Parker Hannifin is expanding its Racor Division in Holly Springs, Mississippi, converting it to the Engine Mobile Original Equipment Division. The project creates 50 jobs and involves relocating existing manufacturing to other states.

Jewell, an Oldcastle Company, has opened a new 23,000 sq. ft. manufacturing facility in Burnet, Texas, for concrete and mortar products, expected to be operational by the end of December 2017.

Konecranes has received orders from CSX Intermodal Terminals for eight lifting machines delivered since August 2017 and three more to be delivered in December 2017, including sideloaders and reach stackers.

Deshler Group, Inc., through its aftermarket brand Amanda Products, acquired Uni-Bond Brake, LLC on December 1, 2017. Uni-Bond, based in Ferndale, Michigan, manufactures brake systems for heavy-duty and automotive applications, expanding Deshler Group's aftermarket portfolio.

Hwashin America announced a $23 million expansion of its Greenville, Alabama facility, creating nearly 100 new jobs. Construction is scheduled to begin in January 2018 and be complete by summer 2018.

Magna International inaugurated its fourth South Carolina plant on December 14, 2017, a $29 million, 230,000-square-foot seating facility in Duncan, Spartanburg County. The plant will create 480 jobs by 2021 and manufacture seats for BMW X5, X6, and X7 models, with first seats shipped on September 29, 2017.

Aluminum recycler Spectro Alloys Corp. will invest $5.8 million to expand its facilities in Rosemount, Minnesota, adding two aluminum furnaces in a new 5,000-square-foot building and creating 10 jobs.

Kyushu Electric Power Co., Inc. will acquire an indirect 11.1% equity stake in the Birdsboro Power Plant, a 488 MW natural gas-fired combined-cycle power plant under construction in Pennsylvania, USA, from Sojitz Group. The plant is expected to start commercial operation in 2019.

Hudson Technologies Inc. has purchased Airgas Refrigerants Inc., which will operate as a wholly-owned subsidiary under the name ASPEN Refrigerants Inc., retaining its personnel and facilities.

VanZandt Controls, an OFS Energy Fund portfolio company in Odessa, Texas, acquired the machining assets of Flatland Forge to machine valve packaging components in-house.

The Wieland Group has acquired a majority stake in Kessler Sales & Distribution (KSD), based in Woodbridge, New Jersey. The company will operate as Wieland-Kessler, LLC, expanding Wieland's North American sales and service organization.

Delta Air Lines has ordered 100 Airbus A321neo single-aisle jets, with an option for 100 more, valued at approximately US$12.7 billion. Deliveries are expected from 2020 to 2023.

Gensco, an HVAC distributor, has applied for a $4.95 million permit to build a 56,662-square-foot warehouse and showroom in Kennewick, Washington. Construction is set to begin in early 2018.

Global Technical Systems announced a $54.7 million investment to construct a 500,000-square-foot advanced manufacturing center in Virginia Beach to produce green energy storage devices. The facility will create 1,100 jobs and be operational in 2019.

HBD Industries, a diversified manufacturer, acquired True Position Technologies LLC, a provider of complex machined components for flight control applications based in Valencia, California.

Momar, Inc., a specialty manufacturer of maintenance and sanitation chemicals, has formed a strategic partnership with Los Angeles-based Widespread Industrial Supplies. Under the shared services agreement, Momar will provide strategic, capital, and administrative support to Widespread.

Hyundai Ideal Electric Company, formerly owned by Hyundai Heavy Industries, has been wholly acquired by a privately held affiliate of Gulf Electroquip Ltd. The Mansfield, Ohio-based manufacturer of electric motors and generators returns to private hands.

INEOS Oligomers announced a final investment decision to build a 120 ktpa low viscosity polyalphaolefin (PAO) unit at its Chocolate Bayou, Texas site, scheduled to start up in Q3 2019.

Sun Pacific, owner of the Cuties brand, adopted 64 lanes of Compac's Spectrim sorting platform for its Maricopa, Arizona packing operations and purchased a new grader for its Tulare, California facility.

Acromil Corporation ordered two Cincinnati Wide-Range Titanium Profilers and a Giddings & Lewis Horizontal Boring Mill from Fives Machining Systems Inc. as the start of a two-phase expansion to establish a hard metals manufacturing center.

Sheffield Forgemasters, through its offshore oil and gas specialist Vulcan SFM, won a multi-million pound contract with Shell to deliver 10 riser basket components weighing 11.5 tonnes each for Shell's Vito development in the Gulf of Mexico. Manufacture started in August 2018, with completion expected by June 2019.

IMI plc agreed to acquire Bimba Manufacturing Company for US$198 million, announced on 14 December 2017, and has since completed the acquisition to strengthen its US industrial automation position.

Emerson will invest $15 million to renovate its Chanhassen, Minnesota manufacturing facility, converting 30,000 square feet of offices into production space for Rosemount measurement equipment and hiring 80 workers over three years.

Coats, a manufacturer of industrial thread, acquired Patrick Yarn Mill, a maker of high-performance engineered yarns based in Kings Mountain, North Carolina. Patrick Yarn Mill has 150 employees and annual sales of about $36.5 million.

