WASHINGTON—In another sign that America is becoming more competitive in manufacturing, the United States is now equal to Mexico in “attractiveness” as a source for manufacturing operations and is on track to achieve cost parity with manufactured imports from China by 2015. That’s according to new research released by AlixPartners.

DELHI TOWNSHIP, MI—MPT Lansing LLC, an automotive assembly division of Magna International Inc., plans to expand its operation here with a $7.3 million assembly line that would create 39 jobs.

GOODYEAR, AZ—Monarch Power, a manufacturer of photovoltaic modules, has made an offer to buy Suntech’s solar panel assembly plant here.

PHILADELPHIA—Naval Sea Systems Command has completed a fleetwide fastener study, identifying and recommending the removal of thousands of fasteners from the Navy supply system. The review identified 108,000 dormant fasteners—fasteners with no contract, requisition or maintenance history in the past five years—and 3,200 duplicate fasteners where two or more identical fasteners had different stock numbers.

SANTA CLARITA, CA—Quallion, a manufacturer of lithium-ion batteries for aerospace applications, has opened a new assembly plant here.

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STERLING HEIGHTS, MI—Jervis B. Webb Co. is working on a $60 million conveyor project at Chrysler’s assembly plant here.

BRANDON, SD—Marmen Inc. has purchased a 150,000-square-foot building here for a wind tower assembly plant. The facility is expected to employ 200 people.

HOLLAND, MI—LG Chem aims to start production at its automotive lithium-ion battery factory here in the second half of this year.