General Machining & Manufacturing Processes

Manager's Desk Columnist Keith Jennings reflects on the ups and downs of the previous 12 months, with a nod to the "classroom of reality," which he says continues to educate him and his team. As a result, his shop created a list of goals for 2014.

Nanotechnology developer NanoMech announced it will build a facility adjoining its existing factory in Springdale, Ark. The approximately-25,000-sq.-ft.t building will triple the size of current operations and will serve as the company's world headquarters. NanoMech produces tool coatings and other nanotechnology-based products.

Like many manufacturers across the U.S., Greendale's Kinetic Company faces a shortage of skilled labor. Long-term, highly skilled employees are retiring, leaving the knife-making company with a younger, less experienced workforce. With that challenge in mind and armed with a Workforce Advancement Training (WAT) grant, managers from Kinetic Company teamed with Milwaukee Area Technical College to enhance the skills of their incumbent workers.

A random arrangement is all well and good when it comes to avant-garde music, but the random crystal growth direction found in conventional CVD alumina cutting tool coatings can create weak areas where cracks form, shortening tool life.

ISCAR is introducing the IC5400 carbide grade, featuring an effective means of parting and grooving stainless steel.

No. 907 is an electrically-heated inser atmospher walk-in over from Grieve, currently used for heat treating graphite tooling molds at a customer's facility.

The HC 400 Horizontal Machining Center from Doosan Infracore Machine Tools is a compact, high-precision, heavy-duty workhorse with performance-enhancing features included as standard that make it an optimal solution for OEMs and job shops.

The DOVEIQGRIP line from Iscar Metals is an evolution of the successful TIGER wide grooving inserts family.

A new Touch Screen Controller from Camfil Air Pollution Control (APC) provides full monitoring and control of all functions of an industrial dust collector and associated equipment.

The firearms industry is currently a robust sector of the U.S. industrial economy. To assist manufacturers of small arms with growing volumes of barrels, Precihole Machine Tools, distributed by Absolute Machine Tools Inc., has introduced a dedicated manufacturing cell to improve the efficiency of producing barrels.

ISCAR is further extending the application range of the current HGAIR/L and HFAIR/L face grooving adapters.

Hwacheon Machinery America has introduced a line of large turning centers specifically for machining large oil field components, called Big Bore, based on its successful Hi-Tech 550, -700, and -850 horizontal turning centers.