia’s TITAN Group have signed a memorandum of understanding to evaluate CURA’s electro‑chemical limestone‑splitting technology for low‑carbon cement and lime. The collaboration will start with laboratory validation of materials, then move to technical and...
BLT Helps Develop OPPO Find N6 Hinge with Titanium 3D Printing
Bright Laser Technologies (BLT) partnered with OPPO to 3D‑print titanium hinge components for the Find N6 foldable phone, consolidating up to 13 machined parts into a single lightweight wing plate. The new hinge improves display flatness by 50% and passed 600,000...
China Is Expanding Its Trade War Toolbox
China has enacted a sweeping industrial and supply‑chain security law that establishes an early‑warning system to monitor disruptions and empowers the government to retaliate against foreign firms perceived as threatening Chinese interests. The regulation gives Beijing the authority to prohibit...
Carsoe Unveils New Heading and Gutting Machine at Seafood Processing Global, Announces New Partnership with Industrikulde
Carsoe unveiled its new combined heading and gutting machine, the CS3063, at the Seafood Processing Global expo in Barcelona. The equipment, built on the long‑standing Mark 7 platform, targets cod, pollock and haddock and promises precision cuts that reduce meat loss....
Farsoon Advances Copper Alloy 3D Printing With Speed, Precision, and Scale
Farsoon Technologies unveiled new copper‑alloy 3D‑printing platforms that combine high‑speed beam optimization with micron‑level precision. The FS273M achieves up to 42 cm³/h build rates at 80 µm layers and 99.5% part density, while its 55 µm laser spot delivers 0.2 mm feature resolution. The...
Authentise Whisper Turns Chats Into Auditable Manufacturing Records
Authentise launched Whisper, an AI‑driven platform that silently records engineering conversations across Slack, email, and meetings, converting them into structured, auditable entries in ERP, PLM, and QMS systems. The source‑available solution runs as background agents, requiring no workflow changes while...
Bangla’s Harnest Launches Platform for Sustainable Apparel Components
Bangladesh‑based Harnest has unveiled the Responsible Trims Collection, a manufacturing platform that enables brands to source recycled, next‑generation and biodegradable trims, threads and accessories at industrial scale. The initiative highlights that trims account for more than 40% of a garment’s...
Infineon Joins European Quantum Pilot Lines for Quantum Chips
Infineon announced its participation in three of Europe’s six quantum pilot line projects—CHAMP-ION, SUPREME and SPINS—bringing semiconductor manufacturing expertise to the emerging quantum‑chip ecosystem. The pilot lines are designed to bridge the gap between laboratory prototypes and industrial‑scale production, offering...
Rocklink India Opens Lithium-Ion Battery Recycling Plant in Uttar Pradesh
Rocklink India has inaugurated a lithium‑ion battery recycling plant in Sikandrabad, Uttar Pradesh, capable of processing 10,000 tonnes of battery feedstock annually and producing up to 6,000 tonnes of black‑mass. The facility extracts critical metals such as lithium, cobalt, nickel and rare‑earth...
IFS Starts 2026 Strong As Industrial AI Embeds In Ops
IFS opened 2026 with a third consecutive quarter of double‑digit growth, reporting a 25% year‑over‑year rise in annual recurring revenue (ARR) and a 24% jump in cloud revenue for Q1. Recurring revenue now represents 84% of total revenue, underscoring the...
Vietnam and South Korea Agree to Boost Cooperation on Supply Chains, Nuclear Energy
Vietnam and South Korea signed 12 agreements to deepen cooperation in nuclear energy, advanced technologies, and supply‑chain resilience, seeking to offset economic fallout from the Middle East conflict. The partners set a target of $150 billion in bilateral trade by 2030,...
Southeast Asian Cement Chiefs Balance Regional Growth with Energy and Alternative Fuel Transition
Southeast Asia’s cement sector is poised for modest growth as construction demand rebounds, driven by Thailand’s $6 bn infrastructure program and Vietnam’s 22% YoY dispatch increase. Producers are accelerating decarbonisation, with SCG Cement reaching a 45% alternative‑fuel mix and Indonesia rolling...
West Asia Crisis: Govt Considering Customs Duty Cut on Critical Induction Cooktop Components
The Indian government is weighing a customs‑duty cut on critical induction‑cooktop components and a GST reduction from 18% to 5% to curb price spikes triggered by the West Asia crisis. The crisis has disrupted oil and gas shipments through the...
ARENA Funding Targets Manufacturing Advances in Battery Pack and Materials Projects
The Australian Renewable Energy Agency (ARENA) has earmarked more than $4 million under its Battery Breakthrough Initiative to fund two domestic battery‑manufacturing projects. PowerPlus Energy will receive $2.32 million to automate its pack‑assembly line, tripling annual capacity from 50 MWh to 150 MWh. Firebird...
SAP Rollout Backfires, Derailing Inventory Visibility and Revenue
An SAP implementation intended to boost inventory visibility backfired, causing chaos in distribution centers. This led to missed orders, affected invoicing, scheduling, and transportation, ultimately impacting revenue. #SAP #SupplyChain #BusinessImpact https://t.co/NDKJmvbned
Firebird Metals Awarded $2m Grant to Advance Manganese-to-Cathode Processing Technology and Demo Plant
Firebird Metals has secured a $2 million grant from the Australian Renewable Energy Agency to accelerate its manganese‑to‑cathode processing technology and build a demonstration plant in Perth. The integrated process will convert raw manganese ore directly into lithium‑manganese‑iron‑phosphate (LMFP) cathode material,...
