ARLINGTON, Va. — August 31, 2018 —  The following statement is attributed to Gary Shapiro, president and CEO, Consumer Technology Association (CTA), regarding President Trump’s notification to Congress of plans to update the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA):

“We’re encouraged by the open dialogue between the Trump and Peña Nieto administrations, working toward a modernized trade agreement that recognizes the technology sector’s critical role in American economic growth. At the same time, we are concerned that excluding Canada from a final agreement will limit our export opportunities and hurt the U.S. economy.

“Nevertheless, to maintain America’s innovation leadership a renegotiated agreement must: reduce barriers to digital trade by eliminating tariffs on content such as e-books and software; protect intellectual property rights and innovation with a balanced copyright approach including fair use and intermediary liability protections; eliminate technical barriers to trade; and recognize parity in rules of origin.

“The technology sector is critical to America’s economic growth and global leadership. We urge the administration to focus on these key innovation priorities as negotiations evolve.”

Posted September 3, 2018

Source: Consumer Technology Association (CTA)™ 


HOUSTON — August 30, 2018 —  Due to continued strong growth in loaded containerized cargo, Port Houston has surged higher in the rankings of the top container ports in the United States.

Port Houston, which has been expanding rapidly in recent years, has climbed to become the fifth largest container port in the U.S., according to JOC Piers data covering the second quarter of 2018. Port Houston handled 1,057,964 twenty-foot-equivalent-units (TEUs) during that period and catapulted up from the sixth spot.

Port Houston is outpacing trade for the United States as a whole this year, led by strong imports, the data also shows. For example, during the first six months of 2018, Port Houston imports from the Trans-Pacific region jumped by 24 percent, a significant hike compared to overall U.S. Trans-Pacific imports, which increased by 5 percent.

Port Houston is the largest container port in the U.S. Gulf of Mexico, handling about two-thirds of all the containers that move through the Gulf.

Port Houston is number one in the United States in foreign tonnage and is now is in the Top five for containers with Los Angeles, New York, Savannah and Long Beach. Houston continues to close the gap.

Port Houston, an operating port, has invested hundreds of millions of dollars on new infrastructure and technology at its two container terminals in recent years. As part of an aggressive strategy to leverage new technology and capacity to continuously improve the customer experience, that investment includes three new ship-to-shore cranes that were delivered to the Bayport Container Terminal earlier this month. New cranes also have been delivered to the Barbours Cut Container Terminal, a 40-year-old facility that is being extensively modernized. New upgrades to gate operating and terminal operating systems combined with a highly skilled workforce have created one of the most efficient container ports in North America.

The three newest STS cranes will make a total of 26 ship-to-shore operational cranes working at Port Houston’s container terminals, 13 of which are Super Post-Panamax.

Posted September 3, 2018

Source: Port Houston

ODENSE, Denmark — August 31, 2018 —  Within just one year, the new company Purple Robotics has developed an innovative vacuum gripper, the world’s first specifically for cobots. Purple Robotics has now been acquired by OnRobot, one of the truly significant robot industry endeavours. The acquisition takes place a mere two months after the OnRobot merger of three robotics companies from the United States, Hungary, and Denmark to create one global player with a strong focus on the market for industrial robot accessories.

Now, OnRobot in Odense, Denmark, adds another trail-blazing technology to the product mix. With the acquisition of the company Purple Robotics, OnRobot can now offer its partners the world’s first dual vacuum gripper. The gripper attracted international robot industry attention when presented by the inventors at Automatica, the world’s largest robotics fair, in Munich in June this year.

Purple Robotics was established by the three Danish ”super-nerds” Lasse Kieffer, Henrik Tillitz Hansen, and Peter Nadolny Madsen, all of whom have a background as product developers at the company behind the world’s first cobot, Universal Robots. And this is the valuable expertise which OnRobot is now fusing with its existing R&D department at their headquarters in Odense. Lasse Kieffer, Purple Robotics CEO, looks forward to joining the OnRobot organization together with his colleagues.

”It has been really good fun to create a brand new robotics company and to disrupt the market for vacuum grippers with our invention. It makes a lot of sense and creates significant synergy to join forces with OnRobot who have already created a strong, global sales organization. This means that we can focus 100 percent on developing the world’s coolest robotics products. Together, we can go far,” says Lasse Kieffer.

Already sold in 25 countries 3 months after launch

Since entering the market, Purple Robotics has experienced a veritable onslaught from partners worldwide wishing to be able to offer the product to their customers. Already three months after launching the product, 40 partners in 25 countries have concluded partnership agreements with Purple Robotics for the patented innovation.

The Purple Robotics dual vacuum gripper can, so to speak, give a robot arm two “hands” and thereby the ability to handle several items simultaneously and solving multiple tasks in one movement. Additionally, it has an electric pump integrated in the gripper itself, meaning that users need not worry about hoses, compressed air, and cables as with conventional vacuum gripper solutions.

The vacuum gripper meets a clear need in the global industry for efficient and flexible robot solutions which are simple and quick to commission. It takes less than 30 minutes to install the Purple Robotics gripper on a robot and start it up. The vacuum gripper is able to gently and efficiently handle items of many different dimensions, weights, materials, and shapes. The lifting capacity is 10 kilograms and the robot gripper is designed for use on a wide range of light-weight robots from all robot manufacturers.

