Industry News

Ohio is soon to benefit from new job-creating investments by a number of major manufacturers. The Dayton Business Journal reports that companies including General Motors, Navistar International and Whirlpool have announced projects that will add to the 885,539 manufacturing jobs the Buckeye State currently boasts.

Running a small to medium-sized machine shop business presents many challenges. Alliance Broach & Tool, East China, Mich., has been in the business of building its operations and client base for more than 35 years; the company knows about some of these challenges. In spite of a tough economic climate, however, Alliance continues to significantly grow. After nearly 40 years, that is an impressive accomplishment.

President Trump has signed an executive order that formally ends U.S. participation in the Trans-Pacific Partnership, the 12-nation trade agreement negotiated by former President Obama but never ratified by the U.S. Congress.

Chicago-based Digital Manufacturing and Design Institute has opened enrollment for the first three of a planned 10 online "101"-style courses on manufacturing and design technology. Developed in partnership with the University at Buffalo and coordinated by The Center for Industrial Effectiveness for the Coursera online learning platform, Digital Manufacturing and Design Technology launches on Jan. 30.

Researchers at Missouri University of Science and Technology are helping manufacturers eliminate flaws introduced during the machining of large, costly components. In the February 2017 issue of the Journal of Manufacturing Science and Engineering, the Missouri S&T researchers describe their approach and explain how it can improve the accuracy of the 5-axis machine tools used to make large parts.

GM has announced that it will invest an additional $1 billion in U.S. manufacturing operations, creating a total of 7,000 new jobs here. Is it a case of "If I tweet them, they will come?" After the announcement, incoming US President Donald Trump was quick to tweet about "all of the jobs I am bringing back into the US." Not so fast, say GM and industry watchers.

Deniz Sari, Dr.-Ing., has been named Gear Technology Manager for Samputensili and its joint-venture Star SU LLC. In the newly created position, Sari will analyze all best practices coming from Samputensili and Star SU manufacturing plants around the world.

GCH Tool Group Inc., Warren, Mich., a supplier of parts and assemblies for grinders, hired Dena Taylor as inside sales engineer and Dave Kolosick as purchasing agent.

Separation technologies manufacturer Eriez, Erie, Pa., promoted Andrew Goldner to director of export sales. In addition, the company’s affiliate Eriez-Australia celebrated its 50th anniversary in 2016.

Workholding manufacturer Kitagawa-NorthTech Inc., Schaumburg, Ill., named Ed Johannesen as its senior manager of engineering and quality.

ONA Electroerosion S.A., Durango, Spain, named Marius Petean as key account manager for the aerospace, energy and defense markets at ONA EDM USA Inc., Macomb, Mich.

Linear and rotary motion system manufacturer Gilman Precision, Grafton, Wis., added Chris Schmid as a business development specialist for the Midwest and international markets.

U.S. manufacturers spent $168.69 million on cutting tools in November 2016, according to the Cutting Tool Market Report by the U.S. Cutting Tool Institute and AMT – The Association For Manufacturing Technology. This was 0.2 percent lower than October’s $168.99 million, but was up 9.3 percent from November 2015's $154.28 million.

Hassay Savage, which manufactures and supplies micro cutting tools such as broaches, round tools, reamers and drills, was searching for a new method of qualifying its micro cutting tools when company owner Robert Savage watched a demonstration of the Zoller Inc. »pomBasicMicro« at an American Gear Manufacturers Association event. Soon after, Savage purchased the »pomBasicMicro« as the solution he was seeking.

With potential ramifications for 3D printing of metals, particularly of expensive metals such as titanium, The U.S. Dept. of Energy's Ames Laboratory has created a process for making "perfect" metal powder. Each particle is smooth and spherical, allowing it to flow without clumping and pack together more densely.

suitX, a California-based robotics company designing and manufacturing medical and industrial exoskeletons, recently announced the official launch of MAX, a flexible exoskeleton that can be adapted to a variety of workplace tasks. MAX comprises three exoskeleton modules: backX, shoulderX and legX.

Erwin Junker Machinery Inc. is extending an open invitation to visit its showroom in Elgin, Ill.  The company is showcasing grinding machines from JUNKER and Zema, as well as industry leading air filtration units from LTA Industrial Air Cleaning Systems Inc.

Robot use is set to accelerate: Worldwide spending on robotics and related services will more than double by 2020, growing from $91.5 billion in 2016 to more than $188 billion in 2020, according to the newly updated Worldwide Commercial Robotics Spending Guide from International Data Corporation (IDC).

The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) has issued a final rule to prevent chronic beryllium disease and lung cancer in U.S. workers by limiting their exposure to beryllium and beryllium compounds. The rule contains standards for general industry, construction and shipyards.

Song Chung was appointed senior vice president of global sales and marketing for Automated Precision Inc., Rockville, Md. API offers measurement and metrology equipment and solutions.