The Dallas Morning News Throughout this bull market, social media stocks, the big online retailers like Amazon.com and health care companies seem to have garnered most of the attention in the financial press. As impressive as their performances have been, one sector has quietly flown under the radar this year and now ranks among the leaders in the Standard & Poor’s 500 index. The industrials — manufacturers of stuff — rank third among the 10 S&P sectors this year with a 32.9 percent stock price gallop.

The Australian The Australian economy could suffer an annual shock of $8 billion and bleed more than 90,000 jobs by 2020 if the domestic car manufacturing industry was to wind up. That's the view of the National Institute of Economic and Industry Research, who believe a drop in household consumption, increased welfare payments and industry flow-on effects would cause significant damage to national GDP.

CNBC The U.S. manufacturing renaissance may have an invisible hand guiding it along: the energy sector, which is in the midst of its own breakneck expansion. The heavily chronicled shale boom that has propelled U.S. oil production to historical peaks also may be greasing the wheels of manufacturing, which suffered for years as production moved to cheaper havens overseas.

Gainesville Times Positions in manufacturing are consistent as the market grows, but employer demands seem to be outpacing employee skills. "Georgia is a great place to be a manufacturing company," said Ira Bennett, director of marketing for Harris Products Group, which provides parts used in brazing, soldering, welding, cutting and gas distribution industries.

Sun News The federal government will provide $200 million to encourage new products and technologies to diversify manufacturing markets. In making the announcement at a manufacturing plant in southwestern Ontario on Monday, Gary Goodyear, the minister of state for the federal economic development, said the government hopes the Advanced Manufacturing Fund (AMF) will encourage the development of "transformative" projects.

Photonics Online While 3-D pens and printers are enjoyed by students, artists and makers, innovative American companies are using similar equipment to manufacture aerospace, automotive and medical technologies. The number of technologies customized and created using additive manufacturing processes is growing each year.

IndustryWeek The fall months brought about a government shutdown, near default and the wildly incompetent implementation of the Affordable Care Act (ACA). These factors have created a significant and harmful level of uncertainty for manufacturers in the United States, so it is unsurprising that respondents to the Q4 2013 National Association of Manufacturers (NAM)/IndustryWeek Survey of Manufacturers had strong reactions to these topics.

IndustryWeek Vehicle production in Brazil, the world's fourth largest car market, reached a record 3.5 million units over the first 11 months of the year, according to industry data released Thursday.

R&D While business operations have matured to help better commercialize new products, an important puzzle piece is missing. Companies must fill this gap to complete the big picture and accelerate innovation. That missing piece is science.

The Washington Post The deal looked sketchy from the start. To outfit Afghanistan’s security forces with new helicopters, the Pentagon bypassed U.S. companies and turned instead to Moscow for dozens of Russian Mi-17 rotorcraft at a cost of more than $1 billion.

AGMA Foundation thanks volunteers and donors for support
A big "thank you" to all the Annual Campaign volunteers and contributors who made the 2013 Annual Campaign a success – with $69,000 raised for programs that advance the gear industry! To support the AGMA Foundation, or learn more about its work, please visit our web site.

Reminder as you shop online for holiday purchases: up to 20% be donated to the AGMA Foundation when you click through GoodShop.com before you purchase from Amazon, Target, and thousands of other retailers. Be sure to select AGMA Foundation as the charity you want to support.

The 2014 AGMA Fall Technical Meeting, to be held October 12-14, 2014 in Crystal City, VA (near Washington, DC). Attendees from all over the world are anticipated. Each year the Fall Technical Meeting provides an outstanding opportunity to share ideas with others on design, analysis, manufacturing and application of gears, gear drives and related products, as well as associated processes and procedures. Authors have the opportunity to present the results of their work to an audience of knowledgeable professionals from the United States and abroad, and to participate in discussions with that audience. Papers should be original to the AGMA audience (not a previously published paper), technically accurate, relevant to the gear art, and free of commercialism.