It goes without saying that the heart of manufacturing is innovation. From the cotton gin to the steam engine to the assembly line to the CNC, the manufacturing process is always being reinvented, refined and reimagined.

Today, a lot of the talk is about additive manufacturing, and justifiably so. Since its dawn in the 1980s, AM has moved from a "that's neat" tool for hobbyists to a valued tool for prototypers to making fixtures and long part runs.

How many parts are being made via AM? Market research firm Wohlers Associates Inc., Fort Collins, Colo., found that revenue from the production of parts for final products represents 34.7 percent of the AM market. Since 2003, this segment has gone from less than 4 percent to more than one-third of total revenues from AM products and services worldwide. The use of AM for this application grew by 65.4 percent in 2013 to about $1.07 billion, up from $643.8 million the prior year, according to Wohlers.

With the AM machine business growing, some big names are jumping in. In October, Hewlett-Packard Development Co. LP, Palo Alto, Calif., introduced its Blended Reality "ecosystem," composed of the HP Multi Jet Fusion AM system and the Sprout by HP computer operating system. Built on HP thermal inkjet technology, the system images entire surface areas simultaneously instead of one point at a time, achieving build speeds at least 10 times faster than the fastest technology on the market, HP claims. That would be significant for establishing AM as a long-run parts manufacturing method, because one of the big knocks on it is that AM is too slow to be an effective parts manufacturing process.

The metalworking industry has taken notice. In an article to be published in the January CTE, we examine the growing number of hybrid machine tools that combine AM and subtractive machining. Industry stalwarts such as DMG Mori Seiki, Mazak and MC Machinery have introduced such machines, as have other companies.

But innovation is not found only in the "brand new." Sometimes, refinements of existing technology offer as much or more productivity improvement than radically new concepts. These improvements are often incremental, but they are easier to take advantage of.

IMTS 2014 offered a great showcase for this type of innovation. CTE went looking for some new ideas and found plenty. Among them were:

• Wearable machine monitoring systems (still under development) that allow stereoscopic 3D vision and real-time head motion, permitting users to view all parts of a 3D model.

• A solid-carbide, internally cooled drill for ISO-P and ISO-K materials with a land design that orients the margins radially. The lands, with shallow cooling grooves at the drill end, are said to produce optimal cooling.

• A new app store for applications from multiple vendors that allows operators to download apps directly to a machine tool's CNC.

• A 5-axis horizontal machining center for machining heat-resistant materials. The machine's rotary table is said to be four times more rigid than other tables.

• A wire EDM that vaporizes at up to 38 sq. in./hr. (400 mm²/min.) and produces tapers up to 30° in the Z-axis height.

• Clamping tools for turning and milling machines that are actuated electromechanically, dispensing with hydraulics.

To view our report, click here. Let me know how it goes. I hear this World Wide Web thing is really catching on. CTE