manufacturing

General Motors just opened a new $200 million, diesel engine plant in Rayong, Thailand.

The new engine plant, which is adjacent to the GM's vehicle manufacturing plant, will employ 500 workers and have the capability to manufacture about 120,000 engines per year.

GM expects to source $94 million worth of Thai-built components for the production of engines at its Rayong facility by 2012, the company said in a press release.

The first engines to be manufactured at the facility are for the new Chevy Colorado pickup. GM revealed the Colorado Show pickup at the Bangkok International Motor Show … Read more

The chief financial officer of bankrupt startup Solyndra, which had ramped up its operations after getting a government loan for solar companies, declined to say yesterday if potential buyers would keep its business in the United States.

Under questioning at a bankruptcy court hearing from a government attorney, CFO W.G. Stover declined to identify either of the two companies that have shown an interest in Solyndra's operations, or even where they were based.

Asked if the potential buyers might move Solyndra's unique solar cylinder business overseas, Stover would only say doing so would increase the cost to … Read more

Apple's manufacturing partners expect their relationships with the iPhone maker to remain strong, even though there's a new CEO at the company.

In a statement yesterday, Taiwan-based manufacturer, Hon Hai Precision Industry, said that it expects its relationship with Apple to become even closer under the new leadership. That sentiment was echoed by DigiTimes sources at Apple suppliers, who said that they don't anticipate any order changes to come about.

Earlier this week, Steve Jobs stepped down as CEO of Apple. In a resignation letter to the board, Jobs recommended his chief operating officer Tim Cook assume … Read more

If there's a lesson to be had in the wrenching downfall of Evergreen Solar, it's this: Even Apple doesn't try to do everything itself.

For two days now, the green-tech industry--and more than a few politicians who had put their credibility on the line to support it--have been wringing their hands over Evergreen, which on Monday announced it filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy and will seek to sell off its assets to pay off hundreds of millions of dollars to creditors. Today Evergreen said that Nasdaq informed the company that its stock will be delisted next week. … Read more

Apple has consigned trial production of its future A6 processor to Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company and not Samsung, its traditional manufacturing partner, according to a Reuters report.

The A6 processor is still a distant destination on Apple's chip road map. It isn't expected to appear in products until 2012, and analysts believe it will be quad-core, a first for an Apple A series chip. The A5, used in the iPad 2, is a dual-core processor.

Talk of Apple jumping to Taipei-based TSMC has been driven, in part, by the legal skirmishes between Apple and Samsung. The latter has been Apple's sole manufacturing source for A4 and A5 processors. … Read more

Windows 8 could be released to manufacturing by April, according to a "not so crazy" rumor offered by Mary Jo Foley of CNET sister site ZDNet.

In her column yesterday, Foley cited a "trusted source," who says that Microsoft is currently on track for Windows 8 to be released to manufacturing by April. RTM, or release to manufacturing, is the final version of a product just before it reaches consumers. For example, Windows 7 was released to manufacturing in July 2009 and then officially launched a few months later in October.

According to Foley's source, … Read more

A venerable all-star team of Japanese developers has collaborated to bring us Shadows of the Damned, one of the oddest games to hit home consoles in some time. With talent that includes the minds behind Resident Evil, Silent Hill, and No More Heroes, Shadows of the Damned certainly has a lot to live up to.

Jeff: Playing a Goichi Suda (Suda 51) game is almost always guaranteed to induce some amount of head-scratching, but just like watching a David Lynch film, part of the fun is having your mind messed with.

What makes the "Grindhouse"-inspired Shadows of the Damned so great, though, is that while aesthetically it comes off as a madman's nightmare, it's also one of the better designed, well-rounded, and satisfying games we've played this year.

It's amazing to see what a bigger budget and support does for an ultra-ambitious developer like Grasshopper Manufacture. Shadows delivers in almost every category, from mind-blowing enemy design to vector-based throwback graphics. The surgically implemented sound design shines through the action, not to mention a remarkably diverse and stylistic score that rivals any Hollywood production. We even appreciate the loading screen's avatar and music for their uniqueness and homage to 2D world maps.… Read more

1366 Technologies, a start-up created to make solar electricity cheaper than coal, is set to receive a loan to build its first factories, bringing the 4-year-old company closer to its goal.

The Lexington, Mass.-based company said today that the Department of Energy has offered a $150 million loan to build two plants to ramp up its process of making silicon wafers used in solar photovoltaic panels. The loan is a conditional commitment where the company needs to meet certain operational targets, according to a representative

With the loan, 1366 Technologies intends to build a plant in Massachusetts scheduled to … Read more

TOKYO--It has been a tough run for U.S.-Japan joint automaking ventures in North America.

They once were hailed as learning labs where ailing Detroit manufacturers could assimilate the wisdom of the East. But in recent years they have crumbled under financial stress and shifting alliances.

In 2009, General Motors walked out on its 25-year-old joint venture with Toyota, New United Motor Manufacturing, in Fremont, Calif. Later that year, Suzuki bailed on its CAMI joint plant with GM in Canada.

Now Mazda Motor seems poised to pull out of its longtime manufacturing partnership with Ford.

At issue is the … Read more