ŽOS Zvolen won two contracts from České dráhy: a €10 million contract to modernize 12 Stadler GTW 646 units by December 2021, and a €8.4 million five-year contract for major repairs of 13 diesel-electric locomotives of the 754 series.

Han's Laser announced on December 29, 2020, that it has received a notification of winning bids from CATL and its subsidiaries for lithium battery production equipment totaling 1.194 billion yuan.

Switzerland's Evoco AG acquired six subsidiaries of Gesco AG, including Frank Walz-und Schmiedetechnik GmbH, Europe's leading manufacturer of wear parts for agricultural technology, and four companies from the mobility technology segment. The combined turnover of the acquired companies was EUR 100 million in 2019.

ChTPZ Group began a project in September 2020 to modernize the crane fleet at Pervouralsk New Pipe Plant (PNTZ), investing about RUB 300 million to commission approximately 25 new overhead cranes by 2025. Two new cranes have been commissioned and five modernized so far.

REEL International SAS has signed an agreement to acquire Metso Outotec Oyj's aluminium business, which includes green anode plant, anode rodshop and casting equipment technologies. The value is not disclosed.

Promess, a Michigan maker of sensing and motion control equipment, bought a 45,000-square-foot facility on Lochlin Drive in Green Oak Township and plans to move its Brighton manufacturing there by end of March, with a $4-5 million investment and about 20 new jobs.

The SCHLEIFRING Group, a subsidiary of Wegmann Group, has acquired Electro-Miniatures Corporation (EMC), a manufacturer of slip ring assemblies headquartered in Moonachie, New Jersey. Terms were not disclosed.

Shaanxi Fast Auto Drive Group ordered machining centers from Grob worth over €20 million. The new centers will help increase Shaanxi Fast's annual production capacity of automatic transmissions from 40,000 to 200,000 units.

Anhui Anhuang Machinery Co. Ltd. ordered a fully automatic 25-MN closed-die forging line from SMS group to manufacture automotive pistons. The line includes an MP 2500 eccentric forging press and an induction-heating system.

Kaiser has been selected as the general contractor for Makino's new factory project in Wuhan, China. The 49,854 m² factory is expected to be completed in about one year.

Prodrive Automotive Technology (Europe) Ltd has been awarded a contract worth £3,308,752 to manufacture high-speed automated LFT cassette assembly and pick and place equipment. The contract starts on 24 December 2020.

Barron Industries has installed a Doosan DVF 5000 vertical 5-axis machining center and a FARO Quantum S 7-axis laser probe scanner at its facility in Michigan to enhance production of complex aluminum aerospace components.

As a result of the decision to close the Tidaholm factory, Nobia will record write-downs of approximately SEK 149 million in machinery and buildings, and incur other associated costs of approximately SEK 130 million.

Nobia is continuing preparations for a highly automated production plant in Jönköping, Sweden, with machinery investments of approximately SEK 2 billion. The factory is expected to be fully operational by 2024.

Alstom completed five years since winning a €3.5 billion contract from Indian Railways to supply 800 electric locomotives of 12,000 HP. A joint venture set up a manufacturing facility in Madhepura, Bihar, with a production capacity of 120 locomotives per annum. 50 locomotives have been delivered so far.

Palfinger is negotiating to sell its 7.5% stake in Sany Automobile Hoisting Machinery back to Sany, in exchange for Sany Germany selling its 7.5% stake in Palfinger, with no impact on their joint ventures.

The Timken Company announced the start of production at its new manufacturing facility in San Jose Iturbide, Mexico, which manufactures tapered roller bearings using advanced automation and manufacturing technologies.

An affiliate of Core Industrial Partners, Incodema Holdings LLC, acquired Dahlquist Machine, Inc., a provider of precision machined components for medical and instrumentation end markets, headquartered in Ham Lake, Minnesota.

ESAB and Yaskawa signed a global cooperation agreement to jointly develop and market a line of pre-engineered robotic welding systems called XCellerator. Yaskawa will engineer and build the systems, and ESAB will market them.

Bombardier Transportation signed a contract with TransLink for 205 new rail cars for Vancouver's SkyTrain network, valued at $721 million CAD ($565 million USD). The cars will be designed, assembled and tested in Canada.

Martinus Rail won a $48 million contract to supply and install rail, slab track, ballasted track, rigid overhead conductor bar and overhead line equipment for the City Rail Link in Auckland, New Zealand. Works are expected to last two years from early 2021.

Kalmar, part of Cargotec, plans to transfer part of its crane engineering operations in China to engineering company Etteplan under a long-term agreement. Approximately 70 Kalmar engineering employees in China are expected to move to Etteplan, effective 1 January 2021.

PIA Automation Austria received new orders totaling mid-double-digit million euros: two axle drive production lines from a German premium car manufacturer and an assembly line for e-transmissions from a North American tier-1 automotive supplier.

Anhui Anhuang Machinery Co., Ltd. placed an order with SMS group for a fully automatic 25-MN closed-die forging line for pistons, including an induction heating system. The line will be China's first fully automatic forging line for flash-free forged pistons.

Ningbo Beilun Rhong Machinery Factory Manufacturing Co., Ltd. announced it will increase production capacity for plastic ancillary equipment including hopper dryers, vacuum auto-loaders, mixers, granulators, and other products. The company purchased new drill press machines.

