Robotics and automation could offer manufacturers a key way forward to operating in the post-coronavirus environment because of their ability to reduce workplace contamination and worker interactions. 

Two Grand Rapids youth housing organizations and longtime partners have merged into one organization after years of consideration, aligning with recent consolidation trends among nonprofits.

Automotive manufacturers are back up and running after months of production shutdowns following widespread outbreaks of COVID-19. 

Dozens of crops grown in West Michigan are hand-picked by seasonal and migrant farmworkers. 

Shared transit presents unprecedented risks as communities and businesses around the state reopen and people come out of isolation following a months-long shut down because of the COVID-19 pandemic. 

Temporary workers were some of the first people to lose manufacturing jobs when the coronavirus started to spread into the Midwest, and they also filled in the gaps left by the highly contagious virus at essential businesses. 

People line up early at manufacturing plants to have their temperature taken by registered nurses who were laid off from hospitals in the chaos of the COVID-19 crisis. 

A new program aims to give frontline workers in the COVID-19 pandemic a pathway into higher education. 

ZEELAND — Office furniture manufacturer Herman Miller Inc. is laying off about 300 employees throughout the company’s global workforce in response to the COVID-19 pandemic and related restrictions.

KALAMAZOO — Southwest Michigan biosciences company Native Traits Corp. plans to use a recent investment to move its high-yield and weather-resistant seed technology into field testing and production.

Automotive suppliers in West Michigan will begin warming up the industry’s supply chain next week.  

Manufacturers are contending with the risk COVID-19 still poses to their workforces.

The COVID-19 global pandemic has pushed millions of Americans to work from their home offices, or in lieu of a dedicated workspace, their dining room tables and couches. 

The aerospace industry is facing unparalleled disruption and uncertainty emerging from the continued grounding of Boeing’s 737 Max and the COVID-19 pandemic. 

GRAND RAPIDS — In March, organizers at the Fulton Street Farmers Market in Grand Rapids were preparing for their biannual soup-tasting fundraiser. Usually, vendors and West Michigan restaurants donate soups for the event. Hundreds of people gather to taste food from the cooler weather season, catch up with one another and support the market.

GRAND RAPIDS — Coming off of strong sales in 2019, executives at Sharpe Cars had plans to reinvest capital into the company’s showrooms and facilities. 

GRAND RAPIDS — Real estate workers in West Michigan returned to in-person activities on May 7 after being halted for six weeks because of the COVID-19 outbreak. 

GRAND RAPIDS — Last year was “the best year ever” at Local Epicurean LLC, a maker of handmade pasta, sauces and specialty food products. 

HUDSONVILLE — Nearly all of Suburban Inns Inc.’s more than 1,000 hotel rooms in West Michigan are sitting empty.

Office furniture maker Knoll Inc. has entered into a tentative agreement to sell the company’s manufacturing plant in Kentwood. 

Michigan greenhouses and nurseries say they are pleased and ready to open following an executive order today by Gov. Gretchen Whitmer loosening restrictions on some businesses as COVID-19 cases level off.

As Michigan manufacturers shift course to join the growing “arsenal of health,” federal regulators have responded to the COVID-19 outbreak by reducing potential liability that typically comes with making medical supplies.

Automakers are delaying or rethinking the timing of new vehicles as production disruptions caused by the global COVID-19 pandemic linger into the spring.

As the new coronavirus spreads throughout the Midwest and people’s behaviors change as a result, Michigan’s turkey farms are struggling to stay afloat. 

Wolverine World Wide Inc. is leaning into e-commerce as the COVID-19 crisis drives more consumer purchases online. 

GRAND RAPIDS — Purple East Plus Inc., a lifestyle retailer of paraphernalia used for the consumption of cannabis and tobacco, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Western District of Michigan.

The vast majority of manufacturers are predicting challenging times ahead for the industry. 

Like most non-essential businesses in the state, many garden centers and greenhouses in West Michigan have been forced to close as part of continuing efforts to slow the spread of COVID-19. 

MUSKEGON — Pace Industries LLC, which manufactures die-cast parts and previously acquired the former Port City Group operations in Muskegon, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy this week. 

ZEELAND — Office furniture maker Herman Miller Inc. has filed a federal lawsuit against an online retailer for counterfeiting iconic designs from the company’s Design Within Reach Inc. subsidiary.