Manufacturing

Rolls-Royce has won a £24 million order to design and equip four offshore service vessels to be built by COSCO (Guangdong) Shipyard in China.

The Rolls-Royce UT 771 CDL vessels will feature a fully integrated equipment system including highly efficient diesel electric propulsion, deck machinery, bulk handling equipment and automation and control systems.

The vessels will be equipped for transporting pipes, equipment and cargo to and from pipe-laying barges, oil drilling and production platforms, as well as for fire fighting.

Continental Tire the Americas held a groundbreaking ceremony for its new plant in Sumter, South Carolina today.

Attended by state and local governmental officials, the ceremony marked the beginning of the construction process, which is expected to be completed by the end of 2013.

By early 2014, the plant will manufacture passenger and light truck tires to meet the increasing demand for Continental and General brand tires from both aftermarket business and automotive manufacturers.

Drinks maker William Grant & Sons is investing €35 million into a new distillery in Ireland for the production of Tullamore Dew whiskey.

The new distillery is to be built on a 58-acre site in Tullamore, Co. Offaly. The location of the facility is close to the site where the whiskey was originally made, which closed in 1954. Work on the new site is expected to be completed by the end of 2014.

Otis Elevator Company Saudi Arabia has won six contracts to supply and install elevators and escalators to different buildings in the King Abdullah Financial District in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.

The contract is to supply and install 263 elevators, including 10 double-deck elevators, and 90 escalators.

George F. Brown, Jr. and Atlee Valentine Pope discuss issues that can arise in manufacturer-distributor relationships, and how best to tackle them to achieve CoDestiny success stories.

The UK government is set to announce a £350 million contract to refit one of its nuclear submarines in a move that will secure 2,000 jobs.

The work, which will be carried out at Babcock's Devonport Dockyard in Plymouth, will include fitting the Royal Navy's HMS Vengeance with a new reactor core, as well as refitting and refuelling of the vessel.

Equipment on board the submarine will be completely overhauled, with missile launch capabilities improved and computer systems upgraded. The work programme is expected to last between three and four years.

Electronic systems provider API Technologies has completed the acquisition of UK-based C-MAC Aerospace Ltd for £20.95 million (approximately $33 million).

With facilities in Great Yarmouth and Milton Keynes, UK, C-MAC is a leading provider of high-reliability electronic systems, modules, and components to the defense, aerospace, space, industrial, and energy sectors.

Asim Imdad Ali, head of Corporate and Regulatory Affairs at Pakistan Tobacco Company, talks to Gay Sutton about corporate social initiatives to improve welfare in rural tobacco-growing communities, and the threats posed by illicit trade.

America's steel industry is leading manufacturing out of the recession, according to a recent report.

In his analysis Economic Impacts of the American Steel Industry, Dr. Timothy J. Considine, professor of energy economics, University of Wyoming, notes that "Every one job in the US steel industry supports seven jobs in the US economy, reflecting its ripple effect on employment."

For 2011, the report states, the American steel industry directly employed 150,700 people, and the multiplier effect means it supported more than 1,022,009 jobs.

GlaxoSmithKline, Britain’s biggest drugs maker, has agreed to divest several of its over-the-counter (OTC) European brands to Omega Pharma for €470 million (£391 million).

The brands being divested include Lactacyd, Abtei, Solpadeine, Zantac, Nytol and Beconase, which together generated sales of approximately £185 million in 2011. The divestment is expected to be completed in the second quarter of 2012, subject to regulatory approvals.

GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) said it expected the net cash proceeds from the transaction to be approximately £310 million.