First Two Story 3D-Printed Home; Ford's Blue Oval Shortage; VW's Sleepy Car | Today in Manufacturing Ep. 87

Also on the podcast, unsolicited letter nets $500 million industrial park, prototype EV plane flies, Tesla's robot-filled factory future, cleaning up the Great Pacific Garbage Patch and the failed relay that caused $6 million in damages.

Editor's note: Download and listen to the audio version below and click here to subscribe to the podcast.

The Today in Manufacturing Podcast is brought to you by the editors from Manufacturing.net and Industrial Equipment News (IEN). In each episode, we discuss the five biggest stories in manufacturing, and the implications they have on the industry moving forward. This week:

Prototype Electric Airplane Takes First Flight - @3:41

Aerospace startup Eviation has built a new prototype EV airplane that can carry nine passengers and up to two pilots. The plane took flight Tuesday morning.

Volkswagen's Driverless Car Prototype Will Put You to Sleep - @11:55

Volkswagen recently unveiled the GEN.TRAVEL, an autonomous vehicle the company believes could help introduce mobility-as-a-service and replace short distance flights.

Unsolicited Letter to Warren Buffett Nets $500M Industrial Park - @20:33

West Virginia's new half-billion dollar windfall came as a result of an unsolicited letter.

Ford Running Low on Blue Ovals - @28:20

Ford Motor Company has made some 45,000 vehicles that are still missing parts. Some of the vehicles are missing something crucial though not mission critical, Ford’s brand name.

The First Two-Story 3D Printed Home in U.S. - @35:47

A team of architects and 3D printing construction professionals are building the largest 3D printed home on U.S. soil.

In Case You Missed It

Tesla Foresees its Factories with 'Thousands' of Humanoid Bots - @49:40

A recent Tesla job post describes a future vision of scaling to "thousands of Humanoid Robots within our factories."

The Great Pacific Garbage Patch’s Days Might be Numbered - @57:42

The Ocean Cleanup released a new video detailing the latest iteration of their strategy for making the Great Pacific Garbage Patch go away.

Failed Relay Causes $6M in Damages - @1:01:52

The National Transportation Safety Board launched an investigation into a 2021 accident and traced the problem back to a failed solid-state relay.

This week's episode is sponsored by a new video podcast from Rockwell Automation. Businesses need to consider how they can create a digital vision for their operations and a plan for how to monitor progress. This new video podcast will help you discover how companies can save valuable time and money by testing and improving their designs before they start production. 

In continuing the conversation, we’re asking for your input on:

Which of the following things covered in the podcast best illustrate "the thing that leads to the thing?”

Additional comments on the stories? (If we read your comment on the next podcast, you’ll get a TIM t-shirt and hat). You can provide feedback by clicking on any these links or emailing us directly.

Please make sure to like, subscribe and share the podcast. You could also help us out a lot by giving the podcast a positive review. Finally, to email the podcast, you can reach any of us at Anna, Jeff or David [at] ien.com, with “Email the Podcast” in the subject line.

More in Video