The U.S. manufacturing index ISM rose to its highest level, 57.8 percent, since August 2014, according to a release published Monday. Production, employment and new orders all showed solid gains last month.

There’s no shortage of conversation around the manufacturing industry on Capitol Hill. In June at the National Association of Manufacturers Summit, Vice President Pence remarked that American manufacturers haven’t been this optimistic in 20 years.

The manufacturing sector added 16,000 net new workers in July, extending the gain of 12,000 workers in June and reflecting growth in seven of the past eight months. Over that eight-month span (since November), manufacturers have averaged 12,500 new jobs per month—definite improvement from the loss of 16,000 workers on net in 2016. In July, there were 12,425,000 manufacturing workers. At the same time, average weekly earnings for manufacturing workers have risen 2.8 percent over the past 12 months. At the same time, the U.S. economy increased nonfarm payroll employment by 209,000 in July, exceeding 200,000 for the third time in the past four months. The unemployment rate fell from 4.4 percent in June to 4.3 percent in July, returning to the pace in May, which was a 10-year low. Such strong labor market growth should further cement the Federal Reserve’s normalization plans, including raising short-term rates and reducing the size of its balance sheet, perhaps doing both at its upcoming meeting in September. 

Learn to make use of steel properties in a system solution and understand the potential that different steel options can offer for their various applications. Explore how performance of the material and thus the component and system depends on how the steel is produced. Register today! 

China’s unique set of urban transportation challenges, very high rate of adoption of mobile internet services, and rapid and aggressive introduction of alternative mobility solutions have combined to make China a global breeding ground for mobility innovation. The deeply-rooted automotive industry business model is experiencing disruption.

More manufacturing outfits brought on new workers in March than at any point since the front end of the Great Recession in early 2008, according to a report published Tuesday by the Bureau of Labor Statistics. The bureau's so-called JOLTS report – short for Job Openings and Labor Turnover Summary – showed that nearly 5.3 million employees were hired across the U.S. economy in March. On the manufacturing front alone, 322,000 workers were added to payrolls. There hasn't been a month during which industrial work has been in such high demand since April 2008.

Manufacturing advances often take time to catch on. Only later does their real significance become apparent. The flying shuttle, invented in 1733 by John Kay, a British weaver, allowed the production of wider pieces of cloth. Because its movement could be mechanized, the shuttle later became one of the innovations which paved the way for the Industrial Revolution. In 1913 Henry Ford brought motoring to the masses by making his Model T on a moving assembly line; but it was Ransom Olds, a decade earlier, who had come up with the idea of an assembly line to boost production of the Olds Curved Dash. Throughout the 1980s factory bosses scratched their heads over Taiichi Ohno’s Toyota Production System and its curious methods, such as the just-in-time delivery of parts. Now it is the global benchmark for factory efficiency.

Today, Scout Boats employs 350 people in a 220,000-square-foot facility that sits on about 16 acres in Summerville. Scout Boats are sold by more than 70 dealers across the United States — with a strong following in the Southeast and Great Lakes areas — as well as internationally. Canada is the company’s No. 1 export market, followed by Mexico and Australia.

Alliance Steel Corp submitted a $925,000 bid to the Redevelopment Commission in Gary, Indiana, for 25 acres of land. The Northwest Indiana Times reports the bid was approved Aug. 2 by the commission, but the company is waiting for the state to provide incentives and for the city to work out logistics for neighboring land before the move is official.

Faraday Future recently abandoned plans to build its own tailor-made factory from scratch in Nevada, and now it’s signed a lease on a new ready-made production facility in Hanford, Calif. The switch in strategy reflects a broader shift in the electric carmaker’s approach, which has been scaled down for earlier ambitious and lofty goals based on the company’s economic realities.

Tesla Inc. said this week that it would raise about $1.5 billion through its first-ever high-yield junk bond offering, as the U.S. luxury electric car maker seeks fresh sources of cash to ramp up production of its new Model 3 sedan.

Every month, every week, even every day, it seems like more manufacturers are outsourcing at least some of their additive manufacturing. What might that segment of the industry look like soon? Here’s one perspective.

According to new data that measures how difficult it is for firms to hire people, both average duration of job vacancies and average search intensity to fill jobs was pretty flat through the middle of last year. Average vacancy duration went up a bit in mid-2016 and companies responded by recruiting a little harder. Very quickly, vacancy duration returned to 30 days, roughly the average of the past five years. What this tells us is that it has gotten a little harder to find people in the manufacturing sector over the past couple of years, and companies have had to work a little harder to fill their positions. But only a little.

AGMA will host eight education events during Gear Expo 2017 in Columbus, Ohio. On October 25, join us for this half-day event where you Explore just what High Profile Contact Ratio (HCR) gears are and under what circumstances they can be an advantage. Learn when HCR gears are not appropriate and why. This fast paced session will cover the detailed tooth geometry changes that are required to effectively achieve optimum performance and benefit.

Iron ore hit its highest level since April driven by the demand of China’s steel industry, whose production grew by 4.6 per cent in the first half of this year and whose imports of the steelmaking raw material are on course to exceed 1 billion tonnes in 2017.

The U.S. trade deficit narrowed in June as exports hit the highest level in 2 ½ years. The Commerce Department said last week that the trade gap slid 5.9 percent in June to $43.6 billion.

We find ourselves in the middle of yet another technology revolution — the Internet of Things (IoT). What does this mean for us in the business of manufacturing things? It means change, of course, but also how we manage that change while keeping our processes running makes all the difference. A recent article on Manufacturing Business Technology by Chris Grove discussed this revolution from the perspective of cybersecurity. If we take even a further step back from the entire organization we can see that it is not just cybersecurity that needs to be redefined with this digitization of the manufacturing company but rather all of our processes and people that interact with all this new technology.

Managing cost is a concern in every warehouse; in fact, warehouses represent approximately 20 percent of total logistics costs. In an effort to reduce costs and improve efficiency, many warehouses turn to automation. Other trends driving demand for automation include the rising cost of space and a constant demand for near-perfect shipping accuracy. Automation in today’s warehouses comes in many constantly changing options. Conveyors, shipping sorters, and pick-to-light systems have been used successfully in warehouses for many years. More recent trends include varied uses of robots and the philosophy of GTP (goods to person). Before investing in warehouse automation, there are a number of factors that warrant careful consideration, including processes and labor.