Industry News

Inaugural awards hosted by manufacturing innovation centers mHUB, UI LABS and IMEC celebrated region's manufacturing innovation and leadership by recognizing the companies, products and initiatives driving a new revolution.n

A recent CNC Cookbook survey included respondent comments about what they found lacking in their current CNC control. They mentioned inadequate work offsets, lack of web monitoring, limited tool data management and other shortcomings. FANUC Corp.'s Paul Webster explains why for some users, it may not be too late to easily add the capabilities they need.

Midwest Industrial Tool Grinding Inc. (MITGI) has been named the winner of the Workforce Development Award, part of the 2017 Minnesota Business Manufacturing Awards. This award recognizes a Minnesota-based manufacturing company for innovation and excellence in talent recruitment, efforts to retain employees and enhancing the image of the industry.

Good news about the manufacturing economy was shared with members of the United States Cutting Tool Institute who attended the trade association's fall meeting, held Oct. 7-9 in Coeur d'Alene, Idaho.

In connection with my canvassing efforts to best focus the boring tools topic scheduled for the January issue of Cutting Tool Engineering, I spoke with Harvey Patterson, product development engineer at Scientific Cutting Tools Inc., Simi Valley, Calif.

Summit Partners of Boston and Menlo Park, Calif., has bought a majority investment in the privately held Harvey Performance Company, Rowley, Mass. Harvey makes specialized cutting tools for precision machining applications for the manufacturing and metalworking industries, including aerospace and defense, medical, automotive, industrial motors and telecommunications sectors. It consists of two brands, Harvey Tool based in Rowley, and Helical Solutions in Gorham, Maine.

A survey designed to assess manufacturers' preparedness for Industry 4.0 changes polled 537 manufacturing executives across eight industry segments. The vast majority of manufacturers surveyed have recognized the need for industrial transformation, with most already taking action. Those that have done so say they are already seeing benefits as a result.

Thermal systems manufacturer Watlow has been working to bolster a shrinking manufacturing workforce in the US, and its efforts have been recognized. The Missouri Association of Manufacturers has awarded the company a Made in Missouri Leadership Award because of its support of STEM education, training programs and economic development initiatives.

At the BWM Group's engine plant in Steyr (Austria), in a reference project accompanied by the Technical University of Vienna, Ecoclean Monschau has significantly raised the energy efficiency of a flexible EcoCFlex Classic robot cell that had been in service for several years. The system's electric power and water consumption were each cut by around 30 percent. These energy efficiency measures are now intended to be implemented on another 95 systems of the same type installed at various sites throughout Europe and Asia.

Fabrication/manufacturing is a very discrete industry and is on a run to shift towards additive manufacturing instead of the conventional machining process. And as a result, 3D CAD sketching and modeling tools are accepted as the most lucid geometrical medium for design articulation. In the wake of this constant attraction of fabricators towards CAD, software companies have a line of CAD software modules floating in the markets.

The CNC Cookbook blog recently polled its readers regarding their use of CNC control systems. According to the results, the five most-used CNCs are FANUC, Haas, Mazak, Siemens—and Centroid, which jumped up 9 places from last year's poll. The company is less well known that those other four but has a growing niche among "do-it-yourself" manufacturers.

The mood of MFG Day, the annual celebration of U.S. manufacturing that took place Oct. 6, doesn't cease after the plant tours and information sessions end and the participating students, parents and educators head home.