Factory

DHAKA, Bangladesh - Fire raced through a garment factory that supplies major retailers in the West, killing at least 112 people, many of whom were trapped by the flames because the eight-story building lacked emergency exits, an official said Sunday. The blaze broke out late Saturday at a factory operated just outside Bangladesh's capital of Dhaka by Tazreen Fashions Ltd., a subsidiary of the Tuba Group, which makes products for Wal-Mart and other companies in the United States and Europe.

The fight over a billboard on the Electric Factory building - perhaps the most litigated sign in the city - has returned. After a decade of legislation and lawsuits over whether the owners could throw a "wall wrap" advertisement over their building at Seventh and Callowhill Streets, the proposal was thought dead when chief patron Frank DiCicco retired from City Council this year. But DiCicco's successor, Mark Squilla, resurrected the proposal on Thursday with a twist. Under his bill, 20 percent of the advertising revenue would go to three local elementary schools and possibly several community groups.

Campbell Soup Co. may be based in Camden, but Napoleon, Ohio, is the site of the company's biggest food-manufacturing plant. Located near Toledo, the factory employs about 1,500 people who produce soups, sauces and beverages for the consumer-products giant. It's also one of the focal points for Campbell Soup's efforts to make its operations more sustainable. In December, the company switched on a 9.8-megawatt solar-panel farm that is expected to supply up to 15 percent of Napoleon's electricity needs.

Times are flush at the Boeing Co. rotorcraft factory in Ridley Park. After a decade-long expansion of the U.S. defense budget and wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, helicopter orders and employment are up. The sprawling plant south of Philadelphia International Airport on I-95 expects new orders for Chinook and V-22 Osprey helicopters through 2019. Boeing recently spent $130 million to modernize and expand its Chinook operation and step up production of the large troop transport helicopter used by U.S. forces and governments around the world, and for humanitarian relief.

For two decades, the old Stanley Blacker suit factory was a symbol of all that was wrong with the Tioga section of North Philadelphia. Now the site is a signal of things starting to go right. Closed in 1991, the factory that used to employ 750 workers caught fire in 1994 and stood on West Allegheny Avenue as a charred reminder of the dual scourges of blight and corporate flight. But on Tuesday morning, a VIP crowd of politicians and community leaders gathered under a white tent for the groundbreaking of a $7 million multifaceted center for senior citizens to rise on the site of the clothing factory.

Don't look now, but the Burlington Coat Factory retail chain is closing in on opening its 500th store. As of the end of its second quarter, on July 28, the Burlington, N.J.-based company had 482 stores. Last Friday, it opened a 92,000-square-foot flagship location on Union Square in Manhattan - its sixth store in New York. On a conference call with financial analysts last week, executives said the company will open 22 new stores by the end of the year. Not bad for a Bain Capital -owned property, eh?

BEIJING - The company that makes Apple's iPhones suspended production at a factory in China on Monday after a brawl by as many as 2,000 employees at a dormitory injured 40 people. The fight, the cause of which is under investigation, erupted Sunday night at a privately managed dormitory near a Foxconn Technology Group factory in the northern city of Taiyuan, the company and Chinese police said. A police statement reported by the official Xinhua news agency said that 5,000 officers were dispatched to the scene.

KARACHI, Pakistan - Fires swept through two clothing factories in Pakistan, leaving 283 people dead - many trapped behind locked doors and barred windows - highlighting the atrocious working conditions in a country where workplaces often lack basic safety equipment and owners bribe officials to ignore violations. The fires broke out Tuesday night at a garment factory in the southern port city of Karachi and a shoe manufacturer in the eastern city of Lahore. At least 258 people died in the fire in Karachi, where rescue workers were still searching Wednesday for bodies in the charred building.