“It must be easily conceivable to automate even small production batches. Otherwise, robot technology is not a good investment. This is why we hand pick the best and most user-friendly robot products and integrate them in OnRobot. We are extremely pleased to now be able to offer our robot partners and integrators the vacuum gripper, just as we look forward to being able to add the top class Purple Robotics robot developers to our development department,” says Enrico Krog Iversen, CEO at OnRobot.

The acquisition of Purple Robotics means that the Vacuum Gripper will be presented in the USA to robot equipment buyers at the IMTS fair in Chicago during September 10-15. After the spring merger of the three robotics companies OnRobot, Perception Robotics, and OptoForce, the OnRobot product range now features a wide assortment of robot equipment, including electric grippers, force-moment sensors, gecko grippers, and tactile sensors.

”We are now one step closer to our vision of offering ”one-stop-shopping” for buyers of robot accessories. Purple Robotics will definitely not be our last acquisition. We have our eye on a number of other, interesting companies around the world,” says Enrico Krog Iversen.

OnRobot has also recently welcomed another strong, international investor to the ownership roster — the American venture fund Summit Partners.

Posted September 3, 2018

Source: OnRobot

ALEXANDRIA, Va. — August 31, 2018 —  Economy Towel & Linen’s Dayton, Ohio, laundry has been re-certified Hygienically Clean for Healthcare, reflecting the laundry’s ongoing commitment to best management practices (BMPs) in laundering as verified by on-site inspection and its capability to produce hygienically clean textiles as quantified by ongoing microbial testing.

Originally certified in 2014, this renewal certification confirms the organization’s continuing dedication to infection prevention, compliance with recognized industry standards and processing healthcare textiles using BMPs as described in its quality assurance documentation, a focal point for Hygienically Clean inspectors’ evaluation. The independent, third-party inspection must also confirm essential evidence that:

• Employees are properly trained and protected;
• Managers understand regulatory requirements;
• OSHA-compliant; and
• Physical plant operates effectively.

To achieve certification initially, laundries pass three rounds of outcome-based microbial testing, indicating that their processes are producing Hygienically Clean Healthcare textiles and diminished presence of yeast, mold and harmful bacteria. They also must pass a facility inspection. To maintain their certification, they must pass quarterly testing to ensure that as laundry conditions change, such as water quality, textile fabric composition and wash chemistry, laundered product quality is consistently maintained. Re-inspection occurs every two to three years.

This process eliminates subjectivity by focusing on outcomes and results that verify textiles cleaned in these facilities meet appropriate hygienically clean standards and BMPs for hospitals, surgery centers, medical offices, nursing homes and other medical facilities.

Hygienically Clean Healthcare certification acknowledges laundries’ effectiveness in protecting healthcare operations by verifying quality control procedures in linen, uniform and facility services operations related to the handling of textiles containing blood and other potentially infectious materials.

Certified laundries use processes, chemicals and BMPs acknowledged by the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, Association for the Advancement of Medical Instrumentation, American National Standards Institute and others. Introduced in 2012, Hygienically Clean Healthcare brought to North America the international cleanliness standards for healthcare linens and garments used worldwide by the Certification Association for Professional Textile Services and the European Committee for Standardization.

Objective experts in epidemiology, infection control, nursing and other healthcare professions work with Hygienically Clean launderers to ensure the certification continues to enforce the highest standards for producing clean healthcare textiles.

“Congratulations to Economy Towel & Linen on their recertification,” said Joseph Ricci, TRSA president and CEO. “This achievement proves their continued commitment to infection prevention and that their laundry takes every step possible to prevent human illness.”

Posted September 1, 2018

Source: TRSA

WASHINGTON — August 27, 2018 —  The following is a statement from Teamsters General President Jim Hoffa about the bilateral agreement-in-principle announced today between the United States and Mexico to revamp the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA).

“The Teamsters Union has long been a leader in demanding real reforms to NAFTA to make it work for worker across all of North America. We have been working closely with the USTR on those demands and we believe that the Administration has taken real steps to deal with our concerns regarding cross-border trucking and highway safety.

“However, there is still much work to be done. Canada, for one, must be part of the agreement. The interests of all North American workers must be included as part of any trade agreement that is ultimately approved.

“NAFTA has been a failure. The Teamsters and other unions must see the final text to learn how this agreement will raise wages, ensure worker rights and freedoms, address enforcement, reduce outsourcing and put the interests of working families first in all three countries.”

Founded in 1903, the International Brotherhood of Teamsters represents 1.4 million hardworking men and women throughout the United States, Canada and Puerto Rico.

Posted August 30, 2018

Source: International Brotherhood of Teamsters

WASHINGTON — August 29, 2018 —  National Association of Manufacturers (NAM) President and CEO Jay Timmons and Canadian Manufacturers & Exporters (CME) President and CEO Dennis Darby released the following statement on NAFTA:

“Manufacturers in the United States and Canada firmly support moving forward at full speed to seize the opportunity to forge a new trade deal with the United States, Canada and Mexico. There is an unprecedented volume of goods flowing between the three countries and significant integration of operations, which makes a trilateral agreement an imperative. Such an agreement secures the jobs of our manufacturing workers and strengthens the critical U.S.–Canada trading relationship. We must also stand together with our regional allies to ensure competitors like China do not reap the rewards of unfair anti-market trade practices. Because of our two countries’ nearly $700 billion trading relationship, our economies are inextricably linked, and our manufacturing workers depend on a strong deal that keeps us all growing and prospering for generations to come.”

Posted August 30, 2018

Source: The National Association of Manufacturers (NAM)