Industry News

BLM Group USA Corp., Novi, Mich., appointed three regional sales managers to support the company’s high-precision laser tube and flat sheet cutting and tube bending business in the United States and Canada.

To build cars, appliances and airplanes, it takes tools made in Idaho. At Micro 100 Tool Corp., a cutting-edge operation helps create cutting tools. "We make carbide cutting tools that are used in all machining and manufacturing operations around the world," said Dale Newberry, president of Micro 100 Tool.

Once again, the International Manufacturing Technology Show is right around the corner. IMTS 2018 takes place Sept. 10-15 at Chicago's McCormick Place, which is literally just down the road from where I live.

ZOLLER Inc. inaugurated its new North American Headquarters on May 18, 2018, in the presense of the Zoller family, esteemed architect David Gebhardt, and Paul Krutko, president and CEO of Ann Arbor SPARK. The entire North American employee base and their families and friends also attended the gala celebration event. The new facility encompasses more than 44,000 sq. ft. and houses the U.S. corporate offices including sales, service and administration. In addition, the facility features an 8,800 sq. ft. Industry 4.0 Tech Center.

Some people say there is an art to machining. In some cases, there is actual artwork. Machinists Inc. in Seattle, the largest precision machining shop in the Northwest, has made big sculptures since the early 1990s. The first piece was a 17'×13'×3' steel sculpture that hangs in Harborview Medical Center in Seattle, and many more have followed. However, art accounts for only about 1 percent of the manufacturer’s work, said Weld Engineer Steve Pollard, who has been with the company for 30 years.

I received an email from a reader letting me know that he disagreed with my recent article on tapping versus thread milling. In it, I stated, “There’s little chance of successfully thread milling metals much above 45 HRC. And if you’re going to try to tap them, be prepared to duck the flying shrapnel when the tap explodes!” We all make mistakes. So when Tom Fares, president of TNT Custom Equipment in Stow, Ohio, called me out on that section of the article, saying that he routinely taps holes in 45 HRC steel alloy and thread mills into “the low 60s,” I listened to what he had to say.

Seventy years ago when the Society of Carbide Engineers launched the trade magazine that eventually became Cutting Tool Engineering as its official publication, the articles primarily covered carbide cutting tools. After all, the association advertised that those who were engaged in studying, using, supervising the use of or furthering the use of carbides were eligible for membership.

Ohio Tool Works LLC, an industry-leading manufacturer of precision honing machines, tooling, abrasives and accessories, announced that Paul Lykins joined the engineering department as the senior controls engineer.

Hexagon AB, Stockholm, a leading global provider of information technologies that drive productivity and quality across geospatial and industrial enterprise applications, acquired sole ownership of Licom Systems GmbH, a German distributor of Alphacam CAM software for woodworking, metal and stone cutting.

Hexagon AB, Stockholm, a leading global provider of information technologies that drive productivity and quality across geospatial and industrial enterprise applications, acquired ProCAM SRL, an Italian distributor of CAD/CAM solutions and complementary software.

Index Corp., Noblesville, Ind., as part of a revitalized sales, marketing and service strategy, partnered with five new, highly qualified distributors and realigned sales territories.

While manufacturers around the world have reached new heights in technology adoption and equipment innovation, there are still many pain points that hinder optimization, efficiency and even safety on the plant floor. Sensai, an augmented productivity platform for manufacturing operations, unveiled a list of the top five plant floor risks that reduce efficiency, drain productivity and negatively impact business results if left unattended.

Kitagawa North-Tech Inc., Schaumburg, Ill., a standard chucks, advanced chucks, custom-engineered workholding and steady rests manufacturer, announced that Mike Roberts of ITEX Workholding joined the company as regional sales manager for the Southwest region of the U.S.

As discussed in the current issue of Cutting Tool Engineering magazine in the feature article “Specialization on tap,” material-specific taps continue to evolve. Sources anticipate increasing specialization of the materials used for taps across industries.

Myths and debates swirl around the questions of using robots to automate CNC operations. From “Should we automate?” and “Can we automate?” to “How should we automate?” Are they true or not? Let’s look at a few of the most-discussed topics regarding robotic CNC automation.

On April 10, 2018, CNC Software Inc. hosted local Girl Scout troop #65023 for a tour of its corporate offices. Area Girl Scouts in 5th and 6th grades were able to see where Mastercam CAD/CAM software is developed and learn how it is used by thousands of companies worldwide to manufacture products they see and use every day.

State sales tax bases are both too narrow and too broad.

Avantech recently added two new, large bridge-style CNC machines, significantly enhancing its capability to provide large-scale tooling for customers.

U.S. factory output rose in April, although new estimates of manufacturing and overall industrial production showed less growth in prior months than initially believed, casting a shadow over the economic outlook.

I admit to some bias against school. From about fifth grade on, our educational system and I were rarely on speaking terms. Think oil and water rather than peas and carrots. Needless to say, I left at my earliest opportunity. Aside from that thing with my daughter pulling the fire alarm, my kids were far better students. So when it came time for them to make the big decisions, I kept my opinion to myself and did what most parents do these days: Encourage them to get their college degrees.