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.

MOBILE, AL—Airbus will ramp up aircraft production and add 1,000 workers at the company's Mobile manufacturing facility.

"On October 10, 2023, Simpson Manufacturing Co., Inc. experienced disruptions in its Information Technology (IT) infrastructure and applications resulting from a cybersecurity incident," it states in an SEC filing [PDF].

DETROIT, MI—Ford confirmed that it has temporarily cut a shift at its F-150 Lightning electric pickup plant in Detroit, possibly signaling demand is drying up for the highly-rated EV.

ORION, MI— As covered by The Detroit News, GM will push back Silverado EV production at its Orion Assembly plant to late 2025, instead of late 2024.

SALEM, OR—Agility Robotics will soon open a new factory here to produce its bipedal humanoid robot Digit. Dubbed RoboFab, the factory will be able to produce more than 10,000 robots per year. 

TIANJIN, China—Airbus broke ground on its second final assembly line in north China's Tianjin Municipality as the European aircraft manufacturer seeks expansion in the Chinese market.

NEWPORT BEACH, CA—Chipotle Mexican Grill announced it is testing an automated digital makeline in collaboration with Hyphen. Designed and built by Hyphen, the cobotic (collaborative robot) system is being tested at the Chipotle Cultivate Center in Irvine, California.

BURLINGTON, VT— On Monday, October 2, Electric aerospace company/aircraft developer Beta Technologies opened a new factory at the Burlington International Airport (KBTV) in Vermont for large-scale production of its all-electric aircraft, the Alia eCTOL and eVTOL.

On Monday, October 2, General Motors and Ford Motor said they are laying off another 500 workers at four Midwestern plants because of the impact on some of the United Auto Workers strike facilities on its 18th day.