Articles Tagged with ''research and development (R&D)''

CULVER CITY, CA—Earlier this month, robotics firm OnRobot opened its first U.S. office dedicated specifically to research and development of its collaborative robot end-of-arm tooling.

AUBURN HILLS, MI—FEV North America Inc., an engineering firm specializing in the design of gasoline, diesel and alternative engines, will construct a new, $27.4 million headquarters and tech center here. The project is expected to create 246 jobs.

CHATTANOOGA, TN—Volkswagen has begun the process of hiring 130 engineers and technicians to staff the automaker’s new R&D center here, which will be fully operational by 2017.

PLYMOUTH, MI—Chinese-backed developer Third Wave Group plans to open an automotive research and development center here.

As usual, our annual Capital Equipment Spending Survey provided a wealth of interesting and often contradictory data. Thirty percent of plants will spend more on assembly technology next year than they did this year, and only 20 percent will spend less.

U.S. manufacturers are betting big on advanced batteries for electric vehicles. Will their investments pay off? Share your thoughts!

WASHINGTON—President Obama has issued a pair of executive orders that aim to help U.S. manufacturers. The first will create three manufacturing institutes using $200 million from the budgets of five agencies. The second requires that government data be made available to the public—and to entrepreneurs—in manageable formats that could be more easily used by researchers and businesses to jump-start new products and services.

Batteries are an environmentally friendly form of energy with fewer pollution and disposal issues than other green technologies.

RÜSSELSHEIM, Germany—GM will invest $301 million to construction new testing facilities at its European Product Development Center here.

LONDON—Automakers are using digital planning, smart manufacturing and other high-tech tools to improve flexibility and reduce time to market.