IEN Radio

The owner of a THC extraction business is facing two charges of first-degree murder after an explosion last week at his facility in Oklahoma killed two people. Emergency crews last Thursday responded to the blast near Sand Springs, Oklahoma. According to KTUL , the explosion was strong enough to completely blow out the ceiling and walls of the facility while damaging 25 nearby businesses. One empl...

Nearly 40,000 pounds of Pabst Brewing Company beer went missing from a distribution center in California two weeks ago. Now, investigators are searching for clues while the brand offers amnesty. The Montclair Police Department posted on its Facebook page that two cargo thefts occurred August 17 at a local Anheuser-Busch distribution center. The first occurred around 10 a.m., when an unspecified sh...

According to Cox Automotive, U.S. new-vehicle sales are projected to reach approximately 15.8 million units by the close 2026, marking a modest 2.4% decline from the previous year. High R&D and operating costs - combined with a turbulent economy - have led many major automakers to adjust plans significantly. As an example, last month, The Volkswagen Group announced plans to cut the number of m...

An Ohio-based manufacturer of oil and gas process equipment has filed a lawsuit against a woman over a one-star Google review, the Tribune Chronicle reported . In the complaint, Starr Manufacturing alleges that the comments made by Julie Watson contained false statements that caused the company special damages and reputational harm. Watson’s review from six months ago said the company had faced “a...

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. For this episode, I welcome Jake Collins, a 30-year-old senior applications engineer for Boston Micro Fabrication, a company that specializes in micro-precision 3D printing. Collins h...

Freedom & Glory is a family-owned American flag company based in Hillsborough, North Carolina. The company was founded by Dwight Morris in 1980 and has spent 45 years supplying American-made flags and patriotic products to schools, government agencies, veterans' organizations and communities nationwide. Today, Dwight's daughter, Liz Morris, leads Freedom & Glory as CEO. “We belie...

About 1 in 15 people in the U.S. live in manufactured homes, according to the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. And many of these communities lack access to shelter during extreme weather events.  Researchers at Kansas State University have turned to 3D-printed concrete shelters to see if the emerging technology can help these people stay safe.  Reese Greenlee is an assistant profe...

An unlicensed cookie factory, that was substituting cocoa for a charcoal-based food additive, was recently shut down for various violations. According to Business Insider , Egyptian officials targeted the facility, which was producing imitation products meant to look like other popular brands, for using expired and other unsafe ingredients. During the raid, authorities seized 1.8 tons of finished...

A meat processing plant and four of its employees could face prison time and significant penalties after prosecutors accused them of pumping wastewater containing animal flesh, blood and feces into a creek that flows to the ocean and a public beach. The newly unsealed indictment charges Ganaderos Borges Inc. (GBI) with four Clean Water Act violations and conspiracy to violate the act as part of a...

A Pennsylvania beef processing plant that had been set to close after nearly 150 years will instead remain open as a packaging facility — preserving hundreds of jobs outside Philadelphia. Meatpacking giant JBS said in June that it would end beef harvesting and processing operations at its Souderton plant amid broader turmoil in the U.S. beef industry, including drought conditions, tariffs and the...

General Motors disclosed a $4.5 billion Master IPU Agreement designed to help maintain vehicle production during a crisis. Disclosed in an SEC filing, the program will secure critical inventory for retail and fleet vehicles in the event of disruptions caused by extreme weather, natural disasters, excessive demand, cyberattacks and other events.  @GeneralMotors   According to the regulatory filing,...

Korean manufacturer Samsung SDI announced that it acquired General Motors’ stake in the SynergyCells joint venture. The collaboration had planned to build a $3.5 billion electric vehicle battery cell factory in New Carlisle, Indiana, with the American automaker holding a 49.99% stake. Samsung SDI attributed the decision to market changes since the joint venture’s conception in 2023, including “slo...

