Management

Earlier this summer Fastenal installed an additional FAST Solutions industrial vending machine within the Terex Mixer manufacturing plant in Fort Wayne, Indiana. Given how many vending devices (machines and lockers) Fastenal installs during a typical business day, it was a commonplace event — except in one regard: that particular machine represented the 50,000th FAST Solutions device concurrently installed at Fastenal customer sites worldwide. 

College students with an interest in bringing together software and hardware solutions to improve manufacturing operations now have an opportunity to leverage their creativity through the MTConnect Student Challenge, a competition that invites submissions for both ideas and applications utilizing the MTConnect standard. 

Industrial Info Resources, a market research company based in Sugar Land, Texas, reported Aug. 5 that demand for aircraft parts has helped give rise to U.S. manufacturing plant expansions. 

Charlotte, N.C.-based Okuma America Corp.‘s newly-expanded warehouse increases the company's capacity for mechanical repair and exchange service, providing faster spindle and cam box replacement service, according to the company.  

Stratasys Ltd., a leading global provider of additive manunfacturing (AM) solutions, this week reported that Italian Service Bureau, ZARE, has halved production costs for its direct manufacturing customers in automotive and aerospace since purchasing a fleet of Stratasys Fortus 3D Production Systems. In a July 22 news release issued by Stratasys, which is headquartered in Minneapolis, Minn., and Rehovot, Israel, the AM company underscored ZARE's decision to use 3D printing for production parts. 

The Alamo Manufacturing Partnership (AMP), led by the University of Texas at San Antonio (UTSA), last week was among 12 groups to receive designation as a manufacturing community through a federal initiative designed to accelerate the resurgence of manufacturing in communities nationwide by supporting long-term economic development strategies. 

GF Machining Solutions, a Swiss-based machine tool company, and EOS, a German additive manufacturing (AM) company, announced on Friday that the two companies have entered into a strategic cooperation agreement bringing the technological expertise of both companies together to develop innovative solutions for mold and die customers.

Design and engineering software manufacturer Autodesk Inc. and the National Institute for Metalworking Skills (NIMS) have partnered to develop the first-ever industry-recognized CAM standards and credentials. These will enhance education and training programs to meet 21st century demands for skilled CAM programmers, designers and engineers. It's estimated that almost 100,000 jobs will be created by 2024. 

Machine tool builder Okuma America Corp. has launched a new web-based machine selector tool at okuma.com/machine-selector. The tool is designed to take the guesswork out of selecting a machine by providing users with a convenient method of finding the Okuma machine tool that best suits their specific manufacturing needs, according to the company.

Tsugami/Rem Sales, Windsor, Conn., exclusive North American importer of Tsugami machine tools, will open a new Tsugami technical center in Fullerton, Calif.