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It seemed the DVD met its match in 2006 when Blu-Ray discs hit the media market with better audio quality and much more storage capacity. And while streaming services soon after became the content platform of choice, Blu-Ray discs have maintained a presence nonetheless.

Aerojet Rocketdyne recently completed work on the four RS-25 engines that will help power NASA's Space Launch System (SLS) rocket on the Artemis IV mission. Artemis IV is the ambitious plan that will see astronauts live and work in Gateway, the first lunar space station in history. The mission will help prep future human missions to Mars and will include multiple launches and spacecraft docki...

Last month, Mitsubishi Electric set a new Guinness World Record. The young team outfitted a robot with high-speed, high-precision factory automation equipment and control technology, and made it the fastest robot ever to solve a puzzle cube, more commonly referred to as a Rubik's cube. If you want to see it, don't blink. The video of the achievement was recorded on May 7, 2024, and the p...

A new study out of the University of Wisconsin has uncovered the truly alarming consequences of a recent rail disaster - an incident with toxic implications well beyond what researchers were expecting. In 2023, a Norfolk Southern train carrying toxic chemicals derailed in the Ohio town of East Palestine. Across the nation, transfixed observers watched in horror as officials deemed the best course...

Warroad, Minnesota, is about as north as you can go in the continental United States. The city of about 2,000 people is nicknamed Hockeytown USA due to its ability to consistently produce Olympians. But, in addition to supplying the U.S. national teams with talent, the small town has also been providing doors and windows for over 100 years.  The windows and doors come from Marvin and its manufactu...

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. Thank you to our sponsor QAD Redzone. Empower your frontline while growing your bottom line. QAD Redzone is the #1 Connected Workforce Solution for plants of all sizes. It&apo...

Luxury carmaker Koenigsegg has issued a stop-drive after an issue with one of its vehicles resulted in a disaster of epic proportions. And while typical recalls numbers in the thousands of vehicles – sometimes the millions – this one is on a much, much smaller scale: just 28 vehicles are being recalled.

A German and Canadian national residing in China named Klaus Pflugbeil has pleaded guilty to stealing a U.S. electric vehicle company’s trade secrets and using them to build a China-based business. The Department of Justice release did not disclose the name of the American EV maker, but a New York Times article that reported Pflugbeil’s arrest in March named the mystery company as Tesla.

Ford has bet on electric vehicles to help drive future growth and like a lot of other automakers, it’s zeroed in on price point as one of the catalysts for driving consumer adoption. The automaker has seen some limited success so far with its F-150 Lightning and Mustang Mach-E. But those vehicles’ most basic packages start at about $40,000 and $50,000 respectively. Ford has seemingly understood fo...

NASA just scared the heck out of a lot of International Space Station (ISS) followers when it accidentally aired an emergency medical drill during a livestream. According to CNBC , the livestream on Wednesday evening was abruptly interrupted by a speaker announcing that an astronaut on board the ISS was suffering extreme compression sickness and may need to be placed inside a spacesuit filled with...

A group of Republican lawmakers has accused the Chinese company behind a proposed $2 billion electric vehicle battery plant in the Midwest of using forced labor — and urged the Biden administration to blacklist it from the country altogether. Rep. Darin LaHood, who represents a district spanning central and northern Illinois, said in a statement that an investigation by the House Select Committee...

John Deere employs around 70,000 people worldwide, but the year 2024 has brought recurring announcements regarding workforce reductions – in fact, so many that keeping up can be a challenge. The latest cuts are in Moline, Illinois, where the company has informed workers in its Seeding and Cylinder operations that 120 employees would be placed on “indefinite layoff” effective June 28th. 

The supply of available homes is historically low. Land is expensive, material costs are high, and the market conditions have a particularly dramatic impact on smaller homes less than 1,800 square feet. However, modern manufacturing techniques have shown the potential to cut costs and build times significantly. While the world's largest 3D printer is quickly building modest homes layer by lay...

