Industry News

March U.S. cutting tool consumption totaled $200.05 million according to the U.S. Cutting Tool Institute (USCTI) and AMT – The Association For Manufacturing Technology. This total, as reported by companies participating in the Cutting Tool Market Report (CTMR) collaboration, was up 14.3% from February’s $174.98 million and up 8.4% when compared with the total of $184.57 million reported for March 2016.

Florence, Ky.-headquartered Mazak Corp. hosted its Midwest Technology + Education Event May 2-4 at the machine tool builder’s Midwest Technology Center, Schaumburg, Ill. The event featured a broad range of Mazak machines on display, exhibits and demonstrations presented by Mazak Value Inspired Partners and six daily seminars.

Recognizing that the future of American manufacturing lies with today's youth, Rockford Systems LLC launched its "Selfie for Safety" campaign to help raise student awareness of the importance of machine safeguarding and to help fund the upgrading of safety equipment in the machine shops of several high schools in Rockford, Ill., where the company's headquarters is located.

Last week, Desktop Metal, Burlington, Mass., a two-year-old startup, demonstrated the Desktop Metal (DM) Studio System, which it calls an “office-friendly” metal 3D-printing system for rapid prototyping, and the DM Production, a printer for the manufacturing market it claims is 100 times faster than current laser sintering machines.

Economic activity in the manufacturing sector expanded in April, and the overall economy grew for the 95th consecutive month, say the nation's supply executives in the latest Manufacturing ISM Report On Business.

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.

Customers need to be careful when hiring services from Metrology Services Providers. There are many “Ma and Pa” business’ that may be run by technically capable people, but are lacking the depth to provide customers with a full range of support, especially when the unexpected occurs. The following list provides customers with a checklist to ask providers.

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.

Since 2005, igus has been a major supplier sponsor of a variety of student robotics and engineering competitions. Now, as a part of its YES (Young Engineers Support) Program, the company is celebrating National Robotics Week with their continued support of thousands of student engineers around the world.

When Johnathon Wojciechowski of Bensenville, Ill., was 7 years old, he was diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes, and for the last 7 years has altered his life to battle this debilitating disease. Now recently having started high school at Fenton, Johnathon has received a highly trained Diabetic Alert Dog (D.A.D.) from the Ron & Vicki Santo Diabetic Alert Dog Foundation, with partial sponsorship from Heidenhain Corp., Schaumburg, Ill.

TriMet Consulting, Wichita, Kan., has announced the launch of its consultancy to serve the growing number of manufacturers who want on-demand, expert-level CNC programming, CMM programming and other 3D data-driven services for industrial design-to-inspection applications. The company says it has assembled an “A-team” of industry advisors with market knowledge and hands-on expertise in manufacturing and metrology applications. TriMet Consulting has industry connections with top tier OEMs, a mastery of industry best practices, and an experienced team to deliver superior programming results for CNC milling applications and CMM inspection routines.