|
Trade Wars
L3Harris Inks Deals With DOD, Lockheed Martin To Expand Component Production
Earlier this week L3Harris Technologies signed two seven-year contracts with the Department of Defense and Lockheed Martin to expand key component production for two weapons systems. An investment amount was not disclosed. Under one agreement, L3Harris will triple manufacturing of its propulsion products that support the Patriot Advanced Capability-3 Missile Segment Enhancement system. The second agreement quadruples propulsion production for the Terminal High Altitude Area Defense missile system. Lockheed is the prime contractor for both weapons systems.
L3Harris produces the solid rocket boost motors that power the THAAD interceptor, which are made at its facilities in Huntsville, Alabama, and Camden, Arkansas, according to a data sheet. The company also makes the Liquid Divert and Attitude Control Systems, a propulsion system that situates the THAAD interceptor to destroy an incoming ballistic missile. The LDACS are produced at L3Harris’ Los Angeles facility.
Read more at Manufacturing Dive
Ford Raises Guidance For 2026 As F-Series Production Recovers
Despite top-line sales and revenue down year over year in Q2, Ford Motor Co. raised and narrowed its full-year 2026 guidance, to between $10 billion and $11 billion, up from $8.5 billion and $10.5 billion, buoyed by confidence in strong sales of high-margin trucks and a continued recovery from aluminum supply issues. Ford reported a net loss of $1.3 billion in Q2, mostly related to its electric vehicle retreat. It cited $4.2 billion in charges, including $500 million from a canceled EV program and $3.6 billion related to dissolving a BlueOval SK battery joint venture.
The automaker highlighted its third consecutive quarter of year-over-year profit improvement for its Model e EV business, even with sales down from the cancellation of the Ford F-150 Lightning. Meanwhile Ford reported the Bronco family’s best first half ever, record Maverick Hybrid sales, and strong sales of high-margin trims including Tremor and Raptor. F-150 supply is down to 45 days, confirmed Frick during Ford’s Q2 earnings call. “That gives us upside coming out, and the demand continues to look really strong,” Andrew Frick, the president of Ford’s Blue gasoline and Model e electric vehicle business units said.
Read more at Ward’s Auto
Other Key Earnings
Procter & Gamble on Wednesday reported mixed quarterly results, as underwhelming demand for its products resulted in weaker-than-expected sales. Earnings per share were $1.43 adjusted vs. $1.41 expected and revenue was $21.2 billion vs. $21.38 billion expected. P&G reported fiscal fourth-quarter net income attributable to the company of $3.04 billion, or $1.26 per share, down from $3.62 billion, or $1.48 per share, a year earlier. Net sales rose 2% to $21.2 billion. The company’s organic revenue, which excludes acquisitions, divestitures and currency fluctuations, was unchanged for the quarter, thanks to flat volume across P&G’s portfolio. - CNBC
General Dynamics reported higher profit and revenue in the second quarter, as performance improved across all of the company’s lines of business. The defense company on Wednesday posted a profit of $1.16 billion, or $4.24 a share, for its three months ended July 5, compared with $1.01 billion, or $3.74 a share, in last year’s comparable period. Analysts polled by FactSet expected quarterly earnings of $3.96 a share. Revenue rose 8.1% to $14.09 billion, ahead of Wall Street models for $13.52 billion. Revenue rose across all four of its business segments, it said. The company’s largest segment—marine systems—notched revenue of $4.66 billion, up 10% from last year. Its fastest-growing segment was aerospace, with revenue up 15% to $3.53 billion. WSJ
Microsoft reported robust cloud growth and a boost in the number of paid AI subscribers, as investors remain fixated on whether the tech giant’s data-center spending will pay off. Microsoft’s revenue grew 18% to $90 billion in the quarter ended in June, a sign that the company’s AI revenue growth is accelerating and it will continue to spend on data centers. Net income increased 31% to $35.8 billion. The result beat Wall Street’s expectations, according to an average of dozens of analysts polled by FactSet. Microsoft’s capital expenditures reached $41 billion for the quarter, in line with the firm’s guidance last quarter. In April, the company said it expected to spend about $190 billion on capex in calendar 2026—up 61% from 2025. WSJ
Meta reported its second quarter results Wednesday, missing on earnings per share (EPS) but beating on revenue. The company also missed the midpoint for its Q3 revenue outlook, though it narrowed its planned capital expenditure range for 2026. For the quarter, Meta saw EPS of $6.18 on revenue of $60.8 billion. Analysts were anticipating EPS of $7.14 and revenue of $60.2 billion, based on Bloomberg consensus estimates. Importantly, the company raised the bottom line of its capital expenditure estimates, increasing them to between $135 billion and $145 billion from $125 to $145 billion. – Yahoo Finance
ITW and Nucor See Tailwinds Sustaining Manufacturing Growth
Coming off landmark second quarters, in which Nucor set a second straight record for steel mill shipments and ITW posted the most profitable quarter in its long history, the top leaders of the companies said July 28 they’re confident that tailwinds from investments in the energy, infrastructure, data center and advanced manufacturing sectors will endure. “The backdrop for the demand picture is […] broad enough and strong enough in enough channels and it’s driven by some fundamental reshoring, fundamental capital investment cycles that are probably multi-year in nature,” President and COO Steve Laxton told analysts on a conference call. “This year, we would put an estimate somewhere around 2% up on demand overall. […] We see strength at least for the next couple of years in that same band or more.”