Studds to Invest ₹150 Crore in Fifth Faridabad Plant, Capacity to Hit 12 Million Units
Studds Accessories Ltd announced a $18 million (₹150 crore) investment to build a fifth manufacturing plant in Faridabad, raising its total capacity to roughly 12 million helmets and luggage boxes. The new facility will be commissioned in two phases, adding 1.5 million units in...
YieldWerx Expands Taiwan Presence Through Enlight Technology Collaboration
YieldWerx announced a partnership with Taiwan’s Enlight Technology to bring its data‑driven yield analytics directly into the island’s semiconductor ecosystem. The collaboration will integrate design‑to‑test data across advanced packaging, silicon photonics, and heterogeneous integration, leveraging Enlight’s EDA and MES footprint...
Behrman Capital Acquires Metallizing Service Company, Expanding Aerospace Coatings Portfolio
Behrman Capital announced the acquisition of Metallizing Service Company Holdings' assets, a veteran provider of thermal spray coatings for aerospace and defense. While the deal price was not disclosed, the transaction adds a highly engineered surface‑treatment business to Behrman's seventh...
Inside Algeria’s First Continuous Particleboard Plant
Algerian panel maker Ghamoud commissioned the nation’s first continuous particleboard line at El Eulma, rolling its inaugural board on 18 January. The plant centers on a 13‑metre Dieffenbacher CPS+ press capable of 100,000 m³ annually and includes flaking, drying, gluing and sanding stages....
Rocket Lab Launches Gauss Electric Thruster, Targeting 200+ Units Annually
Rocket Lab announced the Gauss electric thruster, a Hall‑effect propulsion unit designed for mass production of more than 200 units per year. The system promises higher specific impulse and lower propellant mass, addressing the scaling needs of commercial and national‑security...
Daegu Launches First Mobile Dual‑Arm Robot on Automotive Parts Plant
Daegu city announced the start of South Korea's first commercial deployment of a mobile dual‑arm robot at SL's automotive parts factory. Jointly built by SL and Neuromeka under the Daegu Mechatronics & Materials Institute, the robot will operate alongside human...
Flex and Teradyne Robotics Expand Partnership to Scale Intelligent Automation Globally
Flex and Teradyne Robotics announced an expanded collaboration that will see Flex produce critical components for Universal Robots and Mobile Industrial Robots while deploying those cobots and autonomous mobile robots in its own factories. The move leverages a 20‑year relationship...
China’s Canton Fair Defies Global Trends as Overseas Customers Flock to Buy Robots, Drones
The Canton Fair’s spring session saw unprecedented crowds in the robotics, drone and new‑energy pavilions, with overseas buyers lingering at booths to livestream, test and even purchase high‑tech samples. China’s push toward higher‑value smart hardware is evident as 23% of...
First Graphene Roof Tile Trial Success Paves Way for Market Entry
First Graphene (ASX:FGR) reported a successful world‑first trial of graphene‑enhanced cement roof tiles, producing over 10,000 units at FP McCann’s UK plant. The tiles delivered up to 14% cradle‑to‑gate CO₂ reduction and an 8% cut in cement use while matching...
How Australian Manufacturers Can Prevent Logistics Cost Blowouts as Inflation Returns
Australian manufacturers are facing renewed inflation pressure that threatens logistics costs, prompting a reassessment of supply‑chain efficiency. The article highlights four levers—metric visibility, full‑cost review, operational flexibility, and telematics—to curb blowouts. By tightening delivery performance metrics such as DIFOT and...
Lockheed Martin Australia Black Hawk Industrial Base Grows Past 200 Staff Across Three Sites
Lockheed Martin Australia has grown its Black Hawk sustainment workforce to more than 200 employees across Holsworthy, Brisbane and Oakey. The expansion supports the Australian Army’s 19‑aircraft UH‑60M fleet, which has logged over 5,000 flight hours since achieving initial operating...
AI Gives Enterprises Real‑Time Visibility Across Supply Chains
Enterprise visibility is no longer a dream. AI is supercharging ERP and SCM systems, enabling real-time pricing optimization, predicting supply chain disruptions, and managing supplier risks. #AI #SupplyChain #TechTrends https://t.co/xb3RlqqV6T
Manufacturing Partnership Targets Next-Generation Oil-Free Motor Systems
WEG S.A. and Finnish firm SpinDrive announced a partnership at Hannover Messe 2026 to integrate SpinDrive’s active magnetic bearing (AMB) technology and IoT condition monitoring into WEG’s electric motor portfolio. The joint effort will produce oil‑free, maintenance‑free motor systems that...
ASMPT Limited Q1 Profit Jumps 203% as Semiconductor Equipment Demand Surges
ASMPT Limited reported a first‑quarter profit of HK$253.8 million ($32 million), up 203% from a year earlier, while revenue rose 32% to HK$3.97 billion ($508 million). The Tokyo‑based supplier said the surge reflects accelerating demand for semiconductor manufacturing equipment, especially from its SEMI division,...
TSMC's Kevin: GAA Scaling Eliminates Need for Alternative
That's not what Kevin from TSMC said. He said the GAA technology they're developing is showing scaling and robustness to not need it.
Reman Day Highlights Manifold Value of New Life for Parts
Reman Day, organized by the Remanufacturing Industries Council, spotlighted the growing role of remanufactured parts in farm‑machinery maintenance. CNH reported a 5,200‑tonne reduction in raw‑material consumption in 2024 and set a 90% recyclability target for new products by 2030. John Deere’s...