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Welcome to another episode of Gen Z in Manufacturing , a podcast that asks young people about their journeys in manufacturing, how they intend to influence the industry and what they are looking for from an employer. This episode welcomes 22-year-old Oscar Ramirez, a quality control microbiology technician at life sciences company MilliporeSigma. Ramirez was introduced to the pharma industry as a...

Last week, Panasonic and Mitsubishi Materials recently provided an update on a joint effort more than ten years in the making to operate and expand a product-material-product (PMP) loop. Since 2011, the collaboration has strived to reuse gold, silver, and copper recovered from waste circuit boards, primarily from old Panasonic home appliances. So far, it has been a smashing success.  According to...

Every major automaker, at this point, has some sort of driver assistance features on their vehicles, they tend to offer varying degrees of sophistication.  And while Tesla has been most forthcoming about its goals to, at least eventually, make full self-driving a reality, one competitor - Rivian - is suggesting they’ve made some major progress as well. Rivian CEO RJ Scaringe recently shared an upd...

Space Perspective, a Titusville, Florida company founded in 2018, was developed with the objective of selling trips to the stratosphere. And in a world of heavy investment in space exploration, it’s the method that’s unique: Space Perspective plans to use a craft called “Spaceship Neptune,” described as a crewed, pressurized gondola propelled by hydrogen. In the second half of 2024, the firm appea...

In late December, when TechCrunch reported that EV startup Canoo had just $700K in the bank and was putting its staff on a “mandatory unpaid break,” it felt like there’s never been clearer writing on any wall in history. That’s why it surprised few when, this week, Canoo announced that it would be ceasing operations and filing for Chapter 7 bankruptcy.

In the real world, we’re too often deemed not worthy of fictional gadgets. None of us are getting a proton pack or a flux capacitor any time soon. But if you’re looking for a car roof-mounted licorice dispenser like the one featured in “Wayne’s World,” that can be arranged. Candy Phelps, a web designer based in Madison, Wisconsin, wanted that licorice dispenser as soon as she saw it in the 1992 mo...

Late last year, automakers Nissan and Honda revealed that they were in negotiations over a possible merger, made necessary by the fact that - after a horrible 2024 - Nissan is in survival mode. And while talks continue, more of Honda’s seemingly non-negotiables are being revealed, including some that seem like such high bars they lead to questions over whether this could go through at all.

Automatic Emergency Braking (AEB) is a fairly common feature in production vehicles from the Honda Civic to the Ford F-150. It’s shown to have a material impact on preventing impacts. But according to new research, some AEB systems may contain worrisome blind spots. The Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS) just released findings from its recent research into the effects of high-visibility...

Auto parts maker Tenneco announced that it would cease operations and permanently close a 55-year-old plant in Paragould, Arkansas, local television station K8 News reported . The company informed the facility’s workers of their impending layoffs on January 14. Online news source NEAReport.com obtained a letter to the employees that said the company will conduct the closure and permanent layoffs i...

For those of you keeping track of the handful of EV startups still standing, you may not have thought Faraday Future was one of them. The California company, established in 2014, made news in February when it was revealed that the automaker had been served with an eviction notice from its Gardena headquarters – one it narrowly evaded in the end after making some payments and agreeing to some fresh...

On September 27, 2024, Hurricane Helene slammed into Impact Plastics in Erwin, Tennessee, and the subsequent flooding claimed six victims who were among the employees working at the plant despite a state of emergency issued by the Tennessee Emergency Management Agency the previous day.  Impact Plastics is facing lawsuits from at least one family following claims that workers were not allowed to le...

PFAs, or “forever chemicals” as they’re often called, have persisted their way into water, air, fish, soil, people and animals all over the country. They’ve been linked to several serious health problems including cancer. It’s a widespread problem that’s led many states to pursue legislation that would block their continued use. Minnesota’s Amara’s Law, which was passed in 2023 and took effect at...

Pabst Brewing Company has announced a new brewing contract agreement with Anheuser-Busch InBev. The contract comes after a two-decade long contract agreement with Molson Coors came to an end in December 2024. Beginning in the first quarter of 2025, Pabst will begin production using several AB InBev facilities. Since the closing of Pabst’s Milwaukee brewery in 1996, the company has relied on third-...

