Industry News

"Without irony, Wal-Mart Stores on Wednesday outlined its recommendations to improve the U.S. manufacturing sector," writes Steve Goldstein for MarketWatch. "Wal-Mart could arguably be said to be a contributor to the demise of U.S. manufacturing, with its rapacious sourcing of consumer goods from China as it became the nation's dominant retailer. A 2015 estimate from the Economic Policy Institute, a left-leaning think tank, said Wal-Mart's trade deficit with China had displaced more than 400,000 U.S. jobs."

Everyone’s talking about it – the fourth industrial revolution. Rollomatic S.A., based in Le Landeron, Switzerland, is one of the companies setting a course for an interconnected future for machinery. After all, although precision is still a top priority for Rollomatic customers, aspects such as monitoring of machinery and production processes from anywhere in the world are growing more important by the day.

Heller Group COO Manfred Maier and Heller Machine Tool president Keith Vandenkieboom describe and demonstrate ways a machine tool builder prepares for the future of mobility—whatever it turns out to be.

LNS Group, Cincinnati, appointed Aaron Grell as the national product manager for the company's air filtration product line.

Seco Tools LLC, Troy, Mich., continues to partner with Ferris State University, Big Rapids, Mich., to offer local engineering students an opportunity to participate in a multiyear internship program at Seco Tools.

After a year of vision and construction, Global Shop Solutions Inc., The Woodlands, Texas, a global developer of enterprise resource planning software for the manufacturing industry, has opened a state-of-the-art facility, making it the third building at headquarters.

System Insights, Berkeley, Calif., which specializes in manufacturing analytics, is changing its corporate name to Vimana.

Motion Industries Inc., Birmingham, Ala., a wholly owned subsidiary of Genuine Parts Co., Atlanta, has agreed to acquire Numatic Engineering Inc., Sun Valley, Calif.

Master Fluid Solutions, Perrysburg, Ohio, a marketer of metalworking fluid products, has appointed Kyle R. Stoffer as CFO.

Heidenhain Corp., Schaumburg, Ill., has hired Gisbert Ledvon as TNC business development manager in North America.

MachiningCloud Inc., Camarillo, Calif., and Garr Tool Co., Alma, Mich., have partnered to provide Garr Tool product data in the cloud.

Newton, Kan.-based Bunting Magnetics Co., which specializes in magnet and magnetic equipment design, manufacturing and distribution, has appointed Bill Wagner to the executive leadership team as the CFO.

Fives Landis Corp., Hagerstown, Md., a manufacturer of precision grinding solutions and grinding accessories, will open a technology center at its headquarters.

Florence, Ky.-based Mazak Corp. continues its advancement toward the complete digitization of all its manufacturing operations with the recent transformation of its Oguchi, Japan, facility into yet another Mazak iSmart Factory.

Absolute Machine Tools Inc., Lorain, Ohio, has hired David Grega as COO. He will oversee the operation of Absolute's technical centers in Lorain and Mason, Ohio; Livonia, Mich.; and Elgin, Ill.

Richmond, Ind.-based Osborn has picked Paul Dent to be its new director of sales for the Load Runners division.

Irvine, Calif.-based CGTech, creator of Vericut, and MachiningCloud Inc., Camarillo, Calif., have announced a Vericut enhancement in MachiningCloud software whereby Vericut customers can import cutting parameters from cutting tool manufacturers from within MachiningCloud directly into Vericut.

Driven by improving demand and steady global economic recovery, Taiwan's manufacturing output in terms of revenue is expected to grow 3.87 percent to NT$17.54 trillion (US$576 billion) this year, said the Industrial Technology Research Institute's Industrial Economics and Knowledge Center. Meanwhile, IEK said that in value-added terms, Taiwan's machine tool industry is the worst-performing segment behind all other segments of the manufacturing sector.

President Donald Trump has issued an executive order on assessing and strengthening the manufacturing and defense industrial base and supply chain resiliency of the United States. He said strategic support for a vibrant domestic manufacturing sector, a vibrant defense industrial base and resilient supply chains is a significant national priority. A comprehensive evaluation of the defense industrial base and supply chains, with input from executive departments and agencies, has been ordered to assess the nation's strengths and weaknesses.

The Valley Morning Star (Harlingen, TX) reports on how tool and die technology at Texas State Technical College has given student and former college dropout Andy Juarez "a new lease on life." Juarez plans to get his associate degree this Fall. "After speaking to supervisors at Arlington-based United States defense contractor and industrial corporation, Raytheon, he has a position waiting for him immediately after he graduates." The whole story is at the link.