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Daily industrial news and top headlines for plant and maintenance managers
Hitachi, Johnson Controls Tie Up In Auto Batteries
October 18, 2010 5:02 am | CommentsTOKYO (AP) — Japanese electronics company Hitachi is tying up with a U.S. battery-maker in developing and making batteries for green vehicles, both sides said Monday. The deal, signed last month with Johnson Controls Inc., based in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, centers around lithium-ion batteries — already widely used in laptops and other gadgets but starting to take off in auto technology such as hybrids and electric vehicles.
NASCAR Switching To Ethanol Blend Fuel By 2011
October 18, 2010 4:53 am | CommentsCONCORD, N.C. (AP) — NASCAR will move from unleaded fuel to an ethanol blend in all three of its national series beginning next season. The switch to Sunoco Green E15 was announced Saturday by NASCAR chairman Brian France, who touted the switch as yet another step by the auto racing series toward environment friendly practices.
Hawker Beechcraft Machinists Vote Against Contract
October 18, 2010 4:45 am | CommentsWICHITA, Kan. (AP) — Machinists at Hawker Beechcraft voted Saturday against a new seven-year contract that would have included a 10 percent pay cut and other concessions aimed at keeping the company from moving all its operations out of Kansas. Bob Wood, spokesman for the airplane maker's union, said 55 percent of the members rejected the contract.
Baltimore Energy Plant Creates Jobs, Debate
October 18, 2010 4:32 am | CommentsBALTIMORE (AP) — Construction is ready to begin on a new waste-to-energy plant proposed for the site of a former Baltimore chemical plant. Energy Answers says it has received all key permits for development of the former FMC chemical plant site. FMC Corporation will continue to own the brownfield site and conduct monitoring and remediation.
GM Recalls 300,000 Impalas For Seat Belt Failure
October 15, 2010 4:55 am | CommentsDETROIT (AP) — General Motors is recalling more than 300,000 Chevrolet Impala sedans because the seat belts may fail to restrain people in the front seats during a crash. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration says on its website that the front-seat belt webbing may not be secured properly to a lap belt anchor on the side of the seat near the doors.
GE Profits Drop 18 Percent On Low Equipment Sales
October 15, 2010 4:41 am | by Chris Kahn, AP Business Writer | CommentsNEW YORK (AP) — General Electric Co. said Friday its third-quarter income fell 18 percent because of a loss from a Japanese division that it's selling. Lower equipment sales, reflecting a slowdown in the once red-hot U.S. manufacturing sector, also damped results. The industrial and financial giant, which makes everything from refrigerators to power plant equipment to jet engines, reported net income of $2.
Honda To Expand Ohio Plant, Hire 100 Workers
October 15, 2010 4:41 am | CommentsRUSSELLS POINT, Ohio (AP) — Honda said Thursday it expects to create more than 100 jobs with the expansion of its western Ohio plant. Honda Transmission of America Manufacturing Inc. presented an area planning commission with plans for acquiring and rezoning 60 acres adjacent to its current plant near Russells Point.
Wal-Mart Pulls Lead-Tainted Kid's Toys From Shelves
October 15, 2010 4:40 am | by Chuck Bartels, AP Business Writer | CommentsLITTLE ROCK, Arkansas (AP) — Walmart announced Thursday that it would remove from its shelves children's products that a consumer group said tested for high levels of lead. The Oakland, California-based Center for Environmental Health said this week that tests it commissioned on children's products sold at Target Corp.
Calif. Wholesaler Busted For Housing Illegal Workers
October 15, 2010 4:38 am | CommentsSAN DIEGO (AP) — The owner of a wholesale bakery that delivers to a federal courthouse, military bases, prisons and schools was charged with hiring illegal immigrants in a complaint that alleges more than half his workers were not authorized to be in the United States. Jesse Fadick, 65, and three employees who were in the United States illegally were charged with conspiracy to harbor illegal aliens at S&S Bakery Inc.
Wall Street Jumps On Good Manufacturing, Google News
October 15, 2010 4:36 am | by Stephen Bernard, AP Business Writer | CommentsNEW YORK (AP) — Stock futures jumped Friday after Federal Reserve chairman Ben Bernanke reiterated the central bank is ready to do more to stimulate the sluggish economy. Bernanke's comments were the latest confirmation of what is already widely expected: The central bank is about to ramp up its purchase of Treasury bonds to spark growth.
ThyssenKrupp To Expand Ind. Facility, Hire 160 Workers
October 13, 2010 4:47 am | CommentsTELL CITY, Ind. (AP) — Indiana Governor Mitch Daniels has joined business officials to announce the expansion of a steel foundry in Tell City that's expected to create up to 160 jobs by the end of 2012. A unit of the German steelmaker ThyssenKrupp AG said Tuesday it will invest $36.5 million in equipment to expand capacity at the 480,000 square-foot plant.
Intel Sales Give Hope To Struggling PC Industry
October 13, 2010 4:45 am | by Jordan Robertson, AP Technology Writer | CommentsSAN FRANCISCO (AP) — Investors were hoping for a sign from Intel Corp. that the bottom didn't fall out of the consumer personal computer market in the third quarter. The company showed Tuesday that the market held up reasonably well and should stay steady into the all-important holiday shopping season.
Beechcraft Offers 6,000 Kan. Workers 10 Percent Pay Cuts
October 13, 2010 4:42 am | by Roxana Hegeman, Associated Press Writer | CommentsWICHITA, Kan. (AP) — Hawker Beechcraft has offered its machinists a seven-year contract offer that includes a 10 percent pay cut and other concessions in a move to keep the majority of its 6,000 jobs in Kansas. The airplane maker's union recommended early Wednesday that its members accept the contract to protect two-thirds of the remaining machinists jobs for the long-term.
Does Google Have An R&D 'Disease'?
October 13, 2010 4:41 am | by Michael Liedtke, AP Technology Writer | CommentsSAN FRANCISCO (AP) — In its self-proclaimed drive to make the world a better place, Google has immersed itself in far more than Internet search and online ads. But driverless cars and a wind energy farm in the Atlantic Ocean? It may not always be immediately apparent to frustrated investors — they wish management would be more frugal and focus more on the stock price — but there's usually some calculated logic underlying Google's unconventional strategy.
Kansas Man Dies In 'Hot Work' Industrial Accident
October 13, 2010 4:41 am | CommentsGARDEN CITY, Kan. (AP) — A man has died after suffering severe burns at a western Kansas industrial plant. Finney County Undersheriff John Andrews says 48-year-old Curtis Nicholson of Garden City was injured Thursday at Darling International Inc. He died Monday at a Wichita hospital. Nicholson and another employee, 40-year-old Troy Morrow, were injured when a plasma torch ignited vapors from barrels that had held hydraulic fluid.
