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Factories

April factory orders were up, slightly, for third straight month

by Daniel Ackerman
Jun 4, 2024
The 0.7% increase signals a healthy tone for manufacturing, at least relative to recent weak readings for construction and consumer spending.
Demand for construction and industrial equipment was up about 2% in April from March, boosted by federal infrastructure funding. Above, construction on a semiconductor plant in Texas.
Brandon Bell/Getty Images
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One of China's hottest toys sold millions. The inventor made $830.

by Jennifer Pak
May 9, 2024
A person who comes up with a good idea might not always reap the rewards in China's manufacturing ecosystem.
It's hard to spot which carrot knives are originals and which ones are copies.
Charles Zhang/Marketplace
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Tech manufacturing is causing a boom in non-residential construction

by Mitchell Hartman
Aug 1, 2023
Biden Administration policies are geared toward fixing high-tech supply chains and accelerating the transition to EVs.
Biden speaks during a visit to a General Motors electric vehicle assembly plant in Detroit, Michigan.
Mandel Ngan/AFP via Getty Images
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Allentown region moving on from the days when the steel industry collapsed

by Chloe Nouvelle
May 5, 2022
The Lehigh Valley region of Pennsylvania has a booming manufacturing sector and is fast becoming a major logistics hub.
Rusted blast furnaces at the SteelStacks campus in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania are seen. They now serve as a backdrop for music concerts.
Jessica Lee
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COVID-19

Shelter-in-place orders hit factories

by Scott Tong
Apr 1, 2020
Economists say it could take three to six months of data to understand the pain in the factory economy.
The employee parking lots are nearly empty at the Fiat Chrysler Automobiles Belvidere Assembly Plant on March 24, 2020 in Belvidere, Ill.
Scott Olson/Getty Images
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COVID-19

How the coronavirus is affecting one American business

by Andie Corban
Feb 7, 2020
The head of OMG Accessories anticipates that the coronavirus will set back the production of her company's products by at least two months.
A sign at an empty mall in Beijing urges visitors to wear masks Wednesday. China's struggle to contain the deadly coronavirus is deepening concerns about the impact on the world's No. 2 economy.
Greg Baker/AFP via Getty Images
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How Levi Strauss & Co. is using lasers to make jeans

by Kai Ryssdal and Josie Fan
Mar 7, 2018
Automation touches many consumer products — the cars we drive, the sneakers we put on and now the jeans we wear.  Levi Strauss & Co. is planning to swap out garment workers for laser machines that could create the worn look on a pair of jeans in less than two minutes. Suzanne Kapner, a reporter […]
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General Electric built this town, but its presence is shrinking

by Erika Beras
Jan 19, 2018
The company plans to leave the locomotive manufacturing industry in a few years.
Jim Connelly, a former GE engineer, hopes to go back to school and start his own business. He sits at the Lawrence Park Dinor, just up the street from the 350-acre GE plant.
Erika Beras/Marketplace
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Chinese factories, American workers

by Rob Schmitz
Aug 12, 2016
More Chinese companies are setting up shop — and providing jobs — in states like South Carolina.
Greenfield Industries Operations Vice President Bobby Densmore holds his company’s product in front of an assembly line in Seneca, South Carolina. Greenfield was purchased by Chinese company TDC in 2009. It’s one of the many Chinese companies that are hiring American workers to assemble its products, reversing a global trend in manufacturing.
Rob Schmitz/Marketplace
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Shinola has perfect timing in Detroit

by Kai Ryssdal
Jan 21, 2016
Starting a luxury brand in a bankrupt city isn't easy.
Shinola employs 260 people at its Detroit facility. Many of them are former auto workers, police officers and hospital workers
Tommy Andres
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