Good morning! For shops such as Confer Plastics and Emerald Packaging, immigrants aren't a political talking point — they are an essential part of the workforce. Experts say foreign-born workers are key to staffing and growing operations as the manufacturing labor shortage continues. We examine the issue in this month's cover story.

We also have a feature on instruments to keep your colors consistent across different facilities; news from Rapid Granulator; new ejector pins from Progressive Components; and from our colleagues at Processing, a look at the energy savings you can reap from advanced process control systems.

Lynne Sherwin, editor