
The U.S. Supreme Court has agreed to hear Montgomery v. Caribe Transport II, a case that asks whether the Federal Aviation Administration Authorization Act (FAAAA) preempts state negligent‑hiring claims against freight brokers such as C.H. Robinson. Lower courts dismissed the claim, but the high court could affirm, broaden, or reject that preemption. The decision, expected before the July 4, 2026 holiday, will clarify brokers’ exposure to lawsuits stemming from carrier safety failures. A ruling one way or another could reshape how brokers vet and contract with carriers.

PanOptimization will showcase its PanX simulation and optimization platform for metal additive manufacturing at the RAPID + TCT 2026 trade show in Boston from April 13‑16. The platform targets laser powder bed fusion and directed energy deposition processes, enabling high‑resolution simulation of...

CRP USA will exhibit its Selective Laser Sintering (SLS) solutions using Windform high‑performance composite materials at RAPID + TCT 2026 in Boston from April 14‑16. The showcase, located in Booth 2443‑3 within the America Makes Pavilion, targets aerospace, defense, and...

General Motors temporarily idled its Factory Zero plant in Hamtramck, Michigan, laying off 1,300 workers until production resumes on April 13. The shutdown affects the assembly of the Escalade IQ, Chevrolet Silverado EV, GMC Sierra EV, and GMC Hummer EVs....

Saudi state‑owned Folk Maritime announced it is pulling its India‑Gulf service out of the Hormuz corridor and redirecting the two 1,900‑TEU vessels to the Red Sea, focusing on Jeddah and Aqaba. The move follows the effective closure of the Strait...
Metal fabrication is the invisible backbone of modern buildings, machines, and even food‑processing equipment, turning raw steel into staircases, brackets, and custom frames. Fabricators cut, bend, weld, and finish metal to exact specifications, offering bespoke solutions when off‑the‑shelf parts fall...

Tesla announced a new battery for its Semi truck that is engineered to last one million miles, directly tackling the durability concerns of long‑haul fleets. The company says the Semi can charge at up to 1.2 MW, restoring about 60% of...

Greek owner Venergy Maritime has firmed up options for two additional 50,000‑dwt MR product tankers at South Korea’s K Shipbuilding. The options raise its total MR orderbook at the yard to eight vessels, with the new pair slated for delivery...
Denim mills are steering Fall/Winter 2027‑28 collections toward low‑impact dyes, softer fabrics, and slub‑character textures. Comfort‑stretch continues to dominate, with buyers demanding fabrics that retain shape, resist bagging, and mimic traditional rigid denim. Manufacturers such as AGI, Cone, Soorty and Advance...
Family‑owned Hertzog Meat Co. opened Hertzog South, a new processing and retail facility in Butler, Missouri, creating 22 jobs. The plant expands protein processing capacity for beef, pork and chicken and adds sliced, marinated and ready‑to‑cook product lines. The multi‑million‑dollar...
Hasbro has launched a 600,000‑square‑foot distribution center in Midway, Georgia, operated by GXO, to streamline its U.S. logistics network. The new hub consolidates five distribution nodes down to three, supporting both brick‑and‑mortar retailers and direct‑to‑consumer sales. Hasbro projects roughly $8 million...

CESCO, a leading grain handling firm, has established a new Italian company to integrate Technobins' advanced bin technology into its European operations. The joint venture involves a €10 million (≈$10.8 million) investment and aims to increase storage capacity by roughly 20% across...

RTX announced a $3.81 billion contract modification to produce F135 engines for Lot 18 and Lot 19 of the F‑35 program, extending production through March 2028. The award funds propulsion systems for U.S. Air Force, Marine Corps, Navy, partner nations, and foreign‑military‑sales customers, with...
DEScycle is commercializing a salt‑based iono‑metallurgy platform that uses deep eutectic solvents (DES) and electrocatalysts to dissolve and recover metals from e‑scrap at low temperature. The pilot process delivers over 99% recovery in under 15 minutes, dramatically cutting leach time...

South Korean shipbuilder Kangnam has hired Incat Crowther to design an 80‑metre high‑speed catamaran RoPax ferry for Korea Express Ferry. The vessel will link Incheon with the Yellow Sea islands of Daecheongdo, Baengnyeongdo and Socheongdo, carrying up to 572 passengers,...
Nanya Technology raised roughly $2.5 billion via share sales and private placements to expand its DRAM production capacity. Kioxia invested T$15.6 billion for a 2 % equity stake and a long‑term DRAM supply agreement, while SanDisk committed T$31 billion and signed a multi‑year supply...

