The Leading Source for Manufacturing News & Insight
Respect For Trial & Error, & Success
May 13, 2013 8:09 am | by Alan Nicol, Executive Member, AlanNicolSolutions | Articles | CommentsThroughout the various realms of product development, innovation, and process improvement we experience similar differences in preference. It seems that many prefer to find ways to model the problem or the solution and run simulations to arrive at an answer; the minority will prototype, test, and experiment.
AP: Cars Made In Brazil Are Deadly
May 13, 2013 8:01 am | by Bradley Brooks, Associated Press | News | CommentsThe culprits are the cars themselves, produced with weaker welds, scant safety features and inferior materials compared to similar models manufactured for U.S. and European consumers, say experts and engineers inside the industry. Four of Brazil's five bestselling cars failed their independent crash tests.
Leaving Bangladesh? Not An Easy Choice For Brands
May 13, 2013 7:58 am | by Anne D'Innocenzio and Jonathan Fahey, AP Business Writers | News | CommentsThe rising death toll may force Western brands to make a choice: Stay and work to improve conditions. Or leave and face higher costs, similar or worse worker conditions in other low-wage countries and criticism for abandoning a poor nation where per-capita income is just $1,940 per year.
Chrysler Recalls Almost 470,000 Jeep SUVs
May 13, 2013 7:54 am | News | CommentsChrysler is recalling 469,000 Jeep SUVs worldwide because they can shift into neutral without warning on startup. U.S. safety regulators say cracks in a circuit board can cause a faulty signal as the SUVs are being started. If the vehicles shift into neutral they can roll away.
Project Aims To Track Big City Carbon Footprints
May 13, 2013 7:47 am | by Alicia Chang, AP Science Writer | News | CommentsLike a satellite gazing down on Earth, it scans more than two dozen points from the inland desert to the coast. Every few minutes, it rumbles to life as it automatically sweeps the horizon, measuring sunlight bouncing off the surface for the unique fingerprint of carbon dioxide and other heat-trapping gases.
Natural Gas Export Plans Stir Debate
May 13, 2013 3:19 am | by Matthew Daly, Associated Press | News | CommentsA domestic natural gas boom already has lowered U.S. energy prices while stoking fears of environmental disaster. Now U.S. producers are poised to ship vast quantities of gas overseas as energy companies seek permits for proposed export projects that could set off a renewed frenzy of fracking.
Campylobacter On The Rise
May 10, 2013 2:37 pm | by Krystal Gabert, Editor, Food Manufacturing | Blogs | CommentsBy tracking identified foodborne illness instances, FoodNet determined that, in addition to various other strains of foodborne bacteria and viruses, campylobacter infection was found in 14.3 people per 100,000. This figure shows a 14 percent increase over the infection rates from 2006 to 2008.
NYC Wins $70M From 44 Pharmaceutical Companies
May 10, 2013 2:29 pm | News | CommentsCity lawyers alleged the companies fraudulently reported inflated drug prices called Average Wholesale Prices, or AWPs. They say the inflations were sometimes thousands of percentage points over the true AWPs. By law, AWP forms the basis for most Medicaid drug reimbursement to doctors and pharmacists.
Treasury Reports $113B Surplus In April
May 10, 2013 2:25 pm | by Christopher S. Rugaber, AP Economics Writer | News | CommentsSteady economic growth and higher tax rates have boosted the government's tax revenue, keeping this year's annual budget deficit on pace to be the smallest since 2008. A smaller deficit is also likely to give negotiators more time to work out a deal on raising the nation's borrowing limit.
U.S. Sanctions Taiwan Firm For N.Korea Dealings
May 10, 2013 2:13 pm | News | CommentsThe Treasury Department announced designation Friday of Trans Multi Mechanics Co. Ltd. and Chang Wen-Fu for links to a Taiwanese man, Alex Tsai, arrested in Estonia last week. Tsai and his son, a U.S. resident, were charged in Chicago with seeking to bypass a ban on export of weapons machinery.
