Imagine the U.S. Department of Energy establishes aggressive new energy-efficiency standards for your product. As a result, you spend millions on R&D to meet the challenge.

A division of Fiat Industrial S.p.A., CNH Global N.V. is a leading manufacturer of agricultural and construction equipment. The company makes products in 37 facilities worldwide and distributes them through more than 11,500 dealers in 170 countries.

The University of California-Berkeley has been center stage for new ideas, breakthroughs and radical changes for decades. Today, it’s leading the green manufacturing revolution. Cal Berkeley is home to the Laboratory for Manufacturing and Sus-tainability (LMAS).

Manufacturing managers are scrutinizing every aspect of their companies to find ways to shave costs. Several areas are being explored that have previously been taken for granted. One example is warranty claims.

Sitting under the hood of every new car—and many older cars made since 1990—is the engine control module (ECM). Often referred to as “the car’s computer,” it usually employs the most powerful and expensive microcontroller in the vehi-cle.

Over its 30-year history, Bovie Medical Corp. has gone from making disposable penlights to becoming the largest manu-facturer of battery-operated cauteries in the world. The company manufactures products for some of the largest medical OEMs in the United States.

When specifying a motion control system for, say, a pick-and-place application on an automated assembly line, engineers have two choices.

The conformal coating Parylene has long been known for its excellent dielectric strength, high thermal stability (up to 450 C), dry-film lubricity and outstanding chemical resistance. Those properties have made the material a staple for coating printed circuit boards and electronic devices exposed to environmental extremes.

Back in July 2008, we were thrilled when Volkswagen announced it was building a new assembly plant in Chattanooga, TN. Of course, any new assembly plant is big news to us, but a new automotive plant? Well, that’s peaches and cream, as a British friend likes to say.

Gulfstream Aerospace Corp. is a major player in the global business-aviation market due to its well-respected G series of aircraft (G150, G200, G450, G550 and G650). So it’s no surprise that the company operates manufacturing and mainte-nance facilities around the world, including several in the United States and one each in London and Mexico.