Manufacturing

A key measure of Milwaukee-area manufacturing activity once again indicated contraction in May. The seasonally adjusted Purchasing Managers Index was below 50 for now the second month in a row, according to the Marquette-ISM Report on Manufacturing.

FaB (Food and Beverage) Wisconsin has worked in collaboration with the Food Finance Institute at the University of Wisconsin Extension and the Wisconsin Economic Development Corporation (WEDC) to create FaBcap, an accelerator grant program.

An undisclosed investment will allow Racine-based DeltaHawk Engines Inc. to begin production on a new aviation engine and to create 100 jobs. The investment, announced Tuesday, was made by the Ruud family who established Racine-based Ruud Lighting.

Glendale-based Johnson Controls Inc. joined U.S. Army senior commanders today at Maryland’s Aberdeen Proving Ground to break ground on a new combined heat and power plant. Scheduled to be completed by January 2016, the plant is projected to save the Army nearly $113 million over 19 years.

FaB (Food and Beverage) Wisconsin has worked in collaboration with the Food Finance Institute at the University of Wisconsin Extension and the Wisconsin Economic Development Corporation (WEDC) to create FaBcap, an accelerator grant program.

Milwaukee-based The Oilgear Company will shut down manufacturing operations by Aug. 1, affecting approximately 45 production and support employees.

Milwaukee-based Brady Corp. reported fiscal third quarter net income of $17.2 million, or 33 cents per share, down from $24.1 million, or 39 cents per share, in the third quarter of 2014.

Menomonee Falls-based ZBB Energy Corp. plans to change its name to EnSync Inc., according to a proxy statement filed on Wednesday with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.

In the one-year period since Milwaukee-based contract manufacturer Tower Machining began in April 2014, it has doubled in revenue and tripled its customer base.

Those of you grew up with Sesame Street may recall that each episode was brought to you by a different letter of the alphabet. I experienced my own version of this phenomenon three years ago, when much of my job suddenly became all about the letter “S”—or more accurately five of them.