Manufacturing Category - Page 10 of 17

Seven States Account for Half of Manufacturing Jobs Lost in April

Close up of part of an industrial facility. Manufacturing jobs were lost in 2020, but overall fared better than other sectors. — April saw more job contraction in the manufacturing sector than any time in the last 74 years.

According to the US Bureau of Labor Statistics, the national unemployment rate increased by 10.3 percentage points over the month of April. Manufacturing jobs experienced a 10.4% decline over that time with a cumulative job loss of just over 1.3 million. The industry has not felt such a contraction in employment in almost 75 years, the last time being September of 1945.

Labor Statistics on Manufacturing Jobs

Below is data pulled from the Bureau of Labor Statistics April report, broken down by state and compared to March 2020 employment numbers. The states posting the highest numbers of lost jobs have been highlighted.

March 2020 job numbers	State	April 2020 job numbers	Change	% change
272600	Alabama	248,400	-24,200	-8.88%
10,700	Alaska	9,200	-1,500	-14.02%
176,600	Arizona	172,700	-3,900	-2.21%
158100	Arkansas	150,500	-7,600	-4.81%
1,299,500	California	1,180,500	-119,000	-9.16%

149,500	Colorado	139,200	-10,300	-6.89%
161,900	Connecticut	149,400	-12,500	-7.72%
26,700	Delaware	24,300	-2,400	-8.99%
1,300	D.C.	1,200	-100	-7.69%
389,600	Florida	358,000	-31,600	-8.11%

399,200	Georgia	359,800	-39,400	-9.87%
13,900	Hawaii	10,700	-3,200	-23.02%
67,500	Idaho	66,400	-1,100	-1.63%
571,600	Illinois	521,700	-49,900	-8.73%
526,700	Indiana	448,400	-78,300	-14.87%

221,800	Iowa	211,400	-10,400	-4.69%
168,200	Kansas	157,200	-11,000	-6.54%
251,200	Kentucky	197,000	-54,200	-21.58%
135,100	Louisiana	125,000	-10,100	-7.48%
52,400	Maine	44,000	-8,400	-16.03%

112,800	Maryland	98,700	-14,100	-12.50%
242,000	Massachusetts	221,000	-21,000	-8.68%
615,900	Michigan	442,900	-173,000	-28.09%
317,200	Minnesota	295,900	-21,300	-6.72%
147,500	Mississippi	136,000	-11,500	-7.80%

274,700	Missouri	240,000	-34,700	-12.63%
19,900	Montana	17,900	-2,000	-10.05%
98,900	Nebraska	95,800	-3,100	-3.13%
58,500	Nevada	54,300	-4,200	-7.18%
70,600	New Hampshire	65,200	-5,400	-7.65%

251,700	New Jersey	218,500	-33,200	-13.19%
28,300	New Mexico	23,400	-4,900	-17.31%
435,900	New York	355,300	-80,600	-18.49%
470,800	North Carolina	419,800	-51,000	-10.83%
25,600	North Dakota	24,700	-900	-3.52%

697,700	Ohio	600,100	-97,600	-13.99%
135,400	Oklahoma	130,600	-4,800	-3.55%
192,500	Oregon	181,700	-10,800	-5.61%
571,100	Pennsylvania	497,300	-73,800	-12.92%
39,500	Rhode Island	37,200	-2,300	-5.82%

258,400	South Carolina	245,200	-13,200	-5.11%
43,600	South Dakota	42,700	-900	-2.06%
350,600	Tennessee	301,900	-48,700	-13.89%
904,100	Texas	858,800	-45,300	-5.01%
135,500	Utah	134,100	-1,400	-1.03%

29,000	Vermont	24,500	-4,500	-15.52%
239,900	Virginia	233,200	-6,700	-2.79%
289,600	Washington	261,500	-28,100	-9.70%
46,200	West Virginia	43,600	-2,600	-5.63%
478,000	Wisconsin	438,100	-39,900	-8.35%

9,900	Wyoming	9,700	-200	-2.02%
74,800	Puerto Rico	70,600	-4,200	-5.61%
800	Virgin Islands	800	0	0.00%

12721000		11,396,000	-1,325,000	-10.42%

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Innovative Drone Uses to Stop COVID-19’s Spread

Alphabet drone delivering a package. Just one example of innovative drone use during the 2020 Covid-19 pandemic. — *Alphabet’s Wing drones are delivering food, medicine, and household goods. Image courtesy: AP*

Even before the coronavirus outbreak impacted every aspect of our daily lives, innovative drone use was making significant breakthroughs in a wide variety of industries. From retail to their increasing adoption by industrial and manufacturing firms, drones are becoming commonplace.

But as hospitals, companies, and municipalities learn how to operate under new social-distancing guidelines, drones have become even more useful and are being used for a number of unique tasks.

Innovative Drone Applications

Create a Machine Training Video with this Hack

Creating a training video for your HMI doesn’t have to be difficult. Here’s an easy hack.

If you’ve ever wanted to create an instructional machine training video for one of your HMIs to use in operator training but aren’t sure how to go about doing that, we have a simple hack for you–actually, two.

Close up of an EA7-T6CL HMI from Automation Direct. There are simple ways to create machine training videos for HMIs. — The EA7-T6CL HMI from Automation Direct.

The first hack is to use software that allows you to record the screen of your computer and edit it as you need to, like OBS Studio or Flashback Recorder. This type of software will allow you to easily record, edit, and share your machine training video even if you have little video production experience. Many of these software platforms have free versions that are entirely adequate to create your training video, as well as premium versions with more bells and whistles, like the ability to record from several monitors, add a watermark to protect your work, and to create a higher performance recording.

The second hack is to use the Game mode on your computer. This only works if you are running Windows 10, as it was a new feature with the Creators Update. But once you’ve activated this built-in tool you will have the option to record by pressing the red record button. You can toggle this button again to stop recording or use the Windows Key plus Alt+T. Then you can record the screen as you access the HMI remotely. Videos are automatically saved in your Videos\Captures folder as .mp4 files. There is also an option in settings that allows you to toggle on background recording.

If you need to repair or replace your current HMIs or PLCs, contact AX Control for more information.

AX Control Inc has a wide variety of surplus and reconditioned HMIs in stock.

Need replacements for legacy HMIs? We can help with that! Talk to our team today.