Tag - manufacturing

 
Menu
Search
 
April 04, 2025
 

Today's print edition

Home Delivery
Subscribe for more access

MANUFACTURING

A lithium battery factory following a deadly fire in Hwaseong, South Korea, on June 24
ASIA PACIFIC
Aug 23, 2024
Safety failures caused deadly fire at South Korea plant, police say
Twenty-three people were killed at an Aricell lithium battery plant in South Korea in a massive blaze in June.
A Mitsubishi Electric employee prepares a robotic arm for a demonstration of the firm's artificial intelligence technologies.
BUSINESS / Companies
Aug 23, 2024
Mitsubishi Electric fights to keep up with AI data center demand
The Tokyo-based maker of factory automation is a key supplier of optic fiber communication devices that link servers to one another.
The ability of Xi Jinping's government to control China's industrial overcapacity crisis is limited, and stimulating domestic demand is difficult amid geopolitical tensions.
COMMENTARY / World
Aug 21, 2024
Xi’s supply-side panacea has lost its magic
China’s excess capacity problem will have to fester until even its industry leaders call it quits. That may be some years away.
The Finance Ministry will apply foreign trade regulations to chipmaking equipment, requiring foreign investors to give prior notice when conducting direct investment in the sector.
BUSINESS
Aug 16, 2024
Japanese government tightens grip on chip supply-chain network
The move comes as Japan tries to revive its own capacity to produce semiconductors as a pillar of its economic security strategy.
The central square of the Czech town Roznov pod Radhostem, which has about 16,000 inhabitants
BUSINESS / Tech
Aug 14, 2024
The sleepy Czech town helping Europe compete in the global chip war
In Roznov, about 2,200 Onsemi employees make 10 million chips a day for car, industrial and telecommunications customers.
U.S. President Donald Trump and SpaceX and Tesla CEO Elon Musk in Cape Canaveral, Florida, on May 30, 2020
BUSINESS / Companies
Aug 13, 2024
Musk scorns subsidies, but Tesla still lobbies for U.S. benefits
Despite Musk's gradual embrace of Trump, the company continues to lobby the U.S. and state governments for benefits championed by the Democratic Party.
The Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company facility in Phoenix. The tech giant modeled its facility in Phoenix on one at home. But bringing the company's highly complex manufacturing process to America has been a bigger challenge than it expected.
BUSINESS / Companies
Aug 10, 2024
What works in Taiwan doesn’t always work in Arizona, a chipmaking giant learns
Bringing TSMC's highly complex manufacturing process to America has been a bigger challenge than it expected.
China always seems to be one step ahead of America in economic strategies, advancing in electric vehicle and battery production while the U.S. struggles to keep up with evolving trade and supply chain challenges.
COMMENTARY / World
Aug 2, 2024
West plays 'whack-a-mole' as China dominates EV and battery sectors
A more proactive, multilateral approach by the U.S. to supply chain and trade policy is necessary to counter China’s economic influence.
Toyota Motor has been issued a correction order for the first time.
BUSINESS / Companies
Jul 31, 2024
Toyota Motor receives correction order from transport ministry
The ministry found indications of additional misconduct, such as falsifying test results.
Nissan initially had an early-mover advantage when it launched the Leaf in 2010, the first electric vehicle by a major global manufacturer, but the company recently has been unable to leverage its EV edge.
BUSINESS / Companies
Jul 26, 2024
Nissan's global production cuts imperil CEO’s recovery plan
Nissan’s disappointing results only add to the challenges facing CEO Makoto Uchida.
International Monetary Fund guidance on industrial policy must balance protection with market discipline and emphasize fiscal prudence.
COMMENTARY / World
Jul 25, 2024
What fiscally sound industrial policy can do
Industrial policy can help countries cope with growing economic and political uncertainty. But the details matter.
Honda will close a plant operated through its joint venture with Chinese state-owned automaker Guangzhou Automobile Group in October.
BUSINESS / Companies
Jul 25, 2024
Japan's Honda to close one China plant and halt production at another
The company's annual production capacity in China will shrink to 1.2 million vehicles from 1.49 million as a result of the stoppages.
Prime Minister Fumio Kishida inspects a new plant of Rapidus under construction in Chitose, Hokkaido, on Wednesday.
BUSINESS / Economy
Jul 25, 2024
Kishida vows new law for next-gen chip production
Japan has decided to provide up to ¥920 billion to Tokyo-based company Rapidus, which aims to start mass production of chips in 2027.
People visit the Volkswagen booth at the Beijing International Automotive Exhibition, on April 25.
BUSINESS / Companies
Jul 24, 2024
Volkswagen is reeling in China. Can EVs help it grow in the U.S.?
Volkswagen CFO Arno Antlitz said the company expects to continue losing China market share and hopes to merely maintain its position in Europe.
