NAGOYA, Japan-Production at Toyota’s assembly plants may not return to normal until the end of 2011. MORE

WILLARD, OH-A mechanical engineer used thousands of plastic building blocks to create a fully functioning robotic assembly line. MORE

MISSOULA, MT-Five assembly lines are cranking out golf equipment at the Sun Mountain Sports factory here. MORE

SACO, ME-General Dynamics’ assembly plant in Saco will get more work with two contracts to produce Gatling guns for the Navy and supply the Army with spare parts. The contracts are worth $12.9 million. MORE

HOLLAND, MI-Lithium-ion battery manufacturer LG Chem Michigan Inc. will hold its first large-sale job fair from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. April 26. The company is expected to hire approximately 400 people for its new assembly plant here. MORE

HOFFMAN ESTATES, IL-Developed with lean manufacturing expert Dan Fleming, Bosch Rexroth’s latest lean manufacturing podcast, “Lean in Assembly Operations” discusses how to apply lean concepts to automation. MORE

OTTAWA, Canada-Emerson Electric Co is partnering with Sanmina-SCI to build solar power inverters at Sanmina’s assembly plant here. MORE

WASHINGTON-In what may be the strongest signal yet of the new pro-labor orientation of the National Labor Relations Board under President Obama, the agency filed a complaint Wednesday seeking to force Boeing to bring an airplane production line back to its unionized facilities in Washington State instead of moving the work to a nonunion plant in South Carolina. MORE

SMYRNA, TN-Automotive supplier Valeo will invest $5.4 million to build an assembly plant here to supply front-end modules for Nissan. MORE

TOKYO-A Japanese engineer has developed a robotic gripper that can flick out like a chameleon’s tongue to pick and place small, delicate parts. MORE