As of this week, NASA announced it will partner with two American companies to provide transportation for American astronauts to and from the International Space Station (ISS). According to Reuters, the U.S. space agency awarded a $4.2 billion contract to Boeing whose headquarters are in Chicago, Illinois and a $2.6 billion contract to SpaceX that [...]
Earlier this year, Tesla's CEO, Elon Musk, shared his plans to build a gigafactory to manufacture enough lithium-ion battery packs by 2020 to power as many as 500,000 electric vehicles. Since then, he has been wasting little time to make these plans a reality. This month, Forbes.com and Automotive Engineer magazine reported that Tesla has [...]
The trend of consolidation among engineering and construction (E&C) companies rolls on. In addition to AMEC’s acquisition of Foster Wheeler and Martin Marietta’s purchase of Texas Industries earlier in the year, two more key players are joining forces. As reported by Reuters this week, Los Angeles-based AECOM Technology Corp. announced its plans to acquire San [...]
Transparency Market Research released a new report titled, Industrial Controls and Robotics Market - Global Industry Analysis, Size, Share, Growth, Trends, and Forecast, 2013 – 2019. The findings in this report provide some noteworthy statistics. The global industrial controls and robotics industry was worth $102.02 billion in 2012, and it is projected to reach $147.7 [...]
Because of the unprecedented situation with Malaysian Airlines Flight (MH 370), the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) announced it will conduct a special meeting on the global tracking of airline flights. The ICAO is an agency of the United Nations, and it is inviting both government and industry experts to discuss the global tracking issue [...]
According to the Associated General Contractors of America (AGC), employment in the construction industry reached its highest level in March since June 2009. Government data analyzed by AGC showed that construction organizations added 19,000 workers to their payrolls. This helped to reduce the industry’s unemployment to its lowest level in seven years. In March, construction [...]
As if Boeing has not received enough attention for manufacturing issues with its 787 Dreamliner in the past, it now has another opportunity to address potential concerns regarding this airplane. The Wall Street Journal reported that aerospace giant publicly confirmed that its wing supplier, Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, discovered that its re-designed manufacturing processes may have caused small [...]
General Motors (GM) realized that Ford was onto something when Ford used aluminum in the body of its 2015 F-150 pickup. The use of aluminum enabled Ford to reduce the fullsize truck’s weight by 700 pounds which undoubtedly is going to impact its gas mileage in a positive way. Not wanting to be outdone, GM [...]
As you consider how to refine your knowledge in engineering-related industries such as automotive, engineering and construction, aerospace, controls and automation, it could also be advantageous to enhance your professional network at the same time. Conferences can be a productive way to accomplish both objectives. With this in mind, here are key conferences for the [...]