Industry News

Generally, when using abrasive wheels to grind parts, a dressing tool is required to maintain form and finish within specifications. Several options exist when choosing the type of dressing tool for an operation. These include single-point diamond tools, diamonds blade tools, form or plunge roll diamond wheels and “rotary single-point,” or “traversing rotary,” dressing.

A trend in manufacturing is toward tailor-made products in smaller lots with shorter delivery times. This change may lead to frequent production modifications resulting in increased machine downtime, higher production costs, product waste and the need to rework faulty products. To satisfy the customer demand behind this trend, manufacturers must move quickly to new production models. Quality assurance is the key area that information technology must support.

The National Institute of Standards and Technology's Manufacturing Extension Partnership has a unique position in the federal government that allows the MEP to collect and analyze feedback directly from clients served by the MEP's national network. This provides the MEP program with a wealth of information that guides the MEP's approaches to serving the U.S. manufacturing industry both now and in the future. At the start of a new year, it is important to take a step back and look at what clients are saying. Being responsive to the needs of manufacturers and helping mitigate their challenges are two of the program's goals. Integrating client feedback to help clients prepare for future challenges is important.

Chip Bobbert eyes a sheet of shiny aluminum that is several feet long and crimped on one end. He guesses that this was once the backsplash of a restaurant kitchen. Nearby, he spots another piece of metal with a square opening at the center. When he mentions that it likely once framed the entry to a roof or ventilation shaft, the shape of the piece makes sense. He then picks up a softball-size chunk of dense stainless steel. With an intricate series of holes shooting through the thickest part, it looks like a central piece of a complex engine. “Some of this stuff is crazy,” Bobbert said, pointing out the holes. “If you look at the precision machining, somebody paid thousands of dollars for that.”

As manufacturers invest in industrial internet of things-enabled devices to collect more data throughout production processes, many are also deploying edge computing to improve the analysis of data. Edge computing uses dedicated, on-premises resources at the shop-floor level rather than the remote servers that cloud computing relies on. This significantly increases the rate and amount of data that manufacturers can process in real time.

Whether building spacecraft, commercial aircraft, military helicopters or single-engine planes, manufacturers in the aerospace industry must lift, turn and position large, heavy components every day. There are many ways to do this, from ride-on vehicles like forklifts to conveyor belts and overhead equipment. However, aerospace manufacturers are increasingly turning to cranes and other hoist systems to precisely place critical equipment in ongoing construction projects.

There will be 4.6 million new manufacturing jobs in the United States to fill between 2018 and 2028, according to a report from Deloitte. Unless manufacturers start exploring new strategies, they won’t be able to find enough people qualified to work in their specialized factories.

At ShopBot, we’re understandably passionate about making things with CNC machines and about the power of digital fabrication tools. We’re always looking for ways to help show what these amazing tools can do, and for items that are made with a ShopBot that showcase several of the processes that a ShopBot tool can handle. Things that use multiple materials and techniques to give a broad overview of the power of CNC in a small, tangible package.

AB Tools are leading experts in the special cutting tools market as a specialty house in high performance rotary cutting tools. Started in 1977 by Alan Baker and Jonathon Baker joined in 1979 as the first employee. Today, they service almost every industry, from smaller shops to large facilities, including aerospace, automotive medical part manufacturers.

It is October 1978. On Oct. 13, my discovery at the former Matra company in Frankfurt that PCD can be eroded by means of electric sparks was registered at the patents office. In October 2018, we looked back at 40 years of experience in the application of spark erosion for manufacturing and versatile application with polycrystalline blades of PCD- and PCBN-tipped tools.

The advantages and benefits of the industrial internet of things all start with communication. In industrial applications a simple event increases the advantages as it goes wireless.

The growing use of work robots and the deployment of artificial intelligence have been most disruptive in just those areas of the country that provided President Trump with crucial margins of support in 2016.

Robots don’t take away jobs.
When companies lose to their competition, that’s when workers lose jobs.
There seems to be this idea: If the robots hadn’t shown up, the jobs would have stayed. But nothing could be further from reality.
Here’s the truth: We aren’t using enough robots.

President Donald Trump once named his style of elocution “truthful hyperbole” — what he described as a form of promotion to get people excited. One area the president currently likes to pump up is foreign jobs coming back to the United States.

By now, you’ve probably heard the troubling statistics. IndustryWeek reports that nearly 25% of manufacturing employees are age 55 or older, and many will soon be leaving to enjoy a well-earned retirement. Unfortunately, there’s no influx of new talent waiting to take their places. Some people feel shut out of job opportunities by degree requirements they don’t have; others lack on-the-job experience they can’t get; and then there are those who still view all manufacturing jobs as “dark, dirty, and dangerous,” and simply aren’t interested in the industry.

When machining for precision, there’s no such thing as planning too much. There are many important aspects to account for, from bit tapers to material burrs to caliper readings. Even what direction you attach your material to the stage can matter. Here are some quick tips to keep in mind as you plan your next machining project.

The operations manager at the largest nail manufacturer in the United States, Mid Continent Steel and Wire Inc., says his company has fought hard to survive in the face of unfair foreign competition over the past 12 years. The business planned for further growth and was on a great path until the Trump administration levied steel and aluminum tariffs, which took effect in June.

The General Aviation Manufacturers Association expresses optimism about the industry’s prospects for 2019. Also, increased third-quarter 2018 aircraft delivery figures were seen across all aircraft segments.

If not for a high school technical program that introduced Matt Schauer to the manufacturing industry, the 25-year-old might have never ended up at Fredon Corp., operating a machine as big as a room in a house.

Inevitably, disagreements arise in the manufacturing industry, whether involving applications, performance, specification compliance, intellectual property ownership or any of a number of other subjects. What has not kept up with technological change is the sophistication of dispute resolution. That is a particularly serious problem for manufacturers because the increasing complexity of manufacturing technology often makes disputes more complex, even arcane, than disputes of the past.