Plant Operations/Management

Clear Automation Received Sales Award From FANUC Robotics

April 22, 2013 4:37 pm | by Clear Automation | News | Comments

Clear Automation, a leading engineering integrator of robotic and machine vision systems, today announced it has received FANUC Robotics' award for Outstanding Sales Growth for 2012.Clear Automation has been an Authorized System Integrator of FANUC robots for 5 years.

Survey: U.S. Budget Tightening Not Hurting Business

April 22, 2013 10:15 am | by The Associated Press | News | Comments

Washington's budget tightening is having a minimal effect on businesses, a survey of business economists released Monday shows. The National Association for Business Economics survey asks how higher taxes and lower government spending effected businesses in the first three months of 2013.

Safety Rules Limited For Small Fertilizer Plants

April 22, 2013 10:11 am | by Jack Gillum, Ramit Plushnick-Masti, Associated Press | News | Comments

There were no sprinklers. No firewalls. No water deluge systems. Safety inspections were rare at the fertilizer company in West, Texas, that exploded and killed at least 14 people this week. This is not unusual. Small fertilizer plants nationwide fall under the purview of several government agencies, each with a specific concern and none required to coordinate with others on what they have found.

IL Auto Parts Maker Gets State Help To Expand

April 19, 2013 4:03 pm | by The Associated Press | News | Comments

The Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity is giving an auto parts maker $4.4 million in tax breaks and other incentives after the company agreed to add 300 jobs at its plant in eastern Illinois. The department said Thursday that North American Lighting Inc. will add the jobs at its plant in Paris as part of a $50 million expansion.

Rescuers Search Ruins Of Texas Fertilizer Plant

April 18, 2013 2:14 pm | by John L. Mone, Michael Brick, Associated Press | News | Comments

Rescue workers searched the smoldering ruins of a fertilizer plant Thursday for survivors of a monstrous explosion that leveled homes and businesses in every direction across the Texas prairie. As many as 15 people were feared dead and more than 160 others injured.

S. Koreans Hoping To Return To Kaesong Factories

April 18, 2013 2:12 pm | by Youkyung Lee, AP Business Writer | News | Comments

The South Korean entrepreneurs who invested up to 10 years and millions of dollars in the Kaesong industrial complex, a symbol of economic collaboration between the rival Koreas that is now shuttered by the North, have little more than hope to cling to as assembly lines sit idle day after day.

Judge Approves Fisker Supplier Claims Settlement

April 17, 2013 2:03 pm | by Randall Chase, AP Business Writer | News | Comments

A Delaware bankruptcy judge is approving a settlement between electric car maker Fisker Automotive Inc. and its former battery supplier. The settlement approved Wednesday reduces Fisker's claims against the company formerly known as A123 Systems Inc., now called B456 Systems Inc., by almost 90 percent.

Ozark Manufacturer Announces $26M Expansion

April 17, 2013 2:01 pm | by The Associated Press | News | Comments

State officials say SGL Carbon will invest $26 million in the company's manufacturing plant in Ozark, where it will add a new workshop. SGL Carbon now employs 90 workers at its plant, which makes graphite electrodes that are used in a process to recycle steel scrap.

AR Legislature Approves Steel Mill Funding

April 16, 2013 2:12 pm | by Michael Stratford, Associated Press | News | Comments

Arkansas is set to provide a new steel company with $125 million in financing and a package of tax breaks to build a mill in the northeast part of the state after the Legislature gave final approval to the plan on Tuesday. By an 81-9 vote, House lawmakers passed a Senate-approved budget bill to support Big River Steel.

CAT Shifts Ordering, Delivery Operations

April 16, 2013 10:09 am | by The Associated Press | News | Comments

Manufacturer Caterpillar Inc. said Monday it is reorganizing its operations so many orders will be handled by one division from the time they are placed to the time they are delivered. The new division will combine existing operations from areas including global purchasing, manufacturing logistics and transportation, and Caterpillar production system.

Advanced Manufacturing: GE’s Response To Full Employment

April 16, 2013 8:00 am | by Tom Kadala, Founder and CEO of Alternative Technology Corporation | Blogs | Comments

When Tom Donilon, the National Security Advisor for President Obama was asked what the two most pressing issues that kept him up at night, he replied, terrorist attacks and the US declining national competitiveness. The backdrop of 600,000 unfilled manufacturing jobs at a time when unemployment is near 8 percent has most certainly been his nightmare in the making.

HP Pelzer Building Plant In Tenn.

April 15, 2013 1:35 pm | by The Associated Press | News | Comments

Automotive supplier HP Pelzer Automotive Systems will build a plant in Athens, Tenn., bringing 200 new jobs. Gov. Bill Haslam and Economic and Community Development Commissioner Bill Hagerty joined HP Pelzer officials Monday to announce the company will locate a 185,000-square-foot manufacturing facility at the Mt. Verd Industrial Park.

