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Mazda To Build Battery Module Plant In Japan

factory
Jan 07, 2025
Article Source LogoBattery News
Battery News

Mazda Motor Corporation is going to build a factory to produce modules and packs for cylindrical lithium-ion batteries in the Japanese city of Iwakuni, Yamaguchi. The required battery cells will be supplied by Panasonic Energy. Battery packs manufactured at the plant, which is designed for an annual capacity of ten gigawatt-hours, are to be used in Mazdaʼs first all-battery electric car. It will be based on a dedicated electric-vehicle platform and produced at a Mazda plant in Japan.

As part of its 2030 Management Policy, Mazda is pursuing a strategy of multiple solutions to meet different customer needs and regulatory requirements. This includes the further development of electrification technologies, of which batteries are a key component. In May 2023, Mazda had signed a supply agreement with Panasonic Energy for cylindrical battery cells.

Source:https://newsroom.mazda.com/en/publicity/release/2025/202501/250106a.html

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WEBVTTX-TIMESTAMP-MAP=LOCAL:00:00:00.000,MPEGTS:000:00.009 --> 00:03.000The Toyota brand has long been aligned withhybrid technology,00:03.109 --> 00:07.000which is why it wasn't exactly surprising whenthe company decided to ride out the00:07.000 --> 00:10.529all-electric wave by continuing to focus on itshybrid electric line.00:10.670 --> 00:14.840It's a move that's paid off for the Japaneseautomaker as hybrid electric and plug-in hybrid00:14.840 --> 00:19.270sales in the US combined to hit a record highin the 3rd quarter of 2024,00:19.440 --> 00:22.350exceeding 12% of total light duty vehicle sales.00:22.559 --> 00:27.746Meanwhile, global sales hit their own records.And with it has come something of an inventory00:27.746 --> 00:30.545problem for Toyota.Reuters is reporting that Toyota's hybrid00:30.545 --> 00:36.386models are in such high demand that partsshortages have led to months-long delays or00:36.386 --> 00:39.425worse.One buyer in India is said to have submitted00:39.425 --> 00:45.736his order for the regionally available ToyotaEnova High Cross SUV in January of 2023.00:45.866 --> 00:49.425After many delays, he was again told last month,the vehicle.00:49.501 --> 00:51.361It would take months longer to arrive.00:51.731 --> 00:53.641The customer reportedly moved on.00:53.852 --> 00:58.492At issue, according to Reuters, are bottlenecksin Toyota's hybrid vehicle supply chain.00:58.692 --> 01:03.692They say a shortage of magnets supplied byToyota's Ain Corp component manufacturer has01:03.692 --> 01:07.921triggered a hybrid motor delay, not to mentioninverters supplied by Denso,01:08.132 --> 01:12.421a manufacturer of which Toyota is the partialowner, are reportedly being impacted by01:12.421 --> 01:15.547bottlenecks at its own tier.2 and 3 suppliers.01:15.718 --> 01:20.148And while the example in India is perhaps anoutlier, Car Scoop says generally,01:20.438 --> 01:23.4772 to 9 months is the typical wait time there.In Japan,01:23.557 --> 01:27.508they say Toyota hybrids take 2 to 5 months toget, and in Europe,01:27.758 --> 01:32.148wait times have doubled since 2020 to anaverage of 60 or 70 days.01:32.277 --> 01:35.508Toyota has downplayed the claim that it isstruggling to keep up with demand,01:35.758 --> 01:38.917saying that despite hybrid sales being upsignificantly in all regions,01:39.414 --> 01:43.704The production capacity for hybrid parts andcomponents from its suppliers and its in-house01:43.704 --> 01:49.083parts manufacturing is in line with its annualproduction plans and vehicle assembly capacity.01:49.223 --> 01:54.134According to car scoops, one change may atleast ease the supply crunch for US buyers.01:54.353 --> 01:58.624Toyota says it's expanding operations in aNorth Carolina plant and will begin shipping01:58.624 --> 02:03.603more batteries there this month, set to be usedin its range of electrified vehicles.02:03.984 --> 02:05.984I'm Anna Wells, and this is Manufacturing now.
