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
Sonair unveiled its ADAR 3D ultrasonic sensor at MODEX 2026, marking the first North American debut of the sound‑based perception system. The sensor, built on patented MEMS transducer arrays from Norway’s SINTEF institute, provides a full 180°×180° field of view and real‑time 3‑D spatial awareness. Sonair highlighted its inaugural commercial deployment in Cleanfix’s RA660 Navi XL autonomous floor‑cleaning robot, demonstrating reliable operation in dusty, low‑light industrial settings. The rollout follows a $6 million funding round announced in September 2025 to accelerate market adoption.
Festo and CODI Manufacturing are debuting FlexStack Pro, a gantry‑style palletizing system, at MODEX 2026. The solution lifts 44‑ to 110‑lb boxes at 4‑10 per minute while occupying minimal floor space. It leverages Festo’s pre‑configured FPaKit “palletizer in a box”...
The Federal Aviation Administration announced civil penalties totaling nearly $430,000 against three shippers for violating hazardous‑material rules on air cargo. Verizon faces a $70,500 fine for shipping lithium‑ion batteries to FedEx without proper classification, packaging, labeling, or emergency‑response data. World...
KEITH Manufacturing Co. will showcase its Freight Runner® Dock‑to‑Trailer system at MODEX 2026 in Atlanta, Georgia. The automated conveyor replaces traditional dock plates, moving pallets without personnel or forklifts entering the trailer. It can load or unload a trailer in as...
The Ohio Supreme Court upheld a workers’ compensation penalty against Whirlpool for failing to install required guard railings at a conveyor‑belt crossing, deeming the task of crossing the belt as effectively required. The court interpreted Ohio Administrative Code 4123:1‑5‑05(C)(3) to...
RoboForce announced a $52 million oversubscribed funding round, bringing its total capital to $67 million. The investment, led by YZi Labs and backed by former Yahoo CEO Jerry Yang and Nobel laureate Myron Scholes, will fund the development of its physical‑AI foundation...
Tekpak Automation will demonstrate its TD3/R Series pick‑and‑place robotic cell at interpack 2026 in Düsseldorf, offering a compact, three‑axis solution for food, beverage and pharmaceutical packaging. The system integrates with existing lines, fits tight spaces, and provides tool‑less changeovers for...
Canadian shippers will gain a new north‑south maritime link as CMA CGM adds the Port of Montreal to its Homere service, scheduled to call the Cast Terminal on April 5. The 1,713‑TEU vessel joins the carrier’s Cagema rotation, linking Montreal with Caribbean...
Intermodal traffic edged ahead in a flat week for U.S. railroads, with total weekly volume reaching 515,921 units, a 0.5% year‑over‑year increase. While carload freight slipped 0.8% to 233,833 units, intermodal containers and trailers rose 1.6% to 282,088. Petroleum shipments...
CompositesWorld has extended the deadline for its 2026 Top Shops Benchmarking Survey to April 10, giving participants an extra two weeks to complete the core questionnaire by March 31. Respondents who finish the core survey receive a customized benchmarking report, earn Top...
Shippers are increasingly turning to intermodal transport as over‑the‑road trucking faces a capacity crunch driven by stricter federal oversight and soaring diesel prices. Uber Freight reports spot OTR rates up 25% year‑over‑year and predicts intermodal rates will rise 3‑5% by...
Russia’s seaborne diesel and gasoil shipments slipped 3% in March, falling to roughly 3.06 million metric tons. The decline was driven by repeated Ukrainian drone strikes that disrupted loading at the key Baltic hub of Primorsk and the southern port of...
Amphenel RF has added a new HD‑EFI bullet tool to its line of insertion and extraction accessories. The tool is engineered for precise RF interface installations, helping engineers avoid damage while speeding up assembly. It works with both machined and...
Automakers are adopting no‑code automation platforms that let engineers build vehicle functions through visual workflows instead of traditional code. These policies, defined in kilobytes, can be pushed instantly to single cars or millions, slashing development cycles and validation costs. The...
Two bipartisan U.S. senators have asked the Commerce Department to launch a Section 232 national‑security investigation into heavy‑equipment imports from Mexico, arguing that offshoring erodes American manufacturing jobs. They cite recent plant closures and layoffs at Deere, Caterpillar and CNH...
Allied Vision introduced the allPIXA pro 6000px, a Camera Link® color linescan camera featuring a 6000‑pixel CCD RGB sensor and a 34 kHz line rate. The device spans a 400‑nm to 1000‑nm spectral range, enabling detection of sub‑millimeter defects and invisible material variations....
