The U.S. government has finalized long-delayed rules that will require "quiet cars" like electric vehicles and hybrids to emit alert sounds when they are moving at speeds of up to 18.6 miles per hour (30 km per hour) to help prevent injuries among pedestrians, cyclists and the blind.

Forbes looks at exploring the ways in which robots are acting as change agents – especially in the area of the Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT).

GE Digital’s latest acquisition is going to make life easier for the people who fix the jet engines, power plants, medical scanners and other technology that we rely on every day. Pleasanton, California-based ServiceMax makes cloud-based applications for field service management to help customers better optimize their assets. Essentially, this means giving technicians in the field the digital tools they need to service and maintain equipment at the right time.

The first AGMA education program will take place in Clearwater Beach, Fla., next February. Learn what is required for the design of an optimum gear set and the importance of the coordinated effort of the gear design engineer, the gear metallurgist, and the bearing system engineer.  Investigate gear‐related problems, failures and improved processing procedures.

Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Wolf has announced the allocation of $4 million in strategic innovation grants to support the state's workforce development plans. 

Rockwell Automation is giving $12 million to a nonprofit called FIRST (For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology) to help it address the critical need to fill science, technology, education and math (STEM) jobs that drive innovation — a cause to which the company has provided more than $15 million worth of broad-based support in the last decade.

For almost a century, life in Alexander City, Alabama, revolved around Russell Corp. The athletic-wear maker was headquartered in the town of 15,000, and employed 7,200 people there. "I became mayor in 1996, and all the mayor of Alexander City had to do was please Russell, to be honest," recalled Don McClellan recently.

In the discussion around big data, automation and the Internet of Things (IoT), more attention is often paid to the technologies, sensors and data-collection devices than to how analytics can be leveraged for business benefit. Enterprises should worry less about "things" and focus more on how those things can transform their organization and business processes to achieve operational excellence.

The National Institute for Metalworking Skills (NIMS) announced on Wednesday that it has been selected by the United States Department of Labor as an industry intermediary to support the expansion of registered apprenticeships within manufacturing.

Parcel giant UPS announced plans to build a new $400 million regional sorting hub on Atlanta's west side. The company said that the 1.2 million square-foot facility, built on a 341-acre site, will be the third largest processing center in its U.S. network. UPS, which moved its headquarters to Atlanta in the early 1990s, expects 1,250 new employees to fill multiple sorting shifts.

A lot of factors go into the decision to hand build or outsource circuit boards. I hand build my own sometimes, simply because I enjoy the challenge. Of course most of the projects I design are for my own use, so timeliness isn't that important.

Tesla Motors announced this week that it has agreed to buy Grohmann Engineering, a German engineering company, in order to help automate its electric car manufacturing operations.

Oerlikon announced today that it will be building a new state-of-the-art manufacturing facility in Plymouth Township, Michigan, dedicated to producing advanced materials for additive manufacturing and high-end surface coatings. This investment is another key step in Oerlikon’s strategy to become a powerhouse in surface solutions and advanced materials, and will serve to accelerate the industrialization of additive manufacturing. 

A Brazilian student wins an advanced materials contest, Local Motors launches an SaaS division, Airbus certifies an additive material from Stratasys and other industry news.

Bison Gear, a St. Charles, Illinois, based gearmotor manufacturer partnered with Cadenas Partsolutions to create an all-new interactive 3D digital parts catalog. Built by Cadenas Partsolutions, the catalog will enable Bison Gear's engineering customers to instantly configure and download the exact product they need for their design. The new catalog, scheduled for launch in early 2017, will provide an industry-leading digital customer experience, streamlining the product specification process and providing on-demand access to digital product data in more than 150 formats.

GE Aviation and CFM International, a 50/50 joint company between GE and Safran Aircraft Engines, publicized more than $3 billion in orders and commitments at the 2016 Zhuhai Air Show. The orders and commitments included more than 200 GE and CFM engines as well as agreements for TrueChoice suite of engine maintenance offerings. 

Global oil markets may run into a third straight year of oversupply in 2017 unless the OPEC agrees to cut output, the International Energy Agency warned on Thursday.

855 conventionally manufactured parts will be reduced to 12 additive parts on the Advanced Turboprop.