Automation & Controls

Hurco Cos. Inc. continued its commitment to help customers navigate the ever-evolving technology landscape by partnering with BMO Automation, a company that shares Hurco's mission to help manufacturers increase productivity and profitability.

Beckhoff Automation has announced another addition to the popular family of ultracompact C60xx series Industrial PCs (IPCs) with the new C6025. This space-saving IPC delivers the high computing performance of the Intel Core i series in a fanless, small-form-factor device. The new Intel Core i U processors, with exceptionally low power requirements, have made this advancement possible.

The One System Solution grippers from OnRobot are now part of the UR+ program that tests and certifies EoAT products for seamless use with cobots from Universal Robots.

Searching for skilled labor and ways to increase overall efficiency and productivity has just gotten much easier with Okuma's automation solutions.

Macomb, Michigan-based Tooling Tech Group (TTG), a leading provider of highly engineered tools and automated assembly equipment to a wide range of industries, has announced that it has hired Nate Ruhenkamp as a sales manager for the company's compression mold and thermoform tooling offerings, as well as its Segen Quick Change standard products.

Toolcraft, a machine shop in Monroe, Washington, was immediately impressed by the 30 µm repeatability and built-in force/torque sensing in Universal Robots' new flagship line of collaborative robots. The company needed to automate a challenging, three-operation machine tending task inside its CNC machine and has saved 23% on production costs and increased throughput 43% by using the UR5e cobot.

More than 2,000 manufacturers from across North America attended Mazak Corp.'s Discover 2019 event held Nov. 5-7 and 12-13 at the company's North American manufacturing headquarters in Florence, Kentucky.

Tomenson Machine Works is a third-generation, family-owned manufacturer of precision hydraulic manifolds, with a focus on continuous improvement. The company turned to collaborative automation in its pin-stamping application to improve quality, profitability and worker satisfaction.

RCM Industries Inc., a Wheeling, Illinois-based manufacturer of die-cast aluminum components for industries such as automotive and consumer products, found itself in competition with low-wage suppliers in Mexico for a large outsourced project. "We had to look at how to drive cost out of the product without reducing the value that we provide our customers," said Mike Higgins, RCM Industries director of sales and marketing.

Siemens' new Sinumerik MC controller is a universal, open, industrial PC-based CNC system. Its optimized motion control, high-performance automation and integrated Windows 10 operating system make it a suitable control for fabrication and specialty machines, including woodworking, stone-cutting, laser and even conventional basic grinding machines.

Veo Robotics announces the launch of Veo FreeMove, a safety-ratable, production-ready vision system for safe human-robot interaction. The Veo FreeMove system gives manufacturing engineers the freedom to combine the strength, precision and speed of standard industrial robots with the ingenuity, judgment and dexterity of humans.

A report from McKinsey & Co., "The Future of Work in Black America," highlights the challenges American workers will face during the next decade as automation continues to take away blue-collar jobs. While the negative effects of automation are expected to hit all demographics, black American men are the group who will be most affected.