Indonesia’s 2025‑2029 economic roadmap hinges on manufacturing, which posted a 5.3% growth rate in 2025—slightly above the nation’s 5.0% GDP expansion. The sector now accounts for 19.07% of GDP and over 80% of exports, employing more than 20 million workers. Government...
Dematic will unveil its new Command Center analytics platform at MODEX 2026 in Atlanta, showcasing real‑time visibility and advanced warehouse insights. The vendor‑agnostic solution centralizes operational data, enabling faster, data‑driven decisions across supply‑chain networks. Alongside the platform launch, Dematic will...
Industry‑led non‑profit Next Generation Manufacturing Canada (NGen) announced a CAD 79 million (≈ USD 58 million) investment to support 20 AI‑driven projects across Canadian manufacturers. More than CAD 50 million (≈ USD 36 million) comes from private partners, with the remaining CAD 29 million (≈ USD 21 million) supplied by the federal Pan‑Canadian AI Strategy....
The Institute for Supply Management’s March 2026 Manufacturing PMI rose to 52.7, the strongest reading since August 2022 and a modest gain over February. New orders slowed while production stayed robust, and the employment index remained in contraction territory. The...
The American Center for Manufacturing and Innovation (ACMI) has teamed up with Johns Hopkins University’s Whiting School of Engineering to create safety‑focused training and career pathways in energetics and advanced manufacturing. The collaboration will initially target ACMI’s National Security Industrial...
Novo Nordisk announced it will cut approximately 400 positions at its recently acquired Bloomington, Indiana manufacturing plant. The cuts follow FDA rejections of drug products from three contract companies that used the facility, citing manufacturing deficiencies. The issues stem from...
The MC Tech Days virtual workshop on April 22 will showcase high‑rate aerospace manufacturing tools and processes, featuring sponsors Toray Group and Composites One and presenters from leading material and aerospace firms. Meanwhile, Avel Robotics of France signed a development contract...
Effervex Materials unveiled AquaLux S, a support filament that only dissolves in carbonated water with a precise CO₂ concentration. The material targets high‑detail desktop AM prints, promising less residue and faster post‑processing than traditional water‑soluble supports. Priced at $79 per 500 g...
XRG, ADNOC’s international investment arm, and Austria‑based OMV closed a series of deals on March 31, 2026 that created Borouge International, a new polyolefins champion formed by merging Borouge Plc, Borealis and the acquisition of NOVA Chemicals. The venture promises more than...
At the AMUG conference, Stratasys and Tronix3D highlighted the massive waste problem in powder‑bed fusion, where roughly 2.5 million kg of PA12 powder is discarded each year. Stratasys introduced its SAF ReLife software and firmware upgrade that lets the H350 printer use...
LMU’s Nano‑Institute has been awarded a €2.45 million (about $2.7 million) European Innovation Council Transition Grant for its iNSyT‑ONE microscope platform. The three‑year funding will drive technology maturation, industrial validation and market‑entry plans, positioning the university as a potential nanotech spin‑out hub.
Researchers at the University of Delaware and Waters have created an automated text‑mining pipeline that extracts relationships between cell‑culture conditions and protein glycosylation with 88% accuracy. The extracted data are normalized and stored in a Bioprocess Knowledge Graph, enabling a...
Arceon B.V. successfully completed AFRL oxyacetylene torch testing of three Carbeon carbon ceramic composite samples, in partnership with Moog Inc. The materials endured sustained heat flux above 1200 °C in steady‑state and cyclic loading without meaningful structural degradation. Post‑test measurements showed...
Almost half of US data centers planned for 2026 are expected to be delayed or canceled. One big reason is the shortage of electrical equipment, such as transformers, switchgear and batteries. US doesn't have manufacturing capacity, forcing it to rely...
Self-Repairing, Self-Upgrading #Robots Developed at Columbia #Engineering by @tweetciiiim #AI #Robotics #MachineLearning #ArtificialIntelligence #ML https://t.co/3ovnUfe9IR
Lucid Motors announced a recall of over 4,000 Gravity SUVs after discovering that second‑row seat‑belt anchors were not welded correctly. The defect stems from a seat‑belt supplier altering its manufacturing process without Lucid’s approval, prompting the automaker to revert to...
1/ new drop from @itsanhonour_ on the industrial resilience stack every dollar of capex incurs a multiple in opex over the next decade. the value is NOT in execution alone. it’s in the ability to verify what’s happening in a...
