The confidence level of chief executive officers remained unchanged at 43 in the second quarter of 2019, but declined to a reading of 34 in the third quarter (a reading of more than 50 points reflects more positive than negative responses), according to a study released by The Conference Board, New York.

Ohio State University’s Center for Design and Manufacturing Excellence (CDME), Columbus, Ohio, opened the new Artificially Intelligent Manufacturing Systems Lab (AIMS) to tap into the power of artificial intelligence (AI) to transform the future of manufacturing.

While only one quarter of respondents think the current state of manufacturing is either growing or stable but strong, 95% of all respondents stated that manufacturing is important to the U.S. economy, as outlined in the “Manufacturing Perception Report,” presented by Thomas, New York.

The U.S. labor market continued its sluggish performance in June, offering little relief after a disappointing jobs report in May, according to a “Job Market Report” produced by Glassdoor, Chicago.

The robotics revolution is rapidly accelerating, as fast-paced technological advances in automation, engineering, energy storage, artificial intelligence and machine learning converge continue to transform the capabilities of robots and their ability to take over tasks once carried out by humans.

Swift Sensors, Austin, Texas, developed 11 new predictive maintenance tools to its manufacturing analytics dashboard.

Thomas, New York, released its year-end Index Report, which reveals the top product and service categories buyers sourced online in 2018.

Nearly 90% of senior manufacturing industry executives predict that the competitive importance and pace of innovation will increase significantly as companies deepen their adoption of Manufacturing 4.0 (M4.0) technologies, according to results from the latest “Innovation in Manufacturing” research survey.