Industry News

If anything will revive U.S. manufacturing, it’s certainly not an ever-changing package of hastily proposed and canceled tariffs. But as President Donald Trump pursues that nonstrategy, it’s worth asking the longer-term questions of whether U.S. manufacturing even needs to be revived at all, and if so, what can accomplish the task.

An interview with Nikon's Corporate Vice President Tadashi Nakayama provides insight into the strategy of the firm's Industrial Metrology Business Unit, of which he is deputy general manager. In particular, he explained the company’s strategic focus on Quality 4.0, where digital, automated and connected inspection enables complete process control from design through manufacture.

Some strange light and soft metals used in aerospace applications have proven to be difficult to precision abrasive grind because they are stringy, gummy, load wheel surfaces easily, get hot quickly and have slow material-removal rates. These include stainless steel alloys and nickel-base materials.

People tend to do exercises that increase and extend the health of their heart. Why not do the same for the heart of your machine tool, the spindle? Too many times we see a machine that has a premature failure. Some of the diseases that your spindle may succumb to are coolant contamination, overheating, or unclean/diminished lubrication oil.

U.S. machine shops are potentially underutilizing the machinability of brass by as much as 85 percent in their part processing operations, reports a recent study from the Copper Development Association Inc. The research shows that machine shops can and should be machining the material at significantly faster feeds and speeds – often five to 20 times faster – than they do to increase productivity and profitability.

The international MAPAL Group, a manufacturer of precision tools for the machining of practically all materials, achieved significant growth during the 2017 business year. Consolidated group sales rose from EUR 575 million in 2016 to EUR 610 million in 2017.

Zahn GmbH relies on ARNO-Werkzeuge for the reliable production of high-precision parts, ranging from tool systems and the development of customised tools through to the optimisation of its enterprise resource planning system (ERP).

Research studies show that an ergonomically designed work place doesn’t only increase motivation and improve concentration but also reduces the drop in performance. This is why ergonomics play a decisive role when planning new industrial work places.

Hearing chatter during an application is a telltale sign that productivity, surface finish and cutting tools are in jeopardy. The best way to combat vibrations is to know what the causes are. Follow these tips and tricks to minimize vibration tendencies in your turning operations.

As the host of the CNC Router Tips podcast, Bill Griggs is well-known in the world of CNC routers, but now he’s taken to machining harder materials with his PCNC 1100.

ZOLLER Inc. welcomed more than 150 visitors to its premier 2-day Open House & Innovations Days event, which took place on June 19th and June 20th at the company's new North American Headquarters and Industry 4.0 Tech Center, in Ann Arbor, Mich. Apart from offering customers, partners, suppliers and the press the opportunity to tour the new state-of-the-art building, the key focus over the 2 days was demonstrating ZOLLER’s ‘Smart Factory” Solutions. The solutions, including tool presetting and measuring, tool inspection, software and automation solutions, offer seamless connectivity at each stage of the production process. ZOLLER’s innovative, Industry 4.0 solutions allow significant time and cost savings for companies of all sizes in diverse industries.

To determine the places where manufacturing growth is strongest, employment in the sector was looked at in 373 metropolitan statistical areas, assessing short-, medium- and long-term trends going back to 2006 and adding in variables for persistence and momentum.

When it comes to components for industrial machines, Montana Hydraulics LLC owners Mark and Della Ehlke say there isn’t much they can’t make. “We’re able to pretty much take on just about anything,” Mark said. “In fact, we had a tagline at one point: ‘If you can imagine it, we can build it.’”

President Trump signaled what could become a vigorous return to space exploration by the United States when he reconstituted the National Space Council. Dormant since the end of the George H.W. Bush administration, the council’s chairman, Vice President Mike Pence, and its executive secretary, Dr. Scott Pace, have vowed to build a manned space program to reach the moon and beyond to Mars. As with the two previous boom cycles of aerospace development, in World War II and the Apollo program, one of the main beneficiaries of the aggressive effort will be the U.S. manufacturing sector.

Advanced economies always lean toward services as they grow. But there are many other advanced economies out there with more robust factory sectors than the United States, employing much larger shares of their workforces and spinning off much more productive research and development. Let’s not give up without a fight, which in this context means the application of smart policy at every level of government.

That employee engagement decisively contributes to manufacturing success has long been known. However, many studies show there is a deep and broad lack of employee engagement in our nation’s manufacturing industry. This lack is known as the Engagement Gap. Though manufacturing leaders agree that the gap urgently needs to be closed, the fact remains that for at least two decades, it has
remained relatively constant and by some measurements has even widened.

When Aly Pinder Jr. came across an article that explored how a luxury auto manufacturer looked to achieve 100 percent customer satisfaction, he thought that it seemed like a goal on a billboard or a goal found on a motivational poster in a contact center. But this manufacturer truly believed that it can and should have this as its target. Pinder writes that he doesn’t think 100 percent customer satisfaction should be the goal for a manufacturer looking to scale and grow its business.

It is certainly not news that, more and more, dedicated gages are being placed at the point of manufacture. Tight-tolerance measurements that were once performed in a semiclean room by a trained inspection technician are now being done right next to the machine, often by the machinist. But just because shop floor gaging has become commonplace, doesn't mean that just any gage can be taken onto the shop floor. To assure good gage performance, there are a number of specifications and care issues which need to be addressed.

When the topic of energy efficiency comes up, energy-efficient machine tools don’t immediately spring to mind. Yet machine tools contain motors and auxiliary components whose energy demand varies widely during machining operations. Happily, a new series of ISO standards can help measure energy supplied and improve machine design and performance.

When manufacturing environmental equipment like pumps, samplers, and other measuring equipment, manufacturers frequently outsource the machining of their products’ individual parts. Machining equipment is typically complex and expensive, so most manufacturers contract with outside vendors to machine their parts, and then assemble parts into finished products in-house. While the cost barrier of in-house machining for environmental equipment manufacturers may be high, it can result in huge benefits. After making the investment in advanced machining equipment to bring machining in-house, QED has improved quality and reduced lead time while also achieving cost savings.