Machine tool maker Eltek Korea signed a 12.1 billion won investment agreement with Okcheon County to build a factory in Okcheon Techno Valley, Chungbuk, by 2025, and to relocate its headquarters and plant from Geumsan.

MODIG delivered the first RigiMill Moving Table to ASCO Industries for precision finishing of titanium military airplane parts. The machine was developed with local partner Gima Machines.

John Deere invested $40 million to expand its factory in Indaiatuba, Brazil, adding 12,000 m² for a new assembly line to produce motor graders.

Alfagomma do Brasil is expanding its factory in Guaranésia, Minas Gerais, by 4,500 square meters to meet growing demand from OEMs and end users. Upon completion, the covered area will be 17,500 m².

Kadant Inc. received two orders worth approximately $10 million to supply recycled fiber processing systems to a containerboard producer in Asia. The equipment will process recycled corrugated boxes for top liner production. Orders booked in Q4 2020, expected to ship in 2021.

Premier Tech announced a $251.2 million investment in its facilities in Bas-Saint-Laurent, Quebec, including a $45 million loan from the Quebec government, to create 500 jobs over five years and accelerate digital transformation and R&D.

Bombardier is investing €25 million in its Crespin, France rail plant to increase production capacity by 25% and upgrade equipment. The investment aims to reach 1,000 cars per year and support a fully booked order book for the next four years.

TRUMPF plans to acquire the remaining 45% of TRUMPF SISMA S.R.L. from SISMA S.p.A., strengthening its additive manufacturing business in industrial, dental and medical sectors.

Harro Höfliger is building a high-performance vial packaging line at its Backnang site for delivery to Pfizer's Belgian production plant. The line will carton, label and serialise vaccine vials.

Yleiselektroniikka signed an agreement on 17 December 2020 to acquire all shares of PM Nordic AB and Sany Nordic AB, which represent Putzmeister concrete machinery and Sany construction equipment in Sweden. The combined revenue of the acquired companies was about SEK 133 million.

MICRO-LAM, Inc., a manufacturer of laser-assisted machining systems, acquired 603OPTX, Inc., an optical fabrication company specializing in precision optical components. The acquisition aims to extend R&D and production capabilities.

manroland Goss Group acquired the Thallo web-offset packaging business from Contiweb B.V., including all intellectual property rights. The acquisition complements manroland Goss's product portfolio for the web-offset packaging market.

GlenDee/MGI is adding a second Matsuura MAM72-70V 5-axis machining center with 18-pallet changer, scheduled for installation by end of 2020.

Weihua Crane has put a 16m×8m×6m annealing furnace into use at its Intelligent Industrial Park, enabling annealing of structural parts for metallurgical cranes with capacity above 500t.

Nagel-Gruppe has completed the acquisition of the insolvent Gehring companies in Germany, including Gehring Technologies, Diato, and Gehring Production. The deal involves a significant workforce reduction: 111 of 345 employees in Ostfildern and 70 of 185 in Naumburg will not be retained.

Promess Inc. has purchased a 45,000-square-foot manufacturing facility in Brighton, Michigan to meet growing product demand. Manufacturing operations are being transferred from the existing campus, with completion expected by early spring 2021.

Antares Vision Group, through its subsidiary Antares Vision Inc., acquired Applied Vision Corporation, a leader in high-speed vision inspection systems for the food and beverage container industry. The acquisition expands Antares Vision's technological capabilities and geographical presence, especially in the USA.

Lewco, Inc. will take over a large portion of a historical facility in Lake Erie Business Park in Port Clinton, Ohio, investing nearly $12 million and creating 163 new jobs to support growth driven by e-commerce.

Southern Cross Electrical Engineering Limited (SCEE) has completed the acquisition of Trivantage Pty Ltd for AUD 53.5 million, comprising cash and shares, with additional earn-out payments based on future EBIT.

Innovative Hydraulics LLC has been awarded a contract to design and manufacture fluid power products for NASA's exploration ground systems supporting the Artemis program. The systems move the SLS rocket to the launch site at Kennedy Space Center.

Zhejiang Sanhe Kitchen Utensils Co., Ltd. held a groundbreaking ceremony for a new production line of 20 million high-grade stainless steel and aluminum non-stick pans in Cixi City, China. The project involves a total investment of 390 million yuan and covers an area of 150 mu.

MHM Automation, a NZX-listed provider of automated systems for food processing and logistics, is purchasing fellow Christchurch-based engineering firm Southern Cross Engineering (SCE). The acquisition is conditional and expected to settle on 11 January 2021, with the purchase price calculated via an earn-out over two years.

Alstom has been awarded a contract by Toulouse Metropole for the system of the third metro line (Toulouse Aerospace Express), valued at over €470 million, with options up to €713 million. The scope includes Metropolis trains, Urbalis 400 CBTC, Hesop substations, platform screen doors, track, and six years of maintenance.

German packaging equipment manufacturer KHS is acquiring a stake in Swiss seaming machine specialist Ferrum, pending antitrust approval. The deal aims to combine competencies for more integrated can filling and seaming systems.

Valmet will deliver a new flash drying and baling line and rebuild an existing TMP line into a CTMP market pulp line with 300,000 tonnes/year capacity at SCA's Ortviken mill in Sweden, valued at EUR 40-50 million.