Michael R. Blood

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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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A Tesla Model Y Long Range is displayed on Feb. 24, 2021, at the Tesla Gallery in Troy, Mich.
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Tesla Hikes Price of Model Y After U.S. Alters Tax Credit Rule
This Wednesday, July 24, 2019 photo shows an Apple Store in Chicago is seen. Apple reports financial earnings on Thursday, Feb. 2, 2023.
Supply Chain
Apple Suffers 1st Quarterly Sales Decline in Nearly 4 Years
This 2019 aerial photo provided by ConocoPhillips shows an exploratory drilling camp at the proposed site of the Willow oil project on Alaska's North Slope.
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Industrial Media Unboxing Video
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More from Michael R. Blood
Today in Manufacturing Podcast
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Today in Manufacturing Podcast
Today in Manufacturing has a new podcast brought to you by the editors of Industrial Media. In each episode, we discuss the five biggest stories in manufacturing, and the implications they have on the industry moving forward.
January 31, 2023
In this Oct. 22, 2012, file photo provided by the federal Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement, the platforms Ellen and Elly stand offshore near Long Beach, Calif., in the BSEE's Pacific Region. Oil production in federal waters in the Pacific is down 90% over the past several decades and no new drilling leases have been sold in the region since the early 1980s.
Operations
Aging Equipment, Spills Test Ties Between Oil, California
A recent incident has renewed calls to end drilling in coastal waters.
October 15, 2021
Workers in protective suits walk by as dead marine life washed off on a beach after an oil spill in Newport Beach, Calif., on Wednesday, Oct. 6, 2021.
Safety
California Pipeline Likely Damaged Up to a Year Before Spill
Investigators will pore over a year of data on ship movements near the area of the break.
October 11, 2021
This Tuesday, Sept. 10, 2019, photo shows the new Kingpen packaging, center, flanked by the previous packaging in Los Angeles. Bootleggers eager to profit off unsuspecting consumers are mimicking popular vape brands, pairing replica packaging churned out in Chinese factories with untested, and possibly adulterated, cannabis oil produced in the state's vast underground market. As a result of the bootleggers, the company had to change and innovate their new packaging.
Safety
As Illnesses Spread, Fake Vape Gear Sells
The deceptive rip-offs on the street could be linked to an emerging public health crisis.
September 17, 2019
Cannabis
Regulation
California Pot Regulators Struggling
The agency overseeing California's legal marijuana market is struggling to hire staff and set a strategy for the nation's largest cannabis economy, an audit found.
July 18, 2019
In this April 15, 2019, file photo, a vendor makes change for a marijuana customer at Rev-Up a cannabis marketplace in Los Angeles. An alliance of large cannabis businesses in the growing global marketplace has a message for the public: We're good corporate citizens. The 45-member Global Cannabis Partnership that includes Canopy Growth Corp. and other major companies issued guidelines Tuesday, June 18, 2019, aimed at minimizing greenhouse gas emissions and promoting ethical conduct and responsible pot use.
Operations
Weed Industry Sets Goals
The cannabis marketplace "is Wall Street now," said one expert.
June 19, 2019
In this Oct. 20, 2018, file photo marijuana clone plants are displayed for sale by Interstate 5 Farms at the cannabis-themed Kushstock Festival at Adelanto, Calif. When California voters broadly legalized marijuana, they were promised that a vast computer platform would closely monitor products moving through the new market. Sixteen months after the start of broad legal sales, just a few hundred operators are entering data into the track-and-trace system.
Supply Chain
CA Pot Market Not Traced, Tracked
As of last month, just nine retail outlets were entering data into the network established under an estimated $60 million state contract.
May 8, 2019
In this June 27, 2017 file photo, the proprietor of a medical marijuana dispensary prepares his monthly tax payment, over $40,000 in cash, at his Los Angeles store. Congress on Wednesday, Feb. 13, 2019, was urged to fully open the doors of the nation's banking system to the legal marijuana industry, a change that supporters say would reduce the risk of crime and resolve a litany of problems for pot companies from paying taxes to getting a loan.
Regulation
Congress Urged to Open Banks to Marijuana
Most banks shun money from the cannabis industry for fear it could expose them to trouble from the federal government, which still considers marijuana illegal.
February 14, 2019
In this Wednesday, Aug. 22, 2018, photo, edible marijuana samples are set aside for evaluation at Cannalysis, a cannabis testing laboratory, in Santa Ana, Calif. Nearly 20 percent of the marijuana and marijuana products tested in California for potency and purity have failed, according to state data provided to The Associated Press.
Safety
Many Marijuana Products Failing Safety Tests
The testing has been especially tough on cannabis-infused cookies, candies and tinctures.
September 11, 2018
In this Jan. 6, 2018, file photo, an employee stocks cannabis at a store shortly before its first day of recreational marijuana sales in San Francisco. California cities on Monday, Aug. 13, 2018, objected to a proposed change in state rules that they say would allow unchecked home marijuana deliveries in places that have banned local pot sales.
Regulation
CA Could Reshape Pot Rules
Temporary rules have governed sales, growing and manufacturing since Jan 1. The state is now considering changes to those rules.
August 15, 2018
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau poses for photos with employees as he leaves the offices of Salesforce on Thursday, Feb. 8, 2018 in San Francisco.
Supply Chain
Trudeau on Jobs, NAFTA
He said 9 million jobs in America are tied to trade and investment with Canada, and that both countries are "winning."
February 12, 2018
In this photo taken Nov. 28, 2017, Brad Eckenweiler, chief executive of Lifestyle Delivery Systems, poses for a photo while holding cannabis buds from his freezer that will be used to manufacture concentrates in Adelanto, Calif. Lifestyle is what’s known as a “vertically integrated company,” with a hand in every aspect of the business, from producing organic seeds to transportation and over-the-counter sales.
Operations
The Fight to Survive in California Pot
Some fear corporate-level businesses will eventually doom mom-and-pop growers and sellers
December 20, 2017
This Friday, Nov. 3, 2017 photo shows jars of medical marijuana on display on the counter of Western Caregivers Medical marijuana dispensary in Los Angeles. Consumers eager for the coming of California's legal recreational marijuana market should be ready for sticker shock. An array of new taxes and fees will be attached to pot sales, driving up prices.
Regulation
Sticker Shock in Pot Market
It could be up to a 70 percent jump in price.
November 6, 2017
In this April 23, 2017, file photo, large jars of marijuana are on display for sale at the Cali Gold Genetics booth during the High Times Cannabis Cup in San Bernardino, Calif. California is kicking off recreational marijuana sales on Jan. 1, 2018, but there will be plenty of confusion as the new market takes shape. Some places are banning sales, while only a small number appear ready to issue licenses.
Regulation
Confusion Surrounds Legal Pot
Ready or not, California kicks off recreational marijuana sales on Jan. 1. And, mostly, it's not.
October 30, 2017
A sign on the chimney of a home warns looters Wednesday, Oct. 18, 2017, after it was destroyed by wildfires in Glen Ellen, Calif. California fire officials have reported significant progress on containing wildfires that have ravaged parts of Northern California.
Operations
Wildfires Cause $1B in Damage
The fires ravaged 7,000 buildings.
October 20, 2017