ALTONA, Australia—Toyota has installed a 500-kilowatt photovoltaic system on the roof of its assembly plant here. The 2,000-panel system will provide approximately 10 percent of the factory’s energy needs.
DEARBORN, MI—Roofs made of carbon fiber. Plastic windshields. Bumpers fashioned out of aluminum foam.What sounds like a science experiment could be your next car. While hybrids and electrics may grab the headlines, the real frontier in fuel economy is the switch to lighter materials.
GREENSBURG, IN—A bomb threat scrawled on a bathroom wall at an auto parts assembly plant here drew the attention of police and fire crews Friday afternoon.
TROY, MI—Automotive supplier Toyoda Gosei North America Corp. will invest $7.9 million to expand its headquarters here. The expansion will create 51 jobs.
DETROIT—A federal grand jury has indicted a former top-tier global sales executive at Takata Corp. on a charge of participating in a conspiracy to fix the prices for seat belts, the U.S. Department of Justice said today.
EVANSVILLE, IN—Systems integrator Evana Automation is building the fifth and sixth of seven custom assembly and test systems for a Tier 1 automotive supplier. The systems will produce steering assemblies.
The late novelist John Le Carré once said, “A desk is a dangerous place from which to view the world.” As it turns out, what was good advice for spies is equally good for manufacturing and design engineers.