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Apple has officially added vehicles to the corporate documents describing the company’s activities, at least in Switzerland. The company’s lawyers added the following paragraph, reports Swiss site ApfelBlog. Vehicles; Apparatus for locomotion by land, air or water; electronic hardware components for motor vehicles, rail cars and locomotives, ships and aircraft; Anti-theft devices; Theft alarms for vehicles; Bicycles; Golf carts; Wheelchairs; Air pumps; Motorcycles; Aftermarket parts (after-market parts) and accessories for the aforesaid goods. It’s common to add catch-all terminology to company activities, so nothing should be read into the inclusion of ships and aircraft, though we’re sure there will be...

It isnÂ’t often that you come across new 3D printers that utilize an entirely new concept which hasnÂ’t been seen within this industry as of yet. With todayÂ’s technology, we are able to 3D print objects in hundreds of different materials, but when it comes to printing with metals, most of these machines are out our price ranges. 3D metal printers are mainly reserved for large corporations, as they come with price tags in excess of $250,000. However, as technology advances, we may one day soon be able to 3D print metal objects from the comfort of our own homes,...

When you think of the downstream effects of the Obama administration’s EPA regulations, the first states which come to mind tend to be in coal country and what remains of the rust belt and manufacturing centers. That’s all true enough, but it seems that when the government puts its thumb on the scale, the ripples can be felt in ever widening circles. This includes what might be one of the last states you’d think of… Vermont. Vermont will lose 3.4 percent of its manufacturing jobs by 2023 due to Obama administration climate regulations, according to a report on the...

A Korean research team has successfully developed a technology to make a sponge-like electrode material using graphene and a polymer, leading to a graphene battery. The newly-developed battery is ten times as small as existing ones, but can show the same product performance. A research team headed by Park Ho-seok, professor of the School of Chemical Engineering at Sungkyunkwan University, announced on Feb. 1 that it has succeeded in developing a very porous graphene aerogel electrode material by combining polyvinyl alcohol and graphene. Studies on developing high-capacity and rapidly-chargeable batteries are underway worldwide. It is necessary to compress devices in...

The Mark One 3D printer from MarkForged caused a bit of a sensation last January when it was announced that it could extrude continuous fiber using the FFF process.The Mark One 3D printer, featuring a build volume of 320 x 132 x 160 mm, can print using carbon fiber, Kevlar, fiberglass, and nylon, and in doing so creates very strong parts. Now 3 HTi has announced they’ll be offering, through a partnership with the Cambridge, MA-based MarkForged, the Mark One 3D printer as one of the first companies authorized to sell the revolutionary technology. 3 HTi is a technology solutions...

In the last decade, we’ve lost millions of manufacturing jobs to outsourcing. According to U.S. News and World Report, there are now 5.1 million fewer American manufacturing jobs than in 2001. The lure of low wages, tax advantages, and other cost savings has made for a seemingly straightforward calculus, and manufacturer after manufacturer, supported by intricate spreadsheets, has abandoned ship, until offshoring has become the emerging mantra of the new millennium. U.S. companies that still manufactured locally have slowly become outliers. Interestingly, this dynamic now seems to be changing, as we’re beginning to see more manufacturing in the U.S. Total...

Later this year along the banks of the James River outside Richmond, Virginia, a paper products maker based in northeastern China will begin construction on a new U.S. manufacturing plant. The factory will churn the region's straw and corn stalks into household products including napkins, tissue and organic fertilizer—all marked "Made in the USA." Shandong Tranlin Paper's new U.S. factory is forecast to generate about 2,000 new jobs by 2020, and is the latest Chinese company to invest in American manufacturing. Chinese foreign direct investment in the U.S. totaled $12 billion last year, topping $10 billion for the second year...

For the fifth straight month, US manufacturing sector has slowed, according to the Department of Commerce. Overall orders for manufacturing dropped 3.4% in December, led by a steep drop in transportation. Even without that, orders fell by 2.3%, and the overall decline in November was adjusted downward to 1.7%: New orders for manufactured goods in December, down five consecutive months, decreased $16.4 billion or 3.4 percent to $471.5 billion, the U.S. Census Bureau reported today. This followed a 1.7 percent November decrease. Excluding transportation, new orders decreased 2.3 percent. Shipments, down four of the last five months, decreased $5.3...

Two measures of manufacturing sentiment in January matched their worst performance in a year, a sign that sputtering overseas growth as well as the rapid deterioration in commodity prices is hurting U.S. businesses. The Institute for Supply Management’s manufacturing index slowed to a reading of 53.5% from 55.1% in December, a reading that was below the MarketWatch-compiled consensus for a reading of 55%. U.S. stocks SPX, -0.41% moved lower in the immediate aftermath of the report. What has been good news for the U.S. consumer — tumbling gas prices — isn’t proving to be as good for U.S. business. That’s...

It took far too long, but finally many state politicians are taking seriously Census Bureau reports that California is ground zero for American poverty. Once the high cost of living is factored in, the Golden State moves from the middle of the pack nationally to a clear number one, with nearly one-quarter of residents in a constant struggle to make ends meet. But with this harsh fact finally internalized, when will state leaders come to the parallel realization that having among the nation’s highest energy and real estate costs is also bad for the economy — and for job-seekers without...

