General Machining & Manufacturing Processes

Trico Corporation, a leading provider of lubrication management solutions, today introduced Sensei, a real-time lubrication intelligence system. Sensei wirelessly transmits oil level and ambient air temperature to a customizable, web-based dashboard.

Easy-to-install, light-weight and robust, the OptoForce 6-axis sensors create a sense of touch for robots required to perform high-precision work, such as polishing, box insertion and other finer assembly tasks. Currently compatible with robots from Universal Robots and KUKA, and soon with ABB and Yaskawa, OptoForce sensors automate these tasks, increasing efficiency, speeding project development and decreasing overall production costs.

In today's fast-moving, just-in-time manufacturing markets, quick access to production data is critical to meeting customer demands. With Global Shop Solutions new manufacturing dashboards, manufacturers can now make smarter business decisions by visualizing their data anywhere on the shop floor and throughout the business.

Radius Engineering Inc.was recognized with the 2017 Excellence in Composites Manufacturing Award (small-company category) for supplying net-shape manufacturing technology and equipment contributing to improvements in design, quality and reduced manufacturing costs for numerous manufacturing companies throughout the aerospace composites industry. Company co-founder Dimitrije Milovich received a separate award, honoring his 40-plus years of leadership and innovation.

New technology brings higher precision, faster production to make small parts more efficiently than is possible with traditional micro machining technology and equipment, according to a whitepaper from GF Microlution Inc.

Monaghan Tooling Group (MTG), Dayton, Ohio, a marketing and engineering company that provides the metalworking industry with world-class engineered tooling and services-is pleased to announce that Nick Coates has joined the company as Marketing Manager.

U.S. Union Tool captures slow motion video of its UDCB tool at work. Action filmed with a high-speed camera.

FANUC America has marked the 35th anniversary of manufacturing its line of painting robots at the company's Rochester Hills, Mich., headquarters. In 1982, FANUC America produced its first NC Painter, a hydraulic paint robot using key components from parent company FANUC Corp. in Japan. Now, 35 years later, FANUC America remains globally responsible for all paint robots and door openers of the FANUC robot lineup.

In the 1987 movie "Wall Street," the archetypal corporate villain Gordon Gekko memorably argues that "greed is good"—and that the bottom line is the only good a dutiful company need pursue. Thirty years on, Ethisphere Institute has announced 124 companies spanning five continents, 19 countries and 52 industry sectors as the 2017 World's Most Ethical Companies honorees. Of these, four are in the category of Industrial Manufacturing: 3M Co., Deere & Co., Milliken & Co. and Timken Co. Kennametal Inc., Latrobe, Pa., is the only honored company in the category of Machine Tools and Accessories.

On Robot ApS, a Danish manufacturer of grippers for collaborative robots (cobots) that was founded in 2014, is introducing its technology to the North American market and has appointed Gary Eliasson as its general manager for North America. He will be based in Charlotte, N.C. "My goal is to set up a North American distribution channel," he said.

Kitagawa North-Tech Inc., Schaumburg, Ill., reportedly will open a new office and warehouse facility in Queretaro, Mexico, on April 7. Kitagawa North-Tech, which makes standard chucks, advanced chucks, cylinders, steady rests, custom-engineered workholding and workholding accessories, described the new facility as a demonstration of the company's "commitment to Mexican customers," according to a March 17 company news release.

Sources tell Reuters that Plex Systems Inc, a privately held U.S. maker of software used to run manufacturing plants, is exploring a potential sale that it hopes will value it at more than $1 billion, including debt. The move comes as the world's largest industrial companies, from General Electric Co. to Siemens AG, seek to snap up software assets to modernize their manufacturing processes, improve their supply chains and cut costs.