Joe McDonald

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Today in Manufacturing Podcast
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January 31, 2023
A worker collects parts at SMC, a Japanese pneumatic engineering company factory in Beijing on Jan. 10, 2023. China's trade surplus swelled to a record $877.6 billion in 2022 as exports rose 7% despite weakening U.S. and European demand and anti-virus controls that temporarily shut down Shanghai and other industrial centers.
China's Trade Surplus Swells to $877.6B as Exports Grow
January 13, 2023
Shoppers carry shopping bags down Fifth Avenue, Monday, Dec. 19, 2022, in New York. After a two-year hiatus, holiday procrastinators are back this year, during a holiday season when retailers need them even more. Shoppers have been pulling back on buying and waiting for the best deals as inflation weighs on their shopping habits.
Holiday Procrastinators Are Back in Force. Blame Inflation.
December 23, 2022
Ahp Picture
Houchens Industries to Acquire Air Hydro Power
December 20, 2022
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January 31, 2023
Protesters hold up blank papers and chant slogans as they march in protest in Beijing, Sunday, Nov. 27, 2022.
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China Eases COVID Rules After Wide Lockdown Protests
This includes Guangzhou, the southern manufacturing and trade metropolis.
November 28, 2022
Workers line up to get tested for COVID-19 at the Foxconn factory in Wuhan in central China's Hubei province on Aug. 5, 2021.
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Workers Protest at Virus-Hit Chinese iPhone Factory
Employees were beaten and detained.
November 23, 2022
A woman works in a textile factory in Human in eastern China's Shandong Province, Nov. 1, 2022.
Supply Chain
China Factory Activity Down as Virus Controls Rise
The performance was even weaker than expected.
November 15, 2022
A medical worker collects a sample from a man at a coronavirus testing site in Beijing, Wednesday, Nov. 2, 2022.
Safety
China Closes Zone Around iPhone Factory After Virus Cases
No one can enter or leave for one week except to deliver food and medical supplies.
November 2, 2022
Visitors stop by the booth of Nvidia at the Apsara Conference, an annual cloud service technology forum hosted by Alibaba Group, in Hangzhou in eastern China's Zhejiang province Tuesday, Oct. 19, 2021.
Supply Chain
China Demands U.S. Drop Tech Export Curbs After Nvidia Warning
The chip designer said a new product might be delayed and some work might be moved out of China.
September 1, 2022
In this photo released by China's Xinhua News Agency, Tesla CEO Elon Musk, center, poses with Tesla owners at a delivery ceremony for the first Tesla Model 3 cars made at Tesla's Shanghai factory in Shanghai on Jan. 7, 2020. Musk’s ties to China through his role as electric car brand Tesla’s biggest shareholder could add complexity to his bid to buy Twitter.
Software
Musk's China Ties Add Potential Risks to Twitter Purchase
Tesla's ambitions in China might give Beijing leverage to pressure Twitter to silence critics or ease rules on propaganda.
May 17, 2022
In this photo released by Xinhua News Agency, a container ship from Japan is anchored at the container dock of Shanghai's Yangshan Port in east China on April 27, 2022. China's export growth tumbled in April after Shanghai and other industrial cities were shut down to fight virus outbreaks.
Supply Chain
China Trade Weakens After Cities Shut Down to Fight Virus
The country's export growth tumbled.
May 9, 2022
In this Sept. 27, 2021 file photo, steam billows out of the cooling towers at a coal-fired power station in Nanjing in east China's Jiangsu province. The world's facing an energy crunch.
Operations
Energy Issues Hamper Global Recovery as Winter Approaches
The biggest squeeze is on natural gas.
October 19, 2021
Steam billows out of the cooling towers at a coal-fired power station in Nanjing in east China's Jiangsu province on Monday, Sept. 27, 2021. Global shoppers face possible shortages of smartphones and other goods ahead of Christmas after power cuts to meet government energy use targets forced Chinese factories to shut down and left some households in the dark.
Operations
China's Factories, Households Grapple With Power Cuts
Economists and an environmental group say manufacturers used up this year's quota faster than planned.
September 27, 2021
A security surveillance camera is seen near the Microsoft office building in Beijing, Tuesday, July 20, 2021. The Biden administration and Western allies formally blamed China on Monday for a massive hack of Microsoft Exchange email server software and asserted that criminal hackers associated with the Chinese government have carried out ransomware and other illicit cyber operations.
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China Rejects Hacking Charges, Accuses U.S. of Cyberspying
Four Chinese nationals are accused of working with the Ministry of State Security to steal U.S. trade secrets, technology and disease research.
July 20, 2021
In this Oct. 17, 2013, file photo, then British Chancellor of the Exchequer George Osborne, left, chats with Taishan Nuclear Power Joint Venture Co. Ltd. General Manager Guo Liming as he inspects a nuclear reactor under construction at the nuclear power plant in Taishan, southeastern China's Guangdong province.
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Hong Kong Watching Chinese Nuclear Plant After Leak Reported
Nuclear experts suggested that gas might be leaking from fuel rods inside the reactor.
June 15, 2021
In this Feb. 13, 2020, photo released by Xinhua News Agency, workers wearing masks labor at a factory for Chinese telecommunications company OPPO in Dongguan, in southern China's Guangdong Province.
Operations
Chinese Factories Face New Threat
It's U.S. anti-virus controls.
March 19, 2020
People wearing protective face masks walk by a quiet Silk Street Mall, a usually popular tourist spot before the new coronavirus outbreak in Beijing, Wednesday, March 11, 2020.
Operations
Companies Reopen in China Virus's Center
The province began allowing factories and some other businesses to reopen.
March 11, 2020
In this Monday, March 2, 2020, photo, a worker wearing a mask works at a factory producing bicycle wheel rims in Hangzhou in eastern China's Zhejiang province. Factories in China that make the world's smartphones, toys and other consumer goods are trying to protect their employees from a virus outbreak as they resume production. Manufacturers are buying masks by the thousands and jugs of disinfectant. The ruling Communist Party has told local officials to help reopen factories that were idled by the most intensive anti-disease controls ever imposed.
Operations
China's Factories Try to Shield Workers
One company hired a cook and set up dorms.
March 4, 2020