SAN FRANCISCO--Cruise, the self-driving car startup that sold to General Motors last year, has developed a production design vehicle based on the Bolt electric vehicle. Temporarily dubbed Generation 3, the car is now ready for the factory production line. Thus far, the company has produced about 50 of the cars.

ATLANTA--SoftWear Automation's LOWRY, a four-axis sewing robot, equals 10 workers and produces approximately 1,142 t-shirts in an eight-hour period, compared to 669 by humans working at full-speed.

WASHINGTON--A slump in motor vehicle production pushed down U.S. factory output unexpectedly in July, the Federal Reserve said last week. According to the Fed, automobile production fell 3.6 percent in July, the fourth decline in the last five months.

SEOUL--Representatives from South Korea and the United States will sit down at the negotiating table this week here to discuss possible amendments to the free trade agreement between the two countries.

BAODING, CHINA--Chinese automaker Great Wall Motor Co. said on Monday that it was interested in buying the Jeep brand. Fiat Chrysler Automobiles, the Italian-controlled company that owns Jeep, said it had not heard from Great Wall, however, suggesting that considerable ground would have to be covered before a deal could be reached.

HANFORD, CA--Faraday Future recently abandoned plans to build its own tailor-made factory from scratch in Nevada, but has now signed a lease on a new ready-made production facility here. The company says the new factory should be ready to help deliver the first production FF 91 vehicles by the end of 2018.

EXPLORATION PARK, FL--OneWeb LLC, a Britain-founded company with offices in Arlington, VA, is well on the way to having its satellite manufacturing plant established here.

GLENFIELD, NY-—A group of Lewis County students spent the past couple weeks learning more about manufacturing and finding solutions to engineering-based challenges.

COLUMBUS, OH--A surge in auto-manufacturing jobs since the start of the decade provided a desperately needed lift for Ohio as it climbed out of the worst recession since the Great Depression. But, that growth has stalled, based on recent figures, and analysts expect the job totals to remain flat or even shrink.

LANSING, MI--Taiwanese electronics maker Foxconn's plan to build a display panel factory in the U.S. has sparked a flurry of lobbying by states vying to land what some economic development officials say is a once-in-a-generation prize.