Facilities and Operations
Vermont Firms Lauded For Workplace Safety
April 15, 2013 2:37 pm | News | CommentsThe Governor's Award for Outstanding Workplace Safety — the highest such award in the state — goes annually to recipients in six categories. Bio Tek Instruments of Winooski won in the large business category, Asten Johnson of Williston won in the medium business category and Cardno ATC of Williston won in the small business category.
GM, Ford To Collaborate On New Transmissions
April 15, 2013 7:57 am | by Tom Krisher, AP Auto Writer | News | CommentsGeneral Motors and Ford are putting aside their longstanding rivalry to work together to develop a new generation of fuel-efficient automatic transmissions. The companies said Monday that their engineers will jointly design nine- and 10-speed transmissions that will go into many of their new cars and trucks.
American Crystal Sugar Workers Approve Contract
April 15, 2013 7:49 am | News | CommentsLeaders 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.
India's Industrial Production Slows
April 12, 2013 2:12 pm | by Kay Johnson, Associated Press | News | CommentsIndia's industrial production slowed in February, highlighting challenges to a recovery in Asia's third-largest economy. The government said Friday that industrial output grew 0.6 percent over the same month the previous year after expanding 2.4 percent in January.
Woodside Shelves $47B Australian LNG Plant
April 12, 2013 2:10 pm | News | CommentsWoodside Petroleum's chief executive said he is confident that a major gas field off the northwest Australian coast will be exploited despite the energy company on Friday shelving plans for a 45 billion Australian dollar ($47 billion) plant to process the gas for export.
Metal Company Bringing Jobs To South Carolina
April 12, 2013 10:22 am | News | CommentsA metal fabrication company says it is coming to South Carolina's Anderson County and will hire nearly 150 workers. SMF Inc. plans to spend nearly $6 million putting its new plant in an existing building, opening in July. The company hopes to have 146 employees working in the plant by 2018.
FDA Cites Sanitary Issues At Specialty Pharmacies
April 12, 2013 10:19 am | News | CommentsThe Food and Drug Administration says it has uncovered troubling sterility problems at 30 specialty pharmacies that were inspected following a recent outbreak of meningitis caused by contaminated drugs. The agency said its inspectors targeted 31 compounding pharmacies that produce sterile drugs.
Bristol-Myers Squibb Plans Major Mass. Expansion
April 12, 2013 8:00 am | News | CommentsDrug maker Bristol-Myers Squibb Co. has announced a $250 million expansion of its central Massachusetts manufacturing complex that will eventually employ an additional 350 workers. The expansion announced Thursday will add space for developing biotechnology drugs, called biologics, and for manufacturing those products for clinical trials.
Nissan Increasing Pay At Tenn. And Miss. Plants
April 11, 2013 1:58 pm | by Jeff Amy, Associated Press | News | CommentsNissan Motor Co. will raise pay for its employees in Mississippi and Tennessee. The company has told its employees it will increase their wages starting in October at its Canton, Miss., and Smyrna, Tenn., assembly plants, as well as its Decherd, Tenn., engine plant.
German Leader Welcomes GM Investment
April 11, 2013 12:16 pm | News | CommentsGerman 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.
Secrets From The Potato Chip Factory
April 10, 2013 12:31 pm | Videos | CommentsNPR has recently released this pretty compelling video from the plant floor of Herr's, which makes potato chips on a massive scale today. While the plant, based in Nottingham, Pa., used to process just a few potatoes per hour, and most of the labor was manual. Today, they churn through a few tons of spuds an hour.
GM's Akerson Affirms Commitment To Opel
April 10, 2013 8:35 am | News | CommentsGM 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.
Boeing Planning $1B Expansion In South Carolina
April 10, 2013 8:28 am | by Bruce Smith, Associated Press | News | CommentsBoeing 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.
Court Approves Sale Of Last Of Core Hostess Assets
April 10, 2013 8:14 am | News | CommentsHostess Brands Inc. won approval Tuesday to sell off the last of its major cake and bread brands, bringing the total proceeds from its liquidation to about $860 million. A U.S. Bankruptcy Court judge in New York approved the two deals, said Hostess spokeswoman Anita-Marie Laurie.
