New Legislation Addresses Various Supply Chain Issues Impacting U.S. Freight and Highways
Senator Todd Young introduced the Securing American Freight, Enforcement, and Reliability (SAFER) Transport Act to tackle freight fraud, theft, and safety on U.S. highways. The bill mandates a freight fraud advisory committee, eliminates MC numbers in favor of a single USDOT identifier, and requires states to verify CDL work authorizations and report monthly to FMCSA. It also strengthens oversight of motor carriers, brokers, and freight forwarders, and increases penalties for violations. The legislation has garnered strong support from the American Trucking Associations and other industry groups.
Matson Q4 Ocean Profit Stable
Matson reported marginally weaker fourth‑quarter results as container volumes slipped 2.3% year‑over‑year, driven by a 7.2% drop in China shipments amid ongoing trade‑war pressures. Ocean operating income dipped to $136 million on revenue of $704.2 million, but the company was partially offset...
Best Manufacturing and Packaging Automation Companies in 2026
Factory floors in 2026 are shifting from basic automation to intelligent, software‑defined systems. The article ranks the top five automation vendors—Hefestus, Rockwell Automation, Siemens Digital Industries, ABB Robotics, and Fanuc—highlighting each firm’s niche strengths such as high‑precision packaging, edge computing,...
Brampton Pressures Stellantis to Reopen Factory by Rezoning Land
The Brampton city council voted unanimously to rezone the Brampton Assembly Plant site exclusively for vehicle manufacturing, a move designed to pressure Stellantis into preserving the facility. The plant, idle after the 2024 Dodge Charger shift and a halted Jeep...
Third Purus Daughter Craft Undergoes Final Outfitting, Sea Trials to Come
Daughter Craft No. 3, commissioned by Purus, is in final outfitting ahead of sea trials, with Volvo Penta IPS drives now installed. The vessel features IMO Tier 3 exhaust after‑treatment to curb emissions and has undergone extensive CFD and tank testing for optimal...
Driver Recruiters Turn to Agentic AI to Streamline Hiring
Driver recruiters are adopting agentic AI to streamline candidate engagement. Tyson Foods recently deployed AI agents that handle initial outreach, pre‑qualify drivers, and schedule calls, allowing its six recruiters to efficiently support a 2,800‑truck fleet. Industry leaders at the 2026...
TMC 2026 Meeting to Spotlight New Era of Truck Technology
The Technology & Maintenance Council’s 70th annual meeting convenes in Nashville March 16‑19, featuring nearly 400 exhibitors across 350,000 sq ft. The event is split into education, exhibition, and voluntary standards tracks, with over 100 task forces shaping new recommended practices. Sessions...
Unifi Reveals Environmental Gains With Sustainability Snapshot
Unifi’s 2025 Sustainability Snapshot reports that the company transformed waste equivalent to one billion t‑shirts through its Repreve platform, putting it ahead of its 1.5‑billion‑t‑shirt target for 2030. It also diverted 46 billion PET bottles from landfills, prompting an upward revision...
LUCID Releases Atlas10 SWIR 10GigE RDMA Cameras with Sony IMX992 and IMX993 SenSWIR Sensors and Integrated TEC Cooling
LUCID Vision Labs launched the Atlas10 SWIR, a 10GigE camera featuring Sony’s 5.2 MP IMX992 and 3.2 MP IMX993 SenSWIR InGaAs sensors. The camera incorporates integrated thermoelectric cooling (TEC) that can be set to 10 °C, cutting dark current and image noise for...
First Brands to Sell Units That Produce Parts for Ford
First Brands Group, currently in a multi‑billion‑dollar bankruptcy, has identified four prospective buyers for its auto‑parts factories, three of which supply components to Ford Motor Co. Ford is prepaying for parts and administrative expenses, a move described by its counsel...
Nike Promotes Manufacturing Exec to Lead Sustainability
Nike has appointed long‑time manufacturing executive Cimarron Nix as its new chief sustainability officer, effective March 15. Nix will report to COO Venkatesh Alagirisamy and relocate from Singapore to Nike’s Beaverton headquarters. She succeeds Jaycee Pribulsky, who departed for a...
Automation in Manufacturing Will More than Double by 2030: PwC
PwC’s latest outlook finds manufacturers will more than double automation, AI and advanced‑technology use by 2030, with the median adoption rate climbing from 26% to 68% of operations. Adoption in production and product design is already high, while business support...
