SPRING HILL, TN—Around 1,000 workers at Ultium Cells’ battery assembly plant here joined the United Auto Workers in September after a majority signed union cards.

FLINT, MI—General Motors announced today that it has resumed operations at two of its assembly plants located in Texas and Michigan. Production at these facilities was temporarily halted last week due to supply chain disruptions caused by Hurricane Helene.

WASHINGTON—Stellantis filed eight additional lawsuits against the United Auto Workers (UAW) and 23 local union units, accusing them of violating their contract by threatening strikes due to delays in planned investments.

MONTGOMERY, AL—First Solar Inc. has opened its new $1.1 billion, vertically integrated thin-film solar panel assembly plant here. 

RALEIGH, NC—Hitachi Energy will invest $155 million to expand manufacturing capacity across three plants in North America.

Boston startup is lauded for its fully automatic motion planning software for industrial robots. The software develops an optimized “choreography” for robots that work closely together in cells. By coordinating the motion of each robot, the software prevents collisions.

The new WeldMAX Model MH-15100 from Sonobond is the industry’s largest, most powerful, and most rugged ultrasonic spot welder.

Low-cost robotic systems are available through an online platform that aggregates components from various industrial suppliers, enabling engineers to design, build and buy a robotic system that meets their application and budget requirements. 

FRANKFURT, Germany—More than 4.2 million robots were employed in factories worldwide in 2023—a record high and an increase of 10 percent from 2022.

In deciding what drives the creation of sub-BOMs and whether to divide a larger assembly into subassemblies, it’s essential to evaluate the long-term impact on production. A flexible enterprise resource planning (ERP) system allows the creation of complex, multilevel BOMs, but also supports simple, flat BOM structures.