June 3, 2010 at 10:40 a.m.
Filed under:
Economy,
Manufacturing
Test cables run past seats in the passenger cabin of the first Boeing 787 with the interior installed. Orders to U.S. factories posted a moderate increase in April thanks to a surge in demand for commercial aircraft. (AP Photo/Elaine Thompson, file)
Associated Press | Orders to U.S. factories posted a moderate increase in April as a big
surge in demand for commercial aircraft offset weakness in a number of
other areas.
In the durable goods categories, transportation orders shot up 15.8
percent, reflecting a huge 228.1 percent increase in orders for
commercial aircraft. This volatile category had fallen by 71.1 percent
in March.
The rebound resulted from a better month at Boeing Co.,
which booked orders for 35 new 777 planes in April. Last year, Boeing
was cutting production. But with demand now rising as the global economy
recovers, Boeing has said it plans to speed up production of the 777 — as
well as its large 747 — next year.
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June 2, 2010 at 2:52 p.m.
Filed under:
Manufacturing
Associated Press | Moody’s Investors Service on Wednesday raised
its credit outlook for heavy equipment maker Caterpillar Inc. and the
company’s financing arm, Caterpillar Financial Services Corp.
The agency said Caterpillar has strengthened its business model through
restructuring last year.
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June 1, 2010 at 1:40 p.m.
Filed under:
Jobs/employment,
Manufacturing
Reuters | Whirlpool Corp will close a Michigan machining plant ,
the No. 1 U.S appliance maker said Tuesday, resulting in the loss of
216 jobs.
Whirlpool said its newest, most efficient laundry appliances would be
made at its Clyde, Ohio plant, eliminating the jobs at a plant in Benton
Harbor, Mich., where the company is based, at year end or early in
2011.
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June 1, 2010 at 10:06 a.m.
Filed under:
Economy,
Jobs/employment,
Manufacturing
Reuters | The manufacturing sector expanded in May for a tenth straight month but at a slower pace than in April while employment rose slightly to its best level in six years, according to an industry report released on Tuesday.
The Institute for Supply Management said its index of national factory activity slipped to 59.7 in May from 60.4 in April. The median forecast of 73 economists surveyed by Reuters was for a reading of 59.0. A reading above 50 indicates expansion in the sector.
The report’s employment component rose to 59.8, the highest since May 2004, from 58.5, while new orders held steady at 65.7, suggesting slower growth in the euro zone has yet to have much effect on U.S. manufacturing.
June 1, 2010 at 9:34 a.m.
Filed under:
M&A,
Manufacturing
Associated Press | Heavy equipment maker Caterpillar Inc. says its railroad service unit will spend $820 million cash to acquire locomotive maker Electro-Motive Diesel.
Caterpillar says that its Progress Rail Services division has agreed to buy EMD from private equity firms Berkshire Partners and Greenbriar Equity Group.
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May 28, 2010 at 4:56 p.m.
Filed under:
Manufacturing
From Crain’s Chicago Business | Peoria-based Caterpillar Inc. will pay $1.3 million in severance to its outgoing chief financial officer, David Burritt. The company announced the news in a regulatory filing after the markets closed Friday.
Get the full story: chicagobusiness.com.
May 28, 2010 at 11:54 a.m.
Filed under:
Manufacturing,
Restaurants
Jorge Sanchez assembles a conveyor pizza oven on the factory floor of Middleby Corp. in Elgin. Middleby manufactures large commercial cooking products, such as toasters and ovens, for the food industry. (Jim Prisching/Chicago Tribune)
Dow Jones Newswires | Middleby Corp. is betting the restaurant industry will be adding new
kitchen equipment in small bites as restaurants try to lure back
customers.
Middleby Chairman and Chief Executive Selim Bassoul has been acquiring
niche equipment companies with unconventional cooking technologies on a
hunch that the restaurant industry’s future spending on equipment will
be more limited and cost-conscious than the full-scale build-outs of
restaurant chains that reigned during most of the past decade.
