Industry News

Burgsmüller, a subsidiary of the KraussMaffei Group, confirms its strong commitment to Lower Saxony by building a new metalworking plant in Einbeck, not far from its current location in Kreiensen. In mid-April 2019, the company signed a lease agreement with VGP – a leading project developer for commercial real estate – thus kicking off the construction of a factory and office complex with roughly 7,200 sq. m of floor space. Relocation of Burgsmüller's production site from Kreiensen to Einbeck is scheduled to start in the second quarter of 2020. The new site with a plot area of ​​approx. 20,000 sq. m will offer state-of-the-art production and office spaces for up to 125 employees.

Gary Brown, president and general manager of Heule Tool Corp., Loveland, Ohio, recently celebrated his 30th anniversary with the company. Brown began working for Heule in August of 1989, shortly after earning his engineering degree from Miami University in Oxford, Ohio.

Heidenhain announces the opening of a new central U.S. sales office as part of the company's continued North American expansion efforts. Operating in Longmont, Colorado, this new office now provides direct sales support for central U.S. and Mexico territories, previously managed in either Heidenhain's longtime Illinois or its 2017-established California headquarters.

Open Mind Technologies AG announced it is celebrating its 25th company anniversary this year. Founded in 1994 and growing from just 20 employees to over 300 personnel located throughout the world in sales and service subsidiaries in 15 countries, Open Mind's hyperMILL software suite is a leading CAD/CAM solution.

BLM Group USA, a global leader in the manufacture of tube and flat sheet processing solutions, announces Michael Martin as service director.

A new publication, "Training the Next Revolution in American Manufacturing," addresses narrowing the skills gap in advanced manufacturing. The project will be followed by a separate one that examines the information gap in manufacturing job placement: how to better match job seekers with available positions. Both studies grew out of what rapidly has become a cliche — that manufacturing is changing.

If you are looking for signs of trouble in the U.S. economy, many experts and politicians point to manufacturing. The industry faces the double whammy of President Donald Trump's trade war and declining purchases from abroad as Europe, China and other regions and countries slow down.

The ways in which an enterprise software solution looks, feels and works for a user are increasingly crucial. Now that users have been influenced by their consumer experiences with innovative and digital technology, expectations have increased for their business software to provide a similar user experience (UX). Smartphone apps, online banking, flight purchases, shopping websites and so many other experiences are designed with intuitive, easy-to-learn user interfaces to improve UX. If users find a software experience inefficient, they'll find ways around it, adoption will lag and organizations may not obtain the return on investment they expected. UX drives adoption, which is an important first step toward realizing business value from manufacturing enterprise software systems, including enterprise resource planning, supply chain management and customer relationship management.

While buzzwords such as predictive maintenance, artificial intelligence, digital twin and augmented reality have promised to enable the fabled digital transformation of manufacturing, when it comes to Manufacturing 4.0, most practical applications start and end with machine connectivity.

As per the findings of a report, the global industrial robotics market is projected to indicate substantial growth over the forecast period due to multiple driving factors such as adoption of internet of things in industries and growing digitization of manufacturing industry across geographies.

Superior Abrasives LLC enhanced its customer reach and support programs with new appointments in sales and service-related positions. In doing so, national sales management has been divided into Eastern and Western regions, improving accessibility and partnership management.

At the Control 2019 exhibition in Stuttgart, Germany, British coordinate measuring machine (CMM) manufacturer LK Metrology celebrated its first year of trading as a stand-alone company again, following its purchase at the end of March 2018 from Nikon Metrology by Angelo Muscarella, owner of Italian firm ASF Metrology. The last time LK was independently owned was prior to its takeover by former holding group Metris at the beginning of 2006.