ABB announced it has acquired SVIA, a provider in the fast-growing market of robot automation cells for machine tending.

After a nine-year construction period, the new, third channel of the Panama Canal has opened to allow ships with a maximum length of 366 metres and a width of around 50 metres travel this shortcut between the Atlantic and the Pacific Oceans. Until now, the passage was restricted to ships that were no more than 290 metres long and 32 metres wide. Bearing solutions from Schaeffler keep the lock gates and valves moving.

The Hoffmann Group has launched the Hoffmann Group TV online channel as an outlet for its film content. Through this new video portal, the company, which offers 70,000 tools from an inventory of manufacturers, is giving customers a quicker and more convenient way to obtain information on professional machining, milling, drilling, turning, measuring, grinding, workstations and storage solutions within a single platform.

Universal Robots (UR), the Danish company that manufactures flexible and safe industrial robots that advocate human-robot collaboration, has launched Universal Robots+, a series of plug and play application solutions to offer companies a fuss-free, simple integration process when installing the UR robot applications.

A downturn in the mining industry is helping to fuel demand for LaserBond’s products, as manufacturers look to maximise productivity.

Mitsubishi Motors Philippines Corporation (MMPC) and Toyota Motors Philippines Corporation (TMPC) have announced that they will be investing approximately P8 billion (US$172 million) under the Philippine government’s Comprehensive Automotive Resurgence Strategy (CARS) programme by 2018.

TM Robotics and Toshiba Machine have announced a partnership with Caionix, a distributor of industrial robots in Egypt.

The worldwide sales of industrial robots reached a new record number of 248,000 units in 2015, according to a research by the International Federation of Robots (IFR). This is a 12-percent rise, compared to 2014’s sale numbers of 221,000 units. According to the IFR, more than one in every four of those units went to China.

Boeing is introducing a faster layer of automation into its 737 factory, adding a new robotic system to drill holes in the main beams inside each wing known as spars.

India will become one of the top global steel consuming nations in the next 10 years if there is a sustained government spending on infrastructure like roads, railways, power and housing, according to India’s steel giant SAIL chairman P K Singh.