Industry News

Hyperion Materials & Technologies Inc. announced that it signed an agreement to acquire Arno Friedrichs Hartmetall GmbH & Co. KG and its affiliates (AFC), a global solutions provider in premium tungsten carbide blanks used in the manufacture of high precision rotary cutting tools for drilling and milling applications.

Methods Machine Tools Inc. announced that its board of directors has appointed Mark Wright as its president and CEO. Wright will assume all operating functions of Methods Machine Tools, including the Sudbury, Massachusetts, headquarters and all seven direct offices throughout the U.S., as well as its national distribution network.

Mobile Industrial Robots opened its largest office in North America to accommodate continued growth across the continent. The new two-building, 7,376-sq.-ft. office in Holbrook, New York, replaces the Danish company’s first international office, opened in the same city in 2016.

Engine development company Roush Yates Manufacturing Solutions (RYMS) will now use ProShop USA Inc.’s software to manage its advanced manufacturing shop. ProShop’s comprehensive ERP software allows users to control every step in the manufacturing process, from pricing and inventory to inspection data and shipping documentation. The software is especially beneficial to AS 9100 and ISO 9001 certified facilities such as Roush Yates.

IBC announces that WIDIA Products Group, Latrobe, Pennsylvania, has joined the IBC industrial buying group as a preferred supplier. WIDIA is a leading manufacturer of precision metalcutting tools utilized in CNC machining operations.

As part of the company’s ongoing commitment to quality, innovation and long-term growth, GF Machining Solutions recently announced two key leadership changes, both of which were effective Sept. 1, 2019. Scott Fosdick, former president and head of market region North and Central America, has been promoted to the position of head of sales, marketing, business development and communications for the global organization. Phil Hauser, formerly the director of sales and head of turbine group at GF Machining Solutions USA, will assume Fosdick’s former position.

Contract inspection and reverse engineering capacity has doubled in terms of throughput, while the size of the component that can be measured has increased more than five-fold at Laser Scanning Ltd., based in Chapeltown, U.K., near Sheffield. It follows the installation of a second, larger coordinate measuring machine built by LK Metrology Ltd. at its Castle Donington, England, factory.

According to a findings specified in the report on the waterjet cutting machine market, the market is expected to witness steady growth over the forecast period (2018-2026), led by increasing industrialization and manufacturing sector in emerging regions across the globe. The long-term outlook for the global waterjet cutting machine market is expected to remain positive and the market is expected to expand at a CAGR of 9.0% during the forecast period.

Burgsmüller, a subsidiary of the KraussMaffei Group, confirms its strong commitment to Lower Saxony by building a new metalworking plant in Einbeck, not far from its current location in Kreiensen. In mid-April 2019, the company signed a lease agreement with VGP – a leading project developer for commercial real estate – thus kicking off the construction of a factory and office complex with roughly 7,200 sq. m of floor space. Relocation of Burgsmüller’s production site from Kreiensen to Einbeck is scheduled to start in the second quarter of 2020. The new site with a plot area of ​​approx. 20,000 sq. m will offer state-of-the-art production and office spaces for up to 125 employees.

Gary Brown, president and general manager of Heule Tool Corp., Loveland, Ohio, recently celebrated his 30th anniversary with the company. Brown began working for Heule in August of 1989, shortly after earning his engineering degree from Miami University in Oxford, Ohio.

Heidenhain announces the opening of a new central U.S. sales office as part of the company’s continued North American expansion efforts. Operating in Longmont, Colorado, this new office now provides direct sales support for central U.S. and Mexico territories, previously managed in either Heidenhain’s longtime Illinois or its 2017-established California headquarters.

Open Mind Technologies AG announced it is celebrating its 25th company anniversary this year. Founded in 1994 and growing from just 20 employees to over 300 personnel located throughout the world in sales and service subsidiaries in 15 countries, Open Mind's hyperMILL software suite is a leading CAD/CAM solution.

BLM Group USA, a global leader in the manufacture of tube and flat sheet processing solutions, announces Michael Martin as service director.

A new publication, "Training the Next Revolution in American Manufacturing," addresses narrowing the skills gap in advanced manufacturing. The project will be followed by a separate one that examines the information gap in manufacturing job placement: how to better match job seekers with available positions. Both studies grew out of what rapidly has become a cliche — that manufacturing is changing.

If you are looking for signs of trouble in the U.S. economy, many experts and politicians point to manufacturing. The industry faces the double whammy of President Donald Trump’s trade war and declining purchases from abroad as Europe, China and other regions and countries slow down.

The ways in which an enterprise software solution looks, feels and works for a user are increasingly crucial. Now that users have been influenced by their consumer experiences with innovative and digital technology, expectations have increased for their business software to provide a similar user experience (UX). Smartphone apps, online banking, flight purchases, shopping websites and so many other experiences are designed with intuitive, easy-to-learn user interfaces to improve UX. If users find a software experience inefficient, they’ll find ways around it, adoption will lag and organizations may not obtain the return on investment they expected. UX drives adoption, which is an important first step toward realizing business value from manufacturing enterprise software systems, including enterprise resource planning, supply chain management and customer relationship management.

While buzzwords such as predictive maintenance, artificial intelligence, digital twin and augmented reality have promised to enable the fabled digital transformation of manufacturing, when it comes to Manufacturing 4.0, most practical applications start and end with machine connectivity.

As per the findings of a report, the global industrial robotics market is projected to indicate substantial growth over the forecast period due to multiple driving factors such as adoption of internet of things in industries and growing digitization of manufacturing industry across geographies.

Superior Abrasives LLC enhanced its customer reach and support programs with new appointments in sales and service-related positions. In doing so, national sales management has been divided into Eastern and Western regions, improving accessibility and partnership management.

At the Control 2019 exhibition in Stuttgart, Germany, British coordinate measuring machine (CMM) manufacturer LK Metrology celebrated its first year of trading as a stand-alone company again, following its purchase at the end of March 2018 from Nikon Metrology by Angelo Muscarella, owner of Italian firm ASF Metrology. The last time LK was independently owned was prior to its takeover by former holding group Metris at the beginning of 2006.