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Safety Agency Says Workers Killed In Flooding Had Time To Evacuate
manufacturing net
Safety Agency Says Workers Killed In Flooding Had Time To EvacuateNASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — Workers at an East Tennessee plastics company who died in flooding from last year's Hurricane Helene had time to evacuate, albeit by "makeshift routes," according to an investigation from the Tennessee Occupational Safety and Health Administration released on Wednesday. "It was found that Impact Plastics, Inc. exercised reasonable diligence to dismiss employees and direct them to leave the site in this emergency situation," the report concludes. "As the deaths of Impact Plastics, Inc. employees are not work related, no citations are recommended." Five employees and one contractor who cleaned the offices once a week were killed on Sept. 27 after they were washed away by floodwaters. Attorneys for their surviving family members vehemently dispute the conclusion that they were dismissed from work with time to evacuate safely. "TOSHA's report ignores the testimony of multiple witnesses, critical text messages, emergency alert logs, and photographic evidence that tell the real story about Impact Plastics' fatal failures," said attorney Alex Little, who represents the family of Johnny Peterson. "We're grateful that in America, juries — not bureaucrats citing unnamed sources — will decide the truth based on all the evidence." Peterson was one of 12 people who tried to escape the rising waters by climbing onto the bed of a semi-trailer loaded with giant spools of plastic piping that was parked outside the factory. When floodwaters eventually overwhelmed the truck, six people were able to use the piping for floatation and were later rescued. The other six drowned. TOSHA notes that its investigation was hampered by "phone service disruptions, language barriers, and other challenges." It also says that the flooding destroyed the company's workplace safety records. Attorney Luke Widener, who represents the family of contractor Sibrina Barnett and other victims, alleged in a statement that many safety records, including an emergency evacuation plan, never existed. He pointed out that workers at surrounding businesses in the industrial park were able to evacuate safely. "While we agree with TOSHA's suggestion that Impact Plastics should improve its emergency plans, this comes far too late for our clients," Widener said. The TOSHA report relies on the fact that a number of Impact Plastics employees did escape the flood, despite the fact that the one road in and out of the park was already covered in water by the time they began to evacuate. Some were able to escape by driving or walking over an embankment to a nearby highway after workers at a neighboring business dismantled a fence there. Others escaped by driving over a makeshift path onto nearby railroad tracks that an employee at a neighboring business created with a tractor. Still others were able to escape by walking to the railroad tracks, according to the report. In response to questions about these makeshift escape routes, Chris Cannon, spokesman for the Tennessee Department of Labor and Workforce Development, said in an email, "Evacuation by auto was not the only feasible evacuation route." He added, "TOSHA would not be able to hold an employer accountable for road conditions." A statement for the company from attorney Stephen Ross Johnson says Impact Plastics welcomes the results of the TOSHA investigation "Critically, and contrary to what was reported by some in the media, Tennessee OSHA 'found no evidence that employees were threatened with termination or forced to work beyond a safe evacuation point'," the statement reads. In addition to the TOSHA, the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation has been probing the six deaths. That investigation is ongoing.
