Additive Manufacturing

Though Rosie the Riveter and a multitude of her sisters proved that women were perfectly capable of working in manufacturing when the men were called to serve during World War II, many of these patriotic women graciously stepped aside to allow the returning soldiers to resume their jobs. Since then, the number of women in manufacturing jobs has yet to recover. According to a 2015 report by consultancy Deloitte LLP, in conjunction with The Manufacturing Institute and the APICS Supply Chain Council, women hold only 27 percent of U.S. manufacturing jobs, even though they make up 47 percent of the total labor force. "Women are underrepresented in every manufacturing sector in the U.S.," the report stated.

Whether your shop is busy or struggling to survive a downturn, employees are your best asset. We've had to downsize over the past few months, but a good group remains. Many are handling new tasks, but a reengineering of employees' tasks can be beneficial, driving everyone to work smarter, not harder. It is working well so far, thanks to everyone picking up the slack created by the departed employees.

Additive and subtractive manufacturing may be conceptual opposites, but a new partnership aims to show that the two can make a good team. Two of the partners are New York organizations: the Rochester Institute of Technology (RIT) and Elmira-based Hardinge Inc. RIT researchers are incorporating additive-manufacturing capabilities into Hardinge's Bridgeport GX 250 5-axis vertical machining center. The goal is to create a hybrid manufacturing system capable of producing more accurate parts at a lower cost than conventional manufacturing methods.

Planning is critical when operating CNC machines. When I began machining, CNCs were just coming into mainstream use. The first shops I worked in had only conventional (manual) machines. It wasn't until the mid-1980s that I started to notice the incredible versatility of CNC machines. The complex contours and shapes the machines could generate made many jobs much easier. The use of templates to file and sweep in surfaces was rapidly becoming a thing of the past.

Even with a good fourth quarter and my natural optimism, reports from contacts at some of our larger customers concern me, reports the Manager's Desk columnist in the October issue of Cutting Tool Engineering magazine.

CTE Editor Alan Richter visited the Digital Manufacturing and Design Innovation Institute at Chicago's Goose Island in September for a peek into the future of manufacturing at an event coordinated by Blaser Swisslube Inc.

You never know when a simple comment will have a significant impact; sometimes that's not even the source's intention.

Manager's Desk column covers the ups and downs experienced in the shop this year lead to hard decisions, including staff reductions.

World-class manufacturers expand their production space for anticipated demand rather than attempting to catch up with current needs. This effort to always be ahead of the times was on display at Horn Technology Days, which took place June 17-19 and was hosted by Hartmetall-Werkzeugfabrik Paul Horn GmbH at its headquarters in Tübingen, Germany.

After spending many years in manufacturing facilities, I have discovered that the number of ways to perform a task is as varied as the people working there. Facility and machine tool maintenance is no different. Each organization has a unique approach.

An aluminum-magnesium-scandium powder for additive manufacturing that exhibits the specific strength of titanium and the positive properties of aluminum.