Software & Digital Solutions

Well-intentioned conservatism can actually be very bad for tool life, according to the second episode of The CNC Chef, a new monthly video series from Cutting Tool Engineering and Bob Warfield from CNCCookbook. While the first episode focused on the risk of tool rubbing by turning down the feedrate too much, the second episode cautions […]

Mastercam 2018 Public Beta is now open to all currently maintained Mastercam customers. Shops all over the world, from small job shops to Fortune 100, get a chance to test-drive Mastercam 2018 before it is released and provide valuable feedback to help shape the final product. Participants in the Public Beta get an early look at dozens of powerful new tools for simple to complex jobs.

Cerasis, a transportation-management company that works with the manufacturing industry, recently shared a list of manufacturing-technology trends that it says are growing in importance. Among them are green manufacturing, IIoT and computer analytics.

MVTec Software GmbH will issue the new MERLIC 3 software release on April 3. Along with the proven range of functions, the latest version also contains a number of new and improved features. These improvements make it even easier and more convenient to create machine vision applications.

In the debut episode of The CNC Chef, Bob Warfield from CNCCookbook.com cautions against slowing down your feed rate to avoid tool rubbing. A new monthly video series from Cutting Tool Engineering, The CNC Chef will address a variety of machining challenges in the coming months.

Forward-looking, funny, Cornell University mathematics major Carl Bass resigned his Autodesk post as CEO on Feb. 7, but he remains on the company's board.

Engineers who currently ask humans for advice about cutting tool selection will one day direct their questions to advisers derived from artificial intelligence. So says MachiningCloud Inc. (www.machiningcloud.com), a single-source provider of digitized product data gathered from manufacturers of cutting tools and workholding devices.

BIG KAISER offers a mobile app to support boring operations. Leveraging the precision of BIG KAISER tooling through remote real-time information access further improves productivity and control on the factory floor.

Kitagawa NorthTech Inc., Schaumburg, Ill., recently announced the promotion of Kevin Bennett to vice president of sales and marketing. In addition to directing the company's North American sales and marketing efforts, Bennett will be involved with the operational aspects associated with how the company brings new workholding products and services to the market.

Epicor Software VP of Portfolio Marketing - Manufacturing Terri Hiskey shared insights on how she believes ERP software will evolve in response to manufacturing trends such as the Internet of Things and increased use of robotics and automation. Artificial intelligence and advanced analytics will transform ERP, she writes at ETCIO.com's Tech Talk blog: "The smart factory and Industry 4.0 will give ERP systems a new lease of life, making the ERP systems of yesterday unrecognizable."

Sweden-based information technologies provider Hexagon AB has announced an agreement to acquire MSC Software Corp., the Newport Beach, Calif. based provider of computer-aided engineering solutions such as simulation software. The agreed-upon purchase price is $834 million. The acquisition is subject to clearance and standard regulatory filings and is expected to be complete in April of 2017.

Hexagon Manufacturing Intelligence launched PC-DMIS 2017 RI measurement software. 'R1' is short for 'Release 1' as there are two major releases scheduled for PC-DMIS in 2017, with continued service pack updates to ensure maximum reliability of the platform.