Indiana Wheel Corp. (IWC), a manufacturing company specializing in the production and distribution of steel wheels, plans to establish operations in Plymouth, Ind., and create up to 117 new jobs over the next few years. The company, which is a joint venture led by China’s Jingu Company Ltd., will invest approximately $23 million to purchase, renovate and equip a 300,000-square-foot production facility in Plymouth. The plant will include more than $14.5 million of specially designed equipment to support IWC’s manufacturing operations for the trailer and RV industries. Upgrades will begin this summer with production expected to start later this year.

Non-Haz 32 and Non-Haz FRHF 46 feature biodegradable, water-based, non-glycol formulas, offering a premium, completely non-hazardous solution for hydraulic systems.

Every manufacturing (or heat treat) plant has raw materials that come into the receiving dock and finished products that are sent out from the shipping dock. Between the receiving and shipping docks, transformation occurs. Transformation adds value to the materials in a step-by-step process, and energy is required. Evaluating the process transformation steps and energy inputs provides clues about where to look for energy savings.

Manufacturers of all types account for approximately one-third of GDP and national employment. For every employee in the industrial base, four others are employed elsewhere based on that manufacturing output.

Customer Relationship Management software, or CRM as it is more commonly known, has traditionally been recognized as a sales tool.

Just how clear is your crystal ball? Over the past two years, The Doctor has had the good fortune of interacting with a large number of industrial clients and industry professionals from all over the globe.

A reader called me recently, and we had an enjoyable and useful conversation that needs to be shared here.

For those of us running industrial or manufacturing companies, the need for qualified workers might be greater than ever.

Caterpillar will open a casting facility in Greenwood County, S.C., in early 2019. The $13.5 million investment is expected to create 85 new jobs. The 103,000-square-foot facility will produce specialty castings used in a variety of engines and transmissions within the Caterpillar product line. It will also supplement the production of existing castings elsewhere in the Caterpillar production network.

HarbisonWalker International (HWI) celebrated the grand opening of its newly constructed monolithic refractories manufacturing plant in South Point, Ohio. HWI announced in February 2017 that it would invest $30 million to build a technologically advanced refractories plant. Ground was broken for the facility on June 8, 2017, and the plant began shipping products in spring 2018. The plant features state-of-the-art processes and technology and utilizes lean-manufacturing techniques throughout its operations to maximize material flow efficiency and production.