The U.S. outspends other nations in r esearch and development and continues to lead the world in innovations and inventions. However, new products are often “stranded in the lab” when we don't have the manufacturing capability, or get developed in other countries such as China, Germany, and South Korea that invest more aggressively in...

In the middle of the Monongahela (or “Mon”) Valley in Pennsylvania, innovation is underway for at least one manufacturing company. This is likely to be the case all around the region that surrounds Pittsburgh, which was once known as “Steel City” and is now being dubbed “Roboburgh.”

On one of the nearly 3,000 recent Manufacturing Day tours...