When Amazon announced plans for drone package deliveries last November, sceptics said the FAA would not allow the practice. However, the FAA has long postponed issuing new regulations for flying drones weighing less than 55 lbs and flying at altitudes lower than 400 feet. Though the agency will announce the new regulations in November, few…
Deborah Hersman, the public face and chair person of the U.S. National Transportation Safety Board, plans to step down from her position next month to accept a new position as president and chief executive officer of the National Safety Council. This is a safety advocacy group in Itasca, Illinois. The vice chair person of the…
The company Proctor & Gamble has fallen under attack again by environmental groups, this time cited for its use of palm oils in many of their food and cosmetics products. The attack happened last week, when nine Greenpeace protesters managed to breach security in the P & G “twin towers” in Cincinnati. The group proceeded…
As part of a government program headed by the Department of Defense, Chicago landed a hub for a digital manufacturing institute named the Digital Manufacturing and Design Innovation Institute. The Department of Defense kicked in $70 million for the project, and the state, industries, academic community, and community supporters contributed an additional $250 million. The…
Following a series of accidents and explosions related to rail transport of the U.S.’s growing oil production, railroad executives and the Department of Transportation have agreed on eight new steps the industry plans to implement immediately.
Global transportation and logistics company UPS just announced its acquisition of the pharmaceuticals logistics company Polar Speed in the United Kingdom for an undisclosed sum of money. This acquisition comes during a lengthy process of UPS acquiring interests in the field of temperature controlled health care items, including the recent purchase of CEMELOG pharmaceutical logistics…
On March 17-20 at the Georgia World Congress Center in Atlanta, Georgia, the world’s largest trade show for the manufacturing, supply chain, and distribution festivals opens its doors. Professionals in these industries attend the Modex trade show to learn about the latest trends in these industries, the challenges these industries face in the near future,…
The Midwest and Northeast are used to rounds of winter weather, and normally have time to recover between storms. However, this year brought round after round of severe low temperatures, along with ice and snow, which make catching up the supply chain next to impossible. Delays are causing backups at important ports, delays of truck…
As construction resumes on the Panama Canal expansion, ports along the east coast rush to complete projects that would allow the humongous cargo ships of the P3 and G6 alliances to use their ports. So far, only the Port of Baltimore and the Port of Virginia in Norfolk can accommodate these ships. The ports of…
The year 2007 was, overall, the strongest year ever for American manufacturers. Hence, the Federal Reserve set this year as a baseline for the marketing index, released on a monthly basis, and set each sector of manufacturing to a base of 100 for the year 2007. Then those baselines are used to indicate how strong…