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Welcome to another episode of Gen Z in Manufacturing, a podcast where I interview young people about their journeys in manufacturing, how they intend to influence the industry and what they are looking for from an employer.For this episode, I welcome William Stewart, a 25-year-old Licensed Excellerate Electrician at Faith Technologies Incorporated (FTI).Stewart is a licensed journeyman in Wisconsin and a graduate of FTI’s apprenticeship program. At the FTI Excellerate facility, Stewart is responsible for electrical assemblies and installations, troubleshooting and maintenance.Some of his additional key responsibilities include maintaining current licensing and training requirements, ensuring projects are built to specifications, following workplace safety procedures and leading a crew effectively. He also mentors and develops others and participates in hiring referrals.

This week, Mary Ann Bliesner, the 83-year-old former president and primary owner of Valley Processing Inc. (VPI) pleaded guilty to charges related to the manufacture and sale of tainted fruit juice products in violation of federal food safety laws. Bliesner operated a now-shuttered fruit juice facility in Sunnyside, Washington.During an FDA inspection in May 2018, VPI employees used caution tape to prevent investigators from entering a room at Bliesner's Grape Road Facility in Washington that held concrete storage vats. The workers told FDA investigators that the facility was unsafe to enter and contained no juice or juice products. Not only did that room store juice, but it was often old unsold grape juice concentrate, sometimes held for years in large concrete vats that were not properly covered or cooled, according to the Department of Justice. Download and listen to the audio version below and click here to subscribe to the Today in Manufacturing podcast.

Digital twins are making an incredible impact on the manufacturing industry. By simulating the factory using real-time data from sensors and other IoT technology, manufacturers can iterate faster during the product design, improve efficiency, forecast potential equipment failures and even help train new workers in virtual environments. And now, one major toothpaste player is testing new products on digital twins of customers, i.e., virtual people.Download and listen to the audio version below and click here to subscribe to the Today in Manufacturing podcast.

Honda and Nissan represent the second and third largest Japanese automobile companies – behind only Toyota in global sales volume. Still, Nissan has notably lost its footing in the past year. Last month, the automaker reported a net earnings decline of more than 90% for the first half. In turn, Nissan cut its profit forecasts significantly and axed thousands of jobs.Meanwhile, despite posting a disappointing second quarter, Honda increased its guidance in a sign of strength for the full fiscal year.Download and listen to the audio version below and click here to subscribe to the Today in Manufacturing podcast.

According to estimates, Americans eat 46 million turkeys each year on Thanksgiving alone – about a fifth of the birds raised annually.But less than a week after the holiday wrapped this year, Butterball held a town hall meeting at its Jonesboro, Arkansas facility – and it wasn’t to celebrate. According to recent reports, Butterball announced on December 4th that it would be closing its Jonesboro facility, and laying off its 180 workers.Butterball completed a WARN filing in response to the scenario, and says the workers will receive compensation and medical benefits if they continue to work until their “end-of-service” date. Download and listen to the audio version below and click here to subscribe to the Today in Manufacturing podcast.

OSHA concluded an inspection into a fatal accident at Stellantis’ Jeep Toledo Assembly Complex in Ohio and cited the automaker with a “serious” violation and a fine of $16,101.The incident took place in August when 53-year-old Antonio Gaston died on the facility’s Gladiator line. The Detroit Free Press reported that Gaston was tightening undercarriage bolts when he became trapped beneath a vehicle on the assembly line.Download and listen to the audio version below and click here to subscribe to the Today in Manufacturing podcast.

Earlier this year, a real estate development group announced plans to build what will be the country’s tallest skyscraper in an unlikely location. But the project is now facing delays and warnings about its potential risks to air travel.Matteson Capital partnered with architecture firm AO on a project that would place a more than 1,900-foot tower in Oklahoma City, far away from the towering peaks associated with the skylines of New York City, Los Angeles and Chicago. Work on the development was tentatively scheduled to begin in October but now it’s pushed back to 2025.Download and listen to the audio version below and click here to subscribe to the Today in Manufacturing podcast.

Emerging American defense contractor Anduril and U.S.-based eVTOL startup Archer Aviation this morning announced an exclusive new partnership to jointly develop a hybrid VTOL aircraft for critical defense applications, targeting a potential program of record from the DOD. Those are programs that Congress not only intends to fund but has appropriated funding for them in the Future Years Defense Program. The partners hope to bring together Anduril's expertise in AI and systems integration and Archer's ability to rapidly develop advanced VTOL aircraft using existing commercial parts and supply chains in a combined effort to accelerate time-to-market at a fraction of the cost of more traditional alternatives.Download and listen to the audio version below and click here to subscribe to the Today in Manufacturing podcast.

A carbon monoxide poisoning incident at a Utah meatpacking plant sent 11 people to the hospital. Salt Lake City television station KUTV reported that an improperly vented appliance caused the issue. The West Jordan Fire Department arrived at the Otto & Sons location following reports of an unconscious woman. Crews removed the woman from the facility, where they detected carbon monoxide levels that exceeded 800 parts per million. Download and listen to the audio version below and click here to subscribe to the Today in Manufacturing podcast.

The holiday season means a boost in orders for online e-commerce giants like Amazon, a firm that’s doing its best to maintain its Prime pledge of delivery within two or three days.It’s difficult to imagine that the company has ambitions to trim its delivery time, at least in some locations, by an astonishing amount.Just how tight will the turn be? Bloomberg has reported that Amazon is testing 15 minute deliveries in Bangalore, India.Download and listen to the audio version below and click here to subscribe to the Today in Manufacturing podcast.