Former U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo speaks during the last day of the 2024 Republican National Convention on Thursday in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.
BUSINESS / Companies
Jul 20, 2024
Nippon Steel hires Mike Pompeo to help clinch purchase of U.S. Steel
Pompeo, who served as the U.S.’ top diplomat under Donald Trump, will be an adviser to the Japanese company for its $14.1 billion purchase.
The Illuminate USA solar panel plant in Pataskala, Ohio, on Monday
ENVIRONMENT / Energy
Jul 18, 2024
Many U.S. solar factories are lagging, except for those China owns
Chinese companies will have at least 20 gigawatts' worth of annual solar panel production capacity on U.S. soil within the next year.
Diaper products for babies and adults are displayed at a factory of Daio Paper's subsidiary Elleair in Fujinomiya, Shizuoka Prefecture, in June.
BUSINESS / Companies
Jul 17, 2024
Japan's diaper-makers look to adult market for revenue as births fall
Japan's population is likely to decline by about 30% to 87 million by 2070, with 4 people in every 10 at the age of 65 or more, estimates show.
Keiju Okada (left) and Miho Yoshioka compete in the 470-class mixed two-person dinghy event of the sailing world championships in August in the Netherlands.
OLYMPICS / Sailing
Jul 17, 2024
Japanese craftsmanship to play vital role in dinghy sailing in Paris
Fifteen of the 19 boats in the new 470-class mixed two-person dinghy event at the 2024 Paris Games will use sails made by North Sails Japan.
The production plant of GCL Technology in Xuzhou, Jiangsu province, China, on July 2
BUSINESS / Economy
Jul 16, 2024
Xi Jinping’s great economic rewiring is cushioning China’s slowdown
Tech advances and a resulting export boom have helped to keep economic growth within reach of its targeted pace of around 5%.
Workers assemble a car inside BYD's first electric vehicle factory in Southeast Asia in Rayong, Thailand, on July 4.
BUSINESS / Economy
Jul 15, 2024
Thai economy faces upheaval due to factory closures
Scores of companies are shuttering in Thailand, which is bearing the brunt of cheap imports from China and factors including rising energy prices and an aging workforce.
As ‘Buy Canadian’ grows, more U.S. firms say retailers turning away products
Empty shelves with "Buy Canadian Instead" signs are seen in the American Whiskey section of the BC Liquor in Vancouver, British Columbia, on March 10.
U.S. tourist arrested after bringing a handgun into Japan
Hyogo police believe the handgun a U.S. tourist inadvertently brought into Japan slipped through security procedures at Kansai International Airport in Osaka Prefecture.
Trump unveils 10% global tariff, with Japan levy set at 24%
Trump tosses a MAGA hat to the crowd during an event in which he unveiled new tariffs in the White House on Wednesday.
Meiji says sayonara to bottled milk, a staple of Japan's bathhouses
Meiji bottled milk lined up in a fridge at Kosugiyu, a bathhouse in Tokyo. The sticker urges patrons to enjoy the milk one last time before it’s gone.
Japan promises 'bold and speedy' response to Trump’s surprise 24% tariffs
U.S. President Donald Trump unveils new U.S. tariffs at the White House in Washington on Wednesday.
Haruki Murakami TV adaptation revisits 30 years of watershed moments
Though Haruki Murakami's trademark whiff of offbeat existentialism is threaded throughout NHK's "After the Quake," the final episode — conceived as a sequel to the story "Super-Frog Saves Tokyo" — is the most stylized, featuring an anthropomorphic talking frog (voiced by Non) and his erstwhile associate Katagiri (Koichi Sato).
A new human trafficking trend emerges from Myanmar scam centers
Victims of scam centers who were tricked or trafficked into working in Myanmar gather at a compound inside KK Park, a fraud center on the country's border with Thailand, after a multinational crackdown in February.
Meiji says sayonara to bottled milk, a staple of Japan's bathhouses
Meiji bottled milk lined up in a fridge at Kosugiyu, a bathhouse in Tokyo. The sticker urges patrons to enjoy the milk one last time before it’s gone.
A Canadian made a weekend trip to Costco a Japanese pastime
Under the watchful eye of Ken Theriault, Costco representative director and Japan country manager, the American membership-model wholesaler has flourished in Japan.
On defense, Japan may avoid Trump's worst impulses — for now
Defense Minister Gen Nakatani and U.S. Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth chat after reviewing an honor guard during a welcome ceremony at the Defense Ministry in Tokyo on Sunday.

Podcast

One of the many entrances to the Kabukicho neighborhood in Tokyo’s Shinjuku Ward.
Kabukicho: Tokyo’s ‘stadium of desire’

Longform

Professional cleaner Hirofumi Sakurai takes a moment to appreciate some photographs in a Gotanda apartment whose occupant died alone.
The last cleanup: Life and death in a lonely Japan
By Johan Brooks

SUSTAINABLE JAPAN

BOARDING & INTERNATIONAL SCHOOL DAY 2025 (Sunday, April 20)
BOARDING & INTERNATIONAL SCHOOL DAY 2025 (Sunday, April 20)

SPECIAL SUPPLEMENTS note

Read more

SUPPLEMENTS BINDER