WASHINGTON-President Obama plans to make a speech at General Motors Co.'s assembly plant in Lordstown, OH, next week, his first visit to a U.S. auto plant as president. MORE
TOPEKA-Kansas leaders have approved $5 million in bonds to help build a wind turbine manufacturing plant in Hutchinson. The State Finance Council last week approved the deal with Germany-based Siemens Energy. The company chose Hutchinson, KS, as the site of its first U.S. factory that will produce the electricity-generating parts of the turbine. MORE
TORONTO-Ford Canada and the Canadian Auto Workers union began labor talks yesterday afternoon, with the future of an assembly plant in southern Ontario one of the major issues on the bargaining table. Ford asked the CAW to renegotiate its current labor contract, which doesn’t expire until 2011, after the union gave substantial concessions to both General Motors and Chrysler earlier this year. MORE
NEW YORK-First Solar Inc., a U.S.-based
renewable energy company, will build the world’s largest solar power plant in
China as the country WORKS to increase nonpolluting electricity generation. MORE
ALLENTOWN, PA-A three-alarm fire gutted two buildings at Olson Technologies, a valve manufacturing company here. Thirty-two firefighters and seven pumper trucks responded to the 1 a.m. blaze Sept. 6. The factory was empty, and no one was injured. MORE
Meanwhile, in Warsaw, IN, fire officials are investigating the cause of a fire Sept. 3 that injured three workers at a Zimmer Holdings assembly plant for artificial knees and hips. MORE
CHATTANOOGA-Volkswagen officials are ready to start taking applications to hire the first hourly workers for its new auto assembly plant here. VW will begin accepting applications for maintenance employees who provide technical expertise to diagnose, troubleshoot and improve high-tech equipment used in manufacturing vehicles. MORE
FREEMONT, CA-The U.S. Department of Energy
has finalized a $535 million loan guarantee for Solyndra Inc, which
manufactures cylindrical solar photovoltaic panels. MORE
WASHINGTON-New factory orders rose by a larger than expected 1.3 percent in July, nearly entirely on the back of a sharp increase in civilian aircraft orders, the Commerce Department reported today. Economists were expecting an even larger 2.2 percent rise after July’s durable goods report showed a 4.9 percent aircraft-fueled increase. MORE
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