Editor’s note: Welcome to So That Happened, our editors’ takes on things going on in the manufacturing world that deserve some extra attention. This will appear regularly in the Member’s Only section of the site.

New CEO Revs Up Changes at Regal Rexnord

Lots of parts are moving at Regal Rexnord Corp., the $6 billion Wisconsin-based maker of powertrain products, fans, bearings and many other parts for a wide range of industries. CEO Aamir Paul, who came aboard at the start of July, has gotten his arms around his priorities and on Nov. 3 said he’s looking to sharpen plant operations, trim the company’s portfolio and build “a stronger growth mindset.”

Among the initiatives Paul wants to drive are better execution and material planning at Regal Rexnord’s plants. The company has for several years been trimming its footprint (and booked more than $170 million in restructuring charges since the beginning of 2024) but is still struggling with operations that have dinged 2026 profit margin forecasts. Paul said it’s time to move “from a period focused on consolidation and cost optimization to one focused on growth” driven by rising demand from customers.

Linked to that switch is a plan to shed some units and focus on fewer markets. Already on the sales block is Regal Rexnord’s autonomous mobile solutions group that accounts for a few percent of Regal Rexnord’s automation and motion control division, which pulled in $501 million in sales last quarter. Paul told analysts and investors that the venture, which makes hardware and software for mobile robots, “has immense potential” with right owner but that Regal Rexnord is not that owner.

More broadly, Paul said he wants to focus on fewer “big, important franchise businesses” and not let Regal Rexnord’s broad portfolio create as many opportunities to get distracted. Instead, the plan—which is similar to what several big manufacturing companies have done this decade—is to add scale to “some of the businesses that we think are fantastic and we are super excited about.”

Last—and maybe trickiest—on Paul’s strategic to-do list is shifting Regal Rexnord’s posture toward organic growth. That, he said, “starts with spending more time understanding the unmet, unarticulated needs of our customers” but also will mean making some cultural changes. 

“There is substantial work ahead, but I’m encouraged by our foundation and increasingly confident in our ability to build a higher-growth, higher-margin Regal Rexnord,” Paul summed up.

 — Geert De Lombaerde

Bullen Ultrasonics Celebrates IW Best Plants Win 

In mid-August, I had the opportunity to tour Bullen Ultrasonics’ Miller Williams facility in Eaton, Ohio, as part of our IndustryWeek Best Plants Awards program, our annual search for manufacturing excellence across North America. After seeing the impressive technology initiatives, learning about its culture and speaking with plants leaders and employees, I was confident that Bullen would be one of our 2026 IW Best Plants winners. 

To celebrate the win, Bullen invited me and IW Executive Editor Jill Jusko to its plant on Oct. 29 to attend a special luncheon with plant leadership, employees and local dignitaries. I had the honor of presenting the award and giving a speech about my wonderful experiences at Bullen and how impressed I am with its performance and genuine care for its employees. 

Bullen was recognized through official commendations from Senators Bernie Moreno and Jon Husted as well as State Representative Rodney Creech. In attendance were Preble County commissioners and Congressman Warren Davidson. Ohio Governor Mike DeWine also provided a letter of congratulations. 

Once again, congratulations to Bullen Ultrasonics, your continuous improvement efforts, unique operations, dedication to workforce development and “different’ company culture have rightfully earned you the title of a 2026 IndustryWeek Best Plant. 

—Anna Smith  

Humanoid Robotics Venture Closes in on Nasdaq Listing

Looking to invest in a U.S.-based humanoid robotics company without the, uh, baggage of an electric-vehicle manufacturer attached to it? One that is on its fifth-generation product? And has a $300 million-plus backlog and commercial deals with GXO Logistics, AGCO and Toyota’s Canadian arm, among others?

That’s the pitch from the team at Oregon-based Agility Robotics Inc., which is on course to complete a merger with a special-purpose acquisition company and become listed on the Nasdaq Stock Market this week. Agility and Churchill Capital Corp. XI teams have in recent weeks been checking the final boxes for their deal, steps that included a Churchill shareholder vote on Monday.

Agility, which also has offices in Pittsburgh and Fremont, California, was founded in a robotics laboratory at Oregon State University in 2015 and has secured serious backing from Amazon, Nvidia, Foxconn and others. CEO Peggy Johnson, a former senior Microsoft executive who previously led special computing company Magic Leap, leads its team, which has overseen more than 65,000 hours of real-world work logged by the company’s Digit robots. (For more on the company’s growth, check out this March story from fellow EndeavorB2B title Machine Design.)

As with many SPAC deals, it’s worth taking a breath and then taking a second look at the dollars promised—at deal signing, Agility was valued at $2.5 billion—and actually delivered. As of Oct. 13, the two companies said they expected their union to generate more than $620 million in gross proceeds, some $424 million of which would come from Churchill XI’s trust account. By this week, those amounts had come down to $465 million and $164 million.

Still, the SPAC deal promises to give Johnson and her team a solid financial foundation on which to build and sharpen the capabilities of its Digit lineup. CFO Michael Beer recently told the SPACInsider podcast that Agility will plow $110 million into research and development this year and doesn’t need to invest as much in manufacturing because its Salem, Oregon, factory has the capacity to crank out 10,000 robots annually.

— Geert De Lombaerde

Q3 Robot Sales Numbers Released

The Association for Advancing Automation (A3) on October 28th released its newest North American Q3 robot order numbers, 10,989 robots sold and valued at $723.5 million according to the data. Total robot orders for 2026 so far total $1.89 billion.

Robot orders from the automotive component sector increased by 90.4% in Q3, but the biggest increase was from the semiconductor and electronics/photonics sector, with 97.6% more robot units ordered.

Cobot orders increased by 56% compared to Q3 2025 and A3 expects positive momentum from the manufacturing sector in Q4.

— Dennis Scimeca

Blue Origin Takes Apprenticeships Into Space

Well, not exactly into space—but sort of. The Kent, Wash.-based rocket manufacturer, founded by Jeff Bezos in 2000, has launched what it says is the first registered apprenticeship program specifically designed for space manufacturing.  Called ATLAS, short for Advanced Training & Learning Academy for Space, the program aims to build the skills needed for building flight-ready space hardware, skills the company says don't exist in traditional manufacturing training. What kinds of skills? Expertise in exotic alloys, micron-level precision tolerances, cryogenic environments and digital manufacturing technologies, according to the announcement. 

"You cannot simply hire a skilled welder and expect them to build rocket propellant tanks from exotic alloys or take a CNC machinist and have them produce flight hardware with the precision required for vacuum and cryogenic environments," said Nick Curry, Blue Origin's early career director.

The apprenticeship program, done in partnership with Apprenti, launches in November with 10 machinist apprentices.

—Jill Jusko