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Heineken is a huge multinational corporation and it’s affected by market realities like supply and demand just like any other company. But when the answer to those issues is destroying an apple orchard, it’s hard to see it as just business. Heineken owns Penrhos Orchard, a 300-acre site in Wales that was planted in 1997. The company said last year that it wants to sell that land because demand for cider has declined and left it with a “surplus of apples.” It said the apples grown in the orchard are bittersweet, meaning they have no use besides making cider. So Heineken, in line with the Wildlife Act, uprooted the entire orchard, which was the size of 140 football pitches (or soccer fields) and shredded all the wood for biomass. Download and listen to the audio version below and click here to subscribe to the Today in Manufacturing podcast.

The Department of Justice announced an unsealed indictment accusing a pair of Chinese nationals of engaging in criminal activities linked to a plot to export U.S. technology to restricted end users in China. According to the DOJ, 44-year-old Han Li and 64-year-old Lin Chen sought to export semiconductor manufacturing technology, including a machine for processing silicon wafer microchips made by a California-based company. The alleged actions violate the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA) and Export Administration Regulations. Download and listen to the audio version below and click here to subscribe to the Today in Manufacturing podcast.

The U.S. Air Force has chosen two companies that it will continue to fund as part of its Collaborative Combat Aircraft (CCA) program, and the decision leaves out some major defense contractors. The Air Force this week said Anduril and General Atomics will continue on with the program to supply detailed designs, manufacture, and testing of production test aircraft. Download and listen to the audio version below and click here to subscribe to the Today in Manufacturing podcast.

Welcome to another episode of Gen Z in Manufacturing, a podcast where I interview young people about their journeys in manufacturing, how they intend to influence the industry and what they are looking for from an employer. For this episode, I welcome Danea Buschkoetter, a 27-year-old lead welding instructor at Cloud County Community College. In this episode, Buschkoetter discusses: Thank you to our sponsor QAD Redzone. Empower your frontline while growing your bottom line. QAD Redzone is the #1 Connected Workforce Solution for plants of all sizes. It's time for manufacturers to start engaging their frontline employees - resulting in reduced turnover and increased productivity. Redzone enables you to stop analyzing yesterday and start solving today’s problems now. For the first time ever, production, maintenance, and quality teams are following the same play book! Request a Demo Today Please like and share this episode of Gen Z in Manufacturing. Click here to view previous episodes of the podcast. If you are a member of Gen Z and would like to discuss your experience in the manufacturing industry, please get in touch with Nolan Beilstein, at nolan@ien.com.

The shift toward electric has touched nearly every corner of the automotive industry and now it’s extended its reach into Disneyland. The amusement park earlier this month confirmed with the Los Angeles Times that the gas-powered vehicles of the Autopia ride within the Tomorrowland attraction will be swapped out for electric vehicles. Disneyland spokesperson Jessica Good said that means fully electric, not hybrid, engines will be up and running on the Autopia track within the next two to three years. The exact timeline isn’t clear, as is what the change will mean for park infrastructure and maintenance, but it’s definitely happening. Download and listen to the audio version below and click here to subscribe to the Today in Manufacturing podcast.

Just last month, Intel announced plans to spend some $36 billion to expand and modernize operations in Hillsboro, Oregon, partly funded by awards from the Biden Administration's Chips & Science Act. Just a month later, the Oregon plant is facing some decidedly less positive news. The Oregonian has reported that Intel is being sued by a contractor who alleges exposure while working at Hillsboro caused him to lose both his sense of taste and smell. Download and listen to the audio version below and click here to subscribe to the Today in Manufacturing podcast.

On Saturday evening, an incident at a southeastern Wisconsin substation caused the grid to go dark for some 16,000 people. According to We Energies, a Wisconsin utility company that provides electricity to more than 1 million customers, the culprit was a raccoon. According to a spokesperson, a raccoon touched two pieces of equipment simultaneously, which knocked out the power, and likely made for one really unhappy trash panda. Download and listen to the audio version below and click here to subscribe to the Today in Manufacturing podcast.

A traditional cast with an outer layer made from plaster or fiberglass is more than sufficient for a human with a broken bone. But for a gorilla, which is about 10 times stronger than a human being and less likely to put up with some discomfort, that type of cast doesn’t stand a chance. Gladys, an 11-year-old gorilla at the Cincinnati Zoo & Botanical Garden, recently fractured her humerus while fighting with two younger females in her troop. Victoria McGee, Cincinnati Zoo’s Zoological Manager of Primates, said it’s pretty common for gorillas to engage in minor squabbles. She said, “She must have fallen in just the wrong way to break her arm, but the result was a complete, oblique fracture of her distal humerus.” Download and listen to the audio version below and click here to subscribe to the Today in Manufacturing podcast.

Mercedes-Benz yesterday announced a new logistics concept: a demonstrator that combines eSprinter vans with e-cargo bikes to sustainably solve the last-mile riddle. The Sustaineer (sustainability pioneer) tech demonstrator promises a look at delivery transport of the future. So, what does that look like? The electric van is based on the automaker's eSprinter. Mercedes already has fully electric versions of every commercial and private van, and the company expects them to make up more than half of total sales by 2030. Download and listen to the audio version below and click here to subscribe to the Today in Manufacturing podcast.

Humanoid robots are still a long way from full-scale rollouts across industrial, commercial and other settings. But if this week’s arrivals tell us anything, it’s that the pace of development may be speeding up. Boston Dynamics earlier this week made news when it bid a fond farewell to Atlas, the hydraulic robot it’s been tinkering with for nearly a decade. The company even assembled a send-off video full of clips of Atlas falling down. However, Boston Dynamics wasted almost no time in introducing its new all-electric version of Atlas. Download and listen to the audio version below and click here to subscribe to the Today in Manufacturing podcast.

