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Apple Inc will build a $1.375 billion data center in Waukee, Iowa, Apple and state officials said on Thursday, with $207.8 million in incentives approved by the Iowa Economic Development Authority and Waukee city council. Apple will purchase 2,000 acres (8.09 square km) of land in Waukee, about 20 miles (32 km) west of Des Moines, to build two data centers. The company will receive a $19.65 million investment tax credit for creating 50 jobs. Apple said the project will generate more than 550 jobs in construction and operations, but did not specify how many of those jobs would be...

Markforged, a 3D printer manufacturer based in Boston, has just announced two new models — the X3 and the X5. Both of these printers are designed to create carbon fiber-infused objects using a standard filament printing system and both can produce items that can replace or are stronger than steel objects. Both printers have auto-leveling and scanning systems to ensure each printed object is exactly like every other. Further, the printers use Markforged’s special thermoplastic fiber filament, while the X5 can add a “strand of continuous fiberglass” to create objects “19X stronger and 10X stiffer than traditional plastics.” This means...

Whirlpool Corp.’s Amana Operations refrigerator plant is planning what officials there call a hiring blitz over the next three weeks, aiming to add 500 employees. Chris Rice, Amana Operations human resources director, said the full-time positions, which start at $15 per hour, include assemblers and utility assembler as well as more specialized work as brazers, foam operators, plastic setup operators and assembly team leaders. “The bulk of the hiring will be for assemblers and utility assemblers,” Rice said. “People coming in will probably be working second or third shift, but candidates must be open to working any shift.” Rice said...

President Donald Trump’s effort to boost U.S. energy is facing push back from manufacturers who say exporting more natural gas may undercut his “America First” jobs focus. The Industrial Energy Consumers of America asked the administration Wednesday for a moratorium on U.S. approvals for liquefied natural gas projects. The trade association, which represents U.S. manufacturers that depend on cheap energy to fuel their factories, sent a letter to Energy Secretary Rick Perry Wednesday.

The president of the AFL-CIO stepped down from a council advising the White House on Tuesday, hours after President Trump reiterated that both sides were to blame for deadly violence in Charlottesville, Va., where white supremacist groups rallied over the weekend. "President Trump’s remarks today repudiate his forced remarks yesterday about the KKK and neo-Nazis," AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka said in a statement. He announced that both he and AFL-CIO leader Thea Lee would step down from Trump's Manufacturing Advisory Board. "We must resign on behalf of America’s working people, who reject all notions of legitimacy of these bigoted groups."...

Walmart’s chief executive issued a strong rebuke of President Trump’s response to the protests that turned violent in Charlottesville, Va., saying the president “missed a critical opportunity to help bring our country together.” The criticism came in a statement that the retailer’s chief executive, Doug McMillon, emailed to employees Monday evening, which was reviewed by The New York Times. The statement was later posted on a company website. “As we watched the events and the response from President Trump over the weekend, we too felt that he missed a critical opportunity to help bring our country together by unequivocally rejecting...

On Monday morning, Merck & Co. Chief Executive Ken Frazier resigned from President Trump’s manufacturing jobs council to protest Trump’s deficient condemnation of the racist violence in Charlottesville, Va. Since then, membership on Trump’s Potemkin Village-like CEO boards has begun to look like something of a litmus test for American corporations and business organizations. Two CEOs followed Frazier out the door on Monday: Under Armour’s Kevin Plank and Intel’s Brian Krzanich. But representatives of some 40 other corporations and other organizations, including a couple of retired CEOs, are still members of the jobs council and a second panel designated the...

President Donald Trump on Tuesday slammed the three chief executives who left his manufacturing council as "grandstanders." "For every CEO that drops out of the Manufacturing Council, I have many to take their place," Trump wrote on Twitter. "Grandstanders should not have gone on. JOBS!" ....Shortly after Trump's tweet Tuesday, Scott Paul, president of the Alliance for American Manufacturing, also said he would drop out of the council. Paul, head of the group that aims to promote American manufacturing, said "it's the right thing for me to do."

Krzanich is the third executive to leave President Donald Trump's council in the span of a day — Under Armour CEO Kevin Plank and Merck CEO Kenneth Frazier both resigned earlier on Monday following the recent episode of white supremacist violence in Virginia. "I resigned to call attention to the serious harm our divided political climate is causing to critical issues, including the serious need to address the decline of American manufacturing," Krzanich said in Monday's blog post. "I have already made clear my abhorrence at the recent hate-spawned violence in Charlottesville, and earlier today I called on all leaders...

