Manufacturing

In late 2009, Dassault Systèmes, France's largest software company, launched a search for a location to establish a headquarters for its rapidly expanding operations in North and South America. It already had operations in Los Angeles, Charlotte, N.C., and Auburn Hills, Mich. But ultimately, the global technology firm decided there was only one place to be: Route 128. Dassault creates software that helps companies conceive, design, make, and improve products, and Route 128 has become the world's undisputed epicenter of this fast-growing technology, known as Product Lifecycle Management, or...

IT'S NOT YOUR EVERYDAY industrial sector: motion. But that's what the many products of Altra Holdings Inc. have in common: They are used in a wide variety of machines and processes that move. From elevators to wind turbines, lawn mowers to warships, Altra's 20 companies make products that propel and harness the movement that powers industry. The company's clutch brakes are used to start and stop farm combines and oil drills; its gears rotate gun turrets in armored Humvees and power agitators in water treatment facilities; its coupling devices connect wind turbine propellers to shafts, turbines to...

NEW YORK -- A closely watched index designed to forecast future business activity fell in March, a sign that the nation's economic growth may be slowing, but a separate report from the Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia showed robust manufacturing growth this month in the mid-Atlantic region. Investors responded enthusiastically to the latter report and strong corporate earnings, with all three major stock indices rising strongly yesterday and the Dow Jones industrial average posting its best one-day showing in more than two years.

Bristol-Myers Squibb Co. , a New York-based drug company, said Tuesday that its biologics manufacturing facility in Devens has gotten regulatory approval for the commercial production of Orencia, a treatment for some patients with rheumatoid arthritis. The approval was given by the US Food and Drug Administration. The Devens facility employs roughly 300 people, including scientists, engineers, and bioprocess operators, Bristol-Myers Squibb said in a press release . The building at Devens was completed in 2009, and the facility started...

If there's one city that could be called the birthplace of New England's innovation economy, it's Springfield. With the establishment of a federal armory in the late 18th century, Springfield became a center of precision manufacturing, attracting skilled workers and forward-thinking entrepreneurs. The tools and techniques they developed were diffused throughout New England, then adapted and advanced as the economy moved from textiles and shoes to computers, telecommunications, and biotechnology.

Sluggish business investment and modest consumer spending likely slowed U.S. manufacturing activity in April. Economists forecast that the Institute for Supply Management's manufacturing index dipped last month to 53, according to a survey by FactSet. That would be down from 53.4 in March. Readings above 50 indicate expansion, however. The private trade group of purchasing managers will release the report at 10 a.m. Eastern on Tuesday. The report comes as other recent measures suggest the manufacturing sector is slowing a bit. Factories have been a key source of jobs and...

Starting this week, Economic demographer Kenneth Darga is leading three presentations in Lansing, Mich. on revitalizing U.S. manufacturing. Darga kicks off the series Tuesday with "Imbalance of Trade: America's Most Important Deficit. " He'll present the second part, "A Strategy for Restoring Manufacturing in America," on March 6. The last presentation on March 20 will be "Toward a More Responsive and Responsible National Fiscal Policy. " The talks all start at 12:10 p.m. in the main auditorium of the Capital Area District Library.

NEW YORK — The service sector expanded in April, with business activity accelerating at the strongest pace in four years. The Institute for Supply Management, a trade group of purchasing executives, said its service sector index read 55.4 in April, the same level as in March. It’s the fourth straight month of growth. Economists polled by Thomson Reuters had expected a stronger reading of 56. A level above 50 indicates growth. The service sector accounts for 80 percent of US jobs in areas such as health care, retail, and financial services.

Manufacturing in the northeastern United States expanded this month at its best pace in nearly a year. The growth confirms other data showing the U.S. economy is strengthening. A Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia index of manufacturing conditions rose in March to 12.5, its highest reading since April 2011. A similar survey by the Federal Reserve Bank of New York rose to 20.2, a 21-month high. Manufacturing has been growing in those regions since the fall. Over the summer, it contracted because of the supply-chain disruptions caused by the Japan...

WASHINGTON - Production at US factories dropped in March for the first time in four months as the industry cooled following the strongest surge in three decades. Manufacturing, which makes up about 75 percent of industrial output, decreased 0.2 percent last month as appliance and furniture makers cut back, data from the Federal Reserve showed Tuesday in Washington. The decline followed a revised 3.4 percent gain from December through February that marked the biggest three-month jump since March 1984.

