MOBILE, AL—Alabama’s auto production climbed to a record high in 2016, as workers at the state’s three auto assembly plants kept up a brisk pace of building SUVs, pickups and sedans for markets around the world.
CLEMSON, SC—Researchers at Clemson University and Carnegie Mellon University are collaborating to develop next-generation robots for advanced manufacturing across the automotive, aerospace, electronics and textile industries. Clemson will also help train the workers who will operate the robots, as part of a $253 million plan to fill roughly 510,000 jobs in manufacturing by 2025.
LAS VEGAS—The Bosch Group demonstrated a new industrial robot with a smart “skin” that could allow people to work more closely with machines. Exhibited at the Consumer Electronics Show here earlier this week, Bosch’s Automatic Production Assistant can sense when a person enters a “danger zone” and stop moving before an accident occurs.
NEW BRITAIN, CT—After announcing an agreement to purchase the Craftsman Brand from Sears for $900 million last week, Stanley Black & Decker now says it will construct a new $35 million assembly plant in the U.S. to expand the Craftsman tool line.
SEOUL, South Korea—LG Electronics’ newly appointed CEO Jo Seong-jin said Sunday that the South Korean electronics OEM is considering setting up its first home appliance assembly plant in the U.S. within the first half of this year.
DETROIT—Fiat Chrysler has pledged to spend $1 billion to overhaul its assembly plants in Michigan and Ohio to build the upcoming Jeep Wagoneer, Grand Wagoneer, and Wrangler pickup. The move will add 2,000 jobs to the automaker’s U.S. workforce and will enable the company to move Ram heavy-duty pickup truck production from Mexico to the U.S.
TEMPE, AZ—U.S. manufacturing and services firms expect to see rising revenues and profits next year, amid a stronger economy and only modest increases in costs, according to the Institute of Supply Management. The ISM semiannual economic forecast also showed that companies expect a small increase in employment across both sectors, after a contraction in 2016.
MOLINE, IL—Deere & Co. will pay a former employee $275,000 under the terms of a settlement agreement that resolves a lawsuit filed in 2015 under the anti-retaliation provision of the Occupational Safety and Health Act. The suit alleged the worker was fired from Deere’s assembly plant here in June 2012 after reporting unsafe working conditions and then filing a complaint with OSHA after the manufacturer failed to correct one of the unsafe conditions.
BUFFALO, NY—Panasonic Corp. expects to invest more than $260 million in an assembly plant here to make photovoltaic cells and modules for Tesla Motors Inc.
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