(AMT: McLean, VA ) -- December 2009 U.S. manufacturing technology consumption totaled $219.60 million, according to The Association For Manufacturing Technology (AMT) and the American Machine Tool Distributors’ Association (AMTDA). This total, as reported by companies participating in the U.S.

(Sparta Systems: Holmdel, NJ) -- A recent survey of top life sciences organizations found that compliance issues and increased industry consolidation (via mergers and acquisitions) are the top challenges faced by companies in today’s market.

(SME: Dearborn, MI) -- The “Great Recession” was a wake up call for manufacturers lulled into a sense of security by years of economic boom. Like the economy itself, manufacturing stands at an abyss of uncertainty.

(Heidenhain: Schaumburg, IL) -- Continuing to provide the well-known and versatile GAGE-CHEK metrology readouts (past METRONICS brand) to the manufacturing and quality assurance industries, parent company Heidenhain Corp.

The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) has set a goal of obtaining at least 5 percent of U.S. electricity needs from wind power by the year 2020. This means that the demand for “green energy,” such as wind power, is growing.

(Cognex Corp.:Natick, MA) -- Cognex has announced the release of In-Sight Explorer 4.4 for its In-Sight vision systems.

Citing excess capacity and efficiency as the key reasons, Hexagon Metrology is closing its plant in Fond du Lac, Wisconsin. During the past year, the plant, which assembled Sheffield brand products, has been shifting operations to Hexagon’s new facility in North Kin

Colorimetry, the science of color measurement, is widely employed in commerce, industry, and the laboratory to express color in numerical terms and to measure color differences between specimens.

(Accelper Consulting: Schaumburg, IL) -- Accelper Consulting announces its special Six Sigma Green Belt training and certification session, which is being held on March 26–27, at the Illinois Institute of Technology in Wheaton, Illinois.

(FARO: Lake Mary, FL) -- FARO Technologies Inc., the world’s leading provider of portable measurement and imaging solutions, announces the release of FARO Scene 4.7, the latest version of its scan processing software for the FARO Laser Scanner.