An Alabama-based company that makes pipes for water, oil and natural gas is planning to build a $9 million research and development facility in Crawfordsville.

The Bureau of Labor Statistics reported a national decline in labor productivity for 67 of the 86 manufacturing industries they monitor.

GMC will offer the industrys first carbon fiber bed, called CarbonPro, manufactured by a Huntington, Indiana-based company.

At modern auto plants, some tasks, like welding together a car's body, are entirely automated. But other essential jobs, including major portions of final assembly, are still best left to people.

The latest Clean Energy Jobs Midwest report shows Indiana added more than 17,000 jobs in manufacturing and sales for hybrid and electric vehicles.

The Brooking Institution’s Metropolitan Policy Program says Indiana has the highest percentage of jobs that could be lost due to automation in the near future.

Purdue University is expanding research into advanced manufacturing with a new laboratory.

According to a recent report, the risk of robots replacing workers is highest in Indiana and Kentucky, where some counties have nearly half the workforce employed in the labor-intensive manufacturing and transportation industries.

The facility soon to be built on the west side of Muncie is Waelz Sustainable Products. It’s a joint venture between Mexico-based Zinc Nacional and Indianapolis-based Heritage Environmental.