Tag - manufacturing

 
 

MANUFACTURING

A Japanese class at a job placement company in Hanoi in 2022. The number of foreign workers in Japan hit a record high in 2024.
JAPAN
Jan 31, 2025
Japan’s foreign workforce hits fresh record as labor crisis deepens
Japan had a record 2.3 million foreign workers as of October 2024, marking a 12.4% increase from the previous year.
Nissan said Wednesday that it will move to a single shift from mid-April at one production line in each of two U.S. factories, and seek an unspecified number of voluntary buyouts or early retirements.
BUSINESS / Companies
Jan 30, 2025
Nissan plans job and output cuts at U.S. vehicle assembly plants
Nissan has pledged to cut 9,000 jobs globally and reduce production capacity by 20%.
Nissan’s latest crisis surfaced in November when it reported a 94% drop in first-half net income.
BUSINESS / Companies
Jan 27, 2025
Nissan eyes cuts without resorting to plant closures, sources say
The carmaker will focus on reducing and consolidating existing production lines both in Japan and overseas to cut costs.
US Steel’s Mon Valley facility in Pennsylvania. Activist investor Ancora Holdings Group has nominated nine candidates for U.S. Steel’s board and is pushing for the company to abandon a takeover by Nippon Steel.
BUSINESS / Companies
Jan 27, 2025
Ancora seeks U.S. Steel board revamp and end to Nippon Steel deal
The Cleveland-based activist investor intends to push U.S. Steel to end litigation aimed at rescuing the Nippon Steel deal and instead collect a $565 million breakup fee.
The start date and production levels for battery-powered Nissan cars to be manufactured at a plant in Canton, Mississippi, will depend in large part on whether U.S. President Donald Trump and the Republican Congress follow through on vows to scrap a $7,500 tax credit and other incentives for buyers and makers of EVs.
BUSINESS / Companies
Jan 25, 2025
Nissan looks to Trump-proof North American production plans
Nissan may slow a planned ramp-up of electric vehicles made in the U.S. after halting output at a joint venture in Mexico.
Staff members of the Kyoto-based company Mitsufuji stand near a small-scale model of a prototype hangar tent for electromagnetic shielding and wearable gadgets at the Vietnam Defense Expo 2024 in Hanoi on Dec. 19.
JAPAN
Jan 22, 2025
Japan hunts for dual-use goods makers to aid military expansion
Cultivating a homegrown defense industry was a key plank of Japan's ¥43 trillion military build-up strategy launched in 2022.
A trailer transports Nissan’s NV200 Venette minivans in Yokosuka, Kanagawa Prefecture.
BUSINESS / Companies
Jan 21, 2025
Nissan to end production of compact van as Honda rescue looms
Manufacturing unit Nissan Shatai hasn’t made any decisions on job cuts, a Nissan spokesperson said.
Core machinery orders, excluding orders for ships and power equipment, totaled ¥899.6 billion ($5.77 billion) in November, the Cabinet Office said.
BUSINESS / Economy
Jan 20, 2025
Japan's core machinery orders up 3.4% in November
Orders totaled ¥899.6 billion ($5.77 billion), the Cabinet Office said, marking a second consecutive month of growth.
Hino Motors was charged with fraud in the U.S. District Court in Detroit for unlawfully selling 105,000 heavy-duty diesel engines in the United States from 2010 through 2022 that did not meet emissions standards.
BUSINESS / Companies
Jan 16, 2025
Hino Motors reaches $1.6 billion U.S. diesel emissions settlement
Hino said it booked an extraordinary loss of ¥230 billion in its second quarter results in October to cover the expected costs of resolving the litigation.
U.S. Steel’s Edgar Thomson Steel Works in Braddock, Pennsylvannia, in 2019. Nippon Steel and U.S. Steel face significant legal challenges in their case against the United States.
BUSINESS / Companies
Jan 15, 2025
Nippon Steel’s case against Biden probably unwinnable, attorneys argue
A U.S. president's rejection of a deal following review by the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States has only been successfully challenged once.
Cleveland-Cliffs is reportedly in talks with North Carolina-based steelmaker Nucor to acquire U.S. Steel.
