CHATTANOOGA, TN—More than 1,700 workers at Volkswagen’s assembly plant here will go to the polls Wednesday through Friday as the United Auto Workers tries for a breakthrough in its drive to unionize a foreign automaker in the South.

DETROIT—Fiat Chrysler Automobiles won final approvals May 21 for a new Jeep assembly plant here, as well as work at four other industrial sites in the region.

ROANOKE, IN—General Motors Co. is investing $24 million to upgrade its Fort Wayne Assembly plant here to increase production of the all-new Chevrolet Silverado 1500 and GMC Sierra 1500 pickups, especially crew cab models.

BEIJING—The United States cannot use pressure to force a trade deal on China, a senior Chinese official and trade negotiator said on Sunday, refusing to be drawn on whether the leaders of the two countries would meet at the G20 summit to bash out an agreement.

HOFFMAN ESTATES, IL—The University of Houston’s Cullen College of Engineering recently unveiled a cutting-edge laboratory donated by the Omron Foundation, the charitable arm of automation technology provider Omron in the United States.

DETROIT—Close to 2,200 fastener professionals participated in the second annual Fastener Fair USA here in late May, surpassing its inaugural show last year in Cleveland. More than 260 exhibitors from 15 countries connected with customers in the aerospace, automotive, civil engineering, construction, energy, and machinery and other industries.

PARIS—Fiat Chrysler proposed on Monday to merge with France’s Renault to create the world’s third-biggest automaker (worth $40 billion) and combine forces in the race to make electric and autonomous vehicles.

WEST CONSHOHOCKEN, PA—ASTM International’s committee on additive manufacturing technologies is developing a standard for mechanical testing of additive-manufactured plastics.

BOSTON—Nearly one in four exports from Massachusetts is a medical device, making the state No. 1 in the nation in share of exports of medical devices as a percentage of total exports, according to a report by the Massachusetts Medical Device Industry Council. 

TORONTO—Assembling a microrobot used to require a pair of needle-nosed tweezers, a microscope, steady hands, and at least eight hours. But, now University of Toronto engineering researchers have developed a method that requires only a 3D printer and 20 minutes.