Industry News

According to MTD Micro Molding, nothing is more frustrating for micropart designers than to spend countless hours on a new drawing, only to get to the manufacturing phase and find out they need to make significant revisions or compromises. Their tooling department provides eight recommendations to help improve the manufacturability of your next micropart design.

In 2016, Pilatus Aircraft Ltd. installed new manufacturing systems for machining structural parts made of aluminum. To achieve the desired surface quality and precision during high-speed milling operations, the aircraft manufacturer continuously relies on the solutions provided by Haimer: a large selection of toolholders and the corresponding shrinking and balancing machines.

According to Frost & Sullivan’s Industrial Automation and Process Control team, cognitive technologies and artificial intelligence (AI) are "poised to transform all manufacturing sectors." Partnership, collaboration, and technology investment are crucial for growth opportunities in an era when "data is the new currency."

MBFZ toolcraft GmbH reports that 3D printing is developing at an increasingly rapid pace. While plastic parts can already be 3D printed on home printers, metal 3D printing remains in the hands of innovative industrial companies. Here, the transition has already been made from rapid prototyping to rapid manufacturing. Both the ability to produce titanium bone implants and the growing interest in the technology shown by politicians are clear indications that the manufacturing method is ready to be used for series production. To improve its additive manufacturing processes, toolcraft has invested in new laser melting machines from TRUMPF.

Mastercam, a global partner of WorldSkills, is the official supplier to the four machining competitions at WorldSkills 2017: CNC Turning, CNC Milling, Plastic Die Engineering, and the Manufacturing Team Challenge. The Manufacturing Challenge requires the teams to use Mastercam to produce parts on turning and milling machines that may be assembled together to produce a workable product.

"There are some common mistakes people make when buying a new CNC machine that we see all too often," writes Okuma's Brian Kateley. "Sometimes they skip important steps in space planning that can really come back and bite them when installation day arrives. All of this can easily be avoided if you contact your distributor and request a 2D drawing so you can plan your installation correctly." Kateley's entire checklist is at the link below.

"Keeping manufacturing jobs from going overseas" is the top recommendation Americans give as the best way to create more jobs in the U.S. Many also suggest reducing government regulation, lowering taxes, creating more infrastructure work and improving education. These responses, from a May 3-7 Gallup poll, are generally similar to what Gallup found when it asked this open-ended question in 2009 and 2011 -- except education, which is mentioned more frequently this year than in the past.

Carey Manufacturing makes pedestrian products -- the same handles and latches it's turned out for 40 years. But it's making a name for itself these days because of an unusual distinction. Almost half its workers are women, and women outnumber men on the factory floor.

The Reshoring Initiative, in conjunction with the Precision Metalforming Association (PMA), invites companies that have successfully reshored parts or tooling made primarily by metal forming, fabricating or machining to apply for the first National Reshoring Award. There will be one award for buyers and one award for suppliers.

Without a doubt, cutting tools for machining titanium must be well-engineered. This was reinforced for me while attending Horn Technology Days 2017 May 10 to 12 at Hartmetall-Werkzeugfabrik Paul Horn GmbH’s in Tübingen, Germany.

NSI Laser, Fremont, Calif., in April opened a new applications laboratory (App Lab) intended to meet the rising demand for new and advanced laser micromachining processes. The App Lab is a direct "response to the whole electronics industry moving toward high density interconnect (HDI) and finer geometry PCBs," according to a company news release.

Economic growth is expected to continue in the U.S. throughout the remainder of 2017, say the nation's purchasing and supply executives in their Spring 2017 Semiannual Economic Forecast. Expectations for the remainder of 2017 continue to be positive in both the manufacturing and non-manufacturing sectors. Sixty-four percent of respondents from the panel of manufacturing supply management executives predict their revenues will be 8.5 percent greater in 2017 compared to 2016, 12 percent expect a 9.6 percent decline, and 24 percent foresee no change in revenue.

Local high schools investing heavily in technical education have noticed interest from an unexpected subset of students: females. Late last year the Sheboygan Area School District built new advanced manufacturing labs at both high schools under a program called "Red Raider"—and similar manufacturing education centers have been constructed in high schools in Plymouth and Sheboygan Falls in recent years.

The University of Strathclyde’s Advanced Forming Research Centre (AFRC) is celebrating a quadruple success of new memberships with some of the United Kingdom’s most forward-thinking technology companies. The center has signed agreements with 3D Scanners, CGTech Vericut, Dontyne Systems and TMS CADCentre, each joining as tier two members.

Heller Machine Tools will open its doors for Tech Days 2017, July 26 and 27, at its facility in Troy, Mich. The machine tool builder will demonstrate new 4- and 5-axis machining solutions for automotive, oil and gas, heavy-duty diesel and general machining applications.

In the 100th year of its history, 2016, the BMW Group ordered the 100th EcoCFlex system from Dürr Ecoclean. The anniversary specimen of the flexible robot cell forms part of a three-unit package and has received a special painting. The machines have been serving in a volume production environment at the Steyr engine plant since May 2017.

On May 16th at a reception held in conjunction with EASTEC, SME and AMT – The Association For Manufacturing Technology announced partnering on creating “a new kind of event,” designed to “help fast-track the adoption of Smart Manufacturing technologies.” That event, the Smart Manufacturing Experience, is scheduled to take place April 30 through May 2, 2018 at the Boston Convention Center.

By using software to automatically optimize NC program feed rates, parts manufacturers can achieve the benefits of high-efficiency machining. So says David Sutkey, sales engineers at Irvine, Calif.-headquartered CGTech, who presented a technical session about it on May 18 at BIG KAISER Precision Tooling Inc.’s Breakfast & Learn 2017. The May 16-18 event took place at the toolmaker’s headquarters in Hoffman Estates, Ill.

By now, most manufacturers have heard of the promise of the Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT). In manufacturing's future, newly installed sensors will collect previously unavailable data on equipment, parts, inventory and even personnel that will then be shared with existing systems in an interconnected “smart” system where machines learn from other machines and executives can analyze reports based on the accumulated data.

Weiler Abrasives Group, a leading provider of abrasives, power brushes and maintenance products for surface conditioning, announced last month that it appointed Bill Dwyre as Managing Director of the newly formed Americas business. This promotion, part of a larger restructuring, supports the integration of the “game changing” acquisition of Swatycomet in late 2015, launching the company into the global abrasive market space.