ShopFloor Press
Quality and manufacturing news that touches the floor
In this edition
The Oct. 24 to 30, 2026 edition covers a 1.8 percent rise in September durable goods orders, two recalls covering 41 vehicles over torque control, The ASSEMBLY Show and The Quality Show wrapping up, the International Robot Safety Conference in Detroit, and a quiet week on the IATF wire.
Economy Desk · Impact 45
New Machine Orders Climb
New orders for manufactured durable goods rose 1.8 percent in September, according to the Census Bureau’s advance report released Oct. 27. Excluding transportation, orders rose 0.5 percent. Transportation equipment rose 4.6 percent, and industrial machinery orders rose 1.2 percent. Shipments of core capital goods, nondefense excluding aircraft, rose 1.2 percent. This is a thin week for quality news, and an economy item leads because no quality story both falls inside the window and is free to lead. Still, machinery orders mean equipment headed for somebody’s floor, and a new machine is where a lot of quality problems start: it arrives, it powers up, and it runs parts before anyone proves it can.
On the floor Monday
If a new machine is coming, schedule its capability study, control plan update and first article before it runs production parts, not after.
Source: First Trust Economics, Oct. 27, 2026, on the Census Bureau advance report on durable goods, secondary. The Census release did not open for this desk.
Recall Desk · Impact 80
Torque You Can’t Prove
NHTSA recalls 26V692 and 26V693, both submitted Oct. 20 and reported in trade press Oct. 24 and 25, cover 41 model year 2026 vehicles from one automaker. In 26V692, 24 vehicles may have front strut assemblies “installed with insufficiently tightened fasteners” at the connection to the front steering knuckles. The filing gives the cause as “Inadequate installation torque control of the front strut assembly,” and its chronology adds that operator error may have left fasteners without sufficient torque and that “torque measurement data used in-line for confirmation of tightening was improperly recorded,” preventing detection. A field report of suspension noise started the investigation in July; a survey of unsold vehicles found two with torque below specification. The fix in production was improved torque monitoring logic and production sign off requirements, in place by Sept. 9.
In 26V693, 17 vehicles may have wheel lug nuts that loosen, in limited instances to the point of wheel separation. The filing’s cause: “Inadequate controls for a temporary manual torque process resulted in certain wheel lug nuts being insufficiently tightened.” The manual process followed modifications to the wheel tightening tooling and ended Sept. 16; a torque survey of the population found affected vehicles.
Remedies: dealers inspect and retighten the fasteners or lug nuts, replacing parts where needed, at no charge. Owner letters are planned for Dec. 19. The filings name the automaker and its plant; this paper names neither.
On the floor Monday
Find any temporary or manual torque method on your floor (a hand wrench while the tool is down, a fixture not on the control plan) and give it the same verification as the permanent method. Then check one recorded torque result from last week against a calibrated checker or a physical audit of the joint.
Source: NHTSA Part 573 reports 26V692 and 26V693, Oct. 20, 2026, primary; Autoblog, Oct. 24, 2026, and autoevolution, Oct. 25, 2026, secondary, for the in window dates.
Trade Show Desk
The Quality Show Wrapped Thursday
The ASSEMBLY Show and The Quality Show ran Oct. 27 to 29 in Rosemont, Ill. This desk found no recap of what happened there, so it reports none. If you went, the lesson you brought home is worth more than any recap.
Source: The ASSEMBLY Show organizer release, Oct. 22, 2026, for dates.
Auto Beat
Quiet Week on the IATF Wire
The IATF Global Oversight news list showed nothing new dated Oct. 24 to 30. Its newest item remains CB Communiqué 2026-005 of Sept. 18. No OEM customer specific requirement changed in the window. The IATF 16949 second edition remains planned for mid 2027, with dates IATF calls indicative.
Source: iatfglobaloversight.org, Latest News, checked Oct. 29, 2026; Stakeholder Communiqué SC-2026-005, July 2026.
Calendar
Robot Safety in Detroit
The International Robot Safety Conference runs Nov. 3 to 5 at Huntington Place in Detroit, covering robot safety standards in the workplace, mobile robots included.
Source: Quality Magazine, Oct. 7, 2026, secondary.