Leica Biosystems and KUB Technologies have announced a new global distribution agreement for Kubtec's specimen imaging systems, including the XPERT and MOZART systems for breast imaging and pathology. The agreement includes exclusive distribution of the co-branded Mammotome Confirm system in the US and worldwide.

Apple will invest $390 million from its Advanced Manufacturing Fund into Finisar to expand R&D and production of VCSEL chips used in iPhone X and AirPods. Finisar will reopen a 700,000-square-foot plant in Sherman, Texas, creating over 500 jobs, with shipments expected in late 2018.

Hexcel Corp. will expand its existing Decatur, Alabama production site to create its first integrated U.S. carbon fiber and PAN production facility. The $200 million project will add about 90 jobs, with production expected to begin in 2021.

NuZee is expanding its production plant in Vista, California, adding two new Drip Cup co-packing machines and upgrading process automation to more than double annual single-serve pour-over Drip Cup production.

Jacksonville Electric Authority installed a 600,000 gpd DAVCO WWTP to meet additional treatment requirements while expanding the Blacks Ford WRF from 3 mgd to 6 mgd. The project cost $2.5 million and was completed in 109 days.

Lockheed Martin received a $22.8 million contract from the U.S. Air Force on behalf of the U.S. Navy to produce Paveway II Plus Laser Guided Bomb kits, with delivery by the fourth quarter of 2019.

ESS Inc. closed a $13 million Series B financing round to boost production capacity at its Wilsonville plant, investing in automation tools to ramp up capacity to 300 MWh by summer 2018 and eventually 900 MWh.

Jacobs Engineering Group announced that CH2M stockholders approved the merger, with Jacobs acquiring CH2M via a reverse subsidiary merger. The deal value is approximately $88.08 per share in cash or stock.

Autocam Medical broke ground on a $70 million, 100,000 SF manufacturing facility in Warsaw, Indiana, to expand U.S. orthopedic manufacturing capacity. The new site is expected to open in October 2026.

Tenaris has rolled out a new $1.8 billion pipe plant at Bay City, Texas, as reported on 13 December 2017.

Sealed Air will invest $10.4 million over three years and create 25 jobs as it expands and renovates its packaging manufacturing facility in Lenoir, North Carolina.

Wayne Farms announced a $105 million expansion of its Enterprise Fresh Processing Facility, adding 400 jobs. The project will add a new processing line for the Naked Truth premium chicken brand and increase production by 30%, with completion expected in January 2019.

Shaw Industries Group is investing $184 million to expand and upgrade its Andalusia manufacturing facility that produces fiber for carpet. Demolition is underway and new equipment is expected to be operational by mid-2018.

Kencor, Inc. Elevator Systems has acquired certain assets of ResCom Elevators LLC, a residential and commercial elevator provider. The acquisition expands Kencor's service area to Baltimore, Washington D.C., and Northern Virginia.

Fairmount Santrol and Unimin have merged in a $170 million deal. The new company will also operate a 96-terminal logistics division.

AME Industrial, a division of AME Companies, and Roach Conveyors have agreed to a commercial partnership for the distribution of conveyor systems in the Southeastern United States, effective immediately. AME will focus on small to medium conveyor projects for e-commerce and automotive industries.

Belcan has acquired the Aerospace & Industrial Equipment business unit of CDI Corporation, including related aerospace staffing contracts. The transaction closed on December 11, 2017; terms were not disclosed.

Continental Motors Group announced a multi-year investment to build a new greenfield factory, office and technical support center at the Mobile Aeroplex at Brookley in Mobile, Alabama. The 260,000-square-foot facility will cost over $70 million and is expected to be complete by the end of 2018.

Federal-Mogul Motorparts will invest more than $8.68 million and create 25 jobs to expand its Glasgow, Kentucky facility to produce air disc pads for the commercial vehicle market.

Fairmount Santrol and Unimin Corporation, a subsidiary of SCR-Sibelco NV, announced a definitive agreement to combine in a tax-free cash and stock transaction. The combined company will have an estimated 45 million tons of annual processing capacity and expects $150 million in annual synergies.

Cincinnati Incorporated (CI) has acquired New Valence Robotics Corporation (NVBOTS), a provider of large-scale additive machining. All NVBOTS employees will be retained and operations will remain in Boston, MA.

Lee Aerospace signed a multiyear agreement through 2023 to manufacture additional aircraft parts for Spirit AeroSystems, with delivery to Spirit's Wichita headquarters.

Bocar Group began construction on a new 350,000-square-foot facility in Huntsville, Alabama, as part of a $115 million expansion expected to create over 300 jobs. Construction is scheduled to begin in spring 2018.

Zoll Medical won a $400 million firm-fixed-price contract from the US Department of Defense to supply deployable vital signs monitors to the Air Force and Army, with a one-year base and five option years.

ArcelorMittal and Nippon Steel & Sumitomo Metal are close to a $2 billion deal to acquire ThyssenKrupp's automotive steel sheet plant in Alabama, with specifics to be announced in early December.

BYK will invest $50 million to expand its facility in Gonzales, Texas, increasing capacity for Garamite rheology additives and adding a new R&D facility for a global competence center. The project includes infrastructure upgrades.