A joint venture of Mitsubishi Caterpillar Forklift America and Jungheinrich will soon break ground on a facility in Conroe Industrial Park, according to Origin Bank.

The Federal Reserve reported that manufacturing production rebounded in December after pulling lower in November, with output in the sector up 0.2 percent in the latest release.

Manufacturing is vital to national security in many ways and particularly as a source of critical technology for the warfighter, Frank Kendall, undersecretary of defense for acquisition, technology and logistics, said recently. In the Pentagon Hall of Heroes, Kendall announced the Defense Department’s award of its eighth department-led institute and the 14th Manufacturing USA institute to American Robotics, Inc, of Pittsburgh.

Tough, lightweight silicon carbide fibers will help improve the fuel efficiency of General Electric's aircraft engines and could spread to other uses, following in the footsteps of earlier Japanese innovations in materials engineering.

Manufacturers across the industry spectrum are looking for ways to leverage the Industrial "Internet of Things" (IIoT) to transform their productivity, efficiency and business agility. Developments like machine-to-machine (M2M) communication and Big Data analytics of sensor data offer exciting opportunities to achieve step changes in automation efficiency, while setting the stage for new business models that give manufacturers an edge in the global marketplace.

Gain a better understanding of various types of gears and bearings. Learn about the limitation and capabilities of rolling element bearings and the gears that they support. Grasp an understanding of how to properly apply the best gear-bearing combination to any gearbox from simple to complex.

Aric Newhouse, NAM Senior Vice President – Policy and Government Relations discusses the nomination process and hearings. PLEASE NOTE: Aric Newhouse is a speaker at the upcoming AGMA/ABMA Annual Meeting.

The AGMA Foundation 2017 Scholarship Guidelines are available on the AGMA and AGMA Foundation websites (www.agma.org and www.agmafoundation.org). The AGMA Foundation Scholarship Program is open to students who are interested in a career in the gear industry, and/or a career in power transmission as it relates to the gear industry. Applicants must be currently enrolled, or recently accepted, as a full or part-time student in a nationally accredited program. Annual $5,000 scholarships are awarded to students at the Undergraduate, and Graduate school levels, Technical/Associate degree students are eligible for $2,000 annual scholarship awards. The deadline for application submission is July 1, 2017.

Manufacturing is worthy of political attention. Manufacturers are more likely to be exporters than other types of businesses and those tend to be more productive than non-exporting firms. But when politicians talk about manufacturing, it tends to be in terms of the production line: assembling parts into cars, washing machines or aircraft, which adds less value than it once did. It is the processes that accompany assembly — design, supply-chain management, servicing — that today bring the value. Manufacturing, and jobs in manufacturing, have changed in ways that mean that the old jobs will never return to the rich world. 

Elaine Chao could be President Trump’s secret weapon to help pass a massive infrastructure bill. Her political and personal ties to Capitol Hill were on full display during her confirmation hearing to be Transportation secretary earlier this month, when senators peppered her with compliments and questions about her ideas for revitalizing the nation’s aging infrastructure. Chao, a former Labor secretary who is married to Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) and is expected to easily win confirmation, will be tasked with overseeing Trump’s promised $1 trillion rebuilding package.

Canada is indeed a different country than the United States and it has a different economy. It is also, however, close by and very much tied into that economy to the south given NAFTA. Given the decent economic conditions in that much larger U.S. economy it's therefore perhaps not all that much of a surprise that output is growing in Canada.

The Nammo Group, based in Norway, will bring more than 130 new manufacturing jobs to Naval Surface Warfare Center (NSWC) Indian Head in Southern Maryland over the next five years. As part of the agreement, Nammo Energetics Indian Head, a Maryland corporation, will partner with the installation’s Explosive Ordnance Disposal Technology Division (EODTD) to establish both a solid rocket motor and tactical warhead production facility, as well as an energetics demilitarization operation at Indian Head. The company plans to invest more than $23 million in renovations to existing facilities on the base and an additional $7 million in new equipment.

Though we may strive for the day in which it's possible to make an entire aircraft with 3D printing, according to Wohlers Associates, about one-third of the reported additive manufacturing (AM) applications is for creating prototypes and visual models. The actual 3D printing of end parts may be on the rise, but there are applications that lay beyond the most exciting stories put forth by the media.

Tech entrepreneurs in Indianapolis are eager to stanch a brain drain from their state’s universities, and to lure out-of-state millennials to what they hope can be a prime Midwestern technology center. To that end, they formed the nonprofit TechPoint, which is developing programs like a short-term boot camp for new graduates and internships for college students.

Amazon may be the largest online retailer in the world, but the company is focused on having a positive impact on the ground as well. With an ever-expanding global network of fulfillment and data centers, Amazon has a growing demand for energy. Amazon also has an equal appetite for and commitment to renewable energy. In fact, Amazon Web Services (AWS), the company’s cloud computing business, has a long-term commitment to achieve 100 percent renewable energy usage for its global infrastructure footprint.

Many companies rely on alliance or channel partners to represent and support their brands and products to end customers, and the manufacturing sector is no exception. In manufacturing, we often find vendors are established companies with traditional ways of engaging partners that have worked successfully for many years. These connections are built on process, data management and relationships honed through a complex history to "get them right."

General Motors says it will invest an additional $1 billion into its manufacturing operations in the US, adding to the $2.9 billion of investment it announced last year. 

Following the Prime Minister’s clarification on the UK’s likely post-Brexit relationship with the EU, Britain’s manufacturing sector will be looking to determine what the future holds in store outside the single market.

In an advance that could lead to improved manufacturing, a new study by UCLA researchers shows that adding nanoparticles to metals during the melting process allows for better control during melting.

The Philadelphia Federal Reserve's manufacturing outlook rocketed past expectations. The index came in at 23.6 for the month. Economists expected the measure of mid-Atlantic manufacturing activity to slide slightly in January to 15.8.

A Bucks County company with Lehigh Valley ties is expanding its production facility. Demco Automation, which makes automation assembly systems for other companies, is nearing completion of an expansion that will nearly double its facility on Commerce Boulevard in Milford Township, near Quakertown.