(NIST: Gaithersburg, MD) -- On Thurs., May 24, 2012, the Obama Administration announced a $26 million federal funding opportunity for the multiagency Advanced Manufacturing Jobs and Innovation Accelerator Challenge.

(Jossey-Bass: San Francisco) -- For managers and business leaders who want to enhance performance, Engaged: Unleashing

What is the greatest threat to the U.S. manufacturer? The great recession? Close, but not quite. Corporate espionage? Save it for the movies. Obamacare? Let’s not go there. A product recall can make every other problem seem trivial.

According to a new report from The Conference Board, the proportion of employees who work predominantly from home or from another remote location has, during the last decade, more than tripled in many industries, while nearly doubling nationwide among all full-time (

I write this as I am sitting in the Jury Assembly Room (JAIL for short) on the 17th floor of the Richard J. Daley Center in downtown Chicago, waiting for something to happen.

(Productivity Press: Boca Raton, FL) -- There is a secret inside health care, and it’s this: We can do health care for a lot less money. The only way to do that is to do it a lot better. We know it’s possible because it is happening now.

(Cognex: Natick, MA) -- Cognex Corp., a global leader in industrial ID, has added liquid lens optics for the DataMan 300 series of fixed-mount barcode readers.

(Capture 3D: Farmington Hills, MI) -- The ATOS ScanBox from Capture 3D, manufacturer and provider of the services of 3-D industrial measurement solutions, is an innovative optical measuring system for 3-D coordinate measurement that offers a comparable investment volume to traditional coordinate

(IMEC: Peoria, IL) -- The Illinois Manufacturing Extension Center (IMEC) is launching a lean Six Sigma Green Belt training series beginning on June 8, 2012, in southern Illinois.

They come trendily dressed, grinning and baring their teeth. They are equipped with the latest electronic tools. And they are forever hypnotizing you into believing that they come in peace.