CLIFTON PARK, NY—Fuel-cell manufacturer Plug Power recently cut the ribbon on its new production facility here. The company says it is anticipating increased demand for its high-tech products, which combine hydrogen and oxygen to produce electricity, with water and heat as the byproducts.
EVERETT, WA—Boeing’s factory complex here is the world’s largest building and has produced more wide-body planes than all other competing manufacturers combined. It also just got a lot bigger. The new additions are two buildings for Boeing 777X construction that increase the factory space by another 25 percent.
AUBURN HILLS, MI—Engineers at FCA and Oak Ridge National Laboratory recently developed a new aluminum alloy that stays strong up to 572 F. The new alloy can also be cast and machined using existing technologies.
Toyota Motor Corp.'s Cambridge North plant in Ontario, Canada, which produces the Toyota Corolla, and Georgetown 3 plant in Kentucky, which produces the Lexus ES, are the joint recipients of the 2018 J.D. Power Gold Plant Quality Award.
VDMA Robotics and Automation, the German machine tool builders association, recently unveiled new specifications that will enable manufacturers to implement state-of-the-art assembly lines.
Engineers at the Queensland University of Technology (QUT) have developed a faster, more accurate way for robots to grasp objects in cluttered and changing environments.
MOBILE, AL—Continental Motors Group Ltd. has broken ground on a nearly 275,000-square-foot engine and parts manufacturing facility at the Brookley Aeroplex here. The factory will include new equipment and an area dedicated to new manufacturing techniques and processes such as additive manufacturing and automation.
ANDOVER, MD—Defense contractor Raytheon Co. on Monday launched a new manufacturing facility here that's meant to support the production of cutting-edge radar technology for the U.S. Navy. With 50-foot-high ceilings and a 40-ton bridge crane built into the roof, the building is specially designed for the testing and assembly of the SPY-6 line of radar arrays.
TAIWAN—Apple Inc.’s contract manufacturer for chipsets for its iPhones, Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co., has been hit by a virus attack and production badly affected. Sources for the manufacturing company indicate that this was not a cyberattack by any outside hacker and to that extent, sabotage is not suspected.