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The demise of telecom giant Nortel may have been caused by its contract manufacturer, Huawei.

The efficiency and reliability of an industrial robot largely depend on its end-of-arm tooling. However, engineers often forget that the interface between the end-effector and the robot arm also plays a critical role.

Increasingly, China is losing its cost advantages. Workers are striking at Chinese factories. Chinese suppliers copy Western products to become competitors. Time to market is longer. And now we can add electronic espionage.

It's human nature to want to solve what appears to be the immediate issue. However, it makes little sense to frantically mop up a flooded house while the faucet remains wide open.

The federal government is not entirely to blame for the cost differential between U.S. and Chinese manufacturers.

Many products made in low-wage countries could, in fact, be produced here economically. There are three reasons why they are not.

Offshoring has, quite simply, gutted the American middle class. But it took more than the presence of several hundred million unemployed Chinese to make offshoring feasible. Some are technological, some are cultural.

Not all ergonomic risk factors are job-related. Some are known as personal risk factors. These include age, gender, tobacco use, medication and previous injuries.