Toyota Opening Experimental Futuristic City This Fall At CES 2020, Toyota announced an interesting new concept. Toyota Woven City is a "test course for mobility" and part of the company's efforts to evolve into a mobility company. The city is being developed in collaboration with Woven by Toyota, a subsidiary formerly known as the Toyota Research Institute for Advanced Development,...

For a company like Kia, whose reliability ratings have been steadily improving over time, there’s no joy in ringing in the New Year with a recall. The NHTSA recently made public a recall issued by South Korean automaker Kia, noting an absence of critical fasteners on certain vehicles.

Welcome to another episode of Gen Z in Manufacturing , a podcast where I interview young people about their journeys in manufacturing, how they intend to influence the industry and what they are looking for from an employer. For this episode, I welcome William Stewart, a 25-year-old Licensed Excellerate Electrician at Faith Technologies Incorporated (FTI). Stewart is a licensed journeyman in Wisco...

This week, Mary Ann Bliesner, the 83-year-old former president and primary owner of Valley Processing Inc. (VPI) pleaded guilty to charges related to the manufacture and sale of tainted fruit juice products in violation of federal food safety laws. Bliesner operated a now-shuttered fruit juice facility in Sunnyside, Washington. During an FDA inspection in May 2018, VPI employees used caution tape...

Digital twins are making an incredible impact on the manufacturing industry. By simulating the factory using real-time data from sensors and other IoT technology, manufacturers can iterate faster during the product design, improve efficiency, forecast potential equipment failures and even help train new workers in virtual environments. And now, one major toothpaste player is testing new products o...

Honda and Nissan represent the second and third largest Japanese automobile companies – behind only Toyota in global sales volume. Still, Nissan has notably lost its footing in the past year. Last month, the automaker reported a net earnings decline of more than 90% for the first half. In turn, Nissan cut its profit forecasts significantly and axed thousands of jobs. Meanwhile, despite posting a d...

According to estimates, Americans eat 46 million turkeys each year on Thanksgiving alone – about a fifth of the birds raised annually. But less than a week after the holiday wrapped this year, Butterball held a town hall meeting at its Jonesboro, Arkansas facility – and it wasn’t to celebrate.  According to recent reports , Butterball announced on December 4th that it would be closing its Jonesbor...

OSHA concluded an inspection into a fatal accident at Stellantis’ Jeep Toledo Assembly Complex in Ohio and cited the automaker with a “serious” violation and a fine of $16,101. The incident took place in August when 53-year-old Antonio Gaston died on the facility’s Gladiator line. The Detroit Free Press reported that Gaston was tightening undercarriage bolts when he became trapped beneath a vehicl...

Earlier this year, a real estate development group announced plans to build what will be the country’s tallest skyscraper in an unlikely location. But the project is now facing delays and warnings about its potential risks to air travel. Matteson Capital partnered with architecture firm AO on a project that would place a more than 1,900-foot tower in Oklahoma City, far away from the towering peaks...

Emerging American defense contractor Anduril and U.S.-based eVTOL startup Archer Aviation this morning announced an exclusive new partnership to jointly develop a hybrid VTOL aircraft for critical defense applications, targeting a potential program of record from the DOD. Those are programs that Congress not only intends to fund but has appropriated funding for them in the Future Years Defense Pro...

A carbon monoxide poisoning incident at a Utah meatpacking plant sent 11 people to the hospital. Salt Lake City television station KUTV reported that an improperly vented appliance caused the issue.  The West Jordan Fire Department arrived at the Otto & Sons location following reports of an unconscious woman. Crews removed the woman from the facility, where they detected carbon monoxide levels...

The holiday season means a boost in orders for online e-commerce giants like Amazon, a firm that’s doing its best to maintain its Prime pledge of delivery within two or three days. It’s difficult to imagine that the company has ambitions to trim its delivery time, at least in some locations, by an astonishing amount. Just how tight will the turn be? Bloomberg has reported that Amazon is testing 15...