Category: factories

Vacation and Learn With Factory Tours

When they’re not partying or parading, visitors to New Orleans can enter a setting where they feel like Lilliputians in a land of giants. Some people who go to Pennsylvania immerse themselves in a chocolate-lover’s dream world. For travelers to Arizona, descending into a once-thriving silver mine brings back the glory—and sometimes gory—days of the…


Japan’s August Factory Activity Grows at Slowest Pace in 19 Months: Flash PMI

TOKYO— Japan’s factory activity growth slowed to a 19-month low in August as output and new order declines deepened, amid growing pressure from persistent rises in raw material and energy costs and weakening global demand. Activity in the services sector contracted for the first time in five months, as a fall in new business raised…


Eurozone Factory Activity Contracted in July as Recession Fears Grow

LONDON—Manufacturing activity across the eurozone contracted last month with factories forced to stockpile unsold goods due to weak demand, a survey showed on Monday, adding to concerns the bloc could fall into a recession. S&P Global’s final manufacturing Purchasing Managers’ Index (PMI) fell to 49.8 in July from June’s 52.1, just ahead of a preliminary…


Musk Vows Fast Fix for New ‘Money Furnace’ Tesla Factories

Tesla CEO Elon Musk described the electric automaker’s factories in Austin and Berlin as “money furnaces” that were losing billions of dollars because supply chain breakdowns were limiting the number of cars they can produce. In a May 30 interview with a Tesla owners club that was just released this week, Musk said that getting…


Find a Factory Tour

A factory tour is perhaps the most underrated sort of attraction in the U.S. When I first started writing about factory tours, I highlighted them as the “best free attractions you could find,” but liability and staffing issues have forced many to start charging. Still, the chance to see exactly how some favorite item is…


Factories Facing Supply Headaches as Omicron Risks Emerge

LONDON/TOKYO—Global factory activity accelerated in November although crippling supply bottlenecks remained, putting a cap on output and driving up the cost of raw materials, according to surveys published on Wednesday. Towards the end of the month, the newly-detected Omicron coronavirus variant emerged as a fresh worry for policymakers, who are already trying to pilot recovering…


Opel Split ‘Off the Table’, Eisenach Plant to Resume Production in January

BERLIN—Opel will not split off its German factories from its operations, and production at the Eisenach plant will resume in January, Opel owner Stellantis and union IG Metall said on Wednesday, soothing fears over the marque’s future. Stellantis also said that the Grandland SUV, which was temporarily produced in France when Eisenach was shut down…


US Business Activity Accelerates in October, Shortages Hamper Factories: IHS Markit Survey

WASHINGTON—U.S. business activity increased solidly in October, suggesting economic growth picked up at the start of the fourth quarter as COVID-19 infections subsided, though labor and raw material shortages held back manufacturing. Data firm IHS Markit said on Friday its flash U.S. Composite PMI Output Index, which tracks the manufacturing and services sectors, rebounded to…


Ford, South Korea to Invest $11.4 Billion to Add Electric F-150 Plant, Three Battery Factories

DETROIT/SEOUL—Ford Motor Co. and its Korean battery partner SK Innovation will invest $11.4 billion to build an electric F-150 assembly plant and three battery plants in the United States, accelerating the U.S. automaker’s push into electric vehicles. Ford said on Monday it now expects to have 40 percent to 50 percent of its global vehicle…


US Durable Goods Orders Rise 2.3 Percent in May

WASHINGTON—Orders to U.S. factories for big-ticket manufactured goods rose for the 12th time in the last 13 months in May, pulled up by surge in demand for civilian aircraft. The Commerce Department said Thursday that orders for durable goods—meant to last at least three years—climbed 2.3 percent in May, reversing a 0.8 percent drop in…