-
Automotive parts supplier ArvinMeritor Inc., Troy, Mich., has won a $162-million multiyear contract to supply steel wheels to an unidentified North American automaker.
-
Anglo-Dutch steel company Corus Group Plc has shortened the list of bidders for its aluminum division but remains open to offers.
-
The U.S. manufacturing sector is losing momentum. Although economic activity in the manufacturing sector grew in May for the 24th consecutive month, it was at the lowest level since June 2003, when it registered 50.4 percent, according to the latest business report from the Institute for Supply Management, Tempe, Ariz.
-
A switch to advanced steel technology from cast iron developed as part of a Defense Department project has helped Ford Motor Co. cut the weight and rotational inertia of a pickup truck drive-shaft flange.
-
North American production of family vehicles totaled 1,359,334 units in April, down 2.4 percent from 1,393,079 the previous month and 3.1 percent from 1,402,699 in April 2004, according to data from Ward's Communications.
-
Automotive blanks and stampings producer Shiloh Industries Inc. said its fiscal second-quarter net income rose 2 percent to more than $8.5 million despite a 7.2-percent decline in sales to $166.8 million that resulted from output cuts by U.S. automakers.
-
Savings of $600 million to $700 million in annual production material costs by the end of the decade are expected as a result of an agreement by Ford Motor Co., Dearborn, Mich., to resume management of 24 plants and facilities from Visteon Corp., which Ford spun off five years ago.
-
Cast and forged components manufacturer Citation Corp. has emerged from eight months of bankruptcy court supervision with a stronger competitive structure that includes new customer contracts and supplier agreements.
-
The London Metal Exchange hopes to attract interest in its plastics contracts from the investment community as well as the plastics industry, Simon Heale, the exchange's chief executive officer, said as the exchange also moved to head off some concerns about global pricing.
-
Aluminum giant Alcoa Inc. won't begin trading the London Metal Exchange's plastics futures contracts immediately, although it expects to trade once the products are established because it believes the "time is right" for the contracts.
-
U.S. machine tool consumption totaled $300.59 million in March, up 25.7 percent from a revised $239.19 million the previous month and 6.6 percent ahead of $281.9 million in March 2004, according to a joint report by the American Machine Tool Distributors' Association, Rockville, Md., and the Association for Manufacturing Technology, McLean, Va.
-
DaimlerChrysler AG's Auburn Hills, Mich.,-based Chrysler Group unit plans to spend $297 million on engine programs, including a new 4.0-liter V6 engine line, at its 2.1-million-square-foot engine plant in Trenton, Mich.
-
Donald R. McNeeley, president and chief operating officer of Chicago Tube & Iron Co., Chicago, is the new chairman of the Metals Service Center Institute (MSCI), succeeding Michael F. Peterson, president of Peterson Aluminum Corp., Elk Grove Village, Ill.
-
The London Metal Exchange has announced the list of approved brands and warehouses for the plastics contracts due to be launched May 27.
-
The value of new construction contracts jumped 4 percent in March to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of $594.1 billion. Nonresidential building showed signs of strengthening after a weak February, while residential building and nonbuilding construction (public works and utilities) posted modest growth, according to the McGraw-Hill Construction division of the McGraw-Hill Cos., New York.
-
Economic activity in the U.S. manufacturing sector grew in April for the 23rd consecutive month while the overall economy expanded for the 42nd month in a row, according to the latest business report from the Institute for Supply Management, Tempe, Ariz.
-
A world database of powder metal materials properties has been released by the Princeton, N.J.,-based Metal Powder Industries Federation (MPIF), with cooperation from its European and Japanese counterparts.
-
Aluminum, zinc and magnesium die-cast parts ranging from a 1-ounce reverse valve to a 61-pound transaxle cover were winners in the North American Die Casting Association's 2005 international die-casting competition.
-
Office furniture shipments of $2.29 billion in the first quarter were up 17 percent compared with the same period last year, according to the Business and Institutional Furniture Manufacturers Association International, Grand Rapids, Mich.
-
Tubular and bar service center group Marmon/Keystone Canada Inc., Burlington, Ontario, has replaced its eastern Canadian fleet of trailers with updated models aimed at improved handling of specific customer requirements.
-
Despite a threat to hold up the Senate vote on the nomination of Rep. Rob Portman (R., Ohio) as U.S. Trade Representative, the Senate last week confirmed him for the post.
-
President Bush has nominated Shara L. Aranoff to join the U.S. International Trade Commission.
-
North American production of family vehicles totaled 1,399,930 units in March, up 2.9 percent from 1,359,325 the previous month but down 11.2 percent from 1,575,668 in March 2004, according to data from Ward's Communications.
-
Legislation that would encourage the revaluation of China's currency and negotiations on currency manipulation might not be as effective as some hope, but is still worth pursuing, along with other actions to help U.S. manufacturing, a service center industry-sponsored gathering was told.