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Manufacturing Engineering

Inventing enthusiasm for manufacturing

When Zach Kaplan visited the White House last June for a National Week of Making event, he had no idea it would mean giving away 50 of his company’s 3D carvers (tabletop milling machines). The CEO of Inventables Inc. (www.inventables.com), Chicago, Kaplan and 99 other conference attendees were challenged to provide ideas on how they could help President Barack Obama with his “Nation of Makers” initiative. Kaplan’s suggestion? Put an Inventables 3D carver in one school in each of the nation’s 50 states. What’s more, Kaplan wants to have a 3D carver in every school in the U.S. by the end of this decade. 

Nothin's going to touch you ...

03/01/2016
Author:
Alan Richter
... in these golden years,” crooned the late David Bowie in one of his smash hits. The term “golden years” is also used in Albert B. Albrecht’s book “The American Machine Tool Industry: Its History, Growth, Restructuring & Recovery,” which he revised in 2015 for the third edition. AMT—The Association For Manufacturing Technology sponsored the book. Albrecht defines the golden years of the machine tool industry as being from 1948 to 1998. “It was during this period that the United States machine tool industry led the world in both machine tool production and consumption,” Albrecht wrote.
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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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One machine, two processes

02/01/2016
Author:
William Leventon
Additive and subtractive manufacturing may be conceptual opposites, but a new partnership aims to show that the two can make a good team. Two of the partners are New York organizations: the Rochester Institute of Technology (RIT) and Elmira-based Hardinge Inc. RIT researchers are incorporating additive-manufacturing capabilities into Hardinge’s Bridgeport GX 250 5-axis vertical machining center. The goal is to create a hybrid manufacturing system capable of producing more accurate parts at a lower cost than conventional manufacturing methods.
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Okuma names Caron Engineering its Partner of the Year

Okuma America Corp., Charlotte, N.C., recently named Caron Engineering its Partner of the Year, according to an Okuma news release issued Jan. 6. Based on Okuma's annual distributor survey, Caron Engineering received the highest overall partner rating from among all 50 members of Okuma's Partners in THINC, which is a collaboration network of more than 40 industry leaders who come together to solve problems and explore new productivity ideas for real-world manufacturers. 

2015 A.T. Kearney U.S. Reshoring Index reveals false start

U.S. manufacturing reshoring trends appear to have been short-lived, according to a Dec. 21 news release from A.T. Kearney, a global management consulting firm headquartered in Chicago. "The reshoring phenomenon appears to have been more a one-off aberration than an inexorable trend," the firm reported, citing new data from its second annual A.T. Kearney U.S. Reshoring Index. "Data from 2015 confirms that offshoring is gathering steam, while the reshoring train has yet to leave the station."

MAPI: Manufacturers face unprecedented global complexity

Manufacturers face "unprecedented global complexity," according to a Jan. 12 blog post on the website for the Manufacturers Alliance for Productivity and Innovation (MAPI). "The sector is now powered by software and data every bit as much as by steel and electricity," continued the post, which was authored by MAPI Marketing Council Manager Cam Mackey. "The ability to access insights about how to survive and thrive has never been more critical. "Recent shifts in technologies, demographics and markets have created a new normal for manufacturers. Those that adapt quickly will emerge more innovative and agile than their competitors, but not without undergoing a transformation in everything from the people they hire to how they create value," Mackey observed in report titled, "The Impact of Megatrends on U.S. Manufacturers." 

NAM launching 2016 State of Manufacturing Tour

Jay Timmons, National Association of Manufacturers (NAM) president and CEO, will kick off the 2016 State of Manufacturing Tour on Jan. 28 at Saint Anselm College in Manchester, N.H. Joining Timmons will be Neil Levesque, executive director of the New Hampshire Institute of Politics and Political Library, and Jim Roche, president of the Business and Industry Association of New Hampshire.