Manufacturing

Australian bottling company Coca-Cola Amatil has agreed to lend around $46 million to the Australian Beer Company, it has been announced.

The company said the loan is a preparatory step towards its re-entry into the Australian premium beer market and will be used by the Australian Beer Company (part of the Casella Group) to assist with the acquisition and expansion of a state-of-the-art brewery in Griffith, New South Wales, into a 500,000 hectolitre annual capacity brewery. 

Kimberly-Clark Corporation received an A+ rating from Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) on its 2011 corporate sustainability report, Full Circle, which highlights the company's progress towards its ‘Sustainability 2015’ goals.

GRI is a non-profit organization promoting economic, environmental and social sustainability by providing organizations with a comprehensive sustainability reporting framework which is used by many industries throughout the world.

Bluescope and Nippon Steel have formed a $1.4 billion joint venture encompassing BlueScope’s ASEAN and North American building products business.

Manufacturers in the industrial machinery and equipment sector are increasingly seeking new strategies that will enable them to take advantage of improved market conditions.

The capital-intensive, cyclical nature of industrial machinery and equipment (IME) means that any contraction of expenditure hits the industry hard. When activity picks up in an upturn, usually starting from construction and transportation equipment, followed by capital-goods equipment, it is often very different from the activity of the previous cycle.

Nestlé has opened two new production sites in South Africa to support the growth of its business in the region.

The two facilities will enable the company to manufacture Milo and Cheerios breakfast cereals, and Maggi noodles, for the first time in South Africa. The majority of ingredients and packaging materials will be sourced from local farmers and suppliers, the company said.

Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company, the world's biggest contract chipmaker, has agreed to invest €276 million into the Dutch manufacturer ASML.

ASML will use the money for the research and development of next-generation lithography technologies, including extreme ultraviolet (EUV) lithography technology and 450mm lithography tools.

ASML is one of the world's leading providers oflithography systems for the semiconductor industry, manufacturing complex machines that are critical to the production of integrated circuits or chips

The first Industrial Automation North America (IANA) trade show has completely sold out of exhibitor space.

Organized by Hannover Fairs USA, Inc., a subsidiary of Deutsche Messe AG, one of the world’s top trade fair organizers and exhibition centers, IANA debuts this year in conjunction with the International Manufacturing Technology Show (IMTS) at Chicago’s McCormick Place from September 10-15, 2012.

Jaguar Land Rover has announced the creation of more than 1,100 new jobs at its Castle Bromwich plant in the UK.

The company, which is the UK's largest automotive employer, will expand its workforce at the West Midlands-based advanced manufacturing facility to support the launch of new Jaguar models. Jaguar Land Rover (JLR) said the launch of the new models will also support thousands of jobs in the UK supply chain.

Bristol, UK-based Imperial Tobacco Group has reported growth for the nine months to the end of June in its interim management statement issued today.

The company has also confirmed that its overall financial position and group operational performance for the financial year to 30 September 2012 is in line with expectations.

In the nine months to 30 June 2012, Imperial said that tobacco net revenue was up three per cent, adding that its total tobacco portfolio was performing well, with ongoing price/mix improvements within each region.

The Renault-Nissan Alliance has announced it will invest US$160 million in Korea to meet anticipated demand for new vehicles and to grow its Renault Samsung Motors brand.

Production of the next-generation Nissan Rogue in Busan, Korea, will begin in 2014, with an annual capacity of about 80,000 units. The plant aims to build a total of 180,000 vehicles this year for sale in Korea and 60 other countries.