LEXINGTON, NE—Agricultural and industrial equipment company Orthman Manufacturing Inc. has broken ground on a new assembly plant here that will create 100 jobs.

DETROIT—Big pickups carried U.S. auto sales to their highest level in three years. Demand for full-size pickups jumped 16 percent in August, helping to make it the strongest sales month since August 2009. Overall auto sales increased 20 percent from a year earlier to nearly 1.3 million units.

FREMONT, CA—Silevo Inc. has created a new solar cell that is more than 21 percent efficient converting sunlight into electricity.

CLARKSDALE, MS—HVAC equipment maker AirGuide Manufacturing is moving some factory jobs from Mexico to an assembly plant here.

COLUMBUS, IN—Supply chain management company The Phoenix Group has begun building a $15 million assembly plant here.

WASHINGTON—Productivity, the amount of output per hour worked, increased at an annual rate of 2.2 percent in the April-June quarter after declining at a 0.5 percent pace in the first quarter of the year. Labor costs rose at an annual rate of 1.5 percent.

SMYRNA, TN—Beginning this fall, Nissan’s automotive assembly plant here will be running three shifts for the first time in its history.

FREMONT, CA—Seagate Technology has offered $90.3 million to buy Solyndra’s cavernous solar-panel assembly plant here. Solyndra declared bankruptcy and closed the plant last year.

ODENSE, Denmark—Danish company Universal Robots has introduced a lightweight, flexible robot that can work alongside factory personnel without safety shielding.

WASHINGTON—U.S. factory orders rose 2.8 percent in July, the biggest overall advance in a year, reflecting sizable gains in demand for motor vehicles and airplanes.