Manufacturing Business News: Are You Aware of Cobots? Ammonia Production in Louisiana and Other Headlines

While we have a great staff of dedicated editors here at IndustryWeek, we can’t write about everything. So, here’s a roundup of news from our parent company Endeavor Business Media’s many news brands.

• Sumitomo Buys Back Hitachi Construction Machinery Shares. Massive investments in new plants worldwide means there should be strong demand for cranes and other heavy construction equipment. That trend, writes Construction Equipment Editorial Director Rod Sutton, led Sumitomo to buy Hitachi’s remaining portion of their former joint venture.
• More rapid digital transformation courtesy of access to more industrial information. Better access to critical data can drive larger digital transformation projects, consultant Tom Burke says in Smart Industry. Because as many lean afficionados say, you can’t improve what you can’t measure.
• Modern pharma cleanrooms. Regulators and scientists need increasingly clean environments for drug production, where the smallest contaminants can lead to massive problems. pharma Manufacturing editors share details of a recent webinar looking into the latest of controlled environment production.
• Universal Robots celebrates annual Cobot Awareness Month. What? You didn’t know that January was dedicated to collaborative robot awareness? Well, our partners at control design magazine are happy to share some information about that.
• CF Industries to Supply Clean Ammonia for Japanese Power Company. CF Industries could build a new ammonia plant in Louisiana as part of a deal to supply chemicals to Japan’s largest energy producer. Chemical Processing editors discuss the deal and the various options companies are considering to supply materials.