The Hydrogen Stream: ACES 220 MW Utah Project Nears Completion
HydrogenPro announced that its 220 MW ACES Delta project in Utah is nearing completion, with all 40 electrolyzers operating at full load. The hub, co‑developed by Chevron New Energies and Mitsubishi Power, will produce up to 100 tonnes of green hydrogen per...
Siemens and Newag Sign Cooperation Agreement
Siemens Mobility and Polish rolling‑stock maker Newag have signed a memorandum of understanding to deepen cooperation in Poland’s emerging high‑speed rail market. The MoU will pool engineering and manufacturing capabilities to develop 300 km/h trains for the Warsaw‑Łódź corridor and advanced...
AGY, JPS Composite Materials Launch Domestic Production of Low-CTE Glass Fiber Fabrics
AGY and JPS Composite Materials have launched a North American supply chain to produce low‑coefficient of thermal expansion (CTE) glass‑fiber fabric for advanced semiconductor substrates. The partnership pairs AGY’s ultra‑low‑CTE L‑HDI fibers made in Aiken, South Carolina, with JPS’s weaving...
UK HRC Discount to North EU Expands
UK hot‑rolled coil (HRC) prices are trading at an average €62 per tonne discount to north‑European benchmarks after Tata Steel UK closed its last blast furnace in September 2024. Imports have surged from 770,000 t in 2023 to 1.4 million t in 2025,...
Automation, Reshoring Trends Expected to Boost Industrial Real Estate Activity
Industrial real‑estate activity is rebounding after pandemic‑induced vacancies as reshoring, automation and third‑party logistics (3PL) demand drive a flight to higher‑quality space. Vacancy absorption has accelerated, and CBRE projects renewals to exceed 35% of total leasing volume, well above the...
Covalent Organic Frameworks Electrify Carbon Capture
Researchers at Northwestern University have created an electrically driven carbon‑capture system using quinone‑functionalized covalent organic frameworks (COFs). The open‑flask synthesis produces gram‑scale COF powders that can be spray‑coated onto electrodes, enabling CO₂ adsorption and release via electrochemical redox cycles without...
Advancing the Enterprise in Volatile Times: Supply Chain as a Source of Reason
Enterprises facing tariff spikes, freight cost surges, and geopolitical fragmentation must separate measurable (quantitative) shocks from structural (qualitative) risks. Leaders gain advantage by tightening controllable levers—pricing discipline, bonded inventory, freight timing, and proactive supplier negotiations—rather than blaming external volatility. A...
Global Energy Transition Hits a Hardware Bottleneck
Transformer supply is hitting a critical bottleneck as lead times for large units have more than doubled since 2019 and U.S. prices have surged 79%. Hitachi Energy is responding with a $1.5 billion investment in new manufacturing capacity, part of a...
Norfolk Southern, CMA CGM Partner on Intermodal Service
Norfolk Southern and global carrier CMA CGM have launched a new intermodal service linking the Midwest to the West Coast, using 40‑foot high‑cube containers and a door‑to‑door model. Managed by Norfolk Southern’s Triple Crown Services, the offering moves freight from Cleveland,...
Damen Delivers Multi Cat 3113 Vessel to Leask Marine
Damen Shipyards delivered the Multi Cat 3113 vessel, named C‑Trojan, to Leask Marine after a six‑week build using a proven stock hull. The vessel features a DP1 dynamic positioning system, a four‑point mooring arrangement, and a re‑engineered layout that separates work...
3D-Printed Spring Deploys on Small Commercial Spacecraft
NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory demonstrated the JPL Additive Compliant Canister (JACC), a 3D‑printed titanium spring, on Proteus Space’s Mercury One small commercial spacecraft on Feb. 3, 2026. The spring unfolded from a 1‑inch stowed height to 6 inches, showcasing a single‑part mechanism that replaces...
Maersk Pulls U.S., Other Sailings From Red Sea
Maersk announced it will reroute several U.S. and other services from the Red Sea to the Cape of Good Hope, citing unforeseen security constraints in the region. The changes affect both ME11 and MECL routes, with one westbound and two...
White Paper Introduces Mechanical Sail Taxonomy to Set Wind Propulsion Standards
A new white paper by Norsepower and Kongsberg Maritime proposes a five‑generation taxonomy for mechanical sails, standardising terminology as wind propulsion shifts from isolated devices to integrated ship‑wide systems. The model spans from manual 1920s rotors (Gen 1) through data‑driven, multi‑sail...
