MILWAUKEE—U.S. employers reported a boost in confidence as the percent of employers planning to add staff, 22 percent, has reached a four-year high, according to the latest Manpower Employment Outlook Survey.
WASHINGTON—For 2013 as a whole, manufacturing production should increase 3.1 percent from 2012, according to the Manufacturing Alliance for Productivity and Innovation. Manufacturing is predicted to grow 3.6 percent in 2014, 0.8 percentage points faster than the overall economy.
ANDREWS, SC—Aerospace supplier Davis Aircraft Products expects to hire 100 people to work at its new $5.5 million assembly plant here when it opens next spring.
NORTH CHARLESTON, SC—Boeing is looking for a site to build a second assembly plant in South Carolina within 20 miles of the company’s existing factory here.
Gulfstream Aerospace Corp. is a major player in the global business-aviation market due to its well-respected G series of aircraft (G150, G200, G450, G550 and G650). So it’s no surprise that the company operates manufacturing and mainte-nance facilities around the world, including several in the United States and one each in London and Mexico.
Twenty years ago, the U.S. Department of Defense (DOD) created the Joint Advance Strike Technology (JAST) program. The goal of JAST was to develop aircraft, weapons and sensor technology that would replace disparate United States and United Kingdom aircraft with a single family of aircraft.
EVERETT, WA—Inside Boeing’s assembly plant here, two robots glide along tracks on either side of a 106-foot wing for the 777. The robots wash the wing, apply solvent to remove dirt, rinse and then spray two different types of paint. They even reach into complex spaces inside the open wing root that must be painted for corrosion protection.
PITTSBURGH—A 12-year study by the University of Pittsburgh has found no statistically significant elevations in overall cancer rates among the workforce at the Pratt & Whitney jet engine assembly plant in North Haven, CT. The investigation was begun in 2000 after several workers were diagnosed with brain cancer.