Industry News

U.S. manufacturing is not in decline but alive and well, producing record levels of output in recent quarters despite significant price deflation for manufactured goods. No other sector of the U.S. economy delivers greater value to American consumers than manufacturing when it comes to providing more and more output at prices that have declined annually by 2.64 percent in real inflation-adjusted terms over the past quarter century.

I'm not a morning person. If it were up to me, all alarm clocks on Earth would be rounded up and smashed with a giant hammer, their electronic corpses left to rot in a landfill far, far away from my home in Tucson, Arizona. I'm not sure what people on other planets do about the whole alarm clock situation, but I assume they are more advanced than humans and therefore late sleepers like me. Unless my dad's predictions about the looming extraterrestrial invasion are accurate, however, we'll never know.

Penn Stainless Products recently installed a new Koike Aronson Versagraph Millennium Series plasma cutting system (Model 6300) at its Jackson Center facility. The new unit provides western Pennsylvania and eastern Ohio the same high-quality cuts available through PSP's Quakertown facility at shorter delivery times. The system utilizes Hypertherm HPR800XD HyPerformance plasma technology for a clean, consistent cut up to 2.5" thick, and features an extra-wide cutting envelope of 10 feet wide x 40 feet long.

To gain more knowledge about Industry 4.0 developments, I participated in the Taiwan Smart Machinery Media Tour Aug. 20-24. The Taiwan External Trade Development Council hosted the event. The council reports that Taiwan has the highest density of precision machinery cluster in the world, exports almost 80 percent of its products and is the fifth largest export country for machine tools.

The Republican Party has become the party of blue-collar America. After the 1992 election, 15 of the 20 most manufacturing-intensive congressional districts in the U.S. were represented by Democrats. Today, all 20 are held by Republicans. The shift of manufacturing from a Democratic stronghold to a Republican one is a major force remaking the two parties. It helps explain Donald Trump's political success, the rise of Republican protectionism and the nation's polarized politics. It will help shape this year's midterm elections.

HARTLAND, Wis., (August 23, 2018) — Todd Kaull has been named Vice President – Global Operations for Dorner.

As manufacturing industries, such as automotive and aerospace, continue to grow in the southeast, technical and robotics training will only become more crucial.

Lübeck, August 17, 2018. SLM Solutions Group AG has invested 25 million Euros in its new production and administrative headquarters.

SUWANEE, Ga., August 20, 2018 — RÖHM Products of America Inc., has announced that it has acquired Master WorkHolding Inc.

Schaumburg, IL – THK is taking major steps to meet the growing worldwide demand for linear motion products.

KERN Precision Inc. (KPI), Eschenlohe (Germany)/Chicago, has concluded a distribution partnership with Innolite GmbH, Aachen (Germany), for the North American market.

NEEDHAM, MA U.S.A. (August 13, 2018) – OPEN MIND Technologies AG , a developer of CAD/CAM software solutions worldwide, has announced it has recently partnered with Okuma America Corporation, joining the Partners in THINC collaboration, founded by Okuma.