factory
03 April 2025
Demand For Viral 'Torpedo' Baseball Bats Sends Pennsylvania Factory Into Overdrive
manufacturing net
Demand For Viral 'Torpedo' Baseball Bats Sends Pennsylvania Factory Into OverdriveKING OF PRUSSIA, Pa. (AP) — A 70-year-old man who plays in an area senior hardball league popped into Victus Sports this week because he needed bats for the new season. Plus he just had to take some cuts with baseball's latest fad and see for himself if there really was some wizardry in the wallop off a torpedo bat. Ed Costantini, of Newtown Square, picked up the custom-designed VOLPE11-TPD Pro Reserve Maple, and took his hacks just like MLB stars and Victus customers Anthony Volpe or Bryson Stott would inside the company's batting cage and tracked the ball's path on the virtual Citizens Bank Park on the computer screens. Most big leaguers use that often indistinguishable "feel" as a qualifier as to how they select a bat. Costantini had a similar process and thought the hype surrounding the torpedo since it exploded into the baseball consciousness over the weekend was a "hoax." But after dozens of swings in the cage, where he said the balance was better, the ball sounded more crisp off the bat, the left-handed hitter ordered on the spot four custom-crafted torpedo bats at $150 a pop. "The litmus test that I used was, I could see where the marks of the ball were," Costantini said. "The swings were hitting the thickness of the torpedo as opposed to the end of the bat." More than just All-Stars want a crack at the torpedo — a striking design in which wood is moved lower down the barrel after the label and shapes the end a little like a bowling pin — and Costantini's purchase highlighted the surge of interest in baseball's shiny new toy outside the majors. Think of home runs in baseball, and the fan's mind races to the mammoth distances a ball can fly when slugged right on the nose, or a history-making chase that captivates a nation. Of lesser interest, the ol' reliable wood bat itself. That was, of course, until Paul Goldschmidt and Cody Bellinger hit back-to-back homers for the New York Yankees last Saturday to open a nine-homer barrage. Victus Sports, known as much for their vibrant bats painted as pencils or the Phillie Phanatic dressed as a King's Guard, had three employees at the game and they started a text thread where they hinted to those back home that, perhaps more than home runs were taking off. Business was about to boom, too. Victus spent most of the last 14 years trying to help shape the future of baseball. The company's founders just never imagined that shape would resemble a bowling pin. "It was the most talked about thing about bats that we ever experienced," Victus co-founder Jared Smith said. Victus isn't the only company producing the bulgy bats, but they were among the first to list them for sale online after the Yankees' made them the talk of the sports world. The torpedo bat took the league by storm in only 24 hours, and days later, the calls and orders, and test drives -- from big leaguers to rec leaguers -- are humming inside the company's base, in a northwest suburb of Philadelphia. "The amount of steam that it's caught, this quickly, that's certainly surprising," Smith said. "If the Yankees hitting nine home runs in a game doesn't happen, this doesn't happen." Victus was stamped this season as the official bat of Major League Baseball and business was already good: Phillies slugger Bryce Harper is among the stars who stick their bats on highlight reels. But that torpedo-looking hunk of lumber? It generated about as much interest last season in baseball as a .200 hitter. Victus made its first torpedoes around 2024 spring training when the Yankees reached out about crafting samples for their players. Victus, as dialed-in as anyone in the bat game, only made about a dozen last season, and about a dozen more birch or maple bats this spring. This week alone, try hundreds of torpedoes. "Every two minutes, another one comes out of the machine," Smith said. Who knew there would be a baseball bat craze? On a good day, Victus makes 600-700 bats, but the influx of pro orders -- the company estimates at least half of every starting lineup uses Victus or Marucci bats -- has sent production into overdrive. The creation of a typical bat is usually a two-day process, but one can be turned around without a finish in about 20 minutes. Victus crafted rush-order bats Monday morning for a few interested Phillies and dashed to Citizens Bank Park for delivery moments before first pitch. All-Star third baseman Alec Bohm singled with one. Stott tested bats at the Marucci hit lab down in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, churning through styles until the company found the right fit. "They connect all these wires to you, and you swing 1,000 bats," Stott said. "And they kind of tell you where you're hitting the ball mostly." Here's the surprising part of the torpedo bat: For all its early hype, the bat is no rookie in the game. The lethal lumber has been used by some sluggers in baseball for at least a year or two only, well, no