Industrial Manufacturing

Concord, N.C. – October 01, 2026 -- Heintz Performance Inc. has acquired Woodward Machine Corporation, the exclusive steering supplier to the NASCAR Cup Series since 1995, in a deal brokered by Viking Mergers & Acquisitions.

Deal caps a 30-year supplier relationship between the two motorsports companies

Heintz Performance, a motorsports and performance retailer based in Concord, North Carolina, had worked with Woodward Machine for three decades before the acquisition. Jeff Edge, a senior advisor in Viking M&A's Charlotte office, represented the seller, Tony Woodward, in the transaction.

North Sutton, N.H. – October 01, 2026 -- Labsphere, Inc. has acquired Photon Gear, Inc., an Ontario, New York-based designer of ultra-high-precision custom optical systems and lens assemblies, combining light generation and measurement with precision lens engineering under one supplier.

Labsphere consolidates lens design and light measurement into a single vendor offering

The deal merges Labsphere's platform for light generation, control, and measurement with Photon Gear's custom lens design, assembly, and interferometric test capabilities. Customers in medical devices, analytical instrumentation, semiconductor, and aerospace and defense can now source a designed-to-specification lens assembly alongside the light sources, integrating spheres, and calibration needed to qualify it from one company, cutting design cycles and reducing the vendor count on a program.

Indianapolis – October 01, 2026 -- EnPower, Inc., a U.S. manufacturer of lithium-ion battery cells, has changed its name to CAMINUS, effective immediately, as the company shifts from a technology-development identity to volume manufacturing for defense, uncrewed systems, and industrial customers.

CAMINUS keeps leadership, facility, and contracts unchanged through the rebrand

Leadership, team, facility, IP portfolio, and existing customer, partner, and supplier agreements remain unchanged under the new name, the company said. Only the corporate identity has shifted, not the operational or contractual footprint built over more than a decade.

Waconia, Minnesota – October 01, 2026 -- Cabinetworks Group, the largest privately owned cabinet manufacturer in the U.S., has opened its third free on-site health clinic in two years at its Waconia, Minnesota manufacturing plant and office.

Clinic offers zero-cost care to team members, spouses and dependents

The 1,500-square-foot facility includes three exam rooms and a laboratory, mirroring sister clinics already operating in Middlefield, Ohio and Independence, Oregon. The clinic is staffed by board-certified medical professionals from Medcor, providing primary care, wellness exams, treatment of minor injuries, chronic condition monitoring for blood pressure, diabetes and cholesterol, vaccinations including flu, Tdap and Hepatitis A, rapid testing for strep, flu and COVID, and blood draws.

Durham, N.C. – October 01, 2026 -- Agilicus has officially joined the ISA Global Cybersecurity Alliance (ISAGCA), the operational technology (OT) cybersecurity forum created by the International Society of Automation (ISA).

Agilicus aligns zero-trust remote access technology with ISA/IEC 62443 standards

The membership centers on Agilicus' zero trust and secure remote access technology, which the company states aligns with core principles of the ISA/IEC 62443 standards series, including identity and access management, least-privilege access, network segmentation and restricted data flows. Agilicus' platform provides authorized users with secure remote access to critical resources such as SCADA environments, reducing reliance on traditional perimeter-based security approaches.

Charlotte, N.C. – October 01, 2026 -- Lucid Bots has unveiled the Sherpa HighLine, a motorized rooftop pulley system that enabled its Sherpa drone to clean exterior surfaces at 280 feet above ground level, a height the company says marks the tallest drone-cleaning operation recorded in the United States.

Drone cleans 23-story Colorado casino tower at 8,000-foot elevation

The late-September operation took place at Monarch Casino Resort Spa in Black Hawk, Colorado, on the property's 23-story hotel tower. The work was completed in partnership with BlackJet Drone Solutions, MG Cleaning Systems and Oklahoma Drone Technologies. Black Hawk sits roughly 8,000 feet above sea level, where lower-density air makes generating lift more demanding for aircraft.

Ann Arbor, Mich. – October 01, 2026 -- Wacker Chemical Corporation will present silicone-based thermal management and thermal runaway protection materials for battery and electronics applications at The Battery Show 2026, running Oct. 12-15 at Huntington Place in Detroit. The company will exhibit at Booth 4422, showcasing products for thermally conductive potting, flexible barrier coatings and thermal interface applications used in mobility systems.

WACKER's ELASTOSIL potting compound offers tunable thermal conductivity from 1.2 to 3.0 W/m-K

ELASTOSIL RT 7650 TC VS A/B is a two-part, low-viscosity, self-leveling silicone potting compound designed for battery pack, power and electronics applications. The material provides primerless adhesion and low sedimentation, which supports easier rehomogenization and more efficient dispensing during manufacturing.

Athens, Tenn. – October 01, 2026 -- DENSO Manufacturing Athens Tennessee (DMAT) has generated more than 3,200 MWh of electricity through August from a new 5.25-megawatt solar facility, offsetting an estimated 1,125 metric tons of carbon emissions since launching in May.

Solar facility covers 18.8 acres with over 10,000 modules

The installation, built on the north side of DENSO's Athens property, ranks among DENSO's largest onsite renewable energy projects in North America. At a nameplate capacity of 5.25 megawatt alternating current (MWac), the system is expected to offset nearly 14% of DMAT's annual power consumption once fully operational for a full year.

Toronto – October 01, 2026 -- MP Materials Founder, Chairman and CEO James Litinsky recorded fiscal 2025 total compensation of US$28.0 million (C$39.2 million), the highest figure in Bedford Group/TRANSEARCH's 2026 mining compensation rankings.

Litinsky's $28.0 Million Pay Package Tops Bedford's 2026 Mining Rankings

The package was weighted heavily toward long-term equity: US$24.8 million (C$34.6 million) in stock awards and US$2.2 million (C$3.1 million) in annual non-equity incentive compensation, against a base salary of US$1.0 million (C$1.4 million). Litinsky has led MP Materials since its founding in 2017, making the figure a long-tenured-CEO outcome rather than a new-hire package.

Minneapolis and Decatur, Alabama – October 01, 2026 -- Claros Technologies and Daikin America have signed a commercial agreement to permanently deploy the ClarosTechUVTM PFAS destruction system at Daikin's manufacturing facility in Decatur, Alabama, marking the first full-scale, long-term installation of the technology at an industrial site.

Pilot program advances to permanent industrial installation