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Financing your next machine tool

01/05/2017
Author:
William Leventon
Machine tools are big-ticket items, so it’s no surprise that they’re normally acquired using some sort of financing. In addition to banks, financing can be obtained from machine tool OEMs and nonbank lenders known as finance companies.
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Manufacturing and millennials

12/30/2016
Author:
Alan Richter
On the one hand, many employers in the manufacturing industry view millennials as being self-absorbed, unfocused, disloyal, addicted to mobile devices and lazy. On the other, most millennials don’t view a career in manufacturing as something they want to pursue.
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U.S. Manufacturers' slow walk to Industry 4.0

A Boston Consulting Group survey finds that US companies consider digital technologies a priority, but that many manufacturers feel no urgency and have no strategy to implement them. For example, nearly 90% of manufacturing leaders regard adopting new digital industrial technologies as a way to improve productivity, but only about one in four see opportunities to use these advances to build new revenue streams.

$1.5 million Cloud-based Machine Monitoring Research Project to Begin

Penn State reports that it will team with researchers and analysts from Case Western Reserve University, the GE Global Research Center and Microsoft on a $1.5 million collaborative research project to develop a cloud-based wireless sensing and prognostic system for monitoring manufacturing machinery. The initiative will make it possible for such a system to detect early signs of wear, aging and fault conditions in the machines.

A one-stop robot shop

As useful and commonplace as robots are in manufacturing, buying one is rarely a one-stop shopping experience. However, robot manufacturer Universal Robots A/S has launched a new service, UR+, which may change the way robots are bought and sold. 

Entrepreneurs crowdfund machine launches

Have a great idea for a machine tool but lack the cash to fund its commercialization? Crowdfund it! That’s what Matthew Hertel did when he leveraged a Kickstarter campaign to raise more than $355,000 for the development and creation of his Pocket NC 5-axis milling machine. And then there's the WAZER, the world’s first desktop waterjet cutter, which runs $4,499 on Kickstarter, and is expected to be affordable to hobbyists and small businesses.

Tougher & wiser in times of turmoil

12/01/2016
Author:
Keith Jennings
While attending IMTS in September, it was nice to meet fellow machine shop owners and managers, many of whom expressed optimism and reported a robust year for their businesses. That was good to hear, considering our market is in the midst of a downturn and requires aggressive management to persevere. 
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