Kevin Plank, the founder and CEO of Under Armour, has announced that he is stepping down from the White House American Manufacturing Council. Plank had initially sent out a statement on Charlottesville earlier today: Under Armour‏Verified account @UnderArmour We are saddened by #Charlottesville. There is no place for racism or discrimination in this world. We choose love & unity. - CEO Kevin Plank 7:34 AM - 14 Aug 2017 Following the departure of Merck CEO Kenneth Frazier from the very same council (which led to President Trump criticizing him on Twitter), there were questions about who would drop out next.

Middletown, Iowa — Starting next year, the Iowa Army Ammunition Plant will begin producing new high velocity training rounds. U.S. Army Contracting Command in Picatinny Arsenal, New Jersey, awarded a $63.9 million contract for multi-year production of the M918E1 40mm high velocity training rounds. The contract was awarded to American Ordinance, which produces ammunition through the IAAP. American Ordinance is a subsidiary of Day & Zimmerman, which provides construction, engineering, staffing and defense for corporations and governments around the world. American Ordinance faced competition from several domestic and international companies that were also engineering the round. The round, known as...

Merck & Co Inc Chief Executive Kenneth Frazier resigned from U.S. President Donald Trump's American Manufacturing Council on Monday, saying he was taking a stand against intolerance and extremism.

The structure of North America's manufacturing networks will be on the line when the first round of negotiations to rewrite the North American Free Trade Agreement begins here this week. The central showdown is expected to revolve around the amount of regional content products must contain to qualify for duty-free status, the so-called rules of origin. How that contest plays out will have profound implications for the auto industry. Administration officials have pointed to stricter rules of origin as one way to address reducing the $60 billion bilateral trade deficit with Mexico and shifting more production to U.S. factories. In...

Link only due to copyright issues: http://www.wltx.com/news/local/trane-expands-create-700-new-jobs-in-richland-county/463343580

On Wednesday afternoon, a Boeing 787-800 Dreamliner took off from Seattle on a test flight. Flight tracking apps show the Dreamliner followed a flight path over the United States that draws an outline of the Dreamliner. It set the internet abuzz, likely one of the goals. But the Dreamliner was actually conducting a flight test of its new Rolls Royce engine "to prove to regulators that the airplane can safely operate on one engine for an extended period of time," according to Flightradar24, a flight-tracking app.

WASHINGTON/DETROIT (Reuters) - Toyota Motor Corp (7203.T) and rival Mazda Motor Corp are expected to announce plans on Friday to build a $1.6 billion U.S assembly plant as part of a new joint venture, a person briefed on the matter said. The plant will be capable of producing 300,000 vehicles a year, with production divided between the two automakers, and employ about 4,000 people when it opens in 2021, the person said on Thursday. A new auto plant would be a major boost to U.S. President Donald Trump, who campaigned on promises to boost manufacturing and expand employment for American...

ANALYSIS/OPINION: As a 21-year autoworker in Michigan, and a forced dues-paying member of the United Auto Workers for 19 of those years, I have watched union officials waste millions of dollars attempting to organize manufacturing facilities in the South. It has done so as workers in those factories have clearly rejected their efforts, time and again. *** This time, the target is the 6,400-plus workers at Nissan’s facility in Canton, Mississippi, who will have a secret-ballot election August 3-4. Those workers should proceed with caution and pay heed to the long-term consequences of their decision. *** Organizers will make many...

Revitalizing American manufacturing has been a hot topic for some time, gaining prominence as a talking point in last year’s election. Donald Trump’s victory led many to speculate about the future of manufacturing in the U.S., particularly whether it’s possible to bring manufacturing back to America. The latest piece of advice on this topic comes from a rather surprising source: Walmart. The retail giant recently convened a meeting of representatives from governments, businesses and non-governmental organizations (NGOs) to present a Policy Roadmap to Renew U.S. Manufacturing. “As we’ve worked over the last four years alongside our suppliers toward our goal...

HUBBARD, Ohio – An Ohio factory owner said Saturday that though she has blue-collar jobs available at her company, she struggles to fill positions because so many candidates fail drug tests. Regina Mitchell, a co-owner of Warren Fabricating & Machining in Hubbard, Ohio, told The New York Times this week that four out of 10 applicants otherwise qualified to be welders, machinists and crane operators will fail a routine drug test. In an interview Saturday with CNN’s Michael Smerconish, Mitchell said that her requirements for prospective workers were simple. “I need employees who are engaged in their work while here,...

Desktop Metal – remember the name. This Massachussetts company is preparing to turn manufacturing on its head, with a 3D metal printing system that's so much faster, safer and cheaper than existing systems that it's going to compete with traditional mass manufacturing processes. We've been hearing for years now about 3D printing and how it's going to revolutionize manufacturing. As yet, though, it's still on the periphery. Plenty of design studios and even home users run desktop printers, but the only affordable printing materials are cheap ABS plastics. And at the other end of the market, while organizations like NASA...