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Daily industrial news and top headlines for plant and maintenance managers
Harley-Davidson Profits Plummet 71 Percent
April 20, 2010 4:16 am | by Dan Strumpf, AP Auto Writer | CommentsNEW YORK (AP) — Harley-Davidson Inc. said Tuesday its first-quarter profit fell 71 percent as sales of its high-end bikes remained sluggish. Harley-Davidson CEO Keith Wandell said the uncertain economy is likely to make business conditions challenging throughout the year. Still, the Milwaukee company's results beat analysts' forecasts, sending shares climbing in premarket trading.
Hydrogen Still An Automotive Frontrunner
April 19, 2010 4:36 am | by Arthur Max, Associated Press Writer | CommentsBERLIN (AP) — Hydrogen, one of Earth's most abundant elements, once was seen as green energy's answer to the petroleum-driven car: easy to produce, available everywhere and nonpolluting when burned. Hydrogen energy was defeated by a mountain of obstacles — the fear of explosion by the highly flammable gas, the difficulty of carrying the fuel in large, heavy tanks in the vehicle, and the lack of a refueling network.
Geely Considers Shanghai For Volvo Headquarters
April 19, 2010 4:28 am | by Elaine Kurtenbach, AP Business Writer | CommentsSHANGHAI (AP) — Chinese automaker Zhejiang Geely Holding Co. may locate the China headquarters and factory for Volvo Cars in Shanghai once its takeover of the Swedish company is finalized, an official said Monday. The plan, reported in the state-controlled newspaper Economic Observer, calls for Volvo to set up its headquarters in the Shanghai suburb of Jiading, home to Volkswagen AG's joint venture with local carmaker Shanghai Automotive Industrial Corp.
Toyota To Pay Record $16 Million Fine
April 19, 2010 4:13 am | by Ken Thomas, Associated Press Writer | CommentsWASHINGTON (AP) — The government says Toyota has agreed to pay a record $16.4 million fine for failing to properly notify federal authorities about a dangerous pedal defect. The fine is the largest-ever penalty paid by an automaker to the U.S. government. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood says that by failing to report safety problems, Toyota put consumers at risk.
Woman Dies In Victaulic Plant Fire
April 19, 2010 4:12 am | CommentsALBURTIS, Pa. (AP) — Authorities in eastern Pennsylvania say one of the two people injured in a fire at a pipe manufacturing plant has died. Lehigh County Coroner Scott Grim says 37-year-old Bridgette Geist of Walnutport died at 6:30 p.m. Thursday at Lehigh Valley Hospital-Cedar Crest. An autopsy Friday concluded that her death was accidental.
Main Street: The Recession Is Over? Yeah, Right
April 19, 2010 4:08 am | by Meghan Barr, Associated Press Writer | CommentsTWINSBURG, Ohio (AP) — The clerk at the candy shop does not want to cry. She is determinedly cheerful, a professional smiler, dressed head to toe in bright turquoise. But standing next to a display of plastic-wrapped candles and teddy bears, her face crumples at the most basic of questions: Are you doing OK? "I'm sorry," she says, wiping her eyes with a shirt sleeve, her voice a shaky whisper.
Microsoft: Supplier Broke Labor Laws For Teenage Workers
April 19, 2010 4:07 am | by William Foreman, Associated Press Writer | CommentsGUANGZHOU, China (AP) — Two factories that make Microsoft Corp. products in southern China violated overtime regulations and failed to properly register the use of workers aged 16 to 18, officials said Monday. The problems at the plants in the city of Dongguan were initially raised last week by the National Labor Committee, a New York-based nonprofit that monitors the treatment of foreign workers by U.
Samsung: 'No Risk' Of Cancer For Manufacturing Workers
April 16, 2010 3:53 am | by Kelly Olsen, AP Business Writer | CommentsYONGIN, South Korea (AP) — Samsung Electronics said workers at its semiconductor factories face no heightened cancer risk as the world's top maker of memory chips tried to quell health fears following employee illnesses and deaths. South Korea's biggest company is trying to reassure the public after a January lawsuit involving six people who developed leukemia and lymphoma they claim was caused by exposure to radiation and benzene, a carcinogen, in Samsung chip factories.
Cintas, Widow Reach Settlement In Dryer Death Suit
April 16, 2010 3:52 am | by Justin Juozapavicius, Associated Press Writer | CommentsTULSA, Okla. (AP) — The widow of a Cintas Corp. worker who died after falling into an industrial dryer in Tulsa has settled her wrongful death lawsuit against the nation's largest uniform supplier, according to federal court records. Thursday's settlement with the Cincinnati-based company came four days before a federal trial was to begin in Tulsa.
Microsoft Investigates Child Labor In Chinese Supplier
April 16, 2010 3:51 am | CommentsSEATTLE (AP) — Microsoft Corp. said Thursday it will investigate reports of poor working conditions at a factory in southern China that makes some of its products. The world's largest software maker was responding to a report from The National Labor Committee, a nonprofit that looks into the treatment of foreign workers by U.
Pratt & Whitney: Don't 'Think Good Thoughts'
April 16, 2010 3:49 am | CommentsEAST HARTFORD, Conn. (AP) — Jet engine maker Pratt & Whitney says a federal court judge wrongly emphasized what company executives may have thought rather than what they did in deciding to shift 1,000 jobs out of Connecticut. The East Hartford-based subsidiary of United Technologies Corp.
OSHA Cites Buckhorn For Worker's Death
April 16, 2010 3:47 am | CommentsSPRINGFIELD, Mo. (AP) — A Springfield plant where a worker was crushed to death inside machinery has been cited for more than a dozen alleged safety violations. The federal Occupational Safety and Health Administration said Thursday it has found one willful and 15 serious violations at Buckhorn Inc.
Reid Supply Expands Through Web-Based Efforts
April 14, 2010 10:18 am | CommentsMuskegon, Michigan — Reid Supply Company, a Michigan-based global distributor of industrial supplies, announced the launch of more than 8,000 packaging and shipping products to its tens-of-thousands of industrial products inventory. It was a common sense decision to offer our customers packaging and shipping supplies ,” says Greg Palmer, Director of Marketing at Reid Supply.
Bernanke: Slow Economic Recovery Won't Kill Unemployment
April 14, 2010 4:48 am | CommentsWASHINGTON (AP) — Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke goes to Capitol Hill on Wednesday with a bittersweet message: The economic recovery is taking hold but won't be strong enough to quickly drive down unemployment. Bernanke's out-of-the box thinking during the 2008 financial crisis helped prevent the Great Recession from turning into the second Great Depression.
Feds Slap Meat Industry With Massive Antitrust Rules
April 14, 2010 4:43 am | by Christopher Leonard, AP Agribusiness Writer | CommentsKANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — Federal regulators are set to release the most sweeping antitrust rules covering the meat industry in decades, potentially altering the balance of power between meat companies and the farmers who raise their animals. Activists, farmers and meat industry officials have been anxiously awaiting the new rules, which will be released this spring for public comment and are set to take effect this summer.
