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Feature Coverage

Manufacturing features and analysis

Longer-form reporting on plant operations, manufacturing technology, workforce strategy, and capital decisions.

Quality & ComplianceOctober 21, 2026

Your Plant Has Until November 20 to Finish HazCom 2024

Suppliers had to ship HCS 2024 safety data sheets for substances by May 19. Employers now have until November 20, 2026 to reconcile them, fix in-house labels, rewrite the written program and retrain. Mixtures come later: suppliers in November 2027, plants in May 2028.

Quality & ComplianceOctober 15, 2026

Who Owns Lockout/Tagout When a Contractor Services Your Equipment?

OSHA's lockout/tagout standard doesn't pick a winner when an outside technician services your equipment. It makes the host and the contractor tell each other their procedures, and each employer remains responsible for protecting its own people. This guide covers what the rule requires, how group lockout works with mixed crews, and where host plants get cited.

Quality & ComplianceSeptember 17, 2026

The 45X Credit, Explained for Plant Finance Teams

Section 45X pays on units shipped, not capital deployed, and it converts to cash through direct pay or a transfer at roughly 92 cents on the dollar. Here is how the eligibility tests, the 2025 statutory changes and the foreign entity rules land on a plant finance team.

Quality & ComplianceSeptember 7, 2026

What R15.06-2025 Changes on a Robot Cell You Already Own

The robot safety standard was rewritten in 2025 and the US adoption landed in the autumn. Nothing on your floor became illegal on a date, but several documents in your risk assessment file went out of date. Here is the re-document list, the re-assessment triggers, and the small number of items that can cost hardware.

Quality & ComplianceSeptember 3, 2026

What a Machine Shop Has to Rewrite for ISO 9001:2026

The sixth edition of ISO 9001 publishes 16 September 2026, and the committee that owns the standard has confirmed it. Almost everything else you have been told about the transition — including the deadline — is anticipated rather than published. For a machine shop, the real work is three procedures deep.

Quality & ComplianceAugust 22, 2026

38 Days to a 100% Pharma Tariff — and the Only Off-Ramp Closed in June

The default 100% Section 232 rate on patented pharmaceuticals reaches all remaining importers on September 29, 2026. The BIS onshoring-agreement window that would have cut it to 20% shut on June 12 — leaving classification, entry posture and qualification timelines as the only variables left to move.