EVERETT, WA—As battery woes kept the 787 grounded, Boeing workers picked up the pace, enabling the company to roll out this week the first Dreamliner built at the rate of seven aircraft per month.

MIAMI, FL—U.S. manufacturers are targeting an aggressive 1.5 percent reduction in cost of goods sold for 2013 in an effort to drive margin growth, according to a new study from The Hackett Group Inc.

AUBURN, AL—GE Aviation has opened a $75 million assembly plant here. The 300,000-square-foot factory will produce parts for commercial and military jet engines. It will employ 50 initially and up to 400 workers by the end of the decade.

PHILADELPHIA—AgustaWestland will build the final assembly line for the new generation AW169 helicopter at its assembly plant here.

In April, electronics assembler Mack Technologies completed work on a substantial installation of money-saving technology at its factory in Westford, MA. The company didn’t get a new paste printer, reflow oven or pick-and-place machine. In fact, the plant’s slick new technology had nothing to do with assembly.

RED OAK, TX—Triumph Aerostructures is constructing a new assembly plant here.

WASHINGTON—OSHA has launched an initiative to further protect temporary employees from workplace hazards.

WASHINGTON—Seven of the top 10 highest-paid college degrees are in engineering, according to a report from the National Association of Colleges and Employers.

WINNEPEG, MB—Boeing is expanding its assembly plant here by more than 22 percent to boost production of the 737 to 42 planes per month.

PHILADELPHIA—Naval Sea Systems Command has completed a fleetwide fastener study, identifying and recommending the removal of thousands of fasteners from the Navy supply system. The review identified 108,000 dormant fasteners—fasteners with no contract, requisition or maintenance history in the past five years—and 3,200 duplicate fasteners where two or more identical fasteners had different stock numbers.