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Trade Wars
Stanley Black & Decker To Invest $1B Across US Manufacturing, R&D
Stanley Black & Decker will invest $1 billion to bolster U.S. manufacturing, research and development and workforce training through 2028, the Connecticut-based company said Wednesday. About half of the money will go toward capital spending and investments that strengthen Stanley Black & Decker’s domestic manufacturing footprint, according to a news release. The company plans to spend the other half on R&D for next-generation tools and breakthrough technologies.
The tools maker is also making progress on an existing commitment to invest $60 million in skilled trades training programs through 2030. Of that total, $27 million has been deployed over the past three years, President and CEO Chris Nelson said in a recent earnings call. More young adults are interested in the construction trades, according to the National Association of Home Builders. To support this shift, Stanley Black & Decker’s Dewalt Grow the Trades Initiative awarded $200,000 in scholarships to 40 students across the U.S. and Canada this year, including for trades in welding, electrical and carpentry.
Read more at Manufacturing Dive
Ex-Toyota Chair Hiroshi Okuda, Outsider Who Masterminded Global Footprint, Dies At 93
Hiroshi Okuda, the former Toyota Motor president who spearheaded the auto company's globalization drive, has passed away. As Toyota president from 1995, Okuda battled a period of poor exports and strong yen by building production bases abroad in a strategy that saw sales surge, while internally championing the development of the revolutionary petrol-electric Prius car.
Okuda was born in 1932 in the central prefecture of Mie to a wealthy family that owned a regional stockbroker. He joined Toyota's accounting department in 1955 and, within three years, was overseeing expenses including for executive entertainment. He became Toyota's first leader outside the Toyoda family in nearly three decades in 1995. The next year, Okuda spearheaded a strategy dubbed "Vision 2005" to slash engineering costs and reduce export reliance in favour of local production in key markets. In a decade, overseas sales more than doubled, helping global sales soar 67%. He was also instrumental in bringing the Prius to market in 1997, a year earlier than planned, emphasising the prestige of being the first to perfect mass-produced hybrid vehicles.
Read more at Reuters
Apple Opens Advanced Manufacturing Center in Houston
Apple last week opened its new Advanced Manufacturing Center (AMC) in Houston. The center offers free training and educational sessions for small- and medium-sized businesses, giving them direct experience with state-of-the-art equipment, interactive labs, and tools they need to accelerate innovation. The AMC is located within the same Houston facility that builds and ships Apple’s advanced AI servers and will begin manufacturing Mac mini this year.
At the center — the company’s second U.S. manufacturing learning site — experts teach participants many of the same innovative processes used to make Apple products. To mark the AMC’s opening, its first cohort of small- and medium-sized business leaders spent the day immersed in hands-on training led by Apple engineers, covering smart manufacturing techniques like machine-learning-driven quality control and advanced automation. Participants are learning how to identify and adapt to production challenges in real time, engage with the lab’s holographic table and advanced factory-floor equipment, and gain hands-on experience assembling and laser etching a product themselves.
Read more at CNBC
Caterpillar, Fanuc, And Demco Strengthen The Talent Pipeline
Temple University’s College of Engineering and Demco Automation received a grant to explore how artificial intelligence can help engineers design and build automated manufacturing systems for Pennsylvania businesses. The partnership will support research, create curriculum for engineering students, and provide hands-on experience developing robotic manufacturing solutions. In a recent quote, Stephen Maund, president and CEO of Demco, said, “AI and automation really go hand-in-hand. Utilizing AI in custom automation applications and rapidly deploying automation tailored specifically for a business or factory can be a true competitive advantage.”
Caterpillar will make an investment, up to $10 million, to support the future manufacturing workforce in Illinois as part of its five-year $100 million Building the Future Workforce Initiative. The effort focuses on strengthening the pipeline of skilled workers needed to support advanced manufacturing careers. "Caterpillar's roots run deep in Illinois, and so does our commitment to building a strong and skilled workforce," said Christy Pambianchi, Caterpillar's chief human resources officer. "This investment builds on that legacy, helping ensure people have a clear path to manufacturing careers today while equipping the next generation of Illinoisans with the skills they need to succeed."
Fanuc America expanded its workforce development efforts at the 2026 SkillsUSA National Leadership & Skills Conference through robotics competitions, equipment donations, certifications, and educational programs. The company will donate a robot to a SkillsUSA member school and provide access to its Certified Education Training program, including curriculum, simulation software, and instructor training. Fanuc also participated in a new robotic welding exhibition focused on demonstrating automation technologies to students, educators, and industry partners. “Welding remains one of the most in demand technical skills across manufacturing,” said Paul Aiello, FANUC America, executive director, CERT Education Group. “By introducing robotic welding at SkillsUSA, we’re helping students and educators understand how traditional skills are evolving and how automation fits into modern production environments.”