one really noticed. Giancarlo Stanton and Francisco Lindor used torpedoes last season. Other players experimented with it and no one — not the bulk of other players or journalists or fans — ever really picked up on the newfangled advance in hitting innovation. Smith said only "a few baseball junkies" inquired about the bats. "I think it's just one of those things that until you're looking for it, you might not see it," Smith said. "Now when you look at pictures, you're like, oh yeah, it's a torpedo." Aaron Leanhardt, a former Yankees front-office staffer who now works for the Miami Marlins, was credited as the one who developed the torpedo barrel to bring more mass to a bat's sweet spot. A member of Victus' parent company, Marucci Sports, worked with Leanhardt in a Louisiana branch of their hit lab last year to get the bat off the ground and into the hands of big leaguers. "I think getting past the shape being different was the hardest barrier," Smith said. "Then the team goes out and hits those home runs like they did and everyone is willing to try it." Before last weekend, Victus had no plans to mass produce the bat, making it only available to professionals. Now, Smith said, "I think it's our job to kind of educate the public in what's out there." The odd shape off the bat — like making a sausage, the meat is simply pushed down the casing — has little to no effect at Victus on the dynamics of making a baseball bat. The cost is the same as a standard bat, too, with a sticker price starting at around $200. Only the slogan is punched up: Get your hands on the most-talked about bat in the game. There's not enough data yet to truly know how much oomph — or hits and homers — a torpedo bat may help some hitters. Cincinnati's Elly De La Cruz picked one up for the first time Monday and had a single, double and two home runs for a career-high seven RBIs. Not all hitters are believers —- or at least feel like they need to tinker with their lumber. Yankees slugger Aaron Judge, who hit an AL-record 62 homers in 2022 and 58 last year en route to his second AL MVP award, declined to try the new bat, asking, "Why try to change something?" Phillies All-Star shortstop Trea Turner said the hoopla was "blown out of proportion." "You've still got to hit the ball," Turner said. Turner, though, said he was open to trying the torpedo. "For bats to be the hot topic out in the zeitgeist is cool," Smith said. "It's kind of like our time to shine, in a way."
factory
03 April 2025
Bae Systems Awarded $70 Million Contract For Future Virginia Payload Module Missile Tubes
manufacturing net
Bae Systems Awarded $70 Million Contract For Future Virginia Payload Module Missile TubesBAE Systems received a $70 million contract award from General Dynamics Electric Boat for the production of Virginia Payload Module (VPM) missile tubes for Block VI Virginia-class submarines. VPM tubes add significant firepower and payload capacity to the Virginia-class submarine due to its ability to launch up to seven Tomahawks or future missile variants. These complex structures are built by the highly skilled and deeply experienced workforce at the Louisville facility. The facility also builds the propulsor for the Virginia-class submarine, as well as a heavy propulsor structure for the Columbia-class submarine. BAE Systems has the manufacturing capability and capacity to take on additional work building submarine structures to further support the U.S. Navy.
factory
03 April 2025
Xti Aerospace Opens Prototyping And Innovation Lab At The Hive
manufacturing net
Xti Aerospace Opens Prototyping And Innovation Lab At The HiveXTI Aerospace, a VTOL and powered-lift aircraft solutions company, has announced the launch of the XTI Aerospace Prototyping and Innovation Lab within The Hive in Grand Forks, North Dakota. The Hive is a one-of-a-kind hybrid business accelerator and incubator focused on vertical takeoff and landing (VTOL) and unmanned aircraft systems (UAS). This new lab is designed to accelerate the development of XTI's flagship powered-lift aircraft, the TriFan 600, initially focused on advancing the subscale model, code-named "Sparrow," and progress toward the construction of a more advanced model, "Kestrel," which will be crucial in enhancing key elements such as flight control systems and aerodynamics. Under the leadership of Professor Robert Lunnie, an expert in VTOL systems and an Aerospace Professor at the University of North Dakota, the team will work to optimize the aircraft's performance capabilities and develop a cutting-edge flight control center. Professor Lunnie has assembled a highly skilled team dedicated to the development of XTI's subscale models. XTI Aerospace anticipates that this new lab will help to not only enhance the design and flight capabilities of the TriFan 600 but also contribute to the broader advancement of aviation technology. By leveraging The Hive's collaborative environment and utilizing the expertise and resources within the Grand Forks aerospace community, XTI is positioning itself to remain at the forefront of the VTOL and powered-lift industries.