Last year, an employee at Milwaukee Tool was arrested for stealing more than $1 million in tools from the Wisconsin tool maker.  Matthew Yang worked in the company's IT department and manipulated the Milwaukee Tool ordering system to send tools to multiple addresses, including his own.  On Friday, 32-year-old Yang was sentenced to five years in prison, which will be followed by five years of...

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. For this episode, I welcome Jacob Collier, a 24-year-old assistant specialist on the IT team at Yaskawa Motoman Robotics, a company that provides automation products and solutions for...

The Air Force hopes to get another 25 years out of its B-52 Bomber fleet but it’s running into some cost, scheduling and performance challenges. The B-52 was first introduced in 1955 and the Air Force is hoping that a series of updates can keep the fleet in the air until 2050. It intends to spend $21 billion to improve the engines, radar, communications, software and weapon systems for the more th...

A western Ohio glass plant that was slated to close by the end of this year will not only remain open, but also expand its production and add jobs, company and economic development officials said last week. Vitro, a producer of glass for automotive, architectural and consumer goods companies, announced in the fall of 2024 that it would close its facility in Crestline, Ohio, which makes glass for a...

On August 30, 2022, Kawasaki Heavy Industries sued Rorze Corporation for patent infringement. Kawasaki accused Rorze of stealing its patented semiconductor silicon wafer handling and transfer robotic systems technology and — nearly four years later — a jury agreed.  In March 2026, a jury found that Rorze willfully infringed on Kawasaki's patent and awarded $16.65 million in lost profits and $...

A candy company whose origins pre-date the Great Depression made a disappointing announcement last week. After 117 years in business, Pearson’s Candy Company will close its Minnesota factory. According to reports, Pearson’s - operating as St. Paul Candy Company - completed a WARN filing to notify the state that it would be cutting 80 jobs in September because it lacks the funding to continue opera...

An affiliate of a Canadian aerospace manufacturer has filed for bankruptcy protection for its longtime factory in Southwest Ohio, according to a local report. Magellan Aerospace USA Inc. is seeking Chapter 11 protection for the Magellan plant in Middletown, the Journal-News reports. Documents filed with the court reportedly listed assets of $10 million to $50 million and liabilities of $50 million...

Last week, TRISO-X announced tentative plans to create some 1,140 new jobs in Oak Ridge, Tennessee. The company hopes to invest hundreds of millions of dollars in equipment to build a new fuel facility and R&D center at Horizon Center Industrial Park, according to the state's Department of Economic and Community Development . TRISO-X is unique in that it is the first company to receive a...

Researchers have been trying to make invisible drones and camouflaged robots for years, before that it was cars and planes. They have used everything from transparent materials to light-bending optical systems or cloaks, but haven't been able to make it happen.  But now, engineers at Northwestern University have created a drone that appears to vanish in plain sight after it takes flight.  The...

Athletic shoe company New Balance is well known for its U.S.-based manufacturing footprint , so when it announced in 2024 that it would be closing its plant in Norridgewock, Maine, many local officials were surprised. At the time, New Balance leaders said they’d be shifting work from Norridgewock to another Maine plant – in nearby Skowhegan.  The Skowhegan plant, which opened in 2025, was intended...

Yesterday, Miller High Life, a Molson Coors brand, announced an interesting new position. The beermaker is looking for a Mayor of the "Champagne of Beers" region—and that region is oddly specific. ​Odd jobs work as PR stunts. Remember when Custom Cones USA offered a $70,000 salary for the "Ultimate Stoner Dream Job,' which was basically a content creator who smoked weed every d...

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. For this episode, I welcome Josiah Bondy, a 29-year-old senior product marketing manager for Miter , a software developer that helps construction and field service contractors manage...

A few years ago, food manufacturer Land O'Lakes had a radical idea: What if it let part-time employees pick their own schedule?   In early 2022, coming out of the COVID-19 pandemic, the Arden Hills, Minnesota-based maker of dairy products and animal feeds noticed a sea change in employee priorities: people wanted flexibility. So, the company rolled out the Flex Work program for employees work...