Challenge Group has placed its first Boeing 777‑300 passenger‑to‑freighter (P2F) conversion, 9H‑CAZ, into service after an IAI‑led retrofit completed in January. The aircraft adds roughly 100 tonnes of payload capacity, expanding the carrier’s ability to move pharma, live animals, oversized and...

Syre, the H&M‑backed textile recycling startup, has signed a memorandum of understanding with engineering giant ABB to equip its first recycling facility in Vietnam with advanced automation, electrification and digital systems. The partnership sets the stage for construction to begin...

China’s Ministry of Industry and Information Technology released its first national standard system for humanoid robots in February 2026, aiming to unify safety, technical, and ethical requirements. The framework, developed by a 120‑member committee, addresses hardware integrity, predictable software behavior,...

Trafo Power Solutions secured an order for seventeen custom mini substations to power an underground copper mine in Zambia. The units, comprising 800 kVA and 1,000 kVA dry‑type transformer packages, were engineered to fit the mine’s tight shaft‑cage dimensions and to be...
Enkei, a Stockholm startup, closed a pre‑seed round at a €3 million (~$3.3 million) valuation to commercialise ReCeramix™, a surface material made from over 90 % recovered construction and ceramic waste. The composite can replace concrete, marble and terrazzo while cutting cement use...

Additive Manufacturing Technologies (AMT) and Raise3D have announced a partnership that integrates AMT’s vapor smoothing post‑processing systems with Raise3D’s RMS220 SLS 3D printer. The collaboration will offer European customers pre‑configured, powder‑optimized solutions and introduces AMT’s existing SFX system plus the...
Grace Breen, Sharp’s SVP of Quality, argues that pharmaceutical quality must be engineered upstream across the entire supply chain rather than inspected at the end. She promotes a Quality Management Maturity (QMM) model that embeds proactive stewardship, supplier oversight, and...
Watson‑Marlow Fluid Technology Solutions showcased its peristaltic and sinusoidal pump portfolio at Drinktech Vietnam, emphasizing hygienic handling for the brewing sector. The Certa Sine line can slash power consumption by up to 50% when moving viscous fluids, while the Certa Compact range...

Researchers at UCL and Brunel University have created a custom aluminum alloy, PA1, that outperforms the industry‑standard AlSi10Mg in directed energy deposition (DED) 3D printing. By engineering a narrow solidification window and adding nickel, cerium, manganese and controlled iron, the...
Häfner & Krullmann has launched a precision‑engineered 1 kg filament spool (model 3D 200/52‑68) designed for Bambu Lab’s Automatic Material System and other multi‑material systems. The spool features a 200 mm outer diameter, 60 mm winding width, and a 52 mm bore, with both polystyrene and polycarbonate material...

Farsoon Technologies introduced two large‑format metal powder‑bed‑fusion printers at TCT Asia 2026: the FS812M‑U and the FS1311M‑U. The FS812M‑U retains an 810 × 810 mm footprint while extending build height to 1.7 m and reducing its overall footprint by 41 %. The FS1311M‑U scales up...
Researchers from the MP4MNT group at DISAT have created laser‑induced graphene (LIG) electrodes that are three‑dimensional, fully conductive, and selectively porous. The patented process uses a focused laser to convert polymer into graphene, allowing rapid, low‑cost production that fits into...

Chevron announced that its Wheatstone LNG plant in Western Australia suffered extensive damage from Tropical Cyclone Narelle, forcing both of its 8.9‑million‑ton‑a‑year processing trains offline. The damage includes fin‑fan arrays and air‑cooled heat exchangers, making repairs complex and time‑consuming. Chevron...

Researchers at The Hong Kong Polytechnic University have unveiled a new ultra‑precision machining method that combines laser and magnetic fields during diamond cutting, termed in‑situ laser‑magnetic dual‑field assisted diamond cutting (LMDFDC). The dual‑field approach delivers smoother surfaces, less subsurface damage,...

Researchers at EPFL’s Reconfigurable Robotics Laboratory introduced a hyper‑redundancy framework that lets modular robots share power, sensing and communication resources across all units. In the Mori3 origami robot, this local resource‑sharing revived a completely dead module, allowing the four‑module system...
Redoxblox has rebranded as Tempo, signaling its shift from research to commercial scaling of a thermochemical energy storage platform that delivers continuous, combustion‑free heat up to 1,200 °C. The system can charge fully in four hours, allowing factories to capture low‑cost...
Researchers have fabricated a large‑scale ferroelectric ceramic wafer (PNN‑PZT) using solid‑state sintering, achieving record‑high sensitivity for self‑powered X‑ray detection. At 150 °C the detector reaches 248 µC Gy⁻¹ cm⁻² sensitivity and a detection limit of 6.76 nGy s⁻¹, surpassing commercial amorphous selenium devices. The material exhibits...

