Ben Finley

Associated Press
Latest in Operations
Modeling AI ROI Like a CFO, Not a Vendor
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Modeling AI ROI Like a CFO, Not a Vendor
October 1, 2026
Justin Baerwald, Operations Lead in Manufacturing and Logistics Inland Packaging, featured in Gen Z in Manufacturing profile
Gen Z in Manufacturing: Inside the Swing Shift Problem
October 27, 2026
Halloween candy display in retail store featuring Reese's, Kit Kat, and Hershey's products with orange and purple promotional signage.
Halloween Candy Sales Off to Slow Start Amid High Chocolate Prices, Affordability Concerns
October 26, 2026
Today in Manufacturing Episode 291 sponsored by Mitsubishi Electric, featuring a high-performance vehicle with exhaust flames
Tesla's Flying Car; Hyundai's Seat Fire Problem; PepsiCo Closes Plant | Today in Manufacturing Ep. 291
October 26, 2026
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Foxconn, or also known as Hon Hai Precision Industry, spokesman Simon Hsing, right, announces the purchase of a controlling stake in Japan's Sharp Corp. during a press conference at the Taiwan Stock Exchange Corp. in Taipei, Taiwan, Wednesday, March 30, 2016.
Supply Chain
Foxconn Acquisition of Sharp Approved
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Operations
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Financial Storytelling in the Age of AI
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Financial Storytelling in the Age of AI
More from Ben Finley
12 Manufacturing KPIs With Formulas and Examples
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12 Manufacturing KPIs With Formulas and Examples
There are dozens of KPIs to choose from, but a shop tracking all of them is really tracking none of them.
October 20, 2026
Two of the offshore wind turbines stand off the coast of Virginia Beach, Va., Monday, June 29, 2020.
Operations
Siemens Gamesa Scraps Plans to Build Turbine Blades on East Coast
The company's proposed $200 million factory would've created more than 300 jobs.
November 21, 2023
Co owner of Building Resilient Solutions, Kerry Shackelford hooks up pine boards that are used to test flood resistance at his lab Tuesday, Oct. 4, 2022, in Suffolk , Va.
Safety
Historic Homes May Prove More Resilient Against Floods
An emerging movement in the U.S. aims to prove the resilience of older homes.
October 10, 2022
The aircraft carrier USS Gerald R. Ford heads to the Norfolk, Va., naval station on April 14, 2017.
Product Development
U.S. Navy's Newest Carrier to Deploy
The launch follows years of delays and problems with its new technology.
September 30, 2022
In this June 18, 2021 file photo, UAW Members strike outside the Volvo Trucks North America plant in Dublin, Va. With Help Wanted signs at factories and businesses spreading across the nation, in manufacturing and in service industries, union workers like those at the Volvo site are seizing the opportunity to try to recover some of the bargaining power — and financial security — they feel they lost in recent decades as unions shrank in size and influence.
Operations
Labor Shortage Leaves Union Workers Feeling More Emboldened
The current worker shortage has compelled many employers to raise pay.
September 7, 2021
In a Jan. 6, 2011, file photo, workers install parts on a truck on the Volvo truck assembly line at the Volvo plant in Dublin, Va.
Operations
UAW Factory Workers Ratify Deal, Will End Volvo Truck Strike
A difference of 17 votes ratified the deal.
July 15, 2021
In this Feb. 18, 2020 file photo, artifacts recovered from the Titanic sit on shelves at a storage facility in Atlanta. A federal judge in Virginia has ruled that a salvage firm can retrieve the Marconi wireless telegraph machine that broadcast distress calls from the sinking Titanic ocean liner. In an order released Monday, May 18, U.S. District Judge Rebecca Beach Smith agreed that the telegraph is historically and culturally important and could soon be lost within the rapidly decaying wreck site.
Product Development
Judge Says Salvage Firm Can Recover Titanic's Telegraph Machine
Recovering the telegraph “will contribute to the legacy left by the indelible loss of the Titanic."
