In August, the federal Office of Management and Budget (OMB) opted to delay implementation of a new “factoryless goods producer” classification in the latest revision of the North American Industry Classification System (NAICS).

Tim Hutzel will never forget the first time, back in 1995, that he walked the shop floor at Hamilton Caster & Manufacturing Co., a maker of industrial wheels, casters, carts and trailers in Hamilton, OH. Hutzel had just left his job as director of lean transformation at GE Aviation to strike out on his own as a consultant and lean guru. Hamilton Caster was his first customer.

It’s a national tragedy that too many young men these days lack father figures, role models or any sort of guiding hand. Ac-cording to the U.S. Census Bureau, 15 million U.S. children, or one in three, live without a father. In 1960, just 11 percent of American children lived in homes without fathers.

The wave of automotive recalls this year underscores the importance of putting identification codes on products. Without such codes, consumers would not know if their vehicles were safe, and automakers would not know where or when problem parts were made.

Automakers are increasingly using hydroformed metal tubing in vehicular structures. Compared with stamped and welded metal parts, hydroformed parts weigh less, cost less, and have a higher stiffness-to-weight ratio.

Good news: America is now luring as many factory jobs back from overseas as it’s losing to continued offshoring. That’s the assessment of the Reshoring Initiative, a nonprofit group that encourages companies to move work back to the United States.

Don Hegland, a former NASA engineer and the chief editor of ASSEMBLY magazine for a quarter century, died July 21. He was 77.

By some estimates, approximately 40 years’ worth of mineable copper resources remains worldwide. At the same time, global consumption is growing, driven particularly by infrastructure-related demand for wiring in emerging markets.

The distinction between AC induction motors and permanent-magnet DC servomotors was once fairly clear. AC motors were for high-horsepower applications, such as compressors, pumps, blowers and bulk-handling conveyors. DC servomotors were for applications requiring low horsepower, high torque, high cycling and precise positioning, such as machine tools and pick-and-place machines.

Remember 1992? Four Los Angeles police officers were acquitted of beating Rodney King, sparking riots citywide. Compact discs surpassed cassette tapes as the preferred medium for recorded music...