Reuters
U.S. manufacturing activity accelerated to its highest level in more than a year and a half in July, as orders increased despite a resurgence in new COVID-19 infections, which is raising fears about the sustainability of budding economic recovery. Still, the road to recovery for manufacturing likely remains long and bumpy, with the survey from the ISM on Monday also showing hiring at factories remaining subdued for a year now. About 72% of industries reported growth last month.

The AGMA Trade Webinar series is free to AGMA members. Join us the first Wednesday of the month for a new topic. This week’s webinar is: National Security Reviews of Foreign Investments in the United States
Under legislation passed by Congress in 2018 and implemented in February 2020, the U.S. government’s Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States is increasingly scrutinizing a wide range of investments by foreign persons – most notably from China – in U.S. businesses, infrastructure, and real estate. Companies and investors in the bearing and gear industries are among those likely to be most affected by the new CFIUS rules and may see their planned investments blocked or penalties levied where the requisite CFIUS review is not performed. This webinar will pull back the curtain on the new CFIUS process and tell you what you need to know to identify CFIUS issues and successfully complete planned investments.

Manufacturing.net
Fiat Chrysler overcame coronavirus-related factory shutdowns to post losses that were not as bad as feared, and the company predicted improving conditions for the remainder of 2020.

Autoweek
Even before Tesla’s announcement last week that it had chosen Austin, Texas, as the site of the plant that will produce the Cybertruck starting in 2022, the momentum of EV pickups working their way through the pipelines of start-ups and major automakers alike had reached unprecedented levels. The same week General Motors announced a second EV pickup, promising 400 miles of range, in addition to a Hummer-branded model that will also reach production. A little earlier this summer, Lordstown Motors took the wraps off its Endurance pickup. And just a few weeks ago the market capitalization of EV start-up Nikola, that plans both a pickup and a semi truck, exceeded that of Ford.

Gear Technology
Forest City Gear is down on its strategy to produce most of its critical gear blanks in-house by adding new capacity, and capabilities, to its state-of-the-art 8,500 sq. ft. precision gear blanking facility.

Reuters
Caterpillar, Inc. has predicted no improvement in equipment sales, an outlook that sent its shares down after second-quarter earnings sank during a crippling recession sparked by the coronavirus pandemic, which made customers wary of big purchases.

Drone Life
EHang has had a great year. Now, the world’s leading passenger drone platform is not introducing an entirely new aircraft, but a new application. EHang is launching a new version of the EHang 216 as a firefighting drone.

Gear Technology
This article explains how gear ratio can improve traction in a differential.

Metal AM
The US Air Force Research Lab (AFRL) and America Makes have announced that QuesTek Innovations, based in Evanston, Ill., has won the Additive Manufacturing Modelling Challenge ‘Macro-scale Structure-to-Properties Predictions’ to improve the understanding and modelling capability of the complex linkage of process-structure-performance of AM built components.

Machine Design
Internet of Things (IoT) devices and apps are providing consumers with improved access to and control of their digital life. Common examples include residential smart systems like thermostats, appliances and garage door openers — each of which can be viewed and operated via a mobile device.

Inceptive Mind
According to Yamaha Motor, electric boats could soon become even quieter, and more maneuverable, all thanks to its new integrated electric propulsion unit and steering control system HARMO. HARMO is an innovative electric propulsion system mainly intended for smart package motorboats. It consists of propulsion unit powered by an electric motor, a remote-control box, and a joystick that enables more intuitive operation.

Industrial Machinery Digest
One of the leading causes of workplace injury and potential death is heavy machinery accidents. The importance of man-to-machine protection has always been crucial to prevent these accidents; Power Industrial Vehicles (PIV)s are often mounted with technology to alert the operator of any nearby people. Due to unforeseen circumstances, a new growing threat along with heavy machinery is the next for spatial detection devices to be worn in order to maintain a safe social distance.

Manufacturing.net
Even before the start of 2020, a trend toward nearshoring to North America was emerging. Now, in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic, we predict companies will not only continue this trend – they will also adjust their entire supply chains toward more geographically spread production.

Electrive
BMW has received a grant of 60 million euros from the German federal government and the state of Bavaria for battery research. BMW plans to use the money to establish its own pilot battery cell production in Parsdorf near Munich, with the goal of “creating a closed and sustainable material cycle for battery cells.”

Metal Miner
India’s first scrap-based steel plant will soon come online. Tata Steel has set up the new plant in Haryana in central India. The plant is expected to have an annual capacity of 500,000 tons, the Hindu Business Line reported. Tata has set up the plant in collaboration with Aarti Green Tech Ltd, a subsidiary of Aarti Steel.

Gear Technology
Sandvik and its strategic business partner, Stamicarbon, have initiated a new project to recycle high alloy steel by offering fertilizer customers a special buy-back solution when replacing equipment at their plants.

Automation World
Advances in vision systems offer packagers one of the biggest opportunities for improving productivity. Many packaging applications make use of 2D machine vision, where grayscale or color imaging creates a two-dimensional map that allows for easy detection of anomalies or variations in part contrast. Now, with innovations in 3D vision, broader applications are becoming possible. 

Live Online Training
In this seminar, we will learn just what HCR gears are and under what circumstances they can be used to advantage. Similarly, we will learn when HCR gears are not appropriate and why. We will cover the detailed tooth geometry changes that are required to effectively achieve optimum performance and benefit. We will learn how the load distribution along the involute profile changes when the contact ratio increases above two.

3D Printing Industry
America Makes, the U.S. national accelerator for additive manufacturing, has announced four new project calls intended to advance the maturation of industrial 3D printing. Each project addresses one or more areas around additive manufacturing, including materials data, process monitoring, data management, education and workforce development.