This article considers the production deficits, logistics turmoil and demand surges that contributed to supply-chain disruptions that were brought into focus with the advent of the COVID-19 pandemic.

By saving time, effort and money, remote diagnostics had already begun to transform industry long before COVID-19. Social distancing and restrictions on travel have simply reinforced their importance and value. This article looks at what this means for the die-casting industry in particular and shares a vision of a digital future.

In a rare move, the U.S. Supreme Court scheduled an emergency oral-arguments hearing on Friday, January 7 for the OSHA employer workplace vaccine mandate and the health-care-worker mandate. The Court typically only accepts written briefs in place of oral arguments in emergency cases but accepted to hear from attorneys.

As expected, the legal challenges flooded in against OSHA’s Federal Vaccine mandate for employers with 100 or more workers after the Department of Labor published the Emergency Temporary Standard (ETS) on November 5.

OSHA recently issued an Emergency Temporary Standard (ETS) mandating that employers with 100 or more workers implement a vaccine mandate and/or testing policy by Jan. 4, 2022, with mask and other requirements for other unvaccinated workers taking effect Dec. 5, 2021.

On Monday, June 21 in Washington, D.C., OSHA issued its long-awaited COVID Emergency Temporary Standard (ETS), well past the March 15 deadline set by President Biden.

Reports surfaced the week of April 5 that Secretary of Labor Marty Walsh asked OSHA to further review its pending Emergency Temporary Standard (ETS) prior to release.

Hard lessons learned from the 2020 pandemic taught us that we needed to rebuild and re-establish our U.S. supply-chain ecosystem. The systemic shock to our global supply chains left us with bottlenecks, shortages and an acute awareness of our overdependence on imports.

Editor’s note: The following is an edited (for length) transcription of an interview between SECO/WARWICK’s Tom Hart and Dan Herring, The Heat Treat Doctor. It was part of the company’s E-Seminar held in September 2020.

After six months of negotiations, Washington has come to agreement and passed a 5,593-page bill providing COVID relief to businesses, renewing and expanding the SBA’s Paycheck Protection Program loans while allowing for a second PPP draw, permitting the deduction of PPP expenses and extending more tax relief to employers. Reversing the IRS decision and allowing PPP loan recipients to deduct their expenses was a top priority for businesses facing a surprise tax penalty of up to 37%.