PLEASANTON, CA—Adept Technology Inc. has received $2.6 million robot order from Castec International Corp. in Taiwan. The robots will be used in high-precision workcells to produce subassemblies for smart phones.

MINDEN, NV—General Electric has opened an printed circuit board assembly plant here to provide prototypes and testing for its measurement and control products. The plant’s state-of-the-art surface mount assembly line represents a $4.3 million investment.

SHAKOPEE, MN— Rosemount Inc., a manufacturer of pressure, temperature and other measurement instruments, is turning a vacant building here into a new engineering and assembly facility.

BANNOCKBURN, IL—The market for electronics manufacturing services (EMS) is expected to grow slightly faster than most other segments of the electronics supply chain due to increasing OEM outsourcing, according to the IPC–Association Connecting Electronics Industries. The total North American EMS market is forecast to reach $69 billion in 2013.

WHITSETT, SC—Lenovo, the world’s second largest seller of PCs, officially opened a new assembly plant here today. The facility is adding 115 manufacturing jobs and is on track to be in full production by the end of June.

Initiating movement of a standard bicycle can sometimes be challenging, such as when peddling up steep hills. Initiating movement of an electric bicycle, on the other hand, has always been much easier. The rider either pedal-assists the motor or activates it with a throttle.

Recent headlines have provided stark reminders that cheap manufactured goods from overseas often come at the expense of human lives.

FORT WORTH, TX—Google has caught the “Made in America” bug. Motorola Mobility, the handset maker acquired by Google, says its next phone, called Moto X, will be made at an assembly plant here.

Multinationals are using overseas subsidiaries to avoid paying billions in federal taxes. Is that a problem? How would you fix it? Should the federal government provide a tax break for repatriated corporate earnings?