Made In America: Manufacturing Day A Week Away

Editor’s note: Each Friday, Talk Business & Politics provides “Energy In-depth,” a round-up of energy and regulatory news in our email newsletter, which you can sign up to receive daily for free here.

MANUFACTURING DAY A WEEK AWAY: A “Manufacturing Day” exhibition will be held Oct. 2 at Pulaski Tech and is expected to host more than 500 local students. The event at Pulaski Tech’s Little Rock campus will bring together manufacturers from within the region to showcase interactive exhibits to local secondary students as part of an effort to change student’s perceptions about today’s manufacturing environment and to draw attention to opportunities that a career in manufacturing can provide.

Manufacturing Day is an annual national event executed at the local level supported by thousands of manufacturers as they host students, teachers, parents, job seekers and other local community members at open houses, plant tours, and presentations designed to showcase modern manufacturing technology and careers. More information on Manufacturing Day is available at this link.

EPA RELEASES LETTER TO VEHICLE MANUFACTURERS ON ADDITIONAL EMISSIONS TESTING: The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) on Friday (Sept. 25) released a letter sent to vehicle manufacturers notifying them that the agency is adding to its confirmatory testing additional evaluations designed to look for potential defeat devices.

A week ago, the EPA sent a notice of violation of the Clean Air Act to Volkswagen AG, Audi AG, and Volkswagen Group of America, Inc. alleging that four-cylinder Volkswagen and Audi diesel cars from model years 2009-2015 include software that circumvents EPA emissions standards.

These cars contain software that turns off emission controls when driving normally, and turns them on when the car is undergoing an emission test. Known as a “defeat device,” this design feature results in the cars emitting up to 40 times the amount of NOx emissions that the standards allow. NOx standards are in place to ensure public health is protected.

KROGER NAMES NEW PRESIDENT OF DELTA OPERATIONS, INCLUDES ARKANSAS: Kroger Co. recently announced that Scott Hendricks has been promoted to president of Kroger’s Delta division, effective October 1. Kroger’s Delta division is based in Memphis and operates stores in Arkansas, Western Tennessee, Kentucky, Mississippi and Missouri. Hendricks, 57, replaces Tim Brown, who was recently named president of Kroger’s Cincinnati/Dayton division. Hendricks began his career with Kroger in 1981, in the Nashville division management training program. He was named grocery buyer in 1983, and has served in several leadership roles in the Atlanta division from 1986–2000.

CATERPILLAR TO CUT 10,000 JOBS, NO WORD ON NLR OPERATIONS: Manufacturing and farming giant Caterpillar Inc., which operates a large motor grader plant in North Little Rock with several hundred workers, announced a major across-the-board restructuring and cost reduction Thursday (Sept. 24) that could possibly affect more than 10,000 employees across the company’s expansive U.S. and international operations. Caterpillar said the restructuring and cost reduction actions that “reflect recent, current and expected market conditions” are expected to lower operating costs by about $1.5 billion annually once fully implemented, beginning later this year. Neither Caterpillar nor North Little Rock business leaders could say how the company’s Arkansas operations may be affected.