DETROIT-The perception that Michigan is home to a combative, uncooperative workforce puts the state at a severe disadvantage when competing for projects like the new Volkswagen plant slated for Chattanooga, TN. MORE

HILLSVILLE, VA-Four months after two Virginians bought a stake in a Tennessee water-pump manufacturer, the company announced it is moving from Tennessee to rural Carroll County in Southwest Virginia.

AmeriPumps LLC will invest $4.6 million to set up operations in Hillsville and employ 125 workers. MORE

JACKSON, MO-Newell Rubbermaid will be adding 40 new jobs at its manufacturing facility here.

The facility makes wire and wood shelving, as well as garage organization products. The 700,000 square foot facility employs 400 people and has been in business since 1964. MORE

WILLIAMSTOWN, WV-Less than a year after the first truck rolled off the assembly line, Hino Motor Manufacturing USA is planning to double its daily production of commercial trucks.

The increased production will result in the plant hiring about 30 additional workers, Chronley said. The plant already employs about 80 workers. MORE

Swiss Professor Awarded for Warehousing Robot ZURICH, Switzerland-A Swiss research team has received an award for developing an automated warehouse management system that uses a swarm of wireless, intelligent, collaborative robots to fetch and carry inventory to workers.

The Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers and the International Federation of Robots have given their 2008 Invention and Entrepreneurship Award to Prof. Raffaello D’Andrea and a team of researchers from the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology. Their warehouse robots look like powerful, free-ranging, vacuum cleaners. The automated system improves order processing, reduces errors and optimizes warehouse space. MORE

SALT LAKE CITY-The Boeing Co.’s manufacturing facility here has been awarded ISO 14001 environmental management system certification. Certification indicates that the facility has a system in place to monitor, manage and improve its environmental management system. MORE

PRINCE GEORGE COUNTY, VA-Development is underway at the new Rolls-Royce aerospace manufacturing facility located on 1,000 acres of the Crosspointe Center property in Prince George County, VA.

Crosspointe will manufacture, assemble and test a range of aerospace components and products. The plant is expected to be operational by the end of 2009. MORE

SMYRNA, TN-Nissan North America Inc. will offer buyouts to some 6,000 employees at the company's two Tennessee plants and eliminate a night shift at one plant because rising fuel prices and the economic downturn have slowed sales of trucks and sport utility vehicles.

The technicians and salaried employees at the assembly plant in Smyrna and powertrain plant in Decherd, TN, will be offered a lump sum of $100,000 or $125,000 depending on tenure, as well as medical and car purchase benefits. MORE

POTEAU, OK-Tiger Truck LLC will open its new headquarters and assembly plant here today.

Formerly based in Dallas, the privately owned company has 90 on payroll and plans to employ 300 within two years. The company invested $25 million to renovate 150,000 square feet in several buildings in Poteau Industrial Park and has started construction on another 25,000-square-foot building to accommodate projected demand. MORE

DETROIT-After weathering a major strike earlier this year, American Axle & Manufacturing Inc. hopes to make a profit in 2009 by becoming smaller in the United States. MORE