LONDON--Manufacturers in a wide variety of industries are investing in smart manufacturing technologies, such as additive manufacturing, augmented reality and collaborative robots.
WASHINGTON—The manufacturing industry posted a net gain of 284,000 jobs in 2018, capping its best calendar year since 1997, the Labor Department announced earlier this week. Manufacturing gained 32,000 jobs in December.
FRANKFURT—Initial findings of the World Robotics Report 2018, published by the International Federation of Robotics, show that sales of industrial robots in India reached the new record of 3,412 new units installed in 2017. That is an increase of 30 percent compared to 2016.
CENTENNIAL, CO—Boom Supersonic has confirmed plans to flight test the XB-1 prototype of its Overture commercial airliner for the first time this year, after raising $100 million in its latest funding round. Boom plans Overture to enter service in the mid-2020s.
HAWTHORNE, CA—Citing fewer planned launches in 2019, SpaceX says it will layoff roughly 10 percent of its workforce. Those to be cut include production managers, avionics technicians, machinists, inventory specialists and propulsion technicians.
GAITHERSBURG, MD—Created by a team including scientists at the National Institute of Standards and Technology, an advanced filtering material can extract the key ingredient in the most common form of plastic from a mixture of other chemicals while consuming far less energy than usual.
DETROIT—Ford is recalling more than 953,000 vehicles worldwide to replace Takata passenger air bag inflators that can explode and hurl shrapnel. The move includes more than 782,000 vehicles in the United States, and is part of the largest series of recalls in U.S. history.
MOBILE, AL—Airbus has firmed up orders for 120 A220 aircraft, including 60 for JetBlue and 60 for JetBlue founder David Neeleman's new airline called Moxy. Airbus will produce the planes at a new plant here, with construction beginning this month.
ABU DHABI, United Arab Emirates—Strata Manufacturing has entered into an agreement with UAE-based DGWorld (Digi Robotics Technologies) to implement a robotics system in its manufacturing processes, the company announced on Sunday. The agreement will enable Strata, a wholly owned subsidiary of Abu Dhabi’s Mubadala, to automate the company’s operations assembly unit, including drilling, reaming and countersinking of aircraft components.
WASHINGTON—The White House last Friday laid out objectives for trade talks with Japan, setting the clock for them to begin as early as Jan. 20, as the administration seeks to slash the United States' $69 billion trade deficit with the world's third-biggest economy. According to the document, the United States is aiming to secure duty-free market access for American industrial products and reduce or eliminate tariffs for U.S. agricultural goods.
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