factory
03 April 2025
Data Security Offering Focused On Saas Vulnerabilities
manufacturing net
Data Security Offering Focused On Saas VulnerabilitiesAccording to data security solutions provider Keepit, the rapid adoption of SaaS applications have outpaced backup and recovery capabilities, leaving business data vulnerable to outages, cyber threats and compliance risks. The average enterprise uses approximately 112 SaaS applications, according to BetterCloud research, so companies onboarding these applications without proper backup and recovery solutions face significant risks. Additionally, according to Gartner, by 2028, 75 percent of enterprises will prioritize backup of SaaS applications as a critical requirement, compared to just 15 percent in 2024. To address these concerns, Keepit has been developing its data protection platform and now presents some enhancements:  Keepit's approach is made possible by a unique, intelligent, cloud-native, purpose-built architecture. For more information on the company's offerings, visit www.keepit.com
factory
03 April 2025
Fisher-Price Announces Additional Layoffs At Headquarters
manufacturing net
Fisher-Price Announces Additional Layoffs At HeadquartersFisher-Price revealed more layoffs at its headquarters in East Aurora, New York, the Buffalo News reported. The cuts leave the location with approximately 300 workers, down from about 750 in 2018.  Most Read on Manufacturing.net: The Buffalo News cited an anonymous terminated worker who said Fisher-Price laid off up to 15 people. According to the employee, Fisher-Price notified its workforce of the impending layoffs via email and informed the affected employees of their termination during private meetings later that day. Mattel, the toymaker's parent company, declined to confirm the number. Mattel spokesperson Catherine Frymark said the cuts align with the company's Optimizing for Profitable Growth cost savings program, which began in 2024. The cuts occurred about two weeks before U.S. President Donald Trump announced a 34% tax on imports from China, where Fisher-Price has outsourced some of its manufacturing. The Buffalo News reported that China produces 40% of Mattel's toys. Last year, Mattel laid off up to 100 of Fisher-Price's East Aurora employees and relocated three brands to Mattel's headquarters in El Segundo, California. Those workers could reportedly reapply for their positions in California. However, the latest round of layoffs did not include that option. Click here to subscribe to our daily newsletter featuring breaking manufacturing industry news.
factory
03 April 2025
Flock Safety Opens New Drone Manufacturing Facility
manufacturing net
Flock Safety Opens New Drone Manufacturing FacilitySafety technology solutions provider Flock Safety announced the opening of its new manufacturing facility in Smyrna, Georgia. The 97,000-square-foot facility will produce the company’s advanced public safety tools, including Drone As First Responder (DFR) technology. It will also refurbish damaged devices and assemble solar panels. Most Read on Manufacturing.net: Flock Safety expects the location, which represents an investment of about $10 million, to meet full operations in 2027 and create 210 new jobs. Last year, the company launched DFR, a fully automated air support system that provides eyes-on-the-scene access for emergency responders. The system positions drones at automated, battery-swapping docks that can reach anywhere within a 3.5-mile radius in an average response time of 86 seconds. “Drone as First Responder technology stands to transform emergency response, and these made-in-America, NDAA-compliant drones will have a transformative impact on the local communities we aim to serve," Flock Safety CEO and Founder Garrett Langle said. Founded in 2017, Flock Safety reportedly serves more than 4,800 law enforcement agency partners and over 1,000 business customers. Other company products include License Plate Reader cameras and gunshot detection sensors. Click here to subscribe to our daily newsletter featuring breaking manufacturing industry news.
factory
03 April 2025