Andy Szal

2 weeks ago | inddist.com | Andy Szal

Randy Velarde has seen a lot during his decades in the chemical distribution sector, but nothing, he says, like the “self-inflicted” upheaval of early 2025. The president of Houston chemical distributor the Plaza Group says that his industry tends to mirror the economy as a whole, and that while he’s not ready to run up a “red flag” on the latter quite yet, he’d put out a “yellow flag” — reflecting a precarious position that seems to shift almost by the day.

3 weeks ago | thomasnet.com | Andy Szal |Audrey Altmann

A process that turns soda cans, seawater, and caffeine into hydrogen could be effectively deployed on an industrial scale, according to researchers from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. The process of using hydrogen to generate electricity results in water vapor as its only emissions, and advocates have long touted it as a potential alternative to greenhouse gas-emitting fossil fuels or intermittent energy sources like wind or solar.

3 weeks ago | inddist.com | Andy Szal

It’s difficult enough for any company – let alone distributor – to try to navigate a new and endlessly shifting world of tariffs in just a few short weeks. But for Optimas Solutions, things get even more complicated: the suburban Chicago-based fastener and Class-C components distributor also has manufacturing facilities and engineering services — not to mention a footprint of 29 locations spanning nine countries across the globe.

3 weeks ago | thomasnet.com | Andy Szal |Audrey Altmann

Lockheed Martin’s space division received a contract for a hypersonic missile program that could be worth more than $1 billion, Defense Department officials announced. The aerospace and defense giant would receive up to $1.0027 billion under a modification of an existing contract allocated by the U.S. Navy. The funding would go toward missile and launching platform production for Conventional Prompt Strike, a development and testing program for a hypersonic “boost-glide” missile.

3 weeks ago | thomasnet.com | Andy Szal |Audrey Altmann

Ford will recall more than 1 million vehicles from recent model years over a problem with their rearview cameras. Regulators said that a software issue could lead to malfunctions in the cameras, including delays, frozen images, or failure to display entirely when the vehicle shifts into reverse, according to the Associated Press. Officials noted that those problems could raise the risk of an accident. The suburban Detroit automaker disclosed the problem to federal highway regulators in May.