Industrial Real Estate Shows Strongest Growth Since 2005

The US industrial real estate market in 2013 saw its biggest single-year growth since 2005, another positive indication that the worst of the economic downturn has passed. Industrial leasing activity in 2013 increased 6.2% over 2012, reaching a total of 328.5 million square feet in leasing activity and 117.2 million square feet of positive absorption, … Read more

New Products Create Roadblocks that Prevent Getaway Vehicles

Companies in the defense, aerospace and commercial industries are using new products that are designed to stop vehicles from getting away, according to Pacific Scientific Materials Company, a manufacturer of anti-getaway products. These include such things as the anti-terror road blocker, which is a popup blocker that is buried 40 cm in the ground but … Read more

Driverless Vehicles Make Combat Zones Safer for Soldiers

Driverless vehicles currently are used in factories, warehouses and other industrial settings. But now the US Army is planning on using the cutting edge technology to make combat zones safer for soldiers. In a demonstration in December at Fort Hood, Texas, the US Army Tank-Automotive Research, Development and Engineering Center (TARDEC) and Lockheed Martin unveiled … Read more

Columbus McKinnon Buys Michigan Assembly Line Company

Columbus McKinnon — the Amherst, New York, manufacturer of material handling products — announced in a news release that it has purchased Unified Industries, a Howell, Michigan, company that makes overhead light rail workstations used in automobile assembly lines. While the purchase price  was not disclosded, Unified had sales of $12.4 million in 2013. Columbus … Read more

How to Choose the Right Ice Melter

While it may seem like Winter 2014 will never be over, spring is right around the corner (hopefully). In the meantime, we all still need to deal with freezing temperatures and icy surfaces. Using salt and other chemicals to melt ice that forms on roads, walkways and other surfaces is something practically every business does. … Read more

Bad Winter Weather Also Bad for Business

Lower than normal temperatures and an unending barrage of winter storms has made the Winter of 2014 one of the worst in recent memory. But this year’s bad winter weather also has had a negative impact on the nation’s business. The American Trucking Association’s seasonally-adjusted Truck Tonnage Index was down 4.3% in January, according to an … Read more

World’s Oldest Skyjack Scissors Lift Still on the Job after 29 Years

A scissors lift being used practically every day by a company in Guelph, Ontario, Canada, for the past 29 years has been recognized as the world’s oldest working Skyjack lift, according to a company news release. The SJ-006-10 lift used by Kraner Electrical was manufactured shortly after Skyjack was created in 1984. The company’s owners … Read more

MacroAir Offers First Fan Lines with Full UL Approval

MicroAir — the San Bernardino, California, based manufacturer of high-volume, low-speed industrial fans — announced recently that it is the first company to receive listing from Underwriters Laboratories on two of its fan lines. Both the AirVolution and AirSpan fan lines are allowed to carry the UL symbol, which indicates that the entire fan unit … Read more