Industry Trends & Analysis

Growing U.S. auto market needs supply flexibility and more lightweight parts.

Methods Machine Tools Inc., Sudbury, Mass., a supplier of machine tools, automation and accessories will show 20 new machine tools and demonstrate 40 machines and automation solutions at IMTS 2014, booth S-9119. The show will be held McCormick Place in Chicago, IL from Sept. 8 - 13, 2014. Methods will demonstrate new machine tools and automation from YASDA, KIWA-Japan, Nakamura-Tome, FANUC and FEELER.

Minneapolis machine shop NTM Inc. is now certified to regrind and refurbish KOMET tools, manufacture solid carbide tools and to provide KOMET brand standard solid carbide tools as the sixth KOMET SERVICE Partner in North America. On June 12, NTM and KOMET of America, Schaumburg, Ill., held a celebration to mark the official start of NTM's KOMET SERVICE Partnership. Attendees included representatives from KOMET of America, as well as NTM employees' families and NTM's customers and business partners.

IMTS serves as a convenient benchmark for the health of the U.S. metalworking industry, allowing comparisons with the last go-round, and the ones before that.

Cutting Tool Engineering magazine's biennial salary survey for 2014 shows the earnings of metalworking professionals heading upward.

Deburring solutions provider Abtex Corp., Dresden, N.Y., acquired Bloomfield, N.Y.-based robotics manufacturer Nihmble Technologies to enable manufacturers to use robotics technology to integrate Abtex's deburring equipment into existing operations. Robotic systems can provide manufacturers a range of benefits when deburring, from enhancing the flow of a single operation to connecting multiple operations to deburring multiple surfaces of a part in a single step, noted Mark Fultz, Abtex owner and president.

CNC Software, Inc., Tolland, Conn.-based developers of Mastercam CAD/CAM software, is one of the two initial underwriters of Purdue University's MSTEM3 Grant Initiative, aimed at changing young peoples' perception of manufacturing through the eduFACTOR multimedia resource from Edge Factor. CNC Software has underwritten $50,000 to help increase the number of schools that can take advantage of the grant, while The Gene Haas Foundation has contributed $250,000. Because of the grant, upper elementary and high schools can qualify for eduFACTOR's suite of products for as little as $99 per year.

Heritage Cutter is the new "brand family" name for cutting tools manufactured by Data Flute, Pittsfield, Mass., as well as Brubaker Tool and Weldon, both based in Millersburg, Pa. The toolmakers are now united under the new Heritage Cutter family of brands. Brubaker was founded in 1881, Weