KERNERSVILLE, NC—John Deere will invest about $70 million to build a new 380,000-square-foot factory at its manufacturing campus here. The factory will assemble small, 6 to 10 metric ton excavators and is expected to add about 150 new jobs. Currently, about 600 people work at the Kernersville campus.

BIRMINGHAM, MI—BNP Media, the publisher of ASSEMBLY and one of the largest privately held B2B media companies in the United States, has received the first-ever accreditation from the Alliance for Audited Media (AAM) for its audience and media management technology platform and Digital Audience Profile reporting system.

SHALERSVILLE, OH—Viega, a maker of metal pipe fittings and valves, is building a $200 million manufacturing facility here, about 40 miles southeast of Cleveland. The 180,000-square-foot plant is expected to be operational in early 2025.

Electric linear actuators can help assemblers increase flexibility, productivity and sustainability.

To meet the production and quality demands of a new contract, a Kentucky automotive supplier implemented Pico MES to error-proof its shop floor operations, consistently build parts in high volume, and ultimately expand its business.

MARTORELL, Spain—SEAT is employing two collaborative robots at its assembly plant here to apply nameplates on the rear doors of Ibiza and Arona hatchbacks. The cobots work at the beginning of the assembly line and apply the badges as the vehicles make their way down the assembly line, with no delay to the process and sharing space with the factory personnel.

ANN ARBOR, MI—Coherix is hosting free online quarterly workshops to improve the application of adhesives and sealants in product assembly operations.

SAN ANTONIO—Toyota is investing $531 million to expand its assembly plant here. The project will add a new 500,000-square-foot facility for the production of drivetrain parts, and it will create more than 400 new jobs.

SANTA CRUZ, CA—Joby Aviation, a company pioneering electric air taxis for commercial passenger service, has received Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) authorization to use its in-house developed software suite, ElevateOS.

Since cable issues are often a significant cause of downtime for robots, it’s important to select dress packs that can address common cable management challenges while optimizing efficiency and throughput.