Hartford Courant
Gov. Ned Lamont announced his selection of former Whitcraft Group CEO Colin Cooper as the state’s first chief manufacturing officer, a new state job coordinating policy to support and expand a key part of Connecticut’s economy.

AGMA
The American Gear Manufacturers Association (AGMA) Board of Directors voted unanimously to purchase the assets of Randall Publications, a 34-year old privately-held media company based in Elk Grove, Ill. Purchased assets include Gear Technology magazine, Gear Technology India magazine, Power Transmission Engineering magazine, a 10,000 record online technical database, all related web sites, and a 23,000+ record, combined circulation list. Terms of the sale were not disclosed.

FedEx
For the first time in the United States, a drone completed a scheduled commercial residential delivery to a home in Christiansburg, Va. The drone delivery was conducted by Wing Aviation, in collaboration with FedEx Express, as part of the U.S. Department of Transportation’s Unmanned Aircraft Systems Integration Pilot Program (IPP). 

Metal AM
Solukon Maschinenbau GmbH, Augsburg, Germany, reports that its SFM-AT800-S depowdering system, which was co-developed with Siemens, has been beta tested on the shop floor by both MBFZ toolcraft GmbH and Morf3D with promising results. The SFM-AT800-S uses an intelligent algorithm developed by Siemens to rotate a metal additively manufactured part for depowdering in a sequence calculated from the CAD geometry, draining the residual powder from intricate cavities such as conformal cooling channels.

Metal AM
The Metal Powder Industries Federation (MPIF) has released a revised edition of its ‘A Collection of Powder Characterization Standards for Metal Additive Manufacturing.’ The publication contains nine existing MPIF Standard Test Methods applicable for the characterisation of powders used in metal AM processes, with an explanation of each standard, intended to present and clarify PM technology as an aid in conducting business.

Ford Media Center
Ford is offering its all-electric vehicle customers North America’s largest electric vehicle public charging network, with more than 12,000 places to charge, including fast charging, and more than 35,000 charge plugs.

Electrek
Earlier this year, Electrek contacted several owners with high-mileage Tesla Model 3 vehicles and they were all still very impressed by their cars, but now another Tesla owner pushed his Model 3 even further. Here’s what the first Tesla owner to travel 100,000 miles in his Model 3 has to say about the electric car.

3D Printing Media Network
In this interview, the general manager of engineering at GE Additive discusses how far the company has come in the AM market, including the latest on the M LINE production systems.

3D Printing Media Network
Fabrisonic, a specialist in solid-state metal 3D printing, recently teamed up with EWI and Luna Innovations to develop a smart baseplate to better understand the powder bed fusion AM process and how baseplates can influence print quality. 

Machine Design
Many machine or equipment manufacturers are looking to offer new services to their customers to enable additional revenue streams, and Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT) technology provides a way to accomplish this goal. 

Private equity firms are snapping up manufacturing companies at a quick pace, setting off a merger and acquisition gold rush, while leaving multi-cloud manufacturing systems unprotected in a zero trust world.

Canadian Manufacturing
Nearly four years after delivering its first jet, Honda is facing decisions as the company better known for cars and lawnmowers considers whether to sink billions more into its decades-in-the-making aircraft division.

AGMA
The AGMA Marketplace provides a great resource for those looking for products and services in the gear industry. Find gear manufacturers that can produce products you need for your current project, or find services to assist with your gear manufacturing plant. Every AGMA member company gets a free listing. Please email doran@agma.org for complete details.

Thomas Blog
When it comes to branding, the big names with strong name — and logo — recognition probably come to mind first. Many manufacturing and industrial companies, however, don't think that they need to worry about branding. They prefer to rely on word of mouth and referrals to attract new business, and they feel that branding isn't important in their space. 

Central Maine
American manufacturing is enjoying a resurgence powered by demand and innovation. But alongside this resurgence lies a mounting challenge facing every manufacturer: attracting and retaining talent. Despite this challenge, there are actions employers can take to put the right tools and people in place to ultimately propel the manufacturing industry forward.

Triple Pundit
This October marks the second year of Stanley Black & Decker’s Maker Month, 31 days of various programs that invite students to explore creativity, design and connection. This year’s activities include an innovation challenge for K-12 student teams, trade and vocational scholarships and networking events for students to learn more about careers in manufacturing.

National Defense
The Army wants to incorporate advanced manufacturing techniques in everything from advanced engines made by defense contractors, to the lowest echelons of deployed troops who could 3D print items in the field, according to senior service leaders.

Automation.com
According to a new white paper on operational security for manufacturing environments, 88% of manufacturing operational assets are now connected to a converged IT/OT network. This is a strong indicator that digitalization efforts are transforming manufacturing environments, making them increasingly reliant on the availability of data to perform critical tasks.

AGMA
The 2020 dates and locations for all AGMA education are now available on the AGMA website. Make sure to sign up early for training. There is everything from Basic Training for the new employees to high-level engineering courses in Gear Failure, Epicyclic Gear Systems, Gear Manufacturing & Inspection, and many more.

Space Tech Asia
Queensland, Australia-based Black Sky Aerospace has just been given the green light by regulators to begin the process toward the manufacture of Solid Rocket Motors (SRM). The company will be the first manufacturer of its kind in Australia and will be able to provide access to solid fuels for orbital and sub-orbital launch vehicles.