DETROIT, MI—The co-founders of Propel Bikes and Vela Bikes announced Monday the creation of Bloom, a vertical integration partner for light electric vehicles, with its first manufacturing location in the Motor City. Leading Bloom will be Propel's Chris Nolte and Vela's Justin Kosmides, who will collaborate with micromobility strategic partners to provide domestic contract manufacturing, assembly, delivery, and servicing. 

WASHINGTON, D.C.—President Joe Biden’s campaign aired a new ad blasting former President Donald Trump’s record on manufacturing.

CORVALLIS, OR—Agility Robotics, creator of the groundbreaking bipedal robot Digit, announced that Amazon will begin testing Digit for use in their operations. Digit will first be tested at Amazon’s robotics research and development facility just south of Seattle.

Weiss has optimized its HP 70 pick-and-place module for long strokes with short cycle times.

Specifically developed to further improve quality and productivity on the aircraft assembly line, while also reducing instances of operator injury, Atlas Copco Tools and Industrial Assembly Solutions has introduced an electric drill for the aerospace sector.

A few weeks ago, Amazon.com announced introducing an array of new artificial intelligence and robotics capabilities into its warehouse operations that will reduce delivery times and help identify inventory more quickly. The revamp will change the way Amazon moves products through its fulfillment centers with new AI-equipped sortation machines and robotic arms. It is also set to alter how many of the company’s vast army of workers do their jobs.

CHICAGO, IL— Ford agreed to invest $400 million in the Chicago Assembly Plant and another $30 million in the Chicago Stamping Plant as part of the tentative four-year contract United Auto Workers members are considering now. Calumet Region Ford workers will vote on the proposed contract on Nov. 6 and 7.

Torsional ultrasonic welding technology creates high-reliability connections for radiometer.

TOULOUSE, France—Safran Electrical & Power has acquired the aeronautical electrical systems business of Thales.

GREENVILLE, SC— When COVID began impacting the world, Ubillus and his team took advantage of the lull to streamline their processes using lean, the management philosophy at the heart of GE's turnaround. "Lean's core purpose is to eliminate waste, with respect for people as the foundation," Ubillus says. For a manufacturing plant like Greenville, that means getting the most out of their equipment, inventory, space, and time.