Industry News

My October 20 post on adding capabilities to your current CNC brought a response from a reader who who shares a problem. "We have a few Kitamura MyCenter 4XiF VMCs with FANUC 16iMB controls running daily on our shop floor," he writes, "The control hasn't given us a single problem since they powered on for the first time. However, we haven't been able to get the machines onto our network and we have given up trying."

Walter Dunkmann, head of the vacuum automation business area for J. Schmalz GmbH, Glatten, Germany, answers queries about digitization.

Sandvik Coromant hosted a "Digitalization on Machining" panel of leading digital manufacturing industry experts on Nov. 1, 2017, at the Center for Manufacturing Innovation in Greenville, S.C. Participants included William Sobel of VIMANA and representatives from GE Power, Cisco, Sandvik, Okuma, Microsoft, Mastercam, Rockwell Automation, MakeTime, Praemo and the Commonwealth Center for Advanced Manufacturing.

Walter teamed up with machine builder Starrag AG, Rorschacherberg, Switzerland, to take a step into the future. The venue was the fifth annual "Turbine Technology Days." Held at Starrag headquarters in Rorschacherberg, the event attracted over 200 visitors from 19 countries. It focused specifically on ways to make turbine production even more productive and reliable, and beyond that on developments in machining and control technology that are changing both turbine production and manufacturing in general.

Similar to the parts manufacturers and equipment suppliers we reach, Cutting Tool Engineering strives for continuous improvement. This endeavor includes the feature article, columns and departments, as well as our website, with our most recent efforts focused on the news section.

Briggs & Stratton Corp. announced this week that it will move production of its V-Twin Vanguard engines from a joint venture partnership in Japan to its existing manufacturing facilities in Statesboro, Georgia and Auburn, Alabama. The increased production in North America will create approximately 50 new jobs at each of the facilities.

Motion Industries Inc., Birmingham, Ala., a wholly owned subsidiary of Genuine Parts Co., agreed to acquire Apache Inc., Cedar Rapids, Iowa.

Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder toured FANUC America Corp.'s North American headquarters and technical center in Auburn Hills, Mich., accompanied by Dr. Kiyonori Inaba, executive vice president and general manager of FANUC Corp.'s robot division, and Michael J. Cicco, president and CEO of FANUC America.

Hexagon Manufacturing Intelligence, North Kingstown, R.I., announced that its portable and stationary coordinate measuring machine technologies will be integrated into a new metrology program offered at Fullerton College in Fullerton, Calif.

Dapra Corp., Bloomfield, Conn., has 1,600 indexable tools for milling available through MachiningCloud Inc., Camarillo, Calif.

Eriez Manufacturing Co., Erie, Pa., hosted its 2017 Business Conference at the Bayfront Convention Center in Erie.

Motion Industries Inc., Birmingham, Ala., a distributor of maintenance, repair and operation replacement parts and a wholly owned subsidiary of Genuine Parts Co., named Stacy Lenard vice president/general manager of the Dallas division.