General Machining & Manufacturing Processes

Heidenhain Corp., Schaumburg, Ill., which manufactures encoders, digital readouts and numerical controls, acquired AMO Corp., an Austrian specialty encoder company.

Machine tool builder Fives Machining Systems Inc., Hebron, Ky., acquired Konecranes Machine Tool Service, which has facilities in Erlanger, Ky., and Massillon, Ohio.

Shop Floor Automations Inc., La Mesa, Calif., is celebrating its 20th year.

Industrial parts distributor Motion Industries Inc., Birmingham, Ala., a wholly owned subsidiary of Genuine Parts Co., announced three management changes.

Gilman Precision USA LLC, Grafton, Wis., which manufactures customized linear and rotary motion systems, added Rich Olson to the sales force as a business development specialist.

Vero Software Ltd., Cheltenham, England, hired Wisconsin-based Applications Engineer Michael Welk to provide technical support for its Edgecam and Surfcam CAM solutions.

Compressor maker Atlas Copco Compressors LLC, Rock Hill, S.C., appointed Robert Eshelman president and general manager.

In response to the ongoing growth of its Edgecam and Surfcam brands, Vero Software Ltd., Cheltenham, England, hired Account Manager Chris Carter to represent both solutions in the Southwestern United States.

Metrology specialist Marposs Corp., Auburn Hills, Mich., appointed Francisco Flores aerospace market development manager, a new position at Marposs.

Showa Tool Co. Ltd., Tottori, Japan, and MachiningCloud Inc., Camarillo, Calif., are partnering to provide Showa Tool product data in the cloud.

While spectators filled the Berry Bowl for Logansport (Ind.) High School's Friday night basketball game, job seekers and employers gathered in the gymnasium next door. Nearly 20 manufacturing companies, schools and other workforce organizations partnered for the high school's first advanced manufacturing night to promote skilled trades positions available in the area. Gov. Eric Holcomb attended the event. His "Next Level Agenda" emphasizes Indiana's need to strengthen its workforce with high-wage, high-demand jobs.

A bachelor's or graduate degree is not the only route to a financially rewarding career. There are good-paying technical jobs in fields like health care and other skilled trades that require some postsecondary training, experience or education but not a college degree. Policy leaders, including the National Academy of Sciences, have made it a priority to better understand how to prepare more adults for work in these fields. Data from Gallup Inc. and Strada Education Network's Education Consumer Pulse shed light on who advises students in vocational programs about fields of study and how helpful that advice is to students.