NEW YORK—The United States sits just behind China in terms of manufacturing competitiveness in 2016, and is expected to overtake the country by 2020, according to a study by consulting firm Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu.

GEORGETOWN, KY – When one thinks of the skills necessary for auto manufacturing, origami probably doesn’t appear on the list. But the ability to create an origami cat, one-handed, with a non-dominant hand is a critical first step in the training process for stitching the instrument panel of the Lexus ES.

DEARBORN, MI—Ford Motor Co. will invest $1.6 billion to build a new assembly plant in Mexico for the manufacture of small vehicles. Work on the facility will start this summer in the state of San Luis Potosi, and the factory will create 2,800 direct jobs.

PALO ALTO, CA—Tesla Motors Inc. has received more than 325,000 reservations for its new Model 3 sedan. The pre-orders represent “about $14 billion in implied future sales, making this the single biggest one-week launch of any product ever,” the company said.

Robots and a flexible control system enable a manufacturer of shock absorbers cope with high-mix production.

Laminated shims reduce costs by eliminating the need for each component to be precisely machined to achieve proper fit and function.

Friction stir spot welding has many advantages compared with riveting or resistance spot welding.

SPRING HILL, TN—To support expansion of its assembly plant here, General Motors has begun accepting applications to populate its temporary hiring pool for future employment.

DETROIT—The automotive industry will account for half of the 31,000 industrial robots expected to be sold worldwide in 2018, according to the International Federation of Robotics.

FORT VALLEY, GA—Blue Bird Corp. is adding a second shift for the spring and summer at its school bus assembly plant here, generating 200 new jobs.