Cities are confronting curb‑side congestion as the primary bottleneck in urban logistics, prompting officials to explore unmanned aerial vehicles as a remedy. In New York, a drone could transport a container from Brooklyn Marine Terminal to Wall Street in under ten...

AM‑Quality, the world’s first fully automated in‑line metrology system, uses eight high‑speed 3D laser line CMMs to scan parts in seconds and compare them against digital CAD models. Certified to ISO 10360‑13, the solution delivers spherical accuracy of 50 µm and planar...
Critical Manufacturing is demonstrating its Industrial Operations Platform at Hannover Messe 2026, positioning the solution as more than a traditional Manufacturing Execution System (MES). The platform unites execution, an enterprise data layer, AI copilots and a partner ecosystem to create...
U.S. Steel, now owned by Japan’s Nippon Steel, has successfully restarted blast furnace B at its Granite City Works in Illinois. The restart added roughly 400 new employees to support operations. The move was prompted by improving domestic steel demand...

Nigeria’s government has signed a roughly $950 million export‑finance pact with the United Kingdom to upgrade Lagos’s main seaports, including a $89 million contract for British Steel to supply 120,000 tonnes of steel billets. While the deal promises faster cargo handling and potential...
Agility Robotics has signed a Robots-as-a-Service agreement with Toyota Motor Manufacturing Canada to place seven Digit humanoid robots at the Woodstock, Ontario plant that builds RAV4 SUVs. The robots will automate repetitive logistics tasks such as loading and unloading totes...
BYD announced a 100,000‑vehicle order split evenly between Mexico and Argentina, to be built at its Camaçari plant in Brazil. The Argentine portion could represent roughly 10% of the country’s vehicle market by 2027, as EV sales there have surged...
Global recycled copper production surged in January 2026, reaching 445,000 metric tons, an 11.5% increase over the same month last year and up from December’s 424,000 tons. The rise was driven largely by expanded secondary refining in China, according to...

Yeo Hiap Seng announced it will cease large‑scale can manufacturing at its Senoko plant in Singapore, shifting production to its Johor and Selangor facilities in Malaysia. The consolidation aims to optimise capacity utilisation and improve overall manufacturing efficiency. The Senoko...

The article explains how valve corrosion can cause costly replacements and plant downtime, especially in oil and gas where an hour of unplanned outage costs $200,000‑$600,000. It highlights that simple preventive measures—such as corrosion inhibitors during hydrotesting, vapor corrosion inhibitors...

Sphere, an Australian full‑stack tech provider, is moving HubT autonomous drone hardware manufacturing entirely in‑house. The shift includes enclosure fabrication, electrical integration and compliance testing, enabling faster, repeatable production cycles. New trailer and skid deployment configurations reduce site preparation, while...
Researchers at the University at Buffalo have unveiled a rapid testing method that determines the recycled‑plastic percentage in polymer products. By integrating triboelectric, dielectric spectroscopy, capacitance analysis, and mid‑infrared spectroscopy, the approach captures subtle material differences. Machine‑learning algorithms interpret the...

Chinese electric‑truck makers are rapidly establishing a foothold in Europe, with Windrose opening an assembly plant in Belgium, SuperPanther gearing up production in Austria, and BYD expanding its Hungarian facility to exceed 1,000 e‑trucks annually. Sany, leveraging its heavy‑duty heritage,...

Rare‑earth permanent magnets, essential for defense, automotive and consumer tech, are overwhelmingly produced in China—90% of processing and 93% of magnet manufacturing. A 2025 export restriction caused Ford to halt Explorer production, highlighting the fragility of the supply chain. REalloys...
AlTi Global reported full‑year 2025 revenue of $4.6 billion, its highest since 2012, and an adjusted EBITDA margin of 19.7%, up 180 basis points year‑over‑year. The company’s aerospace and defense mix rose to 68% of sales and is projected to exceed...
Ichor Holdings reported fourth‑quarter 2025 revenue of $223.6 million, bringing full‑year revenue to $948 million, a 12% year‑over‑year increase driven by strong etch and deposition sales. Gross margin improved to 11.7%, surpassing guidance by 70 basis points, while operating income reached $2.7 million...

The Hong Kong Productivity Council (HKPC) is spearheading AI‑driven innovation to boost manufacturing competitiveness and support international expansion, especially through Hong Kong‑mainland China collaboration. Its programme spans frontier research, technology commercialisation, talent development and enterprise transformation, targeting smart manufacturing, robotics,...