The Manufacturer The Obama administration has designated the first 12 regions to receive funding as a part of the Government's Investing in Manufacturing Communities Partnership, a plan aimed at spurring investment and creating jobs.

Manufacturing Business Technology Imagine a world where you can 3D print a full-size cargo plane or quickly produce a body part to save someone's life. Through additive manufacturing or 3D printing, Lockheed Martin is bringing people closer to products and solving challenges in new ways. The company is pushing the limits of this technology to produce parts quickly and affordably with geometry and design that has never been possible before.

Mining.com Over a dozen years ago a significant technological leap was introducing miners to a bigger truck, says Steve Berkebile, General Manager, North America, Caterpillar Global Mining division. Berkebile says they are now looking for what's next. To get cultural acceptance for technology, Caterpillar marketing is focused on reducing a miner's cost and increasing output per man.

In this seminar, you can gain a broad understanding of the methods used to manufacture and inspect gears – and much more. You will take it one step further, learning how the resultant information can be applied and interpreted in the design process.

The Wall Street Journal Manufacturing in the U.S. is starting to make a comeback, and is poised for even bigger gains in the years ahead. That, at least, is the way the optimists see it. But plenty of skeptics argue that there are lots of reasons to doubt it. For all the positive trends and statistics, they cite numbers pointing the other way. With that in mind, here are four reasons to bet on U.S. factories—and four reasons to be cautious.

Bloomberg Manufacturing in the U.S. expanded at a slower pace than forecast in May as orders and production eased from the previous month. The Institute for Supply Management’s factory index fell to a three-month low of 53.2 from the prior month’s 54.9.

Bloomberg U.K. manufacturing maintained its momentum last month as improving global demand boosted orders at factories for a 15th straight month. Markit Economics said its industry index was at 57 in May after a reading of 57.3 in April.

Bloomberg Businessweek China’s manufacturing expanded at the fastest pace in five months, in a sign the government’s measures to counter an economic slowdown are gaining traction. The Communist Party has stepped up the pace of stimulus measures, including faster spending from government budgets and increased railway investment, to help meet an official growth target of about 7.5 percent this year.

IndustryWeek Falling export demand hit Germany's key mechanical engineering sector in April, the VDMA industry federation said on Monday. The manufacture of machine tools is an important part of Germany's industrial and export performance.

International Business Times U.K. manufacturing has been boosted by a near £1bn order for Airbus aircraft by Air New Zealand. The Kiwi airline has ordered 14 aircraft in total: 10 A2320neo, three A321 and one A320, confirmed Christopher Luxon, the airline's CEO, at an aviation conference in Doha.

Marketplace Columbus is a city that was built on industry, on manufacturing. But that description of the city today wasn't the reality of a decade ago, when big chunks of the manufacturing in this part of Mississippi just went away. If you think America doesn’t make anything anymore, then come to Columbus, Mississippi.

NPR Google is taking a detour into the world of automobiles, by becoming a carmaker. But not just any car: a car that drives itself. In an effort to create a fully, 100 percent self-driving vehicle — something that needs no human being at the steering wheel — the company is building a car without a steering wheel.

IndustryWeek Alcoa broke ground on May 29 on a $100 million aerospace expansion in La Porte, Indiana where it will produce nickel-based superalloy jet engine parts. The new 320,000-square-foot facility will expand Alcoa’s reach from structural engine components for business and regional jets to large commercial aircraft, including narrow- and wide-body and military airplanes.

The Dayton Beach News-Journal The Volusia-Flagler, Fla., area is home to more than 400 manufacturing companies. While the area is best known for its beaches and as the home of the Daytona 500, manufacturing locally dates back to the 1700s.

The Star Online Perusahaan Otomobil Kedua (Perodua) and Daihatsu Motor Company of Japan will invest RM600mil to set up a new engine manufacturing plant in Sendayan, Negeri Sembilan. They companies said work on the plant was expected to begin in September this year. When completed it would have a production capacity of 140,000 units a year.

Grand Blanc View Employees at General Motors’ Flint Manufacturing Operations raised more than $24,000 to support programs and services at the Food Bank of Eastern Michigan. Representatives from Flint Assembly, the Flint Metal Center and Flint Engine Operations recently presented a check for $24,290 to Food Bank officials during a ceremony at the engine plant.

Phys.org The Gemini consortium has signed all construction, operations and financing contracts yesterday with a total construction budget of nearly EUR 3 billion. With more than 20 parties involved 70 percent of this budget will be provided on the basis of project financing – making Gemini the largest-ever project financed offshore wind farm.

Australian Flying Cessna yesterday rolled out the first production CJ3+ only two months after announcing the aircraft would be added to the range. The aircraft has not yet been certified by the FAA, so quick has been the development.

Mining Weekly Prospective Canadian deep-sea miner Nautilus Minerals on Wednesday announced that it had started building its second seafloor production tool, the collecting machine, at third-party manufacturer Soil Machine Dynamics’ facility at Newcastle upon Tyne, in the U.K.

Manufacturing Business Technology Manufacturers share a vexing and important problem. In the aerospace and defense, automotive and consumer products industries, manufacturers have difficulty integrating software with hardware in product development. The truth is that too few companies do this well.