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On Monday, OSHA announced more than $986,000 in safety violations for the largest transformer manufacturer in North America.​According to the U.S. Labor Department, OSHA inspectors visited Virginia Transformer Corp.'s (VTC) plant in Pocatello, Idaho, in June 2025. The visit was a follow-up after a pair of inspections last year found cranes used to handle heavy loads with faulty brakes and...

A former plant worker received an eight-year prison sentence for committing wire fraud and cheating his employer out of nearly $500,000, the Department of Justice announced. The perpetrator, 57-year-old John Laakso — who also went by John Trebesch — reportedly worked as a contractor and later became an engineering manager at GAF Materials Corporation’s roofing factory in Savannah, Georgia. His...

Next month, Mecum Auctions hopes to cash in with a 1995 Corvette ZR1 Phase 5 engine still sealed in its original crate. The engine will go up for sale at Mecum's Kissimmee (kuh-si-mee) 2026 sale.The factory‑sealed LT5 crate engine underscores a growing demand for standalone powerplants as collectibles. Mecum has seen a surge in “component collectibles” as enthusiasts are increasingly bidding on...

Jaguar’s longtime design chief Gerry McGovern – and designer of the 00 – has reportedly been fired this past week.

Last Wednesday, the U.S. Department of Labor announced that Taylor Farms New Jersey, a vegetable processing subsidiary of bagged salad maker Taylor Farms, faces more than $1 million in fines following an inspection triggered by a workplace fatality in Swedesboro, New Jersey. The investigation began in May 2025 after a worker was killed while cleaning a machine, and OSHA inspectors found 16...

Within the studio’s ‘Invent and Integrate’ design approach, Mask Architects has unveiled a fully self-chargeable solar motorcycle named Solaris. At its core, Solaris looks a little bit like any other bike, but upon charging, retractable photovoltaic wings unfold, collecting rich sunlight to supply energy to the bike’s lithium storage unit.The project serves as an exploration of autonomous...

Welcome to another episode of Gen Z in Manufacturing, a podcast where I talk to young people about their journeys in manufacturing, how they intend to influence the industry and what they are looking for from an employer.For this episode, I welcome 23-year-old Roman Andrew, an applications engineer at Fristam Pumps USA. Andrew spent nearly two years interning at Fristam Pumps while in college,...

Last Friday, Able Groupe pleaded guilty to a pair of felony charges for smuggling illegal baby formula into the United States. According to the Justice Department, the company, which also did business as Little Bundle and Huggable, sold European infant formula to U.S. consumers beginning in the spring of 2019 on LittleBundle.com....

Aluminum manufacturer Novelis suffered a third fire in two months at its plant in Oswego, New York. The company announced on its website that the fire began around 8:45 a.m. on Nov. 20 and that multiple local fire departments extinguished it by 3:25 p.m. The company added that all workers safely evacuated.The Wall Street Journal cited anonymous sources who said the incident appeared to occur in...

In March 2024, a nearly 1,000-foot-long container ship lost power and crashed into the Francis Scott Key Bridge in Baltimore, causing the structure to collapse. Six highway workers were killed in the accident and estimates for replacing the bridge are as high as $5.2 billion.And now it looks like the whole tragic accident was caused by a single loose wire.