Industry News

In October 2015, TRUMPF purchased approximately five acres of land adjacent to Interstate Highway 90 in Hoffman Estates, Ill., a northwestern suburb of Chicago. Located within one of the core zones of the sheet metal business in North America, this site will serve as the future home of the TRUMPF Technology Center and the center of excellence for Industry 4.0, according to the company.

Jergens Inc. announced Nov. 4 that Steve Schmidtke is Group Manager for the Cleveland, Ohio-based company's Workholding Solutions Group. “In his new role, Steve will be responsible for all of the Workholding Group’s activities including Application Engineering, Product Management, New Product and New Market development as well as sales and support of our workholding products through our network of partner distributors,” said Jergens General Manager Robert Rubenstahl.

Doosan Infracore America Machine Tools, Pine Brook, N.J., in October announced the appointment of Y.K. Choi to the position of CEO. During his more than 30 years of experience in the manufacturing industry, Choi has served in several positions, including vice president of strategy, sales and marketing for the Doosan Industrial Vehicles business.

AMT – The Association For Manufacturing Technology has a new chief financial officer, Rebecca Stahl, overseeing accounting and human resources. Prior to joining AMT, Stahl served as the chief financial officer at Lightbridge Communications Corp., a multinational wireless engineering company with a presence in more than 80 countries. Stahl recently earned the Private Company Chief Financial Officer of the Year award from the Northern Virginia Technology Council in 2015 for her work at Lightbridge.

The OMAX® Corp., Kent, Wash., recently welcomed Stephen Bruner to its senior management team as vice president of marketing. Bruner will oversee the company’s marketing, technical training and inside sales teams and work closely with staff on program planning, brand development and lead generation and nurturing.

Direct manufacturer Stratasys Direct Manufacturing published the results of a trend forecast on 3D printing's place in the manufacturing world. "To get a more complete sense of 3D printing's imminent impact on manufacturing we needed to look beyond our factory walls," explained Stratasys CEO Joe Allison in the study's forward. "So we sponsored an independent survey of serious, professional users of 3D printing, many of them working for companies with over $50 million in revenue."

Cline Tool, one of the largest Sandvik distributors and custom tool manufacturers, has announced the expansion into a third new market since the end of last year, and has hired industry veteran Tony Cornelius as regional sales manager for its Illinois territory.

Midwest Industrial Tool Grinding Inc., Hutchinson, Minn., recently received the Image Award in the Minnesota Business Magazine2015 Manufacturing Awards.  A two-time recipient, MITGI was recognized for work done to enhance the industry’s image and the appeal of careers in manufacturing, according to a company news release.

Bowling Green, Kentucky, Sept. 11, 2015 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — The Bowling Green Area Chamber of Commerce on Sept. 11 launched the On Track motorsports education initiative in conjunction with the Warren County Area Technology Center, Southcentral Kentucky Community and Technical College, Western Kentucky University and Holley Performance Products.

Economic activity in the manufacturing sector expanded in August for the 32nd consecutive month, and the overall economy grew for the 75th consecutive month, according to the nation's supply executives in the latest "Manufacturing ISM Report On Business" released Sept. 1. 

August U.S. manufacturing technology orders totaled $285.92 million according to AMT – The Association For Manufacturing Technology. This total, as reported by companies participating in the USMTO program, was down 10.2 percent from July's $318.48 million and down 21.2 percent when compared with the total of $362.65 million reported for August 2014. With a year-to-date total of $2,771.23 million, 2015 was down 10 percent when compared with 2014.

Industrial material handling equipment manufacturer PRAB Inc., Kalamazoo, Mich., has completed its purchase of Puckmaster Co., manufacturers of briquetting machines for metal compression and coolant collection. 

Mettler Toledo's new PBK9 and PFK9 weighing platforms provide superior accuracy and reliability in harsh industrial conditions, with sufficient flexibility to be used for many applications, according to the company. The platforms notify the operator when recalibration or adjustments are necessary due to environmental changes, and automated calibration with a built-in calibration weight and plug-in cables allows for easy maintenance. 

Thermal drift is the biggest contributor to machining and part errors. SpindleCheck from Lion Precision measures changes in the point of machining as the spindle warms up, as chillers run and as the environment changes. Precise warm-up times can be determined for each machine tool and sources of thermal drift can be identified. This is the only method that tests thermal effects at the point of machining, reports Lion Precision. 

Hardinge Workholding now offers 5-day delivery on its TF25 Extended Nose Swiss Collet. The collet features added nose length—flat or tapered—for performing pick-off work or to compensate for tooling interference. When ordering, customers need to provide hole size (ID), length of extension and nose diameter. (The nose diameter must be at least 0.125" larger than the ID.) Standard collets and bushings from www.ShopHardinge.com are delivered in 24 hours. 

Flow International Corp., Kent, Wash., a developer and manufacturer of industrial waterjet machines for cutting applications, released an analysis on how ultrahigh-pressure pumps drive cutting efficiency through waterjet velocity. 

The American Board of Industrial Hygiene (ABIH), Lansing, Mich., issued a reminder to workers and industry of the potential for exposure to microbial pathogens in metalworking fluids following a story in the Belfast Telegraph about metalworkers at a local shipyard who were diagnosed with pneumococcal disease. The workers are believed to have been exposed to aerosols containing the bacteria.  

Smalley Steel Ring Co., a designer and manufacturer of retaining rings and wave springs, donated an OMAX 2652 to the College of Lake County (CLC) in Grayslake, Ill.. The abrasive waterjet machining center is the college's first and broadens the CNC/Machine Tool Trades Department's ability to offer the waterjet technology skills sought by many employers recruiting CLC graduates, including Smalley. 

Contract manufacturer Oberg Industries, Freeport, Pa., has invested in new equipment to expand its production of medium and large machined components and assemblies. 

Earlier this summer Fastenal installed an additional FAST Solutions industrial vending machine within the Terex Mixer manufacturing plant in Fort Wayne, Indiana. Given how many vending devices (machines and lockers) Fastenal installs during a typical business day, it was a commonplace event — except in one regard: that particular machine represented the 50,000th FAST Solutions device concurrently installed at Fastenal customer sites worldwide.