Industry News

With financial backing from their joint U.S. parent company Teradyne, Mobile Industrial Robots and Universal Robots have acquired a 50,000-sq.-m building site in Odense, where $36 million will be invested in the construction of a major cobot hub in the "cobot capital" of the world. Collaborative robots – or cobots – are now the fastest growing segment of industrial automation. Cobots are a type of user-friendly robots that can work closely with humans without the need for safety guarding, enhancing both work environment and productivity.

After 14 years in service, a Studer S40 grinding machine that had over 45,000 hours of run time now produces precision components to tolerances it achieved when brand new. The Studer factory in Switzerland performed the rebuild that involved completely overhauling the machine, and while doing so also provided the machine's owner LMT Kieninger with a loaner to ensure the customer's production would continue uninterrupted.

Forest City Gear has expanded its capacity for high precision finish grinding of external, internal, straight and helical gears and special profiles with the addition of its second KAPP VUS 55P form grinding machine.

Tavares, Florida-based GWS Tool Group has acquired North American Tool Corp. (NATC). This acquisition represents the second add-on acquisition in 2020 for GWS. Located in South Beloit, Illinois, NATC is a world-class supplier of special taps, dies and gages.

West Dundee, IL – January 29, 2020 – Renishaw Inc., a precision engineering and manufacturing technologies company, announced the appointment of Denis Zayia to the position of President of its USA operations.

Researchers at the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology have developed a system for fully automated monitoring of ballscrew drives in machine tools. A camera integrated directly into the nut of the drive generates images that artificial intelligence continuously monitors for signs of wear, helping to reduce machine downtime.

Ort Tool and Die Corp., Erie, Michigan, saw significant sales growth in 2019, which matched its best year of sales in 2007.

Weiler Abrasives, a leading provider of abrasives, power brushes and maintenance products for surface conditioning, announced that it has partnered with Pacesetter Sales & Associates, McKellar, Ontario. Through this partnership, Pacesetter Sales & Associates is representing Weiler Abrasives products and services in the provinces of Manitoba, Ontario, Quebec, Newfoundland, Prince Edward Island, Nova Scotia and New Brunswick.

OMAX Corp. announces that Landmark Solutions will be taking over Southern California distribution of all lines of OMAX waterjets.

PI (Physik Instrumente) L.P., a provider of motion control and precision automation systems, announces Dave Rego as the new president of PI's Auburn, Massachusetts-based North American operations.

Account managers Brian Basiliere and Kyle Inman have been hired to manage accounts for users of Hexagon production software. The Hexagon Manufacturing Intelligence production software business has hired two new team members in support of its metalcutting software.

The Coordinate Metrology Society (CMS), Weatherford, Texas, announced the launch of the industry's first Level-One and Level-Two Certifications for traditional coordinate measuring machine professionals. Applicants for the CMS Level-One Certification must submit an application, meet eligibility requirements, sign the CMS code of ethics, and pass a peer review. Candidates for the CMS Level-Two Certification must possess a Level-One Certification, have two years experience using a CMM (minimum 400 hours), and submit an application with two references who can confirm their hands-on expertise.