BUSINESS / Companies
Jan 14, 2025
Japan avoids commenting on Cleveland-Cliffs CEO's provocative comment
Lourenco Goncalves’ remarks over Nippon Steel’s takeover bid for U.S. Steel and description of Japan as being "evil" stunned many in Tokyo.
Hiroyuki Sanada's overlooked Golden Globe and Emmy wins and the media's differing reactions to "Shogun" mirror the contrasting political and media responses to Nippon Steel’s acquisition of U.S. Steel, highlighting how local interests shape public perception in both cases.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Jan 8, 2025
Media coverage and political tensions color reactions to Nippon Steel's U.S. acquisition
If the U.S. Steel issue continues to be exacerbated, it might yield short-term benefits for U.S. domestic politics, but it will ultimately hand a windfall to foreign competitors.
A Panasonic Energy factory in the city of Kinokawa, Wakayama prefecture
BUSINESS / Companies
Jan 7, 2025
Panasonic Energy says cutting China supply for U.S. business a 'No.1 objective'
Incoming U.S. President Donald Trump's pledge to raise tariffs on imported Chinese goods has forced companies around the world to reassess their manufacturing processes.
Nippon Steel CEO Eiji Hashimoto speaks to reporters about its lawsuit against the U.S. government on Tuesday.
BUSINESS / Companies
Jan 7, 2025
Nippon Steel committed to long-shot lawsuit against U.S. government
Eiji Hashimoto, the steelmaker's CEO, says he is convinced that litigation is the “best course of action” in response to the blocking of its acquisition of U.S. Steel.
Nippon Steel and U.S. Steel sued the U.S. government Monday for blocking the merger of the two companies.
BUSINESS / Companies
Jan 7, 2025
Nippon Steel and U.S. Steel sue U.S. government for blocking deal
The suit argues that the two companies were denied due process and that the $14.9 billion transaction was blocked for political reasons.
A Tesla showroom in Beijing in January 2024. In today's world, the car isn’t the biggest moneymaker for automakers; instead, it is the services attached to the connected vehicle.
COMMENTARY / World
Jan 7, 2025
China’s EVs may change the world in unimaginable ways
China has about 100 EV brands and they claim about 80% of the new electric vehicle market.
A Mitsubishi Electric Lighting LED product, which shortens installation time, in the city of Kamakura, Kanagawa Prefecture, November
JAPAN
Jan 7, 2025
Shift from fluorescent lamps to LEDs to accelerate in Japan
Manufacturers and industry groups are calling for the early replacement of fluorescent lamps with LEDs in offices and stores ahead of a 2027 ban.
Some people are questioning the U.S. decision to block Nippon Steel’s takeover of U.S. Steel, citing the lack of clear evidence of any national security risk from Japan — a country that hosts over 50,000 U.S. troops and relies on America for defense.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Jan 7, 2025
Biden's Nippon Steel move: A troubling snub of a key ally
Preventing the takeover of U.S. Steel is bad enough. Declaring Japan a national security risk is worse.
A monuments of a plastic model of an armor worn by Tokugawa Ieyasu, the founder of the Tokugawa shogunate, is seen in the city of Shizuoka on Dec. 6.
JAPAN / Society / FOCUS
Jan 6, 2025
In Shizuoka, plastic models are not just child's play
Monuments of plastic models are found throughout the city to showcase its model-making industry, which traces its roots to skilled craftsmen of the Tokugawa shogunate.
A drone view shows Gary Works, the largest integrated steel mill in the U.S., which is operated by U.S. Steel, in Gary, Indiana, on Dec. 12.
BUSINESS / Companies
Jan 6, 2025
Rival CEO allegedly spread doubt about Nippon Steel deal to Wall Street
The private remarks the CEO made throughout 2024 about the deal process show the extent of his effort to cast doubt.

Longform

Visitors walk past Sou Fujimoto's Grand Ring, which has been recognized as the largest wooden structure in the world.
Can a World Expo still matter? Japan is about to find out.