Robot orders fall for plastics and rubber; Asano enters thermoforming market: Machinery Minutes

On this episode of Machinery Minutes, our weekly roundup of top stories with Editor Ron Shinn: 

• A good sign for U.S. manufacturing: Industrial robot orders were up in the third quarter. A bad sign for plastics and rubber manufacturing: Robot orders dropped. 

• There is a new player in the North American thermoforming processing machinery market, and its name is Asano Laboratories. 

• A small tool maker and injection molder in Florida brought those skills together to develop a new product — a dog grooming tool with steel teeth and an ABS handle.