From the Web: Warning for chocoholics; love locks; doggie business; robot revolution

If you haven’t bought that Valentine’s Day candy yet, you may want to rethink doing so.< /p>

According to fcir.org, a consumer group is taking legal action against major chocolate manufacturers and retailers, saying they’ve failed to warn consumers about the potentially harmful levels of lead and cadmium in their products.

Metalworkers have long been concerned about exposure to these toxic metals in the workplace, but few probably have worried about exposure from chocolate.

Oakland, Calif.-based consumer group As You Sow reportedly has identified 26 chocolate products that exceed California’s threshold “safe-harbor” levels and illegally fail to carry warning labels. According to the group, a single serving of the chocolate with the highest lead levels contained 5.9 times the maximum allowable dose level set by California’s Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment. Those with the highest concentrations of cadmium contained 8.2 times the maximum allowable dose level set by the state, per serving. None carry a warning label.

Also Valentine’s Day-related is a metal product conceived of and produced in Taipei—a love padlock and its key in a heart-shaped metal box.

The idea, which is said to be “in line with the government’s move to promote industrial upgrades and creativity,” was inspired by “the practice in many countries of couples attaching love locks on a popular public fixture as a symbol of their love. In Taipei, many couples choose the Rainbow Bridge near the Raohe Street Night Market to affix their locks.”

Meanwhile, a fabricator back in the states, Marlin Steel Wire Products LLC, Baltimore, M.D., is busy making something for man’s best friend—metal pans for dog litter boxes featured on “Shark Tank.”

Optional accessories, the pans go under Fresh Patch disposable dog litter boxes, which are patches of grass that city apartment dwellers might find useful.

Reportedly, “the manufacturer started making the trays though a bit of serendipity. Marlin Steel director Marshal Greenblatt ran into the father of Fresh Patch founder Andrew Feld a few months ago. Greenblatt’s son, Drew, is the president of Marlin Steel, and the two dads got to talking.

“‘It was a fatherly situation,’ Marshal Greenblatt said. ‘Two fathers bragging about their sons.’

“One thing led to another, and now Marlin makes the trays, which retail for $139 on Fresh Patch's website. The manufacturer had to invest in custom dies to make a lip that bent in a way that would not hurt dogs as they stepped over, Drew Greenblatt said.”

Remember when robots were first introduced and workers everywhere feared being replaced by one? Those fears were realized by many in manufacturing as robotics replaced some manual tasks.

According to a new study by Boston Consulting Group, rapid advances in robotics combined with falling prices will spark a new manufacturing revolution, with factories dropping workers for automation at an increasing pace.

The pace of price falls and improved abilities of advanced robots to "see" better, grip better, and self-adjust better make them an attractive option for even small manufacturers across an ever-wider range of industries, said the study.

The U.S., China, Germany, Japan, and South Korea are expected to accelerate spending on robotics quickly over the next decade.

Robots haven’t taken over, yet, and manufacturers in the U.S. continue to seek qualified workers. In an effort to attract more in the Brainerd, Minn., area, a CNC office mill is making the rounds at local high schools.

Brought in through a partnership between Central Lakes College (CLC), the Brainerd Lakes Chamber of Commerce, and several industry businesses, the mill will travel between 23 high schools in five counties and will stay at each for anywhere from one day to several weeks, depending on how long the school wants it.

The CNC office mill will shine a new light on the career field, officials hope. “People don't realize that there's an enormous future in central Minnesota and Brainerd in manufacturing,” said Chris Hadfield, dean of Career and Technical Education at CLC.