Deere & Co , the world's largest maker of farm equipment, will lay off more than 900 employees at plants in Iowa and Illinois in the latest round of job cuts spurred by a decline in grain prices that is hurting demand for agricultural machinery. The layoffs, which represent about 3 percent of Deere's workforce in the United States and Canada, are set to begin early next month, the company said in a statement. The cuts at facilities that build agricultural equipment reflect Deere's attempt "to align the size of its manufacturing workforce to market demand for products," according to...

An American gun company has found a way around the anti-Russia sanctions that have banned imports of the Kalashnikov assault rifle: Make them here, in the U.S.A. The U.S.-made gun will have same name as the original: AK-47, arguably the most ubiquitous assault rifle in the world. The gun will be made by American company RWC, which is the official importer and distributor of Kalashnikov AK-47s. The company had to stop importing the guns after the U.S. imposed sanctions in July against Russia for its role in the Ukraine crisis. RWC said it is not permitted to have any contact...

January 17, 2015 Money Morning Michael A. Robinson writes: This year, 80% of the chips for new PCs will be produced in Silicon Valley… Taiwan… China‘s Shenzhen Province… South Korea… Wrong on all counts. More and more of today’s chipmakers locating their manufacturing facilities a bit off the beaten path these days – in one of the world’s fastest-growing economies… and a nation that some of you may find controversial. But my job is to take you wherever the biggest innovations are being made so that we can find the biggest opportunities. So, today I’m going to show you exactly...

All the talk we hear about a manufacturing renaissance in the U.S. is just that — all talk. That's the conclusion of a new report from the Information Technology & Innovation Foundation entitled "The Myth of America's Manufacturing Renaissance: The Real State of U.S. Manufacturing." As Adams Nager, an economic research assistant at the foundation and a co-author of the report, says, "A lot of what's in the news [about a revival] is based on anecdotes; there's very little real data." A look at job and factory numbers between 2007 and 2013 should put to rest any thoughts about a...

Texas manufacturers are worried about what plummeting oil prices could mean for business in 2015, according to the Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas’ monthly survey. Dallas Fed data showed that manufacturing activity increased in December even as demand moderated. The Texas production index, a measure of the state’s manufacturing climate, increased from six to 15.6 since November, the Dallas Fed said. But other measures showed that demand slowed: the new orders index fell from 5.6 to 1.3; and the survey’s composite index, expected to come in at 9, missed the mark at 4.1. Several manufacturing executives expressed pessimism over how...

Coca-Cola's "Share a Coke" campaign is the latest effort by multinational companies to de-emphasize their global reach. By replacing the logo on its cans with colloquialisms and common names in markets it serves, one of the world's most recognizable brands is hoping to look and feel a bit more "local."Coke's marketing strategy is just one example of companies responding to growing public sentiment that buying local is synonymous with doing good. Indeed, more than 150 groups representing more than 30,000 U.S. businesses are promoting ‘buy local' campaigns with slogans like "Don't Buy from Strangers, Buy from Neighbors." Of course, suspicion...

As we’ve mentioned so many times in past articles, the convergence of additive manufacturing and the ‘miracle material’ graphene could have major ramifications for dozens of industries over the next several years. Because of this, researchers and companies are spending a great deal of time and money figuring out the best methods to 3D print graphene. A group of researchers, led by Seol Seung-kwon at the Korea Electrotechnology Research Institute’s Nano Hybrid Technology Research Center (KERI) are at the forefront of this research. As we mentioned last month, KERI, a unit under the Ministry of Finance in South Korea, recently...

Myles Udland December 15, 2014Industrial production had a huge rebound in November. Industrial production rose 1.3% in November according to the latest report from the Federal Reserve. Expectations were for the report to show industrial production rose by 0.7% in November, better than October's 0.1% contraction. October's number was revised up to 0.1% from -0.1%. Capacity utilization also rose sharply, to 80.1% from a revised reading of 79.3%. Capacity utilization was expected to rise, to 79.4% from 78.9%. This rate of capacity utilization is now equal to its long-run average spanning 1972-2013 and hit its highest level since March 2008....

The hubs of advanced manufacturing will be the economic drivers of the future because innovation increasingly depends on production expertise. ... Second, the idea popularized in the 1990s and 2000s that innovation can happen in one place (say, Silicon Valley) while manufacturing happens in another (such as China) is not broadly sustainable. If all the manufacturing is happening in China, these networks are growing there, meaning eventually all the innovation—or at least a lot of it—will be happening there too. ... Without manufacturing, “we lose capabilities in the workforce,” says Harvard’s Shih. “It limits what you are able to do...

You can use 3D printing to make a handful of electronics, such as antennas and batteries, but LEDs and semiconductors have been elusive; you usually need some other manufacturing technique to make them work, which limits what they can do and where they'll fit. A team of Princeton researchers recently solved this problem, however. They've found a way to make quantum dot LEDs (and thus semiconductors) using only a 3D printer. The scientists choose printable electrodes, polymers and semiconductors, which are dissolved in solvents to keep them from damaging underlying layers during the printing process; after that, the team uses...