With the new year freshly underway, it seems a good time to gaze in the crystal ball and consider what trends will likely impact the climate for manufacturing in the U.S. and abroad during this year.

On March 16, 1926, Professor Robert H. Goddard was scurrying around a snow-covered field in Worcester, Mass. He was preparing to ignite a small rocket assembly mounted on a metal-framed “launch pad.”

Finished forgings cannot reach their intended markets without the labor of humans.

The Forging Industry Educational and Research Foundation (FIERF) works to connect educational institutions and the forging industry through future workforce development, promoting the advantages of forged products, facilitating technology transfer and promoting applicable research.

Derek Stake is the forge manager at Mid-West Forge Corporation of Cleveland, Ohio.

As many of you are aware, the Chinese government has been planning and implementing changes to increase its global manufacturing presence and influence.

Additive manufacturing (AM) has become a specific topic of interest in the general manufacturing community due to its novelty and projected abilities for ground-up automation.

In this case study, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) is working in partnership with Purdue University Northwest and steel-industry stakeholders to use their high-performance computing (HPC) modeling, simulation and visualization capabilities to optimize blast furnaces in order to reduce emissions and energy use.

Nikola Motor Company selected Buckeye, Ariz., for its hydrogen-electric semi-truck manufacturing facility. The $1 billion investment is expected to create 2,000 new jobs. The 1,000,000-square-foot zero-emission facility will be developed on a 500-acre parcel of land on the west side of Phoenix. Construction is projected to begin by the end of 2019.