Welcome to IndustryWeek’s Weekly Reads, our ongoing review of the most popular content on IndustryWeek.com over the past seven days. Cleveland-Cliffs’ decision to close plants continues to garner attention. Nissan’s announcement that it, too, will close plants attracted the IW manufacturing community as well. On the flip side, many IW readers also jumped on the news that PPG would build a new U.S. factory.
Topics of interest extended well beyond plant openings and closings. Without further ado, the Top 10 for this week are:
Cleveland-Cliffs Closing More Plants in Move to Save $300M Per Year: The moves mean nearly 1,000 people will lose their jobs. Executives say they’ve been asked about selling assets that could bring in “several billion dollars.”
How John Deere Conquered 5G for Manufacturing: The benefits and challenges of deploying private 5G cellular networks for cutting-edge manufacturing operations.
To Fear or Not to Fear: AI and the Future of Work: There are practical limits to the technology, related to the difference between explicit and tacit (or implicit) knowledge.
PPG Announces New $380 Million North Carolina Factory: The new 198,000-square-foot facility will produce coatings and sealants for the aerospace market.
Nissan Posts $4.5 Billion Annual Net Loss, to Cut 20,000 Jobs: The automaker also said it would "consolidate its vehicle production plants from 17 to 10 by fiscal year 2027."
Tariff Shocks and How to Cope (Commercial Vehicle Edition): Understanding how these dynamics will play out is essential to identifying flexible strategic options.
Sustainability's Second Act: Some See Opportunity as Interest Wanes: The noise and hype are gone. Now is the time to use sustainability as a strong competitive advantage.
US, China Agree to Slash Tariffs as Trump Says to Speak With Xi Soon: The United States agreed to lower its tariffs on Chinese goods to 30% while China will reduce its own to 10%.
Robotics Coming for Simple Human Tasks and Pink Gorillas: Automate 2025: What do pink gorillas have to do with robotic automation? It has something to do with simulation and AI.
Shining a Light on a Century of Manufacturing: What manufacturers have been around for 100 years or more? These seven have, and we salute them.
