Manufacturer Gearing Up For $4.3 Million Expansion In Northeast Ohio (14608)
(Stow, Ohio) – Contract manufacturer National Machine will invest $4.3 million to build and equip a 25,000 square foot expansion at its headquarters in Stow. Construction should start anytime and is expected to be complete by winter, according to Darryl Piglia, one of the owners of the company.

Insight Automation Inks Exclusive Deal For Kyowa Motor Roller Line (14576)
(Erlanger, Kentucky) – Automated material handling company Insight Automation has signed an exclusive contract to sell and support a new line of Kyowa motor roller products in North America. The new product line, known as PulseRoller, will be manufactured by Kyowa USA in a new plant adjacent to Insight Automation.

LeakMaster Expansion A Result of Strong Growth (14498)
(Evansville, Indiana) - Strong growth has prompted leak and flow test equipment maker LeakMaster to move to a larger location across town.

North American Robot Orders Decline 17% in First Quarter. Non-Automotive Orders Jump 36%, "An Encouraging Sign," says RIA (14477)
Ann Arbor, Michigan – North American Robotics Companies Reported that New orders Sold to North American Manufacturers Fell 17% In the First Quarter of 2008 From the Same Quarter in 2007, but Revenue Rose Five Percent. Orders to non-automotive companies surged, an encouraging sign for future robotics growth, according to the Robotic Industries Association (RIA), the industry's trade group.

Economic Optimism Plummets Among U.S. Industrial Manufacturers, Finds Manufacturing Barometer (14359)
Oil/Energy Prices Cited as a Substantial Barrier to Growth; Concerns Escalate Over Lack of Demand and Monetary Exchange Rates

Backlit Conveyor Speeds Visual Gaging Of Automotive Parts (14335)
A custom integrator of turnkey automated inspection machines for quality control, Cincinnati Automation "saw the light" — adopting a new LED backlit conveyor to convert automotive part gaging from a step-by-step to continuous process, more than tripling throughput.

Physical Prototypes: A Necessary Step or Needless Bottleneck? (14291)
Building and testing physical prototypes — an expensive, time-consuming task in traditional product development — is one area that manufacturers are critically examining to reduce overall design costs and speed time to market. Physical prototyping can be a major bottleneck, slowing down the product development process and seriously constraining the number of design alternatives that can be examined.

FIN KERF CAP SYSTEM MAKES IT EASY TO USE YOUR HUB SYSTEM TO ITS FULLEST POTENTIAL (14268)
Walls + Forms Inc. now offers a fin kerf cap system that makes it simple to create usable wall space and merchandising displays using your hub system. It is ideally suited for adding slatwall, FoamCore, and other panel types for merchandising and exhibit applications. Using a panel product such as the Walls + Forms PVC-3700 Series Slatwall, the edges are supplied capped with a specially designed extrusion for hub systems that creates a support frame. The user simply assembles the hubs and bottom railing and then slides the supported frame into the hubs and bottom railing. The panel is now captured on all sides. Finally, the user secures the top railing to finish off the panel. Again, the panel is supported on all four sides.

Supply Chain, From Inbound logistics and Inventory Management to Order Fulfillment and Technology (14149)
With the increasingly high demand for quick and efficient order fulfillment, supply chains are more important and more complex than ever. The integral role they play to any manufacturer and their ability to enhance or potentially devastate a company has given supply chains unprecedented scrutiny. Given their expensive and important nature, companies are increasingly paying attention to the intricacies of supply chain solutions to drive their efficiency and overall success.

Riding The Wave Of Freedom. Military Orders Mean Big Business for Vendors and Their Subs Who Are Willing To Go After The Work (14146)
To do its job, the U.S. military machine constantly needs goods and that keeps places like Accu-Counter Technologies Inc. busy. The northern Kentucky company, which sells shot counters for weapons, ships most of its products to clients like the U.S. Special Operations Command.