Software & Digital Solutions

An online San Francisco Chronicle report posted Feb. 18—"Hacker ethos comes to the factory floor"—suggests that large and small manufacturers alike "are beginning to think and operate like software companies." And, just for the record, that's a good thing, say the authors: Mark Muro, a senior fellow and the policy director of the Metropolitan Policy Program at the Brookings Institution, and Kelly Kline, the economic development director and chief innovation officer of the city of Fremont, Calif.

NTB Interstate University of Technology Buchs, an institute that specializes in engineering informatics, recently announced a new website, gtc-tools.com, which provides information to the public on the Generic Tool Catalog (GTC) cutting tool data exchange format, according to a joint news release issued Feb. 9.

The Digital Manufacturing and Design Innovation Institute (DMDII), Chicago, announced Feb. 10 that it has issued $15 million in national contract research awards that include funding to test and aid compliance with the nation's cybersecurity standards for digital manufacturing, according to a news release from the group.

With the acquisition of Prometec GmbH, Aachen, Germany, Sandvik Coromant "strengthens its offering in digital manufacturing," according to a Sandvik news release issued Feb. 1. A supplier of advanced solutions for monitoring and controlling of machining processes in production machines, Prometec will be integrated with Sandvik Coromant, a product area within Sandvik Machining Solutions.

The Adcole Corp., Marlborough, Mass., this week rolled out a new programming interface for its Model 1100 and 1200 Crankshaft Gages that reportedly simplifies part programming, sequence building and reporting. Adcole's PIR (Part Inspection & Reporting) Software features a single user-friendly interface allowing users to program a new part to measure in less than 15 minutes, including the crankshaft specification and inspection sequence.

In support of its continued growth throughout the United States, Edgecam has hired a new regional sales manager to focus on the expansion of both sales and services in the state of Michigan. Based in Southfield, Mich., new Regional Sales Manager Mike Ambro brings more than 20 years of manufacturing industry experience to Edgecam.

CNC Software Inc., which provides software applications for CAD/CAM manufacturing markets, recently posted a video to its Mastercam Blog that stresses the importance of manufacturing. In the brief report, Scott Brotherton, a CNC Software applications engineer, "describes what everyone should know about manufacturing and why it is so important to everyday life," according to the company post.

CHALLENGE: Reduce setup and cycle times while meeting customers' demands for high-quality parts. SOLUTION: Two horizontal machining centers. END USER: Reinhold Industries Ltd., (780) 434-8552, www.rilflo.com. SOLUTION PROVIDER: Methods Machine Tools Inc., (877) MMT-4CNC, www.methodsmachine.com.

CAD/CAM software developers are no longer competing only with each other. They are also competing with their customers' expectations of what a satisfying user experience (UX) should be.

Are visitors to a bearing manufacturing facility in Hoechstadt, Germany, getting an early glimpse of what Industry 4.0 looks like? That's the hope of Schaeffler Group, which owns the facility. The plant houses a machine tool meant to show how digitalization works—not in a laboratory, but in an actual manufacturing environment.

MachiningCloud, a product content provider for cutting tools, CNC machines and workholding, today announced a partnership with IMCO Carbide Tool Inc., enabling the precision cutting tool maker's product data to be published online.