At ITW, which comprises seven divisions that are on pace to book 2026 sales of $1.8 billion or more, President and CEO Christopher O’Herlihy and his team have raised their forecast for 2026 organic sales growth by 1.5 percentage points to a range of 3% to 4%. That comes after a spring quarter in which each division grew more quickly versus the first three months of the year than is typical, and one in which ITW’s test/measurement and electronics business posted 10% organic growth and its welding group topped that with 14% organic growth.
Read more at IndustryWeek
US Army Awards Prototype Contracts To Ford, GM, BC Customs
The U.S. Army has awarded contracts to the Ford Motor Co., GM Defense and BC Customs on June 30 as part of its efforts to upgrade its Heavy Infantry Squad Vehicle, the military branch confirmed in an email Monday to Manufacturing Dive. The three automotive companies will each develop three prototypes of the ISV-H as part of a competition. Desired capabilities include traveling 62 miles in eight hours with a gas tank just three-fourths full. Contract requirements also include right-to-repair and data provisions.
The first prototype deliveries are scheduled for March 30, 2027. Following delivery, the Army Test and Evaluation Command will assess and test the vehicles. The winner of the competition will receive a contract to produce over 600 ISV-Hs for the military branch. Auto and component manufacturers are getting involved in the defense industrial base months after President Donald Trump urged automakers to participate in munitions production, with discussions beginning before the Iran war, the Wall Street Journal reported in April.
Read more at Manufacturing Dive
OpenAI’s Rogue Models Roamed The Internet For 4 Days And Staged A Second Attack
The powerful artificial intelligence models from OpenAI that went rogue and mounted an unprecedented, autonomous cyberattack earlier this month spent more than four days loose on the internet orchestrating the hack, according to a new analysis from the platform that was breached. Separately, a second AI company confirmed that one of its customers was also targeted by OpenAI’s models during the same event, raising questions about how OpenAI failed to detect the alarming activity for days.
OpenAI admitted last week that two of its most advanced models escaped a closed testing environment and strung together a series of advanced hacking techniques to breach AI developer platform Hugging Face before being discovered. But in a new analysis published Tuesday, Hugging Face said OpenAI’s two models — one publicly released and a second unreleased — did much more: They carried out 17,600 hacking actions on the internet between July 9 and July 13, during which time the models moved from their first foothold on the open internet to inside Hugging Face’s servers. Hugging Face first detailed the hack on July 15, but it was not clear until OpenAI’s disclosure last week which models were behind the breach — and that no human had prompted them to launch the cyberattack.
Read more at Politico
Japan Quake Halts Lexus Output as Nissan Assesses Plants
A powerful 7.1-magnitude earthquake in southwestern Japan forced Toyota to suspend Lexus production and left Nissan evaluating operations at one of its most important domestic assembly hubs. The quake struck the Kumamoto region of Kyushu at 4:27 p.m. local time on July 28, at a depth of roughly 6 miles. Violent shaking damaged buildings and roads, sparked fires, disrupted rail and air travel, and prompted a tsunami advisory for coastal waters. The warning was lifted within two hours, but the human impact remained far more serious, with people injured, missing or trapped in damaged structures.
For automakers, the immediate response was deliberately cautious. Stopping a production line after a major earthquake isn’t only about visible factory damage. Companies must inspect structures, machinery, utilities, transport routes and supplier networks before workers can safely return. At this stage, there’s no indication of a prolonged shutdown or a significant loss of production. Still, pausing the plants was the sensible decision. Modern assembly operations depend on precise equipment, uninterrupted utilities and thousands of parts arriving in sequence. A factory can appear intact while roads, suppliers or power systems around it remain unreliable.
Read more at News10
JetZero’s Blended-Wing Aircraft Just Got A Major Boost From Washington: A $3 Billion Preliminary Deal To Help Start Production
The U.S. government is swinging behind a fledgling startup’s moonshot bid to dislodge Boeing BA -3.21%decrease; red down pointing triangle as America’s only major maker of commercial airliners. The aircraft that JetZero wants to do it with is no less radical than its ambition. It looks more like a manta ray than the tube-with-wings blueprint that has been the default for over 70 years. If JetZero can cross the line, the blended-wing aircraft would mark the biggest shift in passenger-jetliner design since the supersonic Concorde. With four aisles the plane is set to fly about 10,000 feet higher than today’s airliners. Initial designs replace passenger windows with digital screens and, to compensate, a skylight in the ceiling to flood the cabin with natural light. Each seat, the company says, has its own overhead luggage compartment. And each toilet has a dedicated waiting space.
JetZero, based in Long Beach, Calif., last week reached an early deal with the U.S. Export-Import Bank as part of its Make More in America Initiative for as much as $3 billion in loans and guarantees that the company needs to build its first factory. The preliminary agreement is helping JetZero’s chief executive answer a question that has been plaguing him for years: Is this thing even real? The trick up JetZero’s sleeve is that its radical, new aircraft isn’t actually that new at all. Almost all of the Z4’s components—from controls to the use of previous-generation engines on its demonstrator—are taken from existing planes, meaning they have already obtained sign-off from the Federal Aviation Administration.
Read more at The WSJ
|
