VANCE, AL—The National Labor Relations Board ruled that Mercedes-Benz U.S. International must rescind a rule in its employee handbook prohibiting workers from talking about a union in work areas while not on work time.

About 30 miles north of Detroit—in Auburn Hills, MI—the global automotive supplier Faurecia operates a unique research and design center.

With the automotive and aerospace industries humming, our annual Capital Equipment Spending Survey predicts robust growth in investment.

New tools allow engineers to conduct in-process verification.

Wide bandgap semiconductors will spur new demand for power electronics.

Today’s car buyers typically order a number of custom options for their vehicles at the time of purchase. In turn, the automaker must identify and track each vehicle throughout the production process to ensure that all options are installed. Volvo Car Corp. uses RFID tags to meet this challenge.

SAN ANTONIO—The ranks of military veterans keep growing at Toyota’s assembly plant here. Since 2010, the plant has hired more than 40 veterans to work on its maintenance staff alone. Veterans account for 20 percent of the plant’s skilled maintenance force, company officials said.

STUTTGART, Germany—Porsche’s assembly plant here is a perfectly lit, technologically advanced, human-intensive temple to Teutonic efficiency and monomania.

DEARBORN, MI—Two things are missing in the body shop of the revamped Ford Rouge Center, which includes the Dearborn Truck assembly plant making the 2015 F-150 out of aluminum: sparks and noise.

STE-THERESE, QC—Some 900 employees at PACCAR’s truck assembly plant here have rejected the company’s final contract negotiation offer. After two months of negotiations, the contract was rejected by 76 percent of employees only hours after management decided to lock out its employees.