Toray Develops Spherical PA12 Powder for PBF
Toray Industries unveiled Toraypearl PA12, a spherical polyamide‑12 powder engineered for powder‑bed‑fusion (PBF) 3D printers. The spherical morphology improves powder flow and packing density, delivering a surface roughness of roughly Ra 7 µm and a Charpy impact strength of 50 kJ/m². PA12 already...
The Richest Silver Mine Isn’t Underground but in Solar
Silver has become a strategic material for the clean‑energy transition, with solar photovoltaics now accounting for roughly 17% of global silver demand. Primary ore grades are falling, pushing the industry toward higher‑grade, above‑ground sources such as retired solar panels that...
Wind OEMs Pin Hopes on Data Center Energy Demands Amid US Setbacks
U.S. data‑center construction is driving a surge in electricity demand, giving wind turbine OEMs a fresh growth catalyst despite a hostile regulatory environment. German onshore specialist Nordex projects $11 billion in 2025 orders, while Danish Vestas expects revenue of $24‑26 billion in...
How Michelin Is Shifting Gears
Michelin is redefining its business model, moving beyond traditional tyre manufacturing toward a mobility‑services platform. The French group announced a €5 billion revenue target from services by 2030, backed by a €1 billion investment in air‑less tyre technology and digital sensor integration....
Purafy and Electromaax Announce Strategic Partnership
Purafy Clean Technologies and Electromaax have formed a strategic partnership to produce and distribute the Purafy Portage, a portable water purification and desalination system. Electromaax will handle manufacturing and leverage its global marine distribution network, while Purafy supplies graphene‑enhanced ultrafiltration...
Alstom and CrossCountry Unveil First Refurbished Voyager
On 10 February CrossCountry and Alstom unveiled the first refurbished Voyager train at Alstom’s Derby Litchurch Lane works. The overhaul delivers a modern interior and exterior, featuring new seats with extra legroom, LED lighting, upgraded tables, power sockets and enhanced CCTV....
James Cropper Unveils an Industrial-Scale Platform for Next-Gen Composites
James Cropper Advanced Materials introduced Vectis, an industrial‑scale aligned fibre platform that produces Unimat, a non‑impregnated nonwoven mat with up to 95% fibre alignment. The system leverages existing nonwoven equipment to deliver widths of 1,200 mm and areal weights from 20‑200 g/m²,...
Why Sourcing Shifts Are Easier Said than Done when Battling Tariffs
Tariff volatility under the Trump administration is forcing U.S. brands to rethink where they source products. Executives like Brooklinen's COO note that shifting production to a new country takes months, not weeks, and domestic cotton supplies are limited. Companies are...
German Navy Orders Four Training Boats From Fassmer
German shipbuilder Fassmer has secured a contract with the Federal Office of Bundeswehr Equipment, Information Technology and In-Service Support (BAAINBw) to build four SAMSe (mod) training boats for the German Navy. The vessels will support nautical instruction and the “Überleben...
Asus Introduces Liquid Cooling for AI Data Centers
ASUS unveiled its Optimized Liquid‑Cooling Solutions and a strategic partner framework to tackle thermal, power, and density challenges in next‑generation AI and high‑performance computing data centers. The portfolio spans direct‑to‑chip, in‑row CDU, and hybrid systems, built with partners such as...
Why I Was Wrong About the AMUG Conference
Michael Petch revises his view of the AMUG Conference, arguing it is less an agenda‑setting forum and more a collective reckoning among seasoned additive‑manufacturing practitioners. The event’s dense, experience‑rich environment surfaces real‑world friction points that shape procurement and integration decisions...
Textile Exchange Unveils Three-Step Pathway for Action Cohort Members
Textile Exchange launched a three‑step Action Cohort pathway to accelerate responsible raw material production. Step one introduces voluntary data reporting in 2026, becoming mandatory for brands and retailers in 2027; step two pushes members to source more from verified preferred...
Chinese PV Industry Brief: Polysilicon Prices Slide Amid Low Operating Rates
The China Nonferrous Metals Industry Association reported polysilicon operating rates fell to just 32% of capacity, extending an oversupply that pushed polysilicon prices lower and softened wafer prices across all grades. Wafer prices dropped 3‑8% after the Chinese New Year,...