Middleby, whose product lines include commercial pizza ovens, ranges,
deep fryers and griddles, has made four niche-product acquisitions in
the past three years, including oven-maker TurboChef Technologies Inc.
in 2008. The cash-and-stock deal worth about $160 million was the
largest acquisition to date for the Elgin, Ill., company.
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May 28, 2010 at 9:46 a.m.
Filed under:
Economy,
Manufacturing
From Bloomberg | The Institute for Supply Management-Chicago Inc. said Friday that its business barometer fell to 59.7 this month from 63.8 in April, which was the highest level in five years. Figures greater than 50 signal expansion. The indication was that business activity in the U.S. expanded in May for an eighth
straight month, a sign that manufacturing has yet to be affected by the
turmoil in financial markets.
Get the full story: businessweek.com.
May 27, 2010 at 11:07 a.m.
Filed under:
Airlines,
Manufacturing
Associated Press | An experimental aircraft has set a record for hypersonic flight, flying more than 3 minutes at Mach 6 — six times the speed of sound.
The X-51A Waverider was released from a B-52 Stratofortress off the southern California coast Wednesday morning, the Air Force reported on its website. Its scramjet engine accelerated the vehicle to Mach 6, and it flew autonomously for 200 seconds before losing acceleration. At that point the test was terminated.
Get the full story: Boeing Air Force vehicle breaks flight record.
May 27, 2010 at 11:01 a.m.
Filed under:
Manufacturing
Dow Jones Newswires | A sharp increase in steel production helped
boost manufacturing activity in the Midwest in April, the Federal
Reserve Bank of Chicago reported Thursday.
The Chicago Fed’s Midwest Manufacturing Index climbed 1.2 percent in
April, to 85.2, the highest reading since December 2008.
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May 26, 2010 at 4:34 p.m.
Filed under:
Manufacturing,
Policy
Reuters | Boeing Co, General Dynamics Corp and ITT Corp won aviation contracts
from the U.S. government on Wednesday worth up to $4.4 billion combined,
the Federal Aviation Administration said.
The contracts cover early stages of the “NextGen” air traffic
modernization initiative and run for 10 years. They are among the
largest awards in agency history.
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May 26, 2010 at 11:18 a.m.
Filed under:
Economy,
Housing,
International,
Manufacturing
Associated Press | The dollar climbed higher Wednesday after reports on the housing and manufacturing sector suggested continued economic recovery in the U.S. even as worries persist about the debt crisis and slower growth in Europe.
In midday trading in New York, the euro dropped to $1.2203 from $1.2315 late Tuesday. It hit a four-year low of $1.2146 last Wednesday.
May 26, 2010 at 8:14 a.m.
Filed under:
Manufacturing
By Mary Ellen Podmolik | Navistar Defense LLC said it received a $61 million contract from the U.S. Marine Corps Systems Command to provide vehicles to coalition forces.
The deal includes 80 MaxxPro Dash Mine Resistant Ambush Protected vehicles destined for Afghanistan, along with parts and service support. The company is already delivering the vehicles to U.S. forces and will begin delivering them to U.S. allies in late June.
May 25, 2010 at 5:28 p.m.
Filed under:
Autos,
Earnings,
Economy,
Manufacturing
Dow Jones Newswires | Moody’s Investors Service upgraded Tenneco Inc. a notch thanks to
improving trends in the automobile sectors of North America and Europe.
The company, which makes various auto parts, last year was perched on
the edge of bankruptcy as tumult in the auto industry pushed it into the
red and constrained sales. Investor unease pressured its share price
below 70 cents, but it has since rebounded as Tenneco has posted three
straight quarters in the black.
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May 25, 2010 at 2:31 p.m.
Filed under:
Government,
Jobs/employment,
Manufacturing
Associated Press | Boeing Co. said Tuesday that it will bring an
estimated 450 jobs and $25 million in annual economic impact to
Michigan if it wins the Pentagon’s contract to build a new fleet of
aerial refueling jets.
The aerospace company said its proposed plane, based on a military
variant of the 767 passenger jet, would include components made by
companies with manufacturing facilities in Michigan. Those include Eaton
Aerospace, General Electric and Honeywell International.
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