The Department of Labor announced that John Deere has agreed to pay over $1.1 million to job applicants after facing allegations of systemic hiring discrimination that affected Black and Hispanic applicants. According to the Department of Labor, routine evaluations by the Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs found hiring imbalances at three of the company’s facilities in Milan, Illinois,...

A Toyota subsidiary will shut down its largest auto parts plant in the U.S. over concerns about a difficult path to “sustainable profitability.” Hino Motors Manufacturing U.S.A. opened the facility in Marion, Arkansas, in 2006, making truck frames and axles for Hino commercial vehicles as well as for its Toyota parent. It is by far the U.S. division’s largest operation, accounting for about 70% of...

Electric vehicles may be good for the environment, but there is an unwanted side effect that’s been bad for the budgets of many states that rely on the gas tax. And while some are finding ways around it via supersized registration fees for electrics, the state of California is exploring another way to beef up its highway funds – and it intends to treat all vehicle types equally.

Boat and engine maker  . has announced a mass layoff for its facility in Sturtevant, Wisconsin. The company stated in a Notice of Workforce Reduction that the move affected 298 employees at the factory, citing “adverse market and economic conditions.” According to the notice, BRP laid off the first 150 workers on March 21,  then 148 more on May 23. The layoffs include new and low-hour employees an...

In the age of uber-expensive vehicles, the CEO of Stellantis is making a bold pledge. In March of this year, the average sale price of a new vehicle was more than $47,000 – a sum that’s out of reach for many Americans. And if you’re in the market for a new electric, that figure balloons another 10%, says CarEdge. With that in mind, automakers have explored ways to drive down costs of new EVs and t...

The biggest name in canned soup – Campbell’s – has announced that it will be making some big cuts to its operations in an effort to eliminate what it refers to as “inefficient” sites. One of these is a plant in Tualatin, Oregon – a location Campbell’s acquired in when it purchased organic soup company Pacific Foods in 2017. The 250,000 square foot operation will be closed in phases, says Campbell’...

The Hershey Company is facing a federal class action lawsuit because at least four customers feel duped by the company's specialty Reese's product packaging. According to the lawsuit, the packaging contains "a false and deceptive representation of an artistic carving contained on said product." For example, a new product designed as a tie-in for the upcoming summer Olympics in...

For this episode, I welcome Bogdan Malynovskyy, a 26-year-old director of advanced projects and large-scale robotics engineer at Hacksmith Industries . Hacksmith, an entertainment company with about 14.7 million YouTube subscribers, is dedicated to bringing to life fictional concepts from movies, video games and comics through the creation of functional prototypes. The company’s projects include C...

Boeing subsidiary Aurora Flight Sciences has wrapped up the conceptual design review for a new high-speed X-plane that can liftoff vertically. So far, the development has been a success, and the concept has been chosen to continue work on a preliminary design review.  The X-plane is being developed for DARPA's SPRINT program, which stands for Speed and Runway Independent Technologies. The pro...

A Pennsylvania teenager is suing Panera after a cardiac arrest episode that followed consuming the fast casual chain’s Charged Lemonade, claiming defective design, manufacturing and inadequate warnings regarding the beverage. According to the lawsuit , the incident took place on March 9 when 18-year-old Luke Adams drank a large Mango Yuzu Citrus Charged Lemonade. Later that day, at a movie theater...

Airbus this week unveiled to the public the Racer, its new one-off demonstrator aircraft that’s half helicopter, half plane and built to fly fast. According to Reuters , Airbus this week gathered a crowd of industry executives, politicians and European Union representatives at its base in France to show off the Racer, its $217 million successor to the X3, which debuted in 2010. The company said th...

A former salesman at a manufacturer and distributor of football helmets and other sports equipment is facing prison time and a seven-figure fine after conspiring to rig bids for sports equipment contracts. According to a Department of Justice release detailing an FBI investigation, at least 100 schools in Mississippi and other locations were victims of the schemes.