"Manufacturing sector expands for third consecutive month, but war, tariffs cause worry" "In the last two months, the prices index has increased 19.3 percentage points to reach its highest level since... June 2022." https://t.co/eKASacTNPS https://t.co/rXk8eLwXeb
Xiaomi unveiled an upgraded CyberOne robotic hand that features full‑palm tactile sensing, artificial sweat‑gland cooling, and a 60 % smaller form factor matching human proportions. The hand can detect pressure, temperature, and slip across an 8200 mm² surface, enabling delicate manipulation such...
Helium, electricity, and now water. TSMC is jumping in to mitigate a problem before it becomes one. Exclusive details at Culpium https://t.co/mCHVC62aYq
The closure of the Strait of Hormuz is choking off about a third of the world’s global supply of helium. Helium is a critical input in semiconductor manufacturing used to cool chipmaking tools. LESS HELIUM = FEWER CHIPS = MORE EXPENSIVE CHIPS....
India’s Ministry of Ports & Shipping announced a six‑month postponement of the cabotage policy that would have ended foreign‑flag vessels’ right to operate coastal shipping routes. The original rule, introduced in 2018, aimed to force domestic operators to handle intra‑country...
US Modules opens solar panel assembly plant in east-central Texas #energysky -- via Solar Power World: https://t.co/5vjljqcFwu
#VR-Controlled Bipedal Humanoid #Robot Performs High-Altitude Welding Tasks Safely by @BotKepler #Robotics #Innovation #EmergingTech #TechForGood #Technology https://t.co/BLab1fCqBn
PrintShift Materials, a Rotterdam‑based startup, has launched three seasonally tuned PLA filaments—WinterDry, CoastFlow and SummerStable—designed to counteract the effects of cold, humid and hot workshop environments. The formulations adjust plasticizers, nucleating agents and moisture‑buffering packages to improve layer adhesion and...
Brokerage shifting — but demand still weak. In Talking Transports, @freightcaviar CEO Paul-Bernard Jaroslawski breaks down: • Capacity tightening from regulation • Broker vs. carrier tensions • AI vs. relationships • Cargo theft & offshore labor 🎧 Listen: Spotify: https://t.co/x8SmAONHvY Apple: https://t.co/ISB1RXSa8z https://t.co/eCb5WV066Z: https://t.co/YxgISwaIaW Bloomberg Terminal: https://t.co/XEutV8r55p
Gene‑therapy manufacturers face a bottleneck when adding large volumes of AAV transfection complex to bioreactors within a narrow time window. Mirus Bio’s VirusGEN Transfection Complex Stabilizer, used with TransIT‑VirusGEN reagent, cuts the required complex volume from roughly five percent to...
US Modules has launched its first solar panel assembly line in College Station, Texas, capable of producing 400 MW of utility‑scale panels per year. Backed by Carey International Group, the 150,000‑sq‑ft facility can expand to 1.4 GW annual output, with a second...
Vertical Aerospace has put into operation a 15,000‑square‑foot battery pilot production line at its Vertical Energy Centre (VEC), featuring automated aerospace‑grade manufacturing that delivered up to 1.4 MW of peak power during flight tests. The line will assemble battery packs for...
Volvo Group will launch production at its new 1.7‑million‑square‑foot Monterrey heavy‑duty truck plant in July 2026, a $700 million investment aimed at expanding North American capacity. Initial volumes will be modest because U.S. and Canadian demand remains soft, but the facility...
March marked a milestone: more robots manufactured than in our whole history to date. Congrats to everyone at BotQ who manufacture F.03 robots, made in California. https://t.co/10e0D5mN5k
BF Global Logistics has chosen IFS Softeon’s warehouse management system as its core platform for European facilities, partnering with Lanark for implementation. The advanced WMS offers integrated billing, labour management, and AI‑driven visibility, aiming to boost performance, scalability, and customer...
U.S. manufacturing showed unexpected strength in March as the ISM Manufacturing index rose to 52.7, the highest level since August 2022 and above consensus forecasts. Production accelerated to 55.1, buoyed by a solid backlog of new orders, while new‑order sentiment...
FIATA has issued a practical guide to help freight forwarders adopt the Electronic FIATA Multimodal Bill of Lading (eFBL), a digital counterpart to the paper bill of lading that complies with UNCTAD/ICC rules and UCP 600. The guide details onboarding steps,...
