Factory output continued to grow at a solid clip, supported by a range of sectors including metals, machinery, aerospace and furniture. 

Metso press release
Metso is expanding its digital Metso Metrics offering with the launch of a new predictive maintenance solution for mining equipment, aimed to help maximize the uptime and performance of comminution circuits. 

MIT Technology Review
There will be 4.6 million new manufacturing jobs in the U.S. to fill between 2018 and 2028, according to a new report from Deloitte. Over half of the newly created jobs – 2.4 million – are predicted to go empty. 

Design News
While computers have come a long way since the early days of computing, researchers are constantly seeking ways to improve aspects of the technology. Now, researchers at Georgia State University (GSU) have made what they think is a key breakthrough involving materials called transition metal dichalcogenides (TMDCs). 

Euractiv
The green economy usually brings to mind traditional renewable materials such as wood, biomass, water and earth. Less likely poster children are the big metals that have formed the backbone of the industrial revolution – steel, copper, iron, tin and aluminum. In fact, without many of these, the building blocks of the green economy wouldn’t exist.

AGMA
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. 

Wall Street Journal
Futurists have been promising us flying cars since the late-19th century. They may finally be about to arrive. In the next decade, trips that often take an hour or two on the ground, will be made via electric air taxis that will allow for speedy urban travel.

New Atlas
With 150 projects from the world’s leading design schools on show, the Global Grad Show in Dubai is an annual celebration for all the creativity student design has to offer. New Atlas was on the ground at this year’s edition to sniff out the brightest ideas.

Manufacturing.net
As manufacturers across a wide variety of industries look to increase operational efficiency through automation, they’ll need to design and implement custom IIoT solutions. The efficiency benefits of automation are clear: automated machines can make more goods at a faster rate, all while minimizing errant operations. By connecting automated devices at the edge of their network, companies can also measure IIoT data in real time to optimize production and keep critical infrastructure running smoothly.

3D Printing Industry
Following the establishment of the Additive Manufacturing Benchmarking Center (AMBC) by the European Space Agency (ESA), the Manufacturing Technology Centre (MTC), located in Conventry, U.K., is developing a partnership with NASA scientists for technology used on space missions.

Industrial Laser Solutions
GKN Powder Metallurgy, a materials and parts producer, has entered into a strategic partnership with additive manufacturing technology supplier EOS. Together, the companies have designed a new, high-productivity process for laser metal 3D printing that has reduced production time by 70 percent and overall cost by up to 50 percent.

Press release
Emuge Corp., a leading manufacturer of high performance taps, drills, end mills and other rotary tools, has recently broken ground to build a 22,000 sq. ft. expansion project that will double the size of its U.S. headquarters and manufacturing facility in West Boylston, Mass. The expansion will include more manufacturing space and the addition of a PVD coating center. 

New Atlas
Commercial supersonic flight has left the drawing board with Lockheed Martin announcing that fabrication of the X-59 Quiet Supersonic Technology (QueSST) aircraft has begun. Milling the first part of the test aircraft has commenced at the company’s famous Skunk Works, setting the project on course for its maiden flight scheduled for 2021.

IndustryWeek
Manufacturers may overprioritize automation, due to an inability to quantify investments in the human workforce that would result in greater efficiencies.

Aerospace Manufacturing
Professor Phil Webb, the Royal Academy of Engineering Airbus Chair in Aero-Structure Design, Aerospace Integration Research Centre, Cranfield University, looks at the challenges involved in human-robot collaborative manufacturing, the kinds of robots involved and how they work, and the future implications for the industry.

Manufacturing Global
Located in Huntsville, Ala., Mazda Toyota has launched its jointly owned-and-operated automotive production plant which will have the capacity to build 300,000 vehicles per year. Set to complete by 2021, the partnership will enable the creation of 4,000 new jobs in the region, with the $1.6 billion investment split between the two companies. 

Forbes
Waypoint Robotics, the New Hampshire startup that set out to build the iPod of robots, has hooked up with Oracle to bring robots to some of the Fortune 500 companies that rely on the $40 billion, California-based behemoth for their software.

3D Print
Formnext was a great show but, as always, the complaint rang out that there wasn’t really much new information or new product launches. What companies are doing is shifting toward actual manufacturing. Car companies are producing tens of thousands of parts; medical companies as well. Aviation is gearing up for broader adoption.