Industry News

Daniel Franklin, who began his career at the Rollomatic factory in Switzerland in 1999, will take over the team leader’s position with immediate effect, according to a recent Rollomatic news release. Franklin takes over for Mac MacKenna, who transitioned into a sales manager position in the Northeast.

Greenleaf Corporation, a leading developer of cutting tool technology and ceramic materials, has appointed Jan Andersson to the position of Global Manager, Tech Team and Marketing. Andersson comes to Greenleaf from Kennametal Corporation and Sandvik Coromant where he held various positions within Product Management, Marketing, Sales and R&D.

The redesigned website is mobile-friendly, and with simplified navigation, makes it easier to find membership information, technical resources, benefits of USCTI membership and a comprehensive membership directory.

TYKMA Electrox, Chillicothe, Ohio, a worldwide supplier of industrial laser systems, in February introduced a new brand identity following the year-old merger between TYKMA Technologies and Electrox Laser Marking Systems. 

Bunting Magnetics Co., Newton, Kan., which produces a line of metal detection, magnetic separation and material handling equipment, recently promoted Robert Bunting to general manager of the company's Magnet Materials Division, which is located in Elk Grove Village, Ill.

LMC Workholding, which opened for business as the Logansport Machine Company, Logansport, Ind., in 1916, is celebrating its 100th anniversary this year by highlighting the company's continuing expansion. "We’ve been the name to know in workholding since 1916, and we’re expanding and growing to continue to meet the demand of our customers and the industry," said LMC Workholding President and CEO Jay Duerr in a recent company news release. "We’re proud to have made it to 100 years in business and we’re looking forward to serving our customers for many more years."       

Based in Mount Prospect, Ill., SNK America recently selected Associated Machine Tool Technologies (AmTTech) as its Texas distributor for NIIGATA horizontal machining centers, SNK Nissin horizontal boring mills and SNK double-column machining centers. AmTTech, which is based in Houston, has served the Texas market for 25 years.

 Gear Motions, a leading precision gear manufacturer, has named Paul Andruszko vice president of its Buffalo, N.Y., operations, which includes its Oliver/Pro-Gear and Niagara Gear divisions. Andruszko has more than three decades of experience in the gear industry, and most recently served as general manager of the company’s Niagara Gear division.

Solar Manufacturing, Souderton, Penn., recently announced that Marty Benegalia, president of Southern Thermal Systems, will assume the role of a sales representative focusing on areas in Texas, Oklahoma, Kansas, Arkansas and Louisiana.  Benegalia joins Solar Manufacturing with a technical background of 20 years in metallurgy and heat treating, as well as experience in the petrochemical and oilfield equipment industries.

When Zach Kaplan visited the White House last June for a National Week of Making event, he had no idea it would mean giving away 50 of his company’s 3D carvers (tabletop milling machines). The CEO of Inventables Inc. (www.inventables.com), Chicago, Kaplan and 99 other conference attendees were challenged to provide ideas on how they could help President Barack Obama with his “Nation of Makers” initiative. Kaplan’s suggestion? Put an Inventables 3D carver in one school in each of the nation’s 50 states. What’s more, Kaplan wants to have a 3D carver in every school in the U.S. by the end of this decade. 

SmartCAMcnc, Springfield, Ore., recently announced the opening of a new instruction center for training CNC programmers to use the SmartCAM Computer-Aided Manufacturing (CAM) software family. The new facility is located at the company's corporate headquarters in Springfield.

Imagine a machining process that removes material five times faster than milling and 10 times faster than sinker EDMing, machines Inconel and hardened steel with ease, holds tolerances to ±0.0006" and utilizes the same tool to process thousands of parts with virtually no tool wear. Machine builder EMAG LLC USA, Farmington Hills, Mich., calls this process pulsed electrochemical machining (PECM). A subset of electrochemical machining, PECM is far more accurate than the decades-old ECM and has matured into a viable alternative to more-traditional machining processes over the past few years, according to the company. 

The Manufacturers Alliance for Productivity and Innovation published a report in January about megatrends that are reshaping manufacturing. Titled “Manufacturing Megatrends: The Impact of Megatrends on U.S. Manufacturers,” the report was authored by MAPI Director of Councils and Business Research Jenn Callaway, and is based on surveys conducted with manufacturing executives. 

Has the reshoring train left the station or not? According to the second annual U.S. Reshoring Index from global management consultants A.T. Kearney, the answer is a resounding “no.” In 2015, the index, at -115, indicates that reshoring of manufacturing activities to the U.S. has not kept up with offshoring. The index measured -30 in 2014. A positive number indicates net reshoring, while a negative value indicates net offshoring.

Forklifts—the workhorses of the plant floor—are more valuable than ever at ITAMCO (Indiana Technology and Manufacturing Cos.). The Plymouth, Ind.-based manufacturer of gears and other precision components connected its forklifts to the Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT), which integrates machine tools and other manufacturing equipment with networked sensors and software. 

Röhm Products Mexico S. de R.L. de C.V., a subsidiary of Röhm GmbH, recently opened a new office in Monterrey, Mexico, in an effort to expand the company's sales, service and support capabilities to meet increasing demand for high-quality clamping and gripping technology throughout Mexico and Central America, the company reported in a Feb. 22 news release.

An online San Francisco Chronicle report posted Feb. 18—"Hacker ethos comes to the factory floor"—suggests that large and small manufacturers alike "are beginning to think and operate like software companies." And, just for the record, that's a good thing, say the authors: Mark Muro, a senior fellow and the policy director of the Metropolitan Policy Program at the Brookings Institution, and Kelly Kline, the economic development director and chief innovation officer of the city of Fremont, Calif.

Single Source Technologies (SST), a North American distributor of machinery brands based in Auburn Hills, Mich., recently announced the acquistion of Automation Solutions Inc. (ASI), effective as of Jan. 18, according to a Feb. 9 SST news release.

Solar Atmospheres, Hermitage, Penn., recently announced a collaboration with Pressure Technology Inc. (PTI) that will offer an added-value service to PTI's HIP (Hot Isostatic Press) Facility in Concord, Ohio, according to a Feb. 15 news release. The collaboration is the result of an escalation of components being printed via additive manufacturing as well as the increased production of engine blade manufacturing to support newer more efficient aircraft, according to Solar Atmospheres. Such market forces means that hot isostatic pressing (HIPing) is in more demand for the densification of many materials.

NTB Interstate University of Technology Buchs, an institute that specializes in engineering informatics, recently announced a new website, gtc-tools.com, which provides information to the public on the Generic Tool Catalog (GTC) cutting tool data exchange format, according to a joint news release issued Feb. 9. The GTC data exchange format was developed through collaboration among machining hardware and software leaders Siemens PLM Software, Sandvik Coromant, Iscar and Kennametal.