Following is a report from The Manufacturers Alliance for Productivity and Innovation (MAPI). Founded in 1933, the alliance contributes to the competitiveness of U.S. manufacturing by providing economic research, professional development, and an independent, expert source of manufacturing information.

Market needs push in 2013, but will it get one? The construction/off-highway industries have been here before. New equipment, technologies and innovations during an economic standstill that some have been dealing with since 2007.

The complete Industry News section from the January/February 2013 issue of Gear Technology.

It wasn’t so very long ago that a high school-educated, able-bodied person with a will to work typically had little trouble finding a decent job in manufacturing. Whether at an area job shop, an OEM plant or auto plant—work was to be had. Work that paid well enough to marry, buy a home, feed, raise and educate a family—with even enough left over for a modest retirement pension.

Faithful Addendum readers are accustomed to finding upbeat, whimsical and oddball stories about gears in this space. What follows is not about gears, exactly. Rather, it is, as opposed to the usual bleak news about America losing its manufacturing mojo—a look at a positive, hopeful development in that regard.

What do glam and avant garde rock star Brian Eno, AGMA and Seattle Gear Works have in common? Admittedly, not much. But there is a connection of sorts.

For years, politicians, educators and business leaders have generated various ideas to revitalize U.S. manufacturing and engineering. These include manufacturing initiatives, internal training programs and an emphasis on science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) in the classroom. The declining expertise in these fields, however, continues to be a growing problem in every facet of manufacturing and engineering.

Bison Gear & Engineering is collaborating with other manufacturing, governmental and educational institutions to remedy the shortage of q...

Have you ever been to Malaysia? How about Indonesia, Brazil, Slovakia or Russia? Well, we have. We go there every issue.

But associations and grassroots organizations lack public awareness.