Institute for Supply Management
Economic activity in the manufacturing sector contracted in April, and the overall economy contracted after 131 consecutive months of expansion, says the nation’s supply executives in the latest Manufacturing ISM Report on Business.

This webinar will detail what you need to know to be prepared for the many changes coming later this year under USMCA, the replacement for the NAFTA trade agreement between the United States, Mexico, and Canada. From understanding the new rules of origin and certification requirements to labor and environmental provisions of the new agreement, companies engaged in cross-border trade in North America, as well as companies considering new investments in the region, should plan to attend this webinar.

Telangana Today
The Indian Commerce and Industry Ministry is working to identify certain key sectors — like capital goods, leather and chemicals — with a view to establish India as manufacturing hub, according to sources. Several meetings have taken place with stakeholders, including industry chambers, to identify those sectors which have the potential to become global winners and make India a strong manufacturing hub.

Clean Technica
German automakers used to be able to crank out zillions of new cars with fat profit margins every year. As important as the transition to electric cars and trucks may be, those profit margins are a thing of the past. Today’s manufacturers have to think smarter if they want to be profitable in the future.

Forbes
One thing laid absolutely bare by the Coronavirus is that America, the most powerful nation in the world, is highly dependent on China’s manufacturing sector for many of its basic necessities and raw materials. Is it time to reverse that? More to the point, is the U.S. ready, as a nation, to live with the consequences to its environment and workforce if we do?

WBIW
About 1100 Cummins manufacturing employees will be returning to work at all their southern Indiana facilities this week, except for Columbus Midrange Engine Plant.

Reuters
Sentiment in central European manufacturing fell in April as coronavirus-related lockdowns put the brakes on factory activity, leading to steep declines in output and new orders.

Automotive News
As American manufacturing goes, so goes this nation’s economy. The battle against COVID-19 has shown us that for all our economy has evolved, manufacturing — particularly auto manufacturing — still sets the workplace standards for all U.S. employees.

Science Daily
New technology uses LED instead of laser sources for the additive manufacturing of metal parts and optimizes 3D metal printing in terms of construction time, metal powder consumption, equipment costs and post-processing effort.

3D Printing Media Network
Known by the acronym SLEDM (Selective LED-based Melting) (i.e., the targeted melting of metal powder using high-power LED light sources) a new technology developed at Graz University of Technology uses LED instead of laser or electron beam sources for the additive manufacturing of metal parts. The process optimizes 3D metal printing in terms of construction time, metal powder consumption, equipment costs and post-processing effort.

Forbes
Consider what’s now happening at companies that made investments in automation and moving work to the cloud. They’re doing better than others in the COVID-19 pandemic. They’re more flexible under trying conditions and more resilient to challenges. 

Manufacturing Global
With more and more intelligent devices being moved into he cloud, in order to increase performance, cost efficiencies and flexibility, the requirements for advanced manufacturing calls for a fast, stable, secure and simple connectivity solution.

This online seminar will calculate and demonstrate the effect that shaft bending, torsional windup and tooth deflections have on loaded tooth contact on various configurations of parallel shaft spur and helical gearing. With the loaded tooth and shaft deflections identified in real life examples, tooth helix and profile modifications will be developed that, when properly manufactured and applied, will significantly improve loaded tooth mesh contact to support realistic load distribution factors used in rating of parallel shaft spur and helical gears. The process involves the application of commercially available software that models the loaded gear mesh in FEA. This evaluation and corrective action will promote optimization of power density with predictable fatigue life.

SKF press release
Engineers now have access to the ultimate design tool capability, through the integrations of SKF’s Bearing Module calculation service into the analysis software of SMT, a leader in mechanical and electromechanical transmission engineering services.

Today’s Motor Vehicles
With much of the world unable or advised against going out in public, auto sales have fallen, leading to a $2 billion loss for Ford in the first quarter. And, with suppliers still deserving to be paid, loses will nearly triple to more than $5 billion in the second quarter, officials warned.

New Atlas
Chinese EV manufacturer Xpeng has fired shots across the Pacific, releasing a high-performance sporty electric sedan that undercuts Tesla’s Model 3 on price and beats it on maximum range, going up to 706km (439 minles) on the NEDC test cycle.

Mining
Canada’s First Cobalt said on Monday it expected to begin production of cobalt sulphate late this year or in early 2021, which would make it North America’s only primary producer of the key ingredient for the batteries that power electric vehicles (EVs) and high tech devices.

Power Transmission Engineering
Power transmission component suppliers discuss COVID-19 threat and how their companies are responding to keep the supply chain connected.

Autoweek
The McLaren Speedtail promises, among other things, speed and a very long tail, but just what kind of sorcery was applied to creating its hybrid powertrain has been a bit of a mystery since the automaker first revealed the car itself. We knew that the Speedtail would pair a twin-turbocharged 4.0-liter V8 engine with some kind of an electric motor to achieve its combined 1,055 hp and 848 lb-ft of torque, but details of this hybrid creation remained murky.