Economy

Kennametal: Industry, workforce outlook

Kennametal Inc. CEO Carlos Cordoso shares the company's plans to help resolve the looming shortfall in the manufacturing workforce. Plus, Cordoso discusses the industry's economic state and Kennametal's focus on helping customers find total solutions as opposed to another tool sale.

Digital manufacturing group aids national cybersecurity adoption

The Digital Manufacturing and Design Innovation Institute (DMDII), Chicago, announced Feb. 10 that it has issued $15 million in national contract research awards that include funding to test and aid compliance with the nation’s cybersecurity standards for digital manufacturing, according to a news release from the group. The money will be distributed among six new projects with 27 DMDII partners in 17 states.

Growing with Swiss Automation

Swiss Automation Inc. employs 172 people and runs 115 machines in two locations in Chicago's northwest suburbs. In the past year the company expanded by about 25 percent when it opened its second location, adding some 56 employees and 26 new machines.

Trends in manufacturing

Don Nelson, publisher of Cutting Tool Engineering and MICROmanufacturing magazines, interviews David J. Povich, president of Tool Alliance, Huntington Beach, Calif. Povich also was recently elected president of the United States Cutting Tool Institute.

What manufacturing skills gap?

12/01/2012

Author:

Many reasons are given, including the bad image of manufacturing, lack of training in high schools and competition from other economic sectors. All of these reasons seem plausible. But now comes a study by The Boston Consulting Group, a management consulting firm, that seems to throw cold water on the idea of a serious skills gap. According to the authors, the skills gap in U.S. manufacturing is more limited than many believe. The study is part of BCG’s ongoing “Made in America, Again” study, which examines the changing economics of manufacturing.

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Specialty status

Sandvik Coromant video report suggests that collaboration, hyperspecialization and technology can help manufacturing companies prepare for the future.

ISM: Manufacturing contraction continues

Though up two-tenths of 1 percentage point since December 2015, economic activity in the manufacturing sector contracted in January for the fourth consecutive month as measured by the Manufacturing ISM Report on Business, which is published monthly by the Institute for Supply Management, Tempe, Ariz.

Reshoring revisited; rebuttal redux

While data used to calculate the 2015 A.T. Kearney U.S. Reshoring Index contradicts reports of a reshoring trend for U.S. manufacturing, the index itself should not be construed as opposition to reshoring efforts, according to A.T. Kearney, the Chicago-based global management consulting firm that publishes the index.

NIMS awards record number of manufacturing credentials

The National Institute for Metalworking Skills (NIMS), Fairfax, Va., last year awarded a record number of credentials to individuals seeking to start or further a career in manufacturing, NIMS announced in a Jan. 26 news release. In 2015, NIMS issued 21,420 industry-recognized credentials, with 18,901 of them issued in the United States, the organization reported. Compared to 2014, that's a 20 percent increase in U.S. credentials issued by NIMS.

Mastercam Joins WorldSkills

WorldSkills International, an Amsterdam-based organization promoting the need for skilled professionals through various means, recently welcomed Mastercam to its global partnership group, according to a CNC Software news release issued Jan. 26. The partnership begins in early 2016.