Industrial Maintenance & Plant Operation

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. (AP) — A three-armed spacecraft rocketed into orbit Friday to rescue a NASA telescope that's in danger of crashing back to Earth. Northrop Grumman launched Katalyst Space Technologies' Link spacecraft from the Marshall Islands in the Pacific. The Pegasus rocket blasted off from the belly of a modified airplane, putting Link on course to reach and capture NASA's Swift Observatory in about a month. Launched in 2004, Swift is sinking faster than ever because of recent solar storms.

NEW YORK (AP) — French container shipping company CMA CGM Group said Wednesday it will buy FedEx Supply Chain, the third-party logistics subsidiary of FedEx for $1.4 billion, as it works to expand in the U.S. CMA CGM Group said the acquisition will triple the size of its own logistics arm, CEVA Logistics and help build its presence as a contract logistics provider in North America. In 2025, CMA CGM pledged to invest $20 billion in its U.S. warehousing, air cargo and logistics over four years.

NEW YORK (AP) — Tesla car sales surged in the past three months in a possible sign damage from a customer revolt over Elon Musk and boycotts are mostly behind it. The electric vehicle maker run by Musk reported Thursday that it delivered 480,126 cars to customers, a jump of 25% over the 384,122 figure a year ago when many Europeans refused to buy his cars because of his embrace of far-right political candidates there.

HONG KONG (AP) — In the race between the U.S. and China to develop artificial intelligence, the battle over hardware and computing power is heating up as Chinese companies like Huawei overtake global industry leaders like Nvidia in their home market. Jensen Huang, the CEO of computer chip giant Nvidia, was mobbed by onlookers as he hit the streets for the "zhajiangmian" noodles while visiting Beijing during U.S. President Donald Trump's May summit with Chinese leader Xi Jinping.

BILLUND, DENMARK -- Yesterday, the Lego Group officially opened Kornmarken Campus, its first dedicated global manufacturing innovation center. The new campus is part of the company’s investment in manufacturing technologies and capabilities that power product development and production. Located in Billund, Denmark, where the LEGO Group was founded 94 years ago, Kornmarken Campus brings together people and technologies in an environment designed to inspire collaboration.

The Today in Manufacturing Podcast is brought to you by the editors of Manufacturing.net and Industrial Equipment News (IEN). This episode is brought to you by Oracle NetSuite. Most organizations have more dashboards, reports, and data than ever before, yet decisions still get made on gut feel or anecdote. The gap is not data, it’s action.

Four years ago, Workhorse Group's Union City, Indiana, manufacturing facility was mid-transition — retrofitting a plant that had built internal combustion engine vehicles into one producing all-electric step vans and other vehicles for commercial fleets. It was a clean slate, which made it a rare opportunity: the chance to build lean manufacturing principles into the operation from the ground up.

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The Polestar 4 electric car. Polestar is increasing its strategic focus on Europe, which currently represents close to 80% of the company’s retail sales volumes, by continuing to expand its sales network and preparing to localize the manufacturing of future models. This follows a decision from the U.S. Department of Commerce’s Bureau of Industry and Security to not grant Polestar an authorization under the current Connected Vehicle Rule to sell vehicles in the U.S. from model year 2027 onwards.

Pudu Robotics and Shenzhen Culture & Tourism Industry Development have officially signed a strategic cooperation agreement to jointly develop the world's first full-scenario robot-serviced hotel on the West Artificial Island of the Shenzhen-Zhongshan Link in the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area in China. The hotel will integrate robots across every major service scenario, including guest reception, room delivery, cleaning, food service and guest support.