Industry News

News • March 14, 2016

Bunting Magnetics names general manager for materials division

Bunting Magnetics Co., Newton, Kan., which produces a line of metal detection, magnetic separation and material handling equipment, recently promoted Robert Bunting to general manager of the company's Magnet Materials Division, which is located in Elk Grove Village, Ill.

News • March 14, 2016 • Dennis Spaeth

LMC Workholding expands to 100 years

LMC Workholding, which opened for business as the Logansport Machine Company, Logansport, Ind., in 1916, is celebrating its 100th anniversary this year by highlighting the company's continuing expansion. "We've been the name to know in workholding since 1916, and we're expanding and growing to continue to meet the demand of our customers and the industry," said LMC Workholding President and CEO Jay Duerr in a recent company news release. "We're proud to have made it to 100 years in business and we're looking forward to serving our customers for many more years." nn

News • March 9, 2016

SNK America names new NIIGATA, SNK Nissin distributor in Texas

Based in Mount Prospect, Ill., SNK America recently selected Associated Machine Tool Technologies (AmTTech) as its Texas distributor for NIIGATA horizontal machining centers, SNK Nissin horizontal boring mills and SNK double-column machining centers. AmTTech, which is based in Houston, has served the Texas market for 25 years.

News • March 1, 2016

Gear Motions names new vice president

Gear Motions, a leading precision gear manufacturer, has named Paul Andruszko vice president of its Buffalo, N.Y., operations, which includes its Oliver/Pro-Gear and Niagara Gear divisions. Andruszko has more than three decades of experience in the gear industry, and most recently served as general manager of the company's Niagara Gear division.

News • March 1, 2016

Marty Benegalia to represent Solar Manufacturing

Solar Manufacturing, Souderton, Penn., recently announced that Marty Benegalia, president of Southern Thermal Systems, will assume the role of a sales representative focusing on areas in Texas, Oklahoma, Kansas, Arkansas and Louisiana. Benegalia joins Solar Manufacturing with a technical background of 20 years in metallurgy and heat treating, as well as experience in the petrochemical and oilfield equipment industries.

News • March 1, 2016 • Kip Hanson

Machining process targets moldmakers and more

Imagine a machining process that removes material five times faster than milling and 10 times faster than sinker EDMing, machines Inconel and hardened steel with ease, holds tolerances to ±0.0006" and utilizes the same tool to process thousands of parts with virtually no tool wear. Machine builder EMAG LLC USA, Farmington Hills, Mich., calls this process pulsed electrochemical machining (PECM). A subset of electrochemical machining, PECM is far more accurate than the decades-old ECM and has matured into a viable alternative to more-traditional machining processes over the past few years, according to the company.

News • March 1, 2016 • Alan Richter

Amount of U.S. reshoring debated

Has the reshoring train left the station or not? According to the second annual U.S. Reshoring Index from global management consultants A.T. Kearney, the answer is a resounding "no." In 2015, the index, at -115, indicates that reshoring of manufacturing activities to the U.S. has not kept up with offshoring. The index measured -30 in 2014. A positive number indicates net reshoring, while a negative value indicates net offshoring.

News • March 1, 2016

Putting a forklift into the industrial Internet of Things

Forklifts—the workhorses of the plant floor—are more valuable than ever at ITAMCO (Indiana Technology and Manufacturing Cos.). The Plymouth, Ind.-based manufacturer of gears and other precision components connected its forklifts to the Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT), which integrates machine tools and other manufacturing equipment with networked sensors and software.

News • March 1, 2016 • Kip Hanson

Inventing enthusiasm for manufacturing

When Zach Kaplan visited the White House last June for a National Week of Making event, he had no idea it would mean giving away 50 of his company's 3D carvers (tabletop milling machines). The CEO of Inventables Inc. (www.inventables.com), Chicago, Kaplan and 99 other conference attendees were challenged to provide ideas on how they could help President Barack Obama with his "Nation of Makers" initiative. Kaplan's suggestion? Put an Inventables 3D carver in one school in each of the nation's 50 states. What's more, Kaplan wants to have a 3D carver in every school in the U.S. by the end of this decade.

News • March 1, 2016

Disruptive megatrends affect manufacturing

The Manufacturers Alliance for Productivity and Innovation published a report in January about megatrends that are reshaping manufacturing. Titled "Manufacturing Megatrends: The Impact of Megatrends on U.S. Manufacturers," the report was authored by MAPI Director of Councils and Business Research Jenn Callaway, and is based on surveys conducted with manufacturing executives.

News • March 1, 2016

SmartCAMcnc opens new CNC training center

SmartCAMcnc, Springfield, Ore., recently announced the opening of a new instruction center for training CNC programmers to use the SmartCAM Computer-Aided Manufacturing (CAM) software family. The new facility is located at the company's corporate headquarters in Springfield.

News • February 26, 2016

Röhm expands service in Mexico

Röhm Products Mexico S. de R.L. de C.V., a subsidiary of Röhm GmbH, recently opened a new office in Monterrey, Mexico, in an effort to expand the company's sales, service and support capabilities to meet increasing demand for high-quality clamping and gripping technology throughout Mexico and Central America, the company reported in a Feb. 22 news release.