TEMPE, AZ——Manufacturing in the United States expanded in February at the fastest pace since August 2014, as factory managers reported stronger orders and production. The Institute for Supply Management’s index climbed to 57.7, the sixth straight advance, from 56 a month earlier, the group’s report showed last Wednesday.
BOWLING GREEN, KY——The Corvette assembly plant here will shut down for 3 to 4 months beginning in June, and then undergo a multimillion-dollar expansion and retooling for the production of its 2018 models.
EVERETT, WA——More than 1,800 union members will soon leave Boeing under a buyout plan offered last month, the first step in a continuing company job-cutting effort that’s expected to include layoffs later this year. The machinists union said 1,500 of its members applied for a buyout and were approved to leave the company. The engineering union said 305 of its members were approved and are expected to leave the company in April.
WASHINGTON—Trade pressure and faltering U.S. competitiveness, not automation, were the main reasons the U.S. lost 5.7 million manufacturing jobs between 2000 and 2010, according to a new report from the Information Technology and Innovation Foundation.
PANAMA CITY, FL—GKN Aerospace is planning to invest approximately $50 million to build a new assembly plant here. The factory is expected to create 170 new jobs.
WENTZVILLE, MO—A woman suspected in the stabbing of a worker at GM’s assembly plant here has turned herself in to police Thursday. A female employee at the plant was hospitalized Wednesday night was stabbed five times. The attacker was not employed at the factory.
KANSAS CITY, MO—More than 300 UAW members at Challenge Manufacturing’s assembly plant here have reached a tentative agreement with the automotive supplier, ending a three-week strike.
FARMINGTON HILLS, MI—Mahle Service Solutions has started a technology venture using wire harness data to let assembly technicians zoom to the heart of vehicle test failures.
DONGGUAN, CHINA—The Changying Precision Technology Co., which focuses on producing mobile phones and automated production lines, used to employ around 650 employees. Today, it has about 60 employees as a result of replacing nearly 90 percent of its human workforce with machines.
DETROIT——Ford Motor Co. last month announced that it was canceling plans to build a $1.6-billion small-car assembly plant in San Luis Potosi, Mexico. But, the automaker is still going ahead with plans to open two other new plants in the country: a $1.1-billion engine plant in Chihuahua, and a $1.2-billion transmission facility in Guanajuato. Both are planned to become operational later this year, supplying engines and transmissions for the US, South America, Europe and Asia.
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