Last October, a 26-year-old employee at Faurecia Emissions Control Systems in Franklin, Ohio, was fatally crushed. According to OSHA, the worker had been on the job for about a year and was placing cardboard under a machine that bends vehicle exhaust pipes at the time of the accident. The company is a subsidiary of Faurecia North America which, in 2022, combined with Hella to form Forvia, one of the world’s largest automotive suppliers with more than 150,000 workers across more than 40 countries. Faurecia North America operates 29 factories in the U.S. Download and listen to the audio version below and click here to subscribe to the Today in Manufacturing podcast.

Food company Conagra Brands announced that it would cease production operations and close its facility in Beaver Dam, Wisconsin. The company claimed in a letter to the Bureau of Workforce Training that the move is designed to improve the effectiveness and efficiencies in its supply chain network. Conagra added in the letter that the closure, which is expected to be permanent, would affect all employment, including 25 management and administrative roles and 227 production and production support jobs. The employees have no union representation or bumping rights but will be offered severance benefits. Download and listen to the audio version below and click here to subscribe to the Today in Manufacturing podcast.

U.S. retailer Walmart is turning to robots for help as it works to keep pace with e-commerce rivals like Amazon. The company said it will roll out 19 Class 1 electric, autonomous forklifts across four of its distribution centers, with the possibility of a wider deployment in the future. Walmart associates are currently being trained to operate the FoxBot, which is designed to handle a lot of the manual labor needed at the warehouse loading dock. Download and listen to the audio version below and click here to subscribe to the Today in Manufacturing podcast.

The push towards electrics means changes in the automotive industry are impacting every OEM – even those tailor made for it. Elektrek first reported that EV leader Tesla is cutting “more than 10%” of its workers. Citing an internal memo, the company is reportedly looking at “cost reductions and increasing productivity” and will target its global workforce. While no hard number was released, 10% of Tesla’s worldwide staff would amount to 14,000 job cuts or more. Download and listen to the audio version below and click here to subscribe to the Today in Manufacturing podcast.

The GMC Hummer has had an interesting evolution by anyone’s standards. What started as a gas guzzling monster SUV back in the 1990s and early aughts fell victim to the economic crunch and high gas prices of the Great Recession. But a decade or so after killing the model, GMC revealed that it would have new life in the form of an all-electric. That said, a lot has changed since the 2020 announcement, and as automakers have expanded their electric portfolios, they’ve just as quickly scaled them back. And while GMC had plans for several trims of the Hummer – including an entry version called the EV2 that was due out this spring – this is reportedly being adjusted, with GM Authority reporting the $86,000 base model is no longer in the works. Download and listen to the audio version below and click here to subscribe to the Today in Manufacturing podcast.

In January 2024, the FDA issued a warning about dietary supplements purchased on popular e-commerce websites like Amazon and Etsy that were made with toxic ingredients. Tejocote root, part of the hawthorn family, is a Mexican root supplement marketed for weight loss. An FDA analysis found that these dietary supplements, labeled as tejocote root or Brazil seed, are adulterated. Instead of tejocote, they were substituted with yellow oleander, a poisonous plant native to Mexico and Central America. Download and listen to the audio version below and click here to subscribe to the Today in Manufacturing podcast.

Last month, Boeing and its subsidiary Aurora Flight Sciences sued Virgin Galactic, accusing Richard Branson’s space venture of skipping on bills and holding onto trade secrets. Now, Virgin has returned fire. The company last week countersued Boeing and Aurora, accusing the struggling aerospace company of “shoddy and incomplete work.” According to Reuters, Virgin Galactic said Boeing is breaching its contract and attempting to unlawfully force the return of intellectual property. Download and listen to the audio version below and click here to subscribe to the Today in Manufacturing podcast.

The manufacturing industry has received a boost from recent legislation such as the CHIPS and Science Act, but industrial facilities still experience hundreds of hours of downtime annually. As the industrial landscape evolves and expands, the need for skilled maintenance workers becomes more paramount. Fluke Reliability, a division of electronic test tool manufacturer Fluke Corporation, provides a range of technologies such as eMaint and Prüftechnik, which are helping manufacturers do more with less resources. The addition of Azima DLI, an AI-powered vibration analytics and remote condition monitoring solution, looks to be the next big thing in machine maintenance. Hear from Fluke Corporation President Jason Waxman, Fluke Reliability Director of Product Management Michael DeMaria and Fluke Reliability President Ankush Malhotra as they discuss the capabilities of AI in industrial maintenance.

It’s been a staple in Danville, Illinois, since 1969, but on June 8, the Quaker Oats plant will close its doors. Last week, Quaker informed more than 500 workers in Danville they will be laid off but, perhaps, the writing was on the wall. Back in December, Quaker – a PepsiCo brand – paused production at the facility while it sorted out a product recall. Unfortunately, it wasn’t buttoned up quickly; what started with concerns of contamination risk in its granola soon ballooned into other products, ultimately requiring Quaker to recall some five dozen products – many of which are still not back on store shelves today. Download and listen to the audio version below and click here to subscribe to the Today in Manufacturing podcast.

Canoo, like many other electric vehicle startups, is struggling to survive. And as is often the case in the early days of a company, expenditures exceed revenue. But one cost in particular stood out in Canoo’s latest earnings report. TechCrunch spotted an item near the bottom of a 10-K the company recently filed with the SEC and it details just how much Canoo is reimbursing CEO Tony Aquila for the use of his personal aircraft. The company said it helps cover certain costs and third-party payments, excluding certain incidental fees and expenses, and that it resulted in Canoo incurring approximately $1.7 million last year and $1.3 million in 2022. Download and listen to the audio version below and click here to subscribe to the Today in Manufacturing podcast.