Established in 1938, Stoli Vodka has long been a fixture on the liquor market, though it appears it will need more than its legacy to carry it into the next generation.Stoli Group has revealed that its U.S. subsidiaries, Stoli Group USA and Kentucky Owl, have filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy and while the reasons behind the decision are diverse, one stands out: Stoli USA says a ransomware attack played a role.A November filing contends that an August attack on the firm prevented the U.S. subsidiaries from complying with their lenders’ reporting requirements. According to the CyberRisk Alliance, the attack was “not widely reported and has not been claimed by or attributed to any specific ransomware group.”Download and listen to the audio version below and click here to subscribe to the Today in Manufacturing podcast.

It was just July of last year when Illinois governor JB Pritzker cut the ribbon at the Lion Electric EV bus plant in Joliet.At the time, the company touted plans to produce 20,000 electric buses annually – claims that hit noticeable snags almost immediately. Within little more than a year of opening Joliet, Lion had announced four rounds of layoffs company-wide. Download and listen to the audio version below and click here to subscribe to the Today in Manufacturing podcast.

A longtime manufacturer of workwear and other apparel is relocating its headquarters from Texas to California — reversing a highly publicized trend of companies moving in the opposite direction in recent years.The parent company of Dickies and a series of other footwear and clothing brands announced a plan to consolidate its footprint in Southern California, which would see the brand — established in Fort Worth more than 100 years ago — head 1,400 miles west to Orange County, where it will join with the operations of sister company and famed California shoe brand Vans at a campus in Costa Mesa early next year.Download and listen to the audio version below and click here to subscribe to the Today in Manufacturing podcast.

In 2023, Coca-Cola was named the top plastic polluter in the world by environmental organization Break Free From Plastic.Unfortunately for Coke, this distinction wasn’t new; they’d earned the label for six years straight – one the group says is based on a study of the most commonly discarded plastic items found in public places like parks or beaches.Download and listen to the audio version below and click here to subscribe to the Today in Manufacturing podcast.

Cargill has revealed that it plans to cut 5% of its global workforce – most of which will take place in the coming year. It’s a move that will result in the elimination of some 8,000 jobs.Download and listen to the audio version below and click here to subscribe to the Today in Manufacturing podcast.

While driverless systems are often capable of reacting to scenarios more safely than a human driver would, sometimes the opposite is true – as evidenced by crashes over the years where a vehicle in autonomous mode has missed a seemingly obvious hazard.A new study may have pinpointed one of the reasons behind the gap in these results.Download and listen to the audio version below and click here to subscribe to the Today in Manufacturing podcast.

The Detroit Free Press reported that a tank used for storing an oil and brine solution exploded at General Motors’ Milford Proving Ground in Michigan. The incident reportedly damaged two nearby homes but did not cause any injuries.Brighton Fire Authority Chief Michael O’Brian stated that the explosion occurred in a leased section of the proving ground, which houses multiple wells and tanks for crude oil production and crude oil, brine and natural gas storageOne tank reportedly suffered a catastrophic failure, leading to an explosion. Texas-based White Rock Oil & Gas owns and operates the affected tank but had begun the process to transfer ownership to Colorado-based T2 Operating Corp. Download and listen to the audio version below and click here to subscribe to the Today in Manufacturing podcast.

Although there appear to be few easy answers to the problem, researchers from the University of the West Indies believe one possible solution could be using sargassum to power cars.The BBC reports that UWI scientists recently unveiled one of the first vehicles powered by what is known as bio-compressed natural gas. The project began as an effort to slash Barbados’ overall emissions, and initially used sugarcane as its biofuel. When that crop proved insufficient, however, a student floated the idea of turning to sargassum.Download and listen to the audio version below and click here to subscribe to the Today in Manufacturing podcast.

Welcome to another episode of Gen Z in Manufacturing, a podcast that asks young people about their journeys in manufacturing, how they intend to influence the industry and what they are looking for from an employer.For this episode, I welcome Chloe Doherty, a 22-year-old Industry 4.0 tech center engineer for machinery manufacturer Zoller Inc. Doherty’s interest in manufacturing started as a student in FIRST Robotics and PLTW, a nonprofit organization that develops STEM curriculum. Through FIRST Robotics, Doherty was introduced to a mechatronics CTE class where she studied many disciplines in manufacturing. She then discovered Zoller at a career fair and went on to earn a mechatronics apprenticeship. Doherty became a full-time Zoller employee in the spring of 2023 where she has been responsible for ensuring that the machines in the showroom are up to date and working properly, training new employees and customers, helping the technical support team with customer inquiries and doing live or online demonstrations.Download and listen to the audio version below and click here to subscribe to the Today in Manufacturing podcast.

Tom’s of Maine is a personal care brand well known for its use of natural ingredients, though a recent FDA report has identified some very undesirable contents they say are in the company’s products.The FDA sent a warning letter dated November 5th, detailing data that suggests some of Tom’s toothpastes were contaminated with bacteria – a discovery that the FDA based on reported internal testing as well as an agency inspection in May of the company’s manufacturing plant in Sanford, Maine.Specifically, the FDA points to several of Tom’s toothpaste formulas where they say water used for processing contains multiple types of bacteria, including those linked to infections of the blood, lungs and eyes.Download and listen to the audio version below and click here to subscribe to the Today in Manufacturing podcast.