I am in Japan helping to lead one of our lean manufacturing benchmarking trips.

Manufacturing is getting easier in many ways, at least as far as the technology is concerned.

Students of CEED—an Australia-based program that links university engineering students with industry and government companies to complete specific on-site projects as part of their studies—are contributing significantly to the success of manufacturing projects, incl

(ACSI: Ann Arbor, MI) -- Customer satisfaction has improved for major household appliances and is at or near all-time highs for personal computers and big-ticket consumer electronics such as televisions, according to a report released by the American Customer Satisfaction Index (ACSI).

(Visual Workplace Inc.: Byron Center, MI) -- Visual Workplace Inc. has a new buyer’s guide available for do-it-yourself visual controls.

(Bluespring: Cincinnati) -- Bluespring Software, a leading provider of business process innovation (BPI) technology and solutions, has announced that it will expand its Rapid Process Assessment (RPA) service.

(Baumer: Southington, CT) -- With the DSRT strain sensor, Baumer offers a sensor for indirect force measurement that can be used in the packaging industry, engineering, wind energy plants, and many other industrial applications.

(Cognex Corp.: Natick, MA) -- Cognex has announced its next-generation DataMan hand-held industrial ID scanner, the DataMan 8000 Series.

(Aven: Ann Arbor, MI) -- A high-intensity microscope ring light featuring 72 LED lights and adjustable illumination for any specimen or application has been released by Aven Inc. All electronics are part of the compact, self-contained MC90/50 model design.

(nuvoTrace: Las Vegas) -- nuvoTrace, a small business entity, has introduced innovative technology to safely and quickly test packages for leak tightness—down to 7 micron channels.