Tekna Reaches 1 Million Kgs of Titanium Powder Following a Decade of Growth
Tekna announced it has produced one million kilograms of titanium powder, marking a decade of continuous growth since its plasma atomization debut in 2015. The company expanded from a single line to 24/7 operations and added a second line in...
Yangzijiang Shipbuilding Achieves a Record Performance in 2025
Yangzijiang Shipbuilding posted a record FY 2025, with revenue climbing 7.4% to RMB 28.5 billion and gross profit jumping 28.3% to RMB 9.8 billion. The core shipbuilding division generated RMB 26.8 billion, up 6.4%, while the orderbook swelled to $22.4 billion for 245 vessels. Shipping‑related revenue slipped 8.1%...
Flexport Launches AI Technology to Spot Customs Errors and Prepare Tariff Refunds
Flexport unveiled an AI‑powered “Audit Your Customs Broker” agent that scans historical customs entries to spot filing errors and flag potential tariff refunds. The company claims the tool cut its own U.S. customs error rate to 0.2%, a ten‑fold improvement...
ROHM Licenses TSMC’s GaN Processs Technology for Hamamatsu Fab
ROHM Semiconductor announced a licensing agreement with TSMC to adopt the foundry’s 650 V GaN process at its Hamamatsu fab, targeting volume production in 2027. The integration combines ROHM’s device design expertise with TSMC’s advanced manufacturing, creating an end‑to‑end GaN supply...
Electric Vehicles and Industrial Policy Could Transform African Economies
African nations sit atop a critical share of the world’s cobalt and other minerals essential for electric‑vehicle batteries, yet most of the value is still captured abroad. The author argues that proactive industrial policy—mirroring China’s use of special economic zones,...
My Most Successful Tips to Improve Asset Integrity, Reliability, Maintenance, and Turnarounds – Part 2: Asset Integrity Processes
Ricardo Valbuena’s second installment on asset integrity highlights two core pillars: people development and risk‑based inspection (RBI). He advocates establishing a structured inspector career ladder and supporting staff with API certifications to boost motivation, skills, and retention. The article also...
Phased Array Ultrasonic Testing as an Alternative to Traditional Radiographic Testing for HRSG Piping Weld Inspection: Triple Wins in Safety,...
Phased‑array ultrasonic testing (PAUT) is being promoted as a replacement for radiographic testing (RT) in heat‑recovery steam generator (HRSG) pipe weld inspections. PAUT removes ionizing radiation exposure, delivers instant defect data, and allows real‑time welding adjustments. The technology shortens inspection...
Highlights From the Fall 2025 API SCIMI Standards Meeting
The American Petroleum Institute’s Fall 2025 API Standards Conference, held November 9‑15 in Anaheim, convened the Committee on Refining Equipment to review and advance SCIMI initiatives. Six SCIMI standards were published in 2025, including addenda to RP 574, RP 580, RP 575 and RP 570,...
Guarding the Gate: What or Who Is the Foundation of Mechanical Integrity?
Inspectioneering’s Fall 2025 “Meeting of the Minds” roundtable in Anaheim revisited the core pillars of mechanical integrity (MI). Participants highlighted the Corrosion Control Document (CCD) and Integrity Operating Windows (IOWs) as essential data foundations. The discussion warned against the “shiny‑object” trap,...
Laser Surface Ablation for Surface Cleaning with Observations of Its Impact on Corrosion Control
Laser surface ablation is emerging as a precise, environmentally friendly alternative to traditional mechanical, chemical, and ultrasonic cleaning methods. By using controlled laser‑material interactions, it can selectively remove rust, coatings, and contaminants while preserving the substrate and eliminating abrasive waste....
Inspection Planning Process for Turnarounds
The article emphasizes that a structured inspection planning process, anchored by a risk‑based planning matrix, is essential for successful turnarounds (TAs). Developing a comprehensive Inspection Test Plan (ITP) early ensures clear communication of scope, methods, acceptance criteria, and hold points...
Asset Integrity Management of High Temperature Equipment Through Effective Thermal Hotspot Control
The Inspectioneering article outlines how thermal hotspots in refractory‑lined, high‑temperature equipment jeopardize structural integrity and operational continuity. It details damage mechanisms such as overheating, cracking, and corrosion that arise when refractory linings fail. The authors emphasize inspection techniques—infrared, acoustic, and...