Industry News

umati (universal machine tool interface) moves one step ahead towards becoming a generally accepted standard. VDW, the German Machine Tool Builders’ Association and the OPC Foundation establish a so-called joint working group. Interested parties are cordially invited to participate with immediate effect.

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The manpowered shop floor of the past is being replaced by smart manufacturing facilities where tech-savvy workers, aided by intelligent robots, are creating the products and services of the future. As Microsoft Cloud and Enterprise approaches 2019, it's looking ahead to the trends that will define intelligent manufacturing, as well as help empower clients to better evaluate and manage operations, build innovative products and services and grow manufacturing businesses.

Many headlines today allude to a skills gap in manufacturing, referring to a lack of skilled labor needed to fill rapidly expanding employment opportunities in the manufacturing industry. After all, U.S. manufacturing added 327,000 jobs in the past year, pushing the industry to its best annual job gain in more than 20 years. When manufacturing companies collaborate with schools to show students that manufacturing is not just a viable career path but a rewarding and lucrative one as well, we all benefit.

Materials scientists at Duke University and UC San Diego have discovered a new class of carbides expected to be among the hardest materials with the highest melting points in existence. Made from inexpensive metals, the new materials may soon find use in a wide range of industries from machinery and hardware to aerospace.

I recently read an article discussing how the Environmental Protection Agency will now allow asbestos-containing products to be manufactured and sold in the United States on “a case-by-case” basis, apparently reversing parts of the organization’s 1963 Clean Air Act and the 1989 Asbestos Ban and Phase-Out Rule. While that’s good news for the mesothelioma attorneys you see every night on TV, it’s bad news for American workers, a number of whom will soon be tasked with mining and processing the dangerous material once known as “the magic mineral” for its heat, electrical and chemical resistance.

Since 2006, sales of vinyl records have been increasing steadily. No one is happier than Pheenix Alpha. Working from its original 20th century blueprints for a vinyl record press, the company is starting to manufacture an updated version of the press with 21st century bells and whistles.

“Nation longs for one more day with dying manufacturing sector.” That headline, published in 2014 by the satirical website The Onion, anticipated both President Donald Trump’s fears and the retorts he gets from his critics. He campaigned on a promise to bring back jobs in manufacturing after decades of decline. To people who see the future of the U.S. economy in services, these promises seemed backward. When he was head of the National Economic Council, Gary Cohn reportedly asked Trump which he would prefer: sitting in a nice air-conditioned office or standing on his feet all day. In 2018, it looks as if the president is winning the day.

Precision grinding results in the material removal of metals of all kinds and crystalline materials of all kinds, i.e. glass, quartz, ceramic, ferrite, abrasives, stone and other materials that cannot be machined with conventional cutting tools. These materials are too hard, abrasive, and require dimensions, tolerances and surface finishes otherwise not achieved easily or cost effectively with any other method.

Sometimes manufacturing can feel like a battle between David and Goliath. But in the era of automation, think Industry 4.0, manufacturers are discovering the advantages to being smaller. Automation technology has leveled the playing field and now smaller means nimble, niche and, for the first time, heading in the same direction as the big guys.

Continuous learning, continuous improvement, continuous generation of ideas—they’re all important things. I would like to think they’re especially important to manufacturers but am struggling to come up with a specific reason. Every business, from floral arrangers to drywallers, must continually adapt and evolve or face eventual corporate death. Perhaps the reason continuous learning and improvement are so relevant to manufacturing, which in this context means machining, is that our industry is one of the fastest changing in terms of technology.

Depending on whom you ask, you’ll receive wildly different unravelings of the acronym DFAM. To music aficionados, DFAM might mean “drummer from another mother,” clever branding from Moog Music Inc. to describe its newest line of percussion synthesizers. I wish I’d thought of that phrase. DFAM could mean the Darlington Farmers Auction Mart but probably only to those who live near there in England and are interested in buying a cow, goat or sheep. At The Walt Disney Co., DFAM refers to the extended family of employees who share the stress of working at the Magic Kingdom—as in, “I’m going to chill this weekend with my DFAM before the big Labor Day rush.” Then there’s the DFAM that manufacturers care about—or rather the additive manufacturers. That’s because DFAM is short for “design for additive manufacturing,” an acronym every bit as relevant to machinists as it is to people in 3D printing.

A fact sheet by the National Immigration Forum focuses on immigrants in the U.S. manufacturing sector, highlighting key information about their demographics, incomes and contributions.

Modern manufacturing is a diverse, inclusive community, embracing and supporting the creativity that each person can bring to build something bigger than an individual. Many manufacturers are setting great examples of what the future of the workplace will look like and of what other firms should aspire to achieve. Learn the five key themes that manufacturing companies are addressing to take their diversity and inclusion work to the next level.

The future development impetus of the internal combustion engine will focus on the reduction of emissions. This is dependent on fuel consumption, which in turn is determined by the internal engine friction. The goal of form honing is a form optimized cylinder bore under operating conditions.

Exclusive watches - “made in Australia?” Absolutely, thanks to Nicholas Hacko, a talented watchmaker who opened a small factory making high-quality timepieces in Sydney a few years ago. To be flexible and competitive, he invested in a high-precision 5-axis machining center from Kern Microtechnik, enabling him to reliably produce the micron-accurate parts, which are the basis for his business today.

Equipment manufacturers, engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) companies, and power and process plant owners and operators commonly face the challenge of keeping their fleet, machinery, and other assets working efficiently, while also reducing the cost of maintenance and time-sensitive repairs. Considering the aggressive time-to-market required for industrial products and services, it is crucial to identify the cause of potential faults or failures before they have an opportunity to occur. Emerging technologies like the Internet of Things, big data analytics and cloud data storage are enabling more vehicles, industrial equipment and assembly robots to send condition-based data to a centralized server, making fault detection easier, more practical and more direct.

Olis Robotics, a leader in next-generation remote robotics software, announced its selection as a subcontractor by Tethers Unlimited as part of the NASA FabLab prototype project. The FabLab will be used on missions aboard the International Space Station (ISS) to demonstrate orbital recycling and reuse capabilities by providing on-demand manufacturing of mission-critical parts. It’s a first step toward on-demand orbital manufacturing through reclamation, recycling and 3D metal and plastics printing.

After being at AB Sandvik Coromant, Sandviken, Sweden, for 17 years, Nadine Crauwels was appointed global president of the cutting tool manufacturer in May 2017. She has had roles in sales, product management, product introduction, custom tools and strategic relations.

We are in part three of our article series “Poly–poly–or what?” The series looks back at the time between autumn 1974 and the Hanover Trade Show in the spring of 1975. Dealing with this new cutting material “polycrystalline diamonds” (PCD) was fascinating for all of us; after the presentation at the first Hanover Trade Show in 1973, each day brought new insights for production and for different applications.