Read more at Plant Services
FAA Proposal Puts Supersonic Travel On Horizon
The conventional definition of aviation luxury has been space, privacy, food, service, and comfort. But for CEOs and other high-value executives, another scarce commodity looms larger: hours. The aviation industry’s next luxury product won’t be a better seat. It will be getting there faster. Harvard Kennedy School researchers tracked the behavior of more than 1,100 CEOs across six countries. They found that how CEOs allocate their time is associated with measurable differences in company performance.
On June 30, the FAA took a major step toward permitting civil supersonic flight over U.S. land, proposing noise-based standards that could eventually replace the current blanket prohibition. The agency says the resulting aircraft could dramatically reduce travel times. The FAA proposal is explicitly designed to give manufacturers the regulatory framework needed to finalize supersonic designs. Whether it becomes the standard speed of travel for operators or passengers remains to be seen. Regardless, a higher speed limit changes the game for private jets. The ability to cover enormous distances, while minimizing the customer’s total travel time and disruption, becomes the main selling point.
Read more at Inc.
Lenovo Opens Server Manufacturing Facility In North Carolina
Lenovo has opened an expanded server manufacturing facility in Whitsett, North Carolina. The facility has begun manufacturing operations following an expansion that doubles its footprint to support growing demand for AI infrastructure. The company, which produces computing devices, infrastructure solutions, software, and services, made a multi-million-dollar investment in the project and expects the expansion to create approximately 1,000 new jobs. More than 400 positions have already been filled, with additional hiring planned as production continues to scale.
The expanded North Carolina Smart Campus now encompasses 890,000 square feet. The facility includes infrastructure capable of supporting 20 megawatts of power and has been designed to support the next two generations of high-performance computing. Lenovo also increased manufacturing capacity by 35%, including Direct Liquid Cooling (DLC) capabilities for server production. The facility manufactures servers for Lenovo's Infrastructure Solutions Group and is located less than an hour from the company's development laboratories. By expanding production in North Carolina, Lenovo aims to strengthen its technology supply chain while improving delivery speed and responsiveness to customer demand.
Read more at Plant Services
TSMC and Sony Team Up to Build Next Gen Sensor Chips
Sony Group and Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. are gearing up to mass-produce next-generation image sensor chips in Kumamoto, Japan, as early as 2029, write Nikkei's Keigo Yoshida, Koichi Kitanishi and Ryosuke Eguchi. Production will be handled by a joint venture that will be about 60% owned by Sony and about 40% by TSMC. The two companies are expected to establish the joint venture by the end of fiscal 2026, which runs through March 2027.
The expected payoff is sharper camera sensors for Apple's iPhone, plus a long-term bet on "physical AI" that helps robots and vehicles see and understand the world around them more precisely. For Sony, which already commands more than half the global CMOS image sensor market, the deal is about staying ahead of fast-rising rivals like China's OmniVision and South Korea's Samsung, while shifting toward what its CEO calls a "fab-light" model that spreads out the manufacturing bill. For TSMC, it's a chance to diversify beyond its bread-and-butter cutting-edge chips and deepen its foothold in Japan, all while betting big on where AI chip demand is headed next.
Read more at Nikkei Asia
‘Cast in Steel’ Reality Show Aims To Attract Next Generation Of Metal Casters
A Department of Defense’s multimillion-dollar contract has brought a metal casting competition to the worldwide stage as reality show competition in an effort to spread awareness of the skill trade and inspire a new workforce. Six teams from schools across the United States will be competing for a $25,000 cash prize on the season one finale of the metal casting reality show, Cast in Steel, airing Thursday on YouTube. The competition challenges teams to design, cast and test a metal tool or weapon that they crafted, according to Cast in Steel’s website.
For the first season, students had to craft a replica of or inspired by a sword President George Washington might have carried. Judges then evaluated the crafting and design, while also putting the sword to the test, such as by cutting a coconut. While the inaugural season of Cast in Steel, the reality show, ended last week, it’s actually not the first competition, it’s only Cast in Steel’s first season on YouTube. The competition actually began in 2019.
Read more at Manufacturing Dive
GE Vernova Expands Pittsburgh Factory Making Power Grid Hardware
Energy products manufacturer GE Vernova will expand its Pittsburgh manufacturing facility to provide more equipment for the U.S. grid supply chain, the company said. The company will modernize and expand its power transmission manufacturing facility in Charleroi, Pennsylvania, which produces high-voltage circuit breakers, switchgear products, and instrument transformers. Those upgrades will help to shorten lead times for critical grid components, enabling utilities to connect new energy-intensive demand, including data centers, to the grid more quickly and reliably.
The Charleroi expansion is part of GE Vernova's broader plan to invest nearly $1.3 billion across its U.S. manufacturing facilities and research centers between 2025 and 2028 to strengthen domestic manufacturing capacity, accelerate innovation, and help meet growing electricity demand. "Expanding our manufacturing capacity in Pennsylvania is a cornerstone of our strategy to meet the energy needs of an increasingly electrified world while helping modernize our nation's grid infrastructure," said Scott Strazik, CEO of GE Vernova. "By investing in American manufacturing and our workforce, we are strengthening the domestic supply chain and helping deliver the essential technologies our customers need to build a more reliable and resilient grid."
Read more at DC Velocity
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