By Karen Langhauser, Editor-in-Chief, Food Manufacturing

 

While the reasons for the food industry’s initial lean delay vary according to who you ask, most lean experts agree that lean plays an important role in present-day food manufacturing.

Europe's biggest automaker said Thursday it will focus on keeping competitive amid the financial crisis and pledged to build more efficient cars.

Head of Nissan Motor said he foresees a big push by automakers to bring pure-electric vehicles to market, predicting that 10 percent of all vehicles globally will be electric by 2020.

Oil prices held steady Friday after OPEC announced it would meet this month to address crude prices that have fallen 60 percent in just four months.

Delays in the development of new oil fields may spark a supply crunch and drive up oil prices above $200 per barrel, International Energy Agency's Executive Director warned.

Green Car Journal named Volkswagen's 2009 Jetta TDI as the ‘Green Car of the Year’ at the Los Angeles Auto Show on Thursday, making it the first clean-diesel vehicle to win the prize.

Groups suing Federal Maritime Commission, alleging it violated environmental laws when it sought a court order to halt parts of the program that could lead to the replacement of 18,000 older trucks.

Financial woes of U.S. auto suppliers have the potential to set off a cataclysmic chain of events in the industry if key parts makers run out of cash and fail, say automotive analysts.

Commerce Department says wholesale inventories held by distributors fell 0.1 percent in September, as companies cut stockpiles in the face of the economic slowdown.

Chicago-based plane maker says it will likely lay off more workers next year as it cuts costs in a slowing economy.

With no end in sight to economic bad news, President Bush ensured that millions of laid-off workers will keep getting unemployment checks as the year-end holidays approach.

Information technology channel companies say 46 percent of their customers implemented one or more RFID solutions, up from 34 percent in 2007.

Several companies, including Boeing, and the University of Paderborn in Germany will partner to further the development of direct manufacturing processes and systems.

Beijing to completely overhaul its dairy industry to improve safety at every step, saying its worst food quality scandal in years had revealed 'major problems.'

Worries about quality of Chinese exports to the U.S. have become a major feature of trade ties, with substandard food and lead-tainted toys among recurring safety scares.

Paper maker said Friday that it would indefinitely shut down a pulp mill operation in Bastrop, La., affecting about 550 employees.

Rival Forest River will acquire most of the assets of Coachmen's RV business, including the brands, product lines, central manufacturing operations and a dealership in Indiana.