IndustryweekMore from IndustryweekHR & Labor ManagementU.S. Jobless Rate at 9-Year Low, but Factory Payrolls FallU.S. hiring picked up in November, while the unemployment rate tumbled to a nine-year low on a drop in the number of people in the workforce and wages unexpectedly declined, providing a mixed picture of the labor market.December 14, 2016Global Trade ManagementSteelmakers Merge in China to Forge New National LeaderChina officially established a new national steelmaking leader - the world's second-largest manufacturer - this month by merging two giant mills, as Beijing pushes consolidation in the industry to combat overcapacity.December 12, 2016All TechnologyAmazon Unveils AI Products for CloudAmazon.com Inc. has introduced an image recognition program, a speech-to-text service dubbed Polly, and tools for building conversational apps, highlighting its push to add artificial intelligence to its cloud-computer offerings.December 9, 2016Chemicals & EnergyU.S. Third-Quarter Growth Revised Upward on Consumer SpendingThe U.S. economy expanded more than previously reported last quarter on a sunnier picture of household spending, the primary growth engine. Gross domestic product rose at a 3.2-percent annualized rate in the three months ended in September, the fastest in two years, compared with an initial estimate of 2.9 percent, Commerce Department figures showed last week. The median forecast in a Bloomberg survey called for a 3-percent gain.December 5, 2016Industrial ManufacturingMideast Aluminum Producers Filling Gap After U.S. Plants CloseMiddle East aluminum producers are boosting metal shipments to the U.S. to fill a supply gap left from plant closings. Since 1980, U.S. output has dropped from 4.6 million metric tons by 32 smelters to about 700,000 tons by five smelters this year, said Jorge Vazquez, managing director of Austin, Texas-based Harbor Intelligence. The last U.S. smelter to open was in 1985, he said.November 30, 2016Global Supply Chain Management'Blood Gold' Found in U.S. Cars and SmartphonesDeep in the jungles of Colombia, thousands of small, illegal mining operations, many under the control of Marxist guerrillas or drug traffickers, are working long hours to pull gold out of the ground. Miners are digging in out-of-the-way places such as Timbiquí and Río Quito. From there, the gold is hauled by boat, truck or small airplanes to smelters in Cali and Medellin.November 28, 2016All TechnologyApple Wants OLED in iPhones, But Suppliers Say They Aren't Ready YetApple has big plans to outfit its next iPhone with vibrant, energy-sipping organic LED displays, seeking to entice consumers with new technology that's already been embraced by other high-end smartphone makers. The trouble is that the four main suppliers for such components say they won't have enough production capacity to make screens for all new iPhones next year, with constraints continuing into 2018, presenting a potential challenge for the Cupertino, Calif.-based company.November 22, 2016Air CargoBoeing Sees E-Commerce, Express Services Driving Air Cargo TrafficBoeing Commercial Airplanes has issued a 20-year outlook for global air-cargo traffic, calling for a consolidated annual growth rate of 4.2 percent in volume (evaluated in metric tonnage), and saying this increase will result in significant demand for new and converted cargo jets needed to meet market demand by 2035.November 10, 2016All LogisticsTotal Truck Volumes Will Grow Despite Pipelines Gaining Market Share, Trucking Group SaysGrowth in both overall freight volumes and in the amount of goods moved by truck is expected to continue far into the future, according to the American Trucking Associations. Between 2016 and 2027, overall freight tonnage will grow a total of 35 percent, according to the group. Over that same timeframe, the amount of freight moved by trucks will grow slightly less at 27 percent.October 28, 2016All TechnologyJohnson & Johnson Invests $2Bn in IoT Technologies to Streamline ProductionThe Internet of Things (IoT) has been widely celebrated as a game-changing technology for field service and maintenance applications because it allows one device to "talk" to another, communicating when a machine or system could potentially degrade or fail. But what if the "breakdown" is occurring not within a facility or a production process, but within the human body?October 17, 2016Previous PagePage 17 of 18Next Page
