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Late last year, Michigan-based Grede LLC told workers at its 50-year-old foundry in Brewton, Alabama, that the company planned to shutter all manufacturing operations by the end of 2025.  On April 1, the company issued a WARN notice with the state that says the wind down will begin on May 22, 2025, and some 160 employees will be affected. But it turns out many more will be out of work. 

GM yesterday unveiled a Chevrolet Corvette concept car with a 3D printed body. Not only is the body lighter, but additive manufacturing would allow GM to reduce the part count.  According to GM Authority, the carmaker sold a little more than 33,000 Corvettes in the U.S. last year, and advancements in additive manufacturing can already suit applications with volumes in the low tens of thousands—and...

Appliance manufacturer Whirlpool has announced that it will lay off 651 workers from its plant in Amana, Iowa. The company said that the layoffs, effective June 1, are “necessary adjustments to production” in response to consumer demand for the specific products being manufactured in Amana. These include French door and column refrigerators. While the company has said that tariffs are not a factor...

Last week, Hyundai Motor Group announced a $21 billion investment in U.S. operations from 2025 to 2028, including some $6 billion earmarked for strategic partnerships with U.S. companies.  As part of this new investment, Hyundai will purchase "tens of thousands of robots" from Boston Dynamics, according to the robot maker. As part of the partnership, the carmaker plans to help Boston Dyn...

Reuters is reporting that Toyota’s hybrid models are in such high demand that parts shortages have led to monthslong delays – or worse.

Hong Kong University of Science and Technology researchers have developed a 3D printing food solution that combines the use of graphene heaters and starch-based printing material with generative AI, all in a single 3D printer.  Traditional 3D printing food technologies typically require postprocessing steps that lead to imperfect shapes, use unappealing ingredients or even face microbial contamina...

Situated just northwest of Oklahoma City, the Bethany-Warr Acres Water Treatment Plant was recently the scene of a crime – that is, according to Oklahoma County District Attorney Vicki Behenna who has filed charges against two former employees. The water treatment plant handles three million gallons of raw sewage a day, and the County  alleges that 55-year-old Anthony Menzie and 63-year-old Glenn...

When the Dali containership struck the Francis Scott Key Bridge in Baltimore, the deadly collapse triggered an NTSB investigation into U.S. infrastructure. The safety agency wanted to see if other bridges could be susceptible to similar strikes.  About two weeks ago, the NTSB identified 68 bridges across 19 states that should conduct a vulnerability assessment. 

Law enforcement stormed a flooring manufacturer in Cartersville, Georgia in connection with what the FBI described as an “active, ongoing labor trafficking investigation.” According to a news release , agents from the FBI, the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and other law enforcement partners entered the Wellmade Industries building to execute federal search warrants, alleging the compan...

After a challenging year of sales declines and a failed potential merger with Honda, Nissan wants to make it clear that it’s not going anywhere. And based on the most recent announcements from the Japanese automaker, it appears Nissan is pinning its comeback hopes on an array of new and redesigned models, all due to hit the market by 2027. There are ten in fact, and the company says these new entr...

In a move that says just as much about the state of the steel industry as the automotive industry, Cleveland-Cliffs has confirmed that it will lay off 600 workers from its Dearborn Works facility in Michigan. Cleveland-Cliffs is the 4th largest steel maker in the United States, and shipped out record volumes to automotive in 2023.

One bearing company has found a way to optimize the design of a time-tested product that’s used single every day: the wheel. The results are in after a yearlong trial of Spanish company Fersa ’s take on the wheel hub, and they say they’ve proven their new and efficient design. This fuel efficient wheel hub has been designed to reduce both friction and rolling resistance. According to reports , it...

training for students seeking careers in various skilled trades. Her passion for motorsport led her to a UTI division called NASCAR Technical Institute. Ahmed’s other professional experience includes working as a CNC and CNC Swiss lead operator at Victory 1 Performance and Trend Performance, which are owned by racing parts maker Race Winning Brands. Ahmed also hosts NextGenMFG , a podcast that fea...

EV maker Longbow is taking two sleek new models to market – and analysts say the competition might be taking note. That’s because Longbow’s latest entries have more going for them than your average electric car. This UK-based startup is supported by a strong pedigree, including ex-employees from EV leaders like BYD, Tesla and Lucid. 

Tesla Cybertrucks have run into a spot of trouble, a defect that has forced the automaker to recall every truck it's ever sold. Luckily, that is only 46,096 vehicles, but unfortunately this one can't be fixed with an over-the-air update.  The EV maker recently received several reports of pieces of the roof falling off while the vehicle was on the road. Specifically, the cant rail, the bi...

Whether tariffs are to blame, however, is in dispute.

Although it doesn’t compete directly with major manufacturers like Michelin, Bridgestone and Goodyear, LEGO is still the world’s largest tire maker. At least in terms of volume, not size. According to Guinness World Records, LEGO has been pumping out about 306 million rubber tires each year since 2006. The company peaked in 2010 when the total reached 381 million tires, way more than the nearly 20...

Digital manufacturing platform Fictiv today announced the results of its " 10th Annual State of Manufacturing & Supply Chain Report ." The company surveyed 254 senior manufacturing and supply chain leaders to glean insight into mounting concerns regarding evolving U.S. trade policies, preventing supply chain disruptions, and scaling innovation, AI, and sustainability. According to th...

A fire that struck a factory critical to the aerospace industry could threaten Boeing’s recovery plan as the plane maker looks for an alternative supplier of fasteners.

Of course we all love to buy products that are tailored to our specific wants and needs, but the idea of a truly one-of-a-kind vehicle seems almost impossible. But British automaker Bentley is going bespoke to the point of excess, and the automaker has recently announced that it can now offer enough configurations to create a uniquely custom Bentley for every person on earth. And then, every perso...

Volkswagen in recent years has been shifting in-vehicle controls to touchscreen and haptic feedback, which sounds very futuristic, but in reality can be annoying in the best-case scenario and a safety hazard in the worst. The automaker has obviously heard the complaints about turning its products into smartphones on wheels and it’s doing something about it. Autocar recently spoke with Andreas Mind...

A California court announced a lawsuit that targets a “material safety defect” in tens of thousands of Ford’s Mustang Mach-E.  The vehicles mentioned in the lawsuit all contain electronically latched doors called E-Latch, which Ford markets as a feature. However, the complaint argues they are actually a defect because battery failure or loss of power forces owners to jump-start the vehicle and bat...

The trade war between the U.S. and Canada is heating up as leaders from both countries trade 25% tariffs and other regulatory threats.  At the center of the tariff tiff is booze, with Canadian stores stripping shelves of all U.S. alcohol in an act of patriotic solidarity. Brown-Forman, the producer of Jack Daniel’s, said such boycotts will be “worse than a tariff,” when it comes to the impact on t...

Automotive startup Aptera Motors announced that it conducted tests on its first production-intent validation solar electric vehicle in the Mojave Desert to evaluate its aerodynamics and energy efficiency. The development marks a significant milestone for the company, which has about 50,000 pre-order reservation holders.

CNBC says that increasingly luxurious first-class seats are holding up airplane deliveries. The “big 2” in commercial airliners held earnings calls in late February and both illustrated similar issues.