KYODO, Japan-–Murata Manufacturing Co. said Monday it has acquired a Sony Corp. plant in central Japan as it looks to meet growing demand for iPhone and other smartphone components.Murata, an Apple Inc. supplier, has purchased the plant located in the city of Nomi, Ishikawa Prefecture, to produce smartphone circuit boards. Kanazawa Murata Manufacturing Co., the wholly owned subsidiary of Murata that will operate the plant, will hire a workforce of about 300 over the next three years.

WASHINGTON--The Trump administration is advocating for a more balanced trade relationship with Japan as high-level economic talks with the Asian nation advance this week in Washington, according to Vice President Mike Pence.

SALT LAKE CITY,UT--Stadler Rail Group is building a new plant here with an investment of around $50 million. The plant has been designed to accommodate around 350 workstations, but can be upgraded on a modular basis at any time. Its 62-acre property boasts 75,000 square feet of production space for the bogie, main, pre- and final assembly of single- and bi-level trains.

DETROIT--Workers at a General Motors factory in Canada approved a new labor contract Monday, ending a 4-week strike that stalled production of the Chevrolet Equinox. GM's CAMI assembly plant in Ingersoll, Ontario, is the main source of Equinox crossovers. The facility had been idle since Sept. 17. Unifor Local 88 President Dan Borthwick says nearly 86 percent of members voted in favor of the 4-year deal.

FRANKFURT--The World Robotics Report outlook 2020, from the International Federation of Robotics, has forecast that 1.7 million new robots will transform the world´s factories by 2020. The report says that robot supplies in the Americas will surge by 16 percent and in Europe by 8 percent.

VANCOUVER, Canda--At this year's IEEE/RSJ International Conference on Intelligent Robots., Kiju Lee, a mechanical and aerospace engineering researcher lab at Case Western Reserve University, presented a study on the Twister oragami tower robot she created. Lee initially made the robot with paper, but has now made one using 3D printing. Possible robot applications include fragile-object manipulation and direct human-robot interaction.

LAFAYETTE, IN--Subaru of America is expanding its U.S. assembly plant here to accommodate an upcoming model. The company is shuffling assembly lines and adding space for its upcoming Ascent three-row crossover. Subaru says it is investing $100 million into its plant here and adding about 200 jobs. The additions will yield a total of 5,800 employees working in the facility to produce the Outback, Impreza, Legacy and new Ascent.

WASHINGTON-—U.S. factory activity rose to the highest level in 13 years last month as hurricanes disrupted supplies but drove up demand for manufactured goods. The Institute for Supply Management said its September manufacturing index rose to 60.8 from 58.8 in August, the highest reading since May 2004.

OWENSBORO, KY--Automotive frame manufacturer Metalsa Structural Products is adding 113 jobs here with a $36.5 million expansion to produce a new line of stamped and welded components. The spending will include investment in robotic welding cells, assembly line robots, infrastructure and building expansions to accommodate the new production line and additional warehouse space.

JIADING NEW CITY, China--Shanghai STEP Electric Corp. announced plans to build a factory here that will have an area of 48,000 square meters and an annual output of around 10,000 industrial robots.