Industry News
11/17/2017

Earlier this week we shared the conclusions of the McKinsey Report, which concluded that it may be possible for U.S. manufacturing to grow by 20 percent and add more than 2 million jobs by 2025. That was the good news. It can only happen, however, if manufacturers embrace Industry 4.0 technology. The Integr8 conference in Detroit showed how to get started.
11/17/2017

Mazak Corp., Florence, Ky., and MachiningCloud Inc., Camarillo, Calif., announced their partnership.
11/17/2017

Just over a year after breaking ground, United Grinding North America Inc., Miamisburg, Ohio, opened its new 110,000-sq.-ft. headquarters.
11/17/2017

Parker Steel Co., Maumee, Ohio, hired Shawn Kaelber as information technology manager.
11/17/2017

Over 26,000 RedLine Tools, Plymouth, Minn., items are now available through MachiningCloud Inc., Camarillo, Calif.
11/17/2017

CNC Software Inc., Tolland, Conn., developer of Mastercam, partnered with Kennametal Inc., Latrobe, Pa., to provide customers with the ability to quickly import tool assemblies from Novo directly into Mastercam 2018.
11/17/2017

Emco Group, which includes Emco Corp., Novi, Mich., is a machine tool manufacturer that provides multifunctional metalcutting machine tools.
11/16/2017

Combining operations in a single tool is a significant trend sweeping through the metalcutting industry. Combining cutting operations reduces the cost per hole by eliminating tool changes. It improves production efficiency and machine utilization, ultimately increasing manufacturers’ speed to market.
11/16/2017

The McKinsey Global Institute released new research this week that outlines opportunities to boost manufacturing by up to $530 billion, or 20 percent, over current trends by 2025—and create more than 2 million jobs. The report also provides fresh details on why the US manufacturing sector has suffered steep declines.
11/14/2017

Why does INDEX afford itself the luxury of installing a second rotary encoder on the Z-axis in its lathes for full-surface machining? The answer is safety and accuracy—two unbeatable arguments that customers treasure.
11/14/2017

A novel 3D printing process that relies on melting aluminum wire and manipulating it with electromagnetism is no longer just another lab project. Vader Systems, which developed the process, has announced the first commercial sale of its signature Mk1 3D printer to Becker CAD-CAM-Cast, a tier-one supplier of engineered aluminum automotive components.
11/14/2017

"Who says American manufacturing is dead? The young innovators on Forbes’ 30 Under 30 list in Manufacturing and Industry are finding plenty of opportunities to design useful new products, make factories more efficient and create better materials." More at the link.
11/14/2017

Manufacturing technology orders in September continued their upward trend, ending the third quarter on a strong note. According to the latest U.S. Manufacturing Technology Orders Report, bookings for September 2017 were up 6 percent from August and posted a year-to-date figure 5 percent higher than the first nine months of 2016. The monthly total of $403 million fell short of September 2016 by 26 percent, a typical drop-off in odd-numbered years when IMTS, the largest manufacturing technology show in the Americas, does not occur.
11/13/2017

For today’s industrial manufacturing applications, it’s all about output. The goal is to machine as many parts as possible in the shortest amount of time to maximize profitability. In industries that regularly take huge blocks of metal and machine them down to a part that’s approximately 10 to 20 percent of the size and weight of the original piece, that process generates high volumes of metal chips, shavings, grindings and turnings.
11/13/2017

Like most of us, Jay Hegemann deletes a lot of emails every day. Everything from miracle cures for baldness to special offers from credit card vendors go right into the trash. However, something about the email from Keyence’s sales engineer earlier this spring caught Hegemann’s eye and he decided to take another look. It’s a good thing, because the product advertised in that message has been a game changer for this small manufacturing firm.
11/13/2017
Rollomatic Inc. hosted an open house Nov. 7-9 at its headquarters in Mundelein, Ill. In addition to displaying the latest Rollomatic and Strausak grinding machines, as well as a Platit tool coating machine, the event offered attendees an opportunity see a demonstration of Rollomatic’s software for Industry 4.0.
11/10/2017

Historically, the round tool cutting industry hasn’t offered many educational events to customers for collaboration. 3M is on a mission to change that.
11/08/2017

As part of the newly created 3D/Additive Manufacturing Pavilion at the FABTECH 2017 trade show held Nov. 6-9 at Chicago’s McCormick Place, Fabrisonic LLC’s exhibit showcased the company’s hybrid ultrasonic additive manufacturing (UAM) and subtractive machining capabilities.
11/08/2017

Last week's blog post on the successors of Rosie the Riveter inspired a reader to share her own experience as an early woman in manufacturing. Lois Anderson was tasked with walking into plants in Southwestern Michigan to convince dubious managers and workers to use new methods to improve their production quality and efficiency. In the end, she helped them excel.
11/07/2017

User error is a more common cause of unplanned downtime in the manufacturing sector than almost any other sector, according to a new Vanson Bourne global study, sponsored by ServiceMax from GE Digital. Unplanned downtime triggered by user error is 23% compared to as low as 9% in other sectors. (And did that robot just snicker?)