The automotive industry improved initial quality by 10% compared to 2001, the largest quality improvement for the industry since 1997, according to the J.D. Power and Associates 2002 Initial Quality Study. Initial quality has improved by 24% during the past five years.
Xygent Inc. (Warwick, RI) has signed an agreement with SIP (Geneva), the Swiss coordinate measuring machine (CMM) and computer numerical control machine (CNC) tool manufacturer.
Applied Statistics Inc. (St. Paul, MN) has signed an agreement to acquire the DataMyte business of Rockwell Automation Inc. Applied Statistics is a developer of statistical process control software for the manufacturing industry.
Shipments of industrial laser equipment and systems for North America and U.S. exports were down 13% for the second quarter of 2001 when compared to the same quarter of last year, according to the Laser Systems Product Group of The Association for Manufacturing Technology.
Consumers are less satisfied with major manufactured goods this year than they were in 2000, according to the American Customer Satisfaction Index (ACSI) produced by the University of Michigan Business School.