May 19, 2020
This Nov. 26, 209 file photo shows Omega Protein's menhaden processing plant on Cockrell's Creek in Reedville, Va., The company that makes fish-oil supplements will keep its certification for sustainable fishing despite defiance of catch limits in the Chesapeake Bay. The Marine Stewardship Council’s sustainability marker is prominently displayed on seafood packages in grocery stores. It means that a company catches fish from a healthy population and leaves little impact on the food chain, among other factors.
Food & Beverage
Fish-Oil Firm Keeps 'Sustainable' Label
This is despite controversy over catch limit defiance.
April 3, 2020
In this Nov. 24, 2015 photo, Willie Mays, right, looks on as President Barack Obama presents the Presidential Medal of Freedom to NASA mathematician Katherine Johnson during a ceremony in the East Room of the White House, in Washington. Johnson, a mathematician on early space missions who was portrayed in film 'Hidden Figures,' about pioneering black female aerospace workers, died Monday, Feb. 24, 2020.
Product Development
'Hidden Figures' Mathematician Dies
She was 101.
February 24, 2020
In this Nov. 26, 1996 file photo, the docking bridge telegraph recovered from the wreckage of the Titanic is displayed in a large seawater-filled tank at the Nauticus National Maritime Center in Norfolk, Va. The salvage firm that has plucked artifacts from the sunken Titanic cruise ship over the decades is seeking a judge's permission to rescue more items from the rapidly deteriorating wreck.
Product Development
Titanic's Iconic Telegraph Machine
It transmitted the doomed ship's increasingly frantic distress calls.
February 21, 2020
This Oct. 15, 2004 file photo shows a school of menhaden on the coast of Virginia Beach, VA.
Food & Beverage
Virginia Let Company Defy Fishing Limits in Bay
The Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission voted to find Virginia out of compliance because the state didn't enact a new harvest cap for a fish called menhaden.
November 1, 2019
Spectators crowd a pier as they watch a Chinese ship carrying giant cranes approach the entrance to Hampton Roads in Hampton, Va., Monday, Jan. 7, 2019. The four new ship- to-shore cranes are part of the $320 million expansion of Virginia International Gateway.
Supply Chain
Massive Cranes Arrive in U.S.
Standing 170 feet tall, the Chinese-made gantry cranes towered over the ship that carried them through the mouth of the Chesapeake Bay.
January 7, 2019
Commissioner of the Georgia Department of Economic Development Pat Wilson, from left, Norfolk Southern CEO Jim Squires, Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms and Georgia Governor-Elect Brian Kemp react to a speaker during a press conference in the Georgia State Capitol building in Atlanta. During the presser, Fortune 500 company Norfolk Southern officially announced that they will be moving their headquarters to Atlanta.
Operations
Norfolk Southern Moving to Atlanta
The move reflects a trend among larger companies moving to major cities for deeper pools of talent, busier airports and other amenities.
December 13, 2018
In this Jan 21, 2018, file photo provided by Rocket Lab, electron rocket carrying only a small payload of about 150 kilograms (331 pounds), lifts off from the Mahia Peninsula on New Zealand's North Island's east coast. A California-based startup says it will rocket small satellites into orbit from Virginia.
Product Development
Startup to Launch Satellites from Virginia
Rocket Lab is setting up in Virginia at a time of unprecedented growth in the use of smaller and relatively inexpensive satellites.
October 19, 2018
In this Thursday, Feb. 23, 2017 photo, oysterman Chris Ludford, works sorting oysters on his lease oyster beds on the Lynnhaven River in Virginia Beach, Va. As the shellfish makes a comeback, a modern-day oyster war is brewing, this time between wealthy waterfront property owners and working-class fishermen.
Regulation
Oyster War Heats Up
Homeowners say the growing number of oystermen — dressed in waders and often tending cages of shellfish — spoil their views and invade their privacy.
May 2, 2017