♦  The US motor manufacturer Bodine Electric has doubled the size of its Peosta, Iowa, plant to 13,000m², transferring some activities from its Chicago plant and creating 100 new CNC machining jobs. The Iowa site is now home to most of Bodine’s manufacturing operations and will enable it to respond more quickly to requests.
 
♦  Bosch Rexroth is buying a German lubrication and cooling systems specialist Interlit Joistgen, and its associated company MSG Maschinen und Stahlbau, for an undisclosed sum. The two businesses have a combined turnover of around €20m and employ around 100 people.

♦  The cable-maker Belden, which took over Hirschmann Automation and Control and Lumberg Automation in 2007, has announced that the three businesses will now adopt the Belden corporate brand, although Hirschmann and Lumberg will remain as product brands “for the time being”. In the US, Belden has announced that it is cutting its workforce by 20% (1,800 people) and consolidating some activities due to weaker demand for its products.

♦  Rockwell Automation has acquired most of the assets of a Chinese engineering company, Xi’An Hengsheng Science & Technology, which supplies automation systems to the electrical power and other heavy process industries in China.