PETROLIA, CA—Victor Scheinman, the Stanford engineering professor whose electrically powered, computer-controlled robot would become the Programmable Universal Machine for Assembly (PUMA) robot, has died at age 73.
TORONTO—Unifor has selected General Motors as the company with which it will set a pattern for negotiating new labor contracts with the Detroit Three automakers. The Canadian union’s current contracts with the companies expire Sept. 19.
OAK RIDGE, TN—Engineers at Oak Ridge National Laboratory have created the world’s largest solid 3D-printed structure. Measuring 17.5 feet long, 5.5 feet wide and 1.5 feet tall, the structure is a trim-and-drill fixture for manufacturing a component of the Boeing 777X passenger jet.
DEARBORN, MI—Ford plans to eventually shift all North American small-car production from the U.S. to Mexico, CEO Mark Fields told investors last week, even though the company’s production investments in Mexico have become a lightning rod for controversy in the presidential election.
SEATTLE—Joe Sutter, the Boeing Co. engineer who ushered in the modern era of long-range travel by spearheading the 747 jumbo jet in the 1960s, died this week. He was 95.
CHATTANOOGA, TN—Volkswagen of America is going to court to block an order that it negotiate a contract with the UAW for maintenance employees at its assembly plant here. The workers voted to unionize last year.
ORION, MI—GM’s assembly plant here saves $1 million annually by using renewable energy sources and now ranks as the 8th largest user of “green power” in the United States.