Airbus Expanding Plant, Workforce In Kansas

April 15, 2013 1:27 pm | by The Associated Press | News | Comments

Airbus Americas Engineering says it is planning to expand into a third space in downtown Wichita. The company announced Monday it has already hired more people than had been expected after its last expansion. The firm's vice president of engineering, John O'Leary, says it has hired 150 people, more than the 100 it had planned to hire when it expanded in 2012.

EADS In Talks To Buy Part Of French Gov't Stake

April 15, 2013 10:04 am | by The Associated Press | News | Comments

European aerospace giant EADS says in a statement Monday that the deal would see it buy back 1.56 percent of its shares from the French government's current 14.83 percent stake. The company will pay 37.35 euros per share — about the same as French media group Lagardere was paid when it sold its entire stake last week.

American Crystal Sugar Workers Approve Contract

April 15, 2013 9:45 am | by The Associated Press | News | Comments

Leaders of the Bakery, Confectionery, Tobacco Workers and Grain Millers International union said in a news release that the workers voted 55 percent to accept company management's contract offer. It was the workers' fifth time voting on the contract.

Business As Usual For South Korean Tech Giants

April 12, 2013 4:03 pm | by ReutersTV | Videos | Comments

While the world waits for the next big provocation from North Korean leader Kim Jung-Un, across the de-militarized border to the South, it's business as usual. Even if rising threats from North Korea were to disrupt production for Samsung or LG in the South, it would have limited impact on the global supply chain. Reuters' Jon Gordon explains why.

German Leader Welcomes GM Investment

April 12, 2013 10:01 am | by The Associated Press | News | Comments

German Chancellor Angela Merkel has welcomed General Motors' decision to invest another 4 billion euros ($5.3 billion) in European subsidiary Opel by 2016 as part of an attempt to turn the money-losing division around. Merkel met with GM Chairman and CEO Dan Akerson and other company officials Thursday in Berlin.

The Two Faces Of U.S. Manufacturing

April 12, 2013 8:05 am | by AJ Sweatt | Blogs | Comments

The fact is that our trade and economic policies – or lack thereof – are the primary cause of stagnant manufacturing growth in this country. We in and of manufacturing find ourselves in an environment of two camps, vying on many fronts for supremacy & influence. And, these days, it sure seems like the inmates are running the asylum.

SC Senate Approves $120M In Incentives For Boeing

April 11, 2013 2:10 pm | by The Associated Press | News | Comments

State incentives for Boeing Co.'s expansion plans in North Charleston are clearly ready for takeoff. The Senate voted 37-6 vote on Wednesday to approve $120 million for upfront expansion costs such as utilities and site preparation. Approval of the bill borrowing the money comes a day after Boeing Co. announced it's investing another $1 billion and creating 2,000 new jobs over eight years

North Korea Closes Shared Industrial Park

April 11, 2013 9:25 am | by CBS News | Videos | Comments

The latest threat from North Korea comes as President Kim Jung Un made good on his promise to close the Kaesong Industrial park. Kaesong is where 120 factories with North and South Korean workers are side by side. North Korea stands to lose $80 million in wages a year with Kaesong closed. CBS' Margaret Brennan reports.

Conn. Gun-maker Declares Intention To Leave State

April 10, 2013 12:48 pm | by The Associated Press | News | Comments

A Connecticut gun-maker has announced it intends to leave the state following the passage of gun control legislation it says tramples on the rights of citizens and does not show enough consideration for the industry. Bristol-based PTR says in a statement posted on its website that it has not decided where it will move, but it has commitments from most employees to relocate.

Employers Eager For New Foreign Worker Program

April 10, 2013 12:40 pm | by Sam Hananel, Associated Press | News | Comments

The new W visa program would admit 20,000 low-skilled foreign workers starting in 2015 and could gradually grow up to a cap of 200,000 after five years. The number of visas would fluctuate, depending on unemployment rates, job openings, employer demand and other data.

GM's Akerson Affirms Commitment To Opel

April 10, 2013 12:34 pm | by The Associated Press | News | Comments

GM Chairman and CEO Dan Akerson said at a news conference Wednesday that GM was "fully supportive of the Opel turnaround plan" and that the Detroit-based group "must have a strong presence in Europe and especially here in Germany." Akerson added that GM was committed to investing $5.22 billion in Europe by 2016.

Fiat-Chrysler Merger Path To Clarify

April 10, 2013 10:02 am | by Colleen Barry, AP Business Writer | News | Comments

Marchionne has jointly managed the two companies since buying a 20 percent stake in 2009. Fiat has since built up its holding in the U.S. company to 58.5 percent. However, his ambitions to fully merge the two companies have been stalled by a dispute between Chrysler's minority shareholder, the autoworkers union pension health trust.

Boeing Planning $1B Expansion In South Carolina

April 10, 2013 9:53 am | by Bruce Smith, Associated Press | News | Comments

Boeing Co. is expanding in South Carolina and will invest another $1 billion, creating 2,000 new jobs during the next eight years, the aerospace giant announced Tuesday. Company spokeswoman Candy Eslinger said the company that operates a 787 assembly plant in North Charleston will expand its operations.