Industry News

Kitagawa NorthTech, Inc., which offers standard chucks, custom engineered workholding and Steady Rests solutions, in April announced that Shaun Thomas joined the company as Senior Manager of Engineering & Manufacturing. In his position for the workholding company, Thomas will be instrumental in managing all design, engineering and manufacturing processes.

It takes knowledge and skill to get a robot to do exactly what you want it to do in a manufacturing environment--and those are hard to come by in this skills-gap era. A new interface designed by Georgia Institute of Technology researchers is simpler and more efficient than most interfaces, and doesn't require significant training time. The user simply points and clicks on an item, then chooses a grasp. The robot does the rest of the work.

An issue slowing down 3D printing's advance into manufacturing is that the process itself is too slow to meet production requirements. Now, a collaboration between MIT, Steelcase and product designer Christophe Guberan presents a novel technique they call Rapid Liquid Printing, which can reduce the time of certain 3D printing applications from hours to minutes.

The Commerce Department on Friday provided its first statistical snapshot of the American economy in the first quarter, the gross domestic product estimate. The economy barely grew, expanding at an annual rate of only 0.7 percent. The growth was a sharp decline from the 2.1 percent annual rate recorded in the final quarter of last year. It was the weakest quarterly showing in three years. Consumption, the component reflecting individual spending, rose by only 0.3 percent, well below the 3.5 percent rate in the previous quarter.

ABB and IBM have announced a strategic collaboration that brings together ABB's industry-leading digital offering, ABB Ability, with IBM Watson Internet of Things cognitive capabilities to unlock new value for customers in industry, utilities and transport & infrastructure.

One of the oldest die casters in the US, New Products Corporation, turned 95 on April 22. Founded in Benton Harbor, Mich., in 1922, the company is a global supplier of custom, precision die cast aluminum and zinc parts for applications in industries including automotive, military, industrial equipment, medical instruments, appliances, transportation, and furniture.

For years, cyber insurance was purchased mostly by consumer-facing businesses such as retailers and financial-service providers. But as factories are getting more tech-savvy and digitally integrated with other parts of the company, manufacturers are starting to realize that keeping those networks safe is essential, according to this Wall Street Journal report.

In a blog, Dann Demazure, applications engineer at Datron Dynamics, wrote: Machinists ask me all the time, "When do I go fast and when should I go slow with a single-flute endmill?" Well, as you can imagine, there are a lot of variables at play regarding feed rates for single-flute endmills, but let's try to break it down.

Superior Drilling Products Inc., Vernal, Utah, designs, manufactures and repairs drilling tool technologies. SDP operates a state-of-the-art drill tool fabrication facility where it manufactures solutions for the drilling industry as well as custom products. Cameron Dick manages the firm's machine shop.

Weiler Abrasives Group, a leading provider of abrasives, power brushes, and maintenance products for surface conditioning, appointed Chad McDonald as the new vice president of sales, U.S. and Canada. In his role at Weiler, McDonald will oversee all sales activities in the U.S. and Canada, including field sales, national accounts and manufacturer's rep groups. He will also be responsible for continuing to strengthen Weiler's relationships with distribution partners, end users and industry associations.

Detroit, Mich., is a haven for CAD designers according to a top 10 ranking of cities to live in for the profession.