Fiat-Chrysler Merger Path To Clarify
April 9, 2013 2:34 pm | by Colleen Barry, AP Business Writer | News | CommentsMarchionne 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.
Wal-Mart Donates $1.6M To Promote Fire Safety
April 9, 2013 2:08 pm | News | CommentsWal-Mart Stores Inc. says it will donate $1.6 million to toward health and safety education in Bangladesh, three months after a fire swept through a factory there, killing 112. The fire raised questions about safety in Bangladesh's garment industry, which exports clothes to leading Western retailers.
Kubota Corp. Opens New Plant In Ga.
April 9, 2013 4:01 am | News | CommentsGeorgia Gov. Nathan Deal Monday announced the grand opening of the new Kubota Corp. plant in Jefferson — about 20 miles northwest of Athens. Deal says the 522,000 square-foot plant has brought 200 jobs to the city. Officials say the plant will produce Kubota's 30 to 50-horesepower compact tractor models.
Factories That Ran On Korean Cooperation Go Silent
April 9, 2013 2:42 am | by Kim Yong-Ho and Youkyung Lee, Associated Press | News | CommentsOn Tuesday, the roads leading to Kaesong, the North's third biggest city, were empty of the normal line of cargo trucks and vehicles carrying supplies and people. Inside the complex, a couple of North Korean soldiers, clad in olive green uniforms and riding Chinese motorcycles, patrolled streets.
DuPont To Dismantle Old Pipeline At Belle Plant
April 8, 2013 2:16 pm | News | CommentsDuPont will soon begin dismantling a gravity-powered hillside pipeline that once provided water for the production of ammonia next to the company's plant in Belle. Plant manager Jim O'Connor says the pipeline was cutting-edge technology when it opened in 1930, slashing energy costs for ammonia production by about 70 percent.
Iowa Governor Touts Economic Development Fund
April 8, 2013 2:08 pm | News | CommentsBranstad on Monday released a study on the activities of the Demonstration Fund, which is managed by the Iowa Economic Development Authority. The fund was started in 2007 and offers funding to help grow manufacturing, science and information technology firms.
Vestas' Colo. Factories Benefit From Canada Order
April 8, 2013 2:02 pm | News | CommentsThe Danish company announced Monday that it has received an order to make 166 wind generators for the Blackspring Ridge Wind Project near Alberta. It will also provide service and maintenance under a 20-year contract for the project, which is expected to be the biggest in western Canada.
Japan Experts Say New Nuclear Safety Plans Too Lax
April 8, 2013 1:42 pm | by Mari Yamaguchi, Associated Press | News | CommentsThe investigators told parliament on Monday that the recently formed Nuclear Regulation Authority is merely rubber-stamping TEPCO's work at the plant, which is still using makeshift equipment put together after the March 2011 disaster, caused by a massive earthquake and tsunami in northeastern Japan.
Airbus Breaking Ground On Alabama Plant
April 8, 2013 10:21 am | News | CommentsAirbus is breaking ground on its new aircraft assembly plant in Mobile. Top executives will be in the port city Monday for a ceremony to mark the start of construction on the Airbus plant at Brookley Aeroplex. The $600 million factory is expected to employ 1,000 people once production of the Airbus A320 jet begins around 2015.
North Korea Recalling Workers From Jointly Run Factory
April 8, 2013 8:18 am | by Hyung-Jin Kim, Associated Press | News | CommentsNorth Korea said Monday it will suspend operations at a factory complex it has jointly run with South Korea, pulling out more than 53,000 North Korean workers and moving closer to severing its last economic link with its rival as tensions escalate.
CertainTeed Corp. To Build $100M Facility In Mo.
April 5, 2013 8:19 am | News | CommentsA Pennsylvania-based maker of building materials says it plans to build a $100 million facility in eastern Missouri to make and distribute asphalt roofing shingles. CertainTeed Corp. said Thursday the new complex in Jonesburg will employ about 100 people within the next few years.