NASA Mulls Spacewalk To Fix Space Station Leak
May 10, 2013 2:09 pm | by Seth Borenstein, AP Science Writer | News | CommentsNASA says the six-member crew at the station is not in danger. The ammonia leak forced the shutdown of one of eight solar panels that power the station, but the outpost can operate fine with only seven, spokesman Kelly Humphries said. NASA will decide Friday evening whether the spacewalk is needed Saturday.
Fibrelite Covers Pass The Test
May 10, 2013 2:02 pm | by Fibrelite | Articles | CommentsFibrelite introduced the lightweight composite manhole cover for use at gasoline service stations in the early 1980s and has continued to develop innovative product designs to meet the needs of a changing industry. Fibrelite currently offers the retail petroleum industry’s leading watertight composite covers.
Texas Launches Criminal Probe Into Plant Explosion
May 10, 2013 1:47 pm | by Angela K. Brown and Ramit Plushnick-Masti, Associated Press | News | CommentsThe announcement came the same day a paramedic who helped to evacuate residents the night of the explosion was arrested on a charge of possessing a destructive device, though it is not clear whether the charge is related to the April 17 blast at West Fertilizer Co.
North Dakota Tops Nation In Rate Of Worker Deaths
May 10, 2013 1:39 pm | News | CommentsThere were 44 worker deaths in North Dakota in 2011, for a rate of 12.4 deaths per 100,000 workers. That was well above the national rate of 3.5 fatalities per 100,000 workers, the report said. "The oil boom has come with a hefty price tag of a steep increase in deaths on the job," the labor union said in a statement.
Worker Rescued After 17 Days In Bangladesh Rubble
May 10, 2013 1:37 pm | by Julhas Alam, Associated Press | News | CommentsFor 17 days, the seamstress lay trapped in a dark basement pocket beneath thousands of tons of wreckage as temperatures outside climbed into the mid-90s F. She rationed food and water. She banged a pipe to attract attention. She was fast losing hope of ever making it out alive.
Cocaine Vaccine Passes Key Testing Hurdle
May 10, 2013 12:14 pm | by Weill Cornell Medical College | News | CommentsResearchers at Weill Cornell Medical College have successfully tested their novel anti-cocaine vaccine in primates, bringing them closer to launching human clinical trials. Their study, published online by the journal Neuropsychopharmacology, used a radiological technique to demonstrate that the anti-cocaine vaccine prevented the drug from reaching the brain and producing a dopamine-induced high.
AnythingIT Announces Continued Growth With New Tampa Facility
May 10, 2013 10:49 am | News | CommentsThe Fair Lawn, N.J.-based information electronics recycler and e-waste handler AnythingIT, Inc., has announced that its new 30,050 square-foot facility in Tampa, Florida is now on-line and fully operational. The facility was first opened at the end of March 2013 to process electronic waste and perform asset recovery for a growing number of customers.
New Twin-Wheel Caster With Bolt-on Directional Lock
May 10, 2013 10:24 am | Products | CommentsThe Revvo Caster Company, Inc. has announced the release of its new 2H Series twin-wheel casters, which feature a secure bolt-on, four-station direction lock. This feature helps convert swiveling casters into fixed casters for easier straight-line travel.
Officials Probe Corvette Headlamp Problem
May 10, 2013 8:44 am | News | CommentsU.S. auto safety regulators are investigating complaints that the low-beam headlights can go dark without warning on some Chevrolet Corvettes. The probe by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration covers more than 103,000 Corvettes from the 2005 through 2007 model years.
Nations Agree To New Chemical Ban
May 10, 2013 8:42 am | News | CommentsU.N. officials and delegates say more than 120 nations agreed to tighter controls on several chemicals and hazardous waste, including a gradual ban on a flame retardant and some new export requirements for other substances. But they say an effort to rein in use of construction material Chrysotile asbestos and a powerful herbicide, Paraquat, fell short at a two-week summit of delegates to three main international treaties.