Most people would not think of Boston as a center for high-ticket bicycle manufacturing. But most people don't buy $7,000 bicycles. That is the kind they make at Seven Cycles Inc. in Watertown, and business is good. The 27-employee company expects to sell about 1,500 bikes this year. "The momentum's really building," said chief financial officer Jennifer Miller . Seven Cycles is one of about 7,500 manufacturing companies in Massachusetts that make everything from massive data-storage systems to snowplows.

In late 2009, Dassault Systèmes, France's largest software company, launched a search for a location to establish a headquarters for its rapidly expanding operations in North and South America. It already had operations in Los Angeles, Charlotte, N.C., and Auburn Hills, Mich. But ultimately, the global technology firm decided there was only one place to be: Route 128. Dassault creates software that helps companies conceive, design, make, and improve products, and Route 128 has become the world's undisputed epicenter of this fast-growing technology, known as Product Lifecycle...

Lantheus Medical Imaging Inc. , a Billerica company that develops diagnostic imaging agents, announced new manufacturing and supply agreements with Jubilant HollisterStier LLC , or JHS. According to its website, JHS is a Washington state-based company specializing in contract manufacturing. Under separate agreements, JHS will manufacture Cardiolite and Neurolite products, each for an initial term of five years and each with an option to renew for an additional five years thereafter.

Manufacturing surveys released this week provided mixed signals over the state of China's economy. A survey released Wednesday showed manufacturing contracted in April for the sixth straight month, though the rate of deterioration had slowed. Adjusted for seasonal conditions, HSBC's purchasing managers index, or PMI, for April was 49.3, up from 48.3 in April. The index has remained below 50 — the level indicating expansion, since October. Companies also reduced jobs, at the sharpest rate in 37 months, HSBC said.

WASHINGTON - US manufacturing grew last month at the fastest pace in 10 months, suggesting that the economy is healthier than recent data had indicated. New orders, production, and a measure of hiring all rose. The April survey from the Institute for Supply Management was a hopeful sign ahead of Friday's monthly jobs report and helped the Dow Jones industrial average end the day at its highest level in more than four years. The trade group of purchasing managers said Tuesday that its index of manufacturing activity reached 54.8 in April, the highest...

Asian stock markets rose Wednesday after a burst of manufacturing growth in the U.S. pushed the Dow Jones industrial average to its highest close in more than four years. Japan's Nikkei 225 inched up less than 0.1 percent at 9,354.45 after a sharp tumble the day before. Other Asian markets opened higher following public holidays. Hong Kong's Hang Seng gained 0.8 percent to 21,258.14. Benchmarks in Taiwan, Singapore and mainland China also rose. U.S. manufacturing expanded last month at its strongest pace since June, according to the Institute for Supply...

Kentucky Gov. Steve Beshear has announced that a new manufacturing operation will open in Nicholasville, creating 94 jobs. Beshear said Monday that the plant operated by SMC LLC will be located in a 22,500-square-foot building that used to house Custom Wiring. Workers at the plant will manufacture circuit board assemblies and perform systems integration for the electronics industry. He said the company has already begun to operate and plans to be at full capacity by early next year.

U.S. manufacturing activity grew in January at the fastest pace in seven months, boosted by a rise in new orders. And builders ended a poor year for construction by spending more on homes and projects for the fifth straight month. The reports bolster other data showing the U.S. economy started the year strong. The Institute for Supply Management, a trade group of purchasing managers, said Wednesday that its manufacturing index rose last month to 54.1 from 53.1 in December.

Chinese manufacturing expanded for a fifth straight month in April in data that analysts say indicate the country's economic activity is picking up moderately. The state-affiliated China Federation of Logistics and Purchasing said Tuesday that its purchasing managers index, or PMI, rose 0.2 percentage points to 53.3 percent in April, up from March's 53.1 and February's 51.0. A reading above 50 signifies expansion. Economic growth slowed to 8.9 percent in the final quarter of last year after Beijing hiked interest rates and tightened other controls to cool inflation.

Investors abandoned the safety of government bonds on signs that the U.S. economy was picking up. U.S. manufacturing grew last month at the fastest pace in 10 months. New orders, production, and a measure of hiring rose, according to the Institute for Supply Management, a trade group of purchasing managers. Separately, the Commerce Department reported Tuesday that construction spending edged up 0.1 percent in March after two months of declines. U.S. Treasurys are viewed as one of the safest investments in the world and usually fall in value when investors feel...