Stanley Black & Decker found out after a $90 million investment that it didn’t have the tools to make wrenches in the U.S. The company is shuttering a Fort Worth, Texas, factory just 3½ years after breaking ground on a facility meant to burnish the Made-in-the-U.S.A. luster of the Craftsman brand. The WSJ’s John Keilman reports the Craftsman plant was a high-profile example of a drive among U.S. manufacturers to bring offshored production back home. But the automated system was a bust and the promised uncommon productivity never materialized. The high cost of American labor makes automation critical for plants to turn a profit. But the failure of the ambitious Stanley plant shows that turning manual tasks over to highly-automated assembly lines poses challenges. Faced with growing inventories of unfinished goods, Stanley decided to shut down the factory and keep importing many of its tools.

• Swiss solar cell manufacturer Meyer Burger plans to place a factory in Colorado Springs, Colo. (Denver Post)

Sugar markets are turning bitter heading into the key season for U.S. candy makers. Tight sugar supplies are pushing up candy companies’ costs and, in some cases, disrupting supply chains for sweets. The WSJ’s Wendy Guzman reports that Ohio-based Spangler Candy has turned down Halloween candy orders it couldn’t fill while the high sugar prices are raising costs at sweets suppliers Hershey and Mondelez. Candy producers said the root of the latest problem in volatile commodities markets lies with U.S. agriculture policy requiring that at least 85% of U.S. sugar purchases come from domestic processors. Sugar farmers and processors say that helps them compete against subsidized sugar offered by foreign competitors at artificially low rates. Rabobank says tight supplies and weather concerns are expected to keep U.S. sugar costs high. The major agricultural lender says buyers have started to reserve sugar in advance, which will help maintain higher prices.

The U.S. invented solar panels in the 1950s. But China now controls over 80% of the global solar panel supply chain, while the U.S. makes virtually none of the required components. In a video report, the WSJ examines the power dynamics in the industry, and whether the U.S. can reclaim its pioneering role.

An S&P Global survey shows the U.S. service-sector economy grew in July at the slowest pace in five months. (MarketWatch)

Russia has started selling oil at levels above a Western price cap. (WSJ)

Washington state workplace regulators opened a trial over potential hazardous working conditions at Amazon warehouses. (MarketWatch)

Sustainable food supplier AppHarvest is reorganizing under chapter 11 bankruptcy protection while continuing to ship its products. (WSJ)

Bed Bath & Beyond shareholders will receive nothing under the bankrupt home-goods retailer’s proposed reorganization plan. (WSJ)

FedEx unionized pilots rejected a tentative contract agreement and the two sides will reopen negotiations. (Reuters)

Japan’s Hino Motors will start selling an electric heavy-duty commercial truck in the U.S. next year. (Nikkei Asia)

Spinning mills in India’s Tamil Nadu region reopened after a seven-day shutdown to protest the country’s higher cotton import duties. (Sourcing Journal)

U.S. rail regulators are proposing stronger reporting requirements for freight railroads on train length and tonnage. (Trains)

Around 600 containers were lost from a feeder containership that sank at Taiwan’s Port of Kaohsiung. (TradeWinds)

Prices for older very large crude carriers have fallen sharply this summer. (Splash 247)

Japan’s NYK Bulkship is installing a wind-assisted propulsion unit on a vessel it operates for Cargill. (Seatrade Maritime)

Miami-based Sky Lease Cargo is shifting its freighters from Latin America to higher-priced air trade China-U.S. lanes. (The Loadstar)

Retail-imports logistics provider GSC acquired commodities transloading specialist MacMillan-Piper. (Journal of Commerce)

AIT Worldwide CEO Vaughn Moore says a bank’s agreement to count current accounts receivable in the equity structure was key to the freight forwarder’s 2012 management buyout. (Crain’s Chicago Business)

Paul Page is editor of WSJ Logistics Report. Reach him at paul.page@wsj.com.

Follow the WSJ Logistics Report team: @PaulPage, @bylizyoung and @pdberger. Follow the WSJ Logistics Report on Twitter at @WSJLogistics.