Bloomberg The Markit Economics preliminary index of U.S. manufacturing unexpectedly fell to 56.3 in July from a four-year high of 57.3 as orders and factory employment cooled, the London-based group said today. Readings exceeding 50 in the purchasing managers’ gauge indicate expansion. The median forecast in a Bloomberg survey of economists was 57.5, with estimates ranging from 56 to 59.

MarketWatch Italian manufacturing business confidence fell slightly in July, for the second month, pulled down by a worsening outlook for orders, national statistics institute Istat said Monday.

Bloomberg European stocks rose for a third day as manufacturing gains in China and the euro area boosted investors’ confidence that the economic recovery is on track. Euro-area manufacturing and services activity strengthened in July in a sign that a recovery in the 18-nation region is gathering pace.

Nasdaq Manufacturing figures Friday, Aug. 1 are set to provide reassurance that the U.K. recovery remained steady in July, economists say. Analysts expect the manufacturing purchasing manager's survey to edge down only slightly to 57.4 from 57.5 in June. A reading above 50 indicates activity is expanding.

The Lawyer One of the buzzwords in the UK business lexicon these days is ‘reshoring’ – the return of formerly UK-headquartered businesses or the redomiciling of production to the UK. EEF, the manufacturers’ association, recently found that one in six companies has reshored production back to the UK in the past three years, up from one in seven in 2009.

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Xinhua Industrial robots are assuming more and more prominence in China as the country's manufacturing industry is stymied by a severe worker shortage and soaring labor costs. China bought one fifth of the world's industrial robot output in 2013, overtaking Japan as the biggest buyer of such technology, according to statistics released by the China Robot Industry Alliance (CRIA) recently.

Bloomberg A Chinese manufacturing gauge rose to an 18-month high in July, bolstering the government’s chances of meeting its 2014 economic-growth target of about 7.5 percent.

Forbes There’s a renaissance underway in American manufacturing. Even as rising wages and energy costs in China are leading more U.S. companies to bring manufacturing stateside, economic indicators point towards real industrial progress.

Los Angeles Times Orders for jetliners, machinery and other long-lasting durable goods rebounded last month in a positive sign for the important manufacturing sector, the Commerce Department said Friday.

New York Post It’s a jobs train wreck just waiting to happen. New York’s long-suffering manufacturing sector is on a collision course with the state’s looming pension-debt crisis, a shocking new study reveals.

IndustryWeek GE’s Energy Management announced on July 24 that it will create a new 190,000 square feet manufacturing Center of Excellence (COE) in Clearwater, Fla. The COE will include the existing instrument transformer facility as well as new manufacturing operations for capacitors.

The Guardian There has been renewed concern about the strength of Britain's manufacturing sector recently, but JLR's 40,000 sq m aluminium body shop in the west Midlands is alive with the comforting, audible hum of stuff being made.

University Herald Deloitte University in Texas announced the launch of a massive open online course (MOOC) on the business implications of additive manufacturing. School officials said 3D Opportunity: The Course on Additive Manufacturing for Business Leaders is designed to help educate the market on the business drivers of additive manufacturing.

Houston Chronicle Manufacturing/industrial engineers devise efficient ways to use their workforce, machines, materials, information and energy to make a product or provide a service. In Houston and Texas, with the manufacturing industry booming, such engineers are in high demand.

Milwaukee-Wisconsin Journal Sentinel A staffing agency in the Milwaukee area for 43 years has developed a new program aimed at helping fill the skills gap in manufacturing by matching trainable job candidates with employers. The program, called Trainable Fit, looks for mechanical aptitude, with skills such as the ability to analyze objects from different angles.

3DPrint.com Rapid Prototyping is aggressively transforming manufacturing industries, posing an intensive threat to conventional approaches. Despite a costly investment, manufacturers continue to adopt rapid prototyping as a means to evaluate the product design effectively.

HPC Wire HPC has reached a tipping point where industry use has expanded dramatically. So what role do supercomputers have in manufacturing? Speaking on this topic is Greg Clifford, manufacturing segment manager at Cray.

Manufacturing.net Open-source technology (hardware, firmware, software) has been the spur of the maker movement and continues to drive the cogs of at-home manufacturing. Many industry experts might relegate information like this to the "con" column of industry analysis, but something larger is happening with this technology.

Northern Life Were it not for an aggressive stance to diversify its manufacturing line, Marcotte Mining Machinery Services Inc., which celebrates its 35th year in business this year, may have faced the same financial difficulties as some of its competitors.

Climate Progress While the politics of fracking has taken hold of election-year energy discussions in Colorado, the wind power industry is quietly surging. Vesta Wind Systems recently announced it was hiring 800 new workers, part of plans to fill 1,500 jobs this year in Colorado, after receiving orders for 370 turbines over the last few weeks.

Manufacturing.net Puerto Rico's governor says a U.S. aerospace manufacturing firm is investing $9 million to expand its operations on the island. Alejandro Garcia Padilla said Tuesday the expansion of UTC Aerospace Systems follows a previous investment of $15 million that has created 200 jobs in the past year.

Aerospace Manufacturing and Design The Commonwealth Center for Advanced Manufacturing (CCAM) leadership announced that Airbus has joined CCAM's industry, academic, and government consortium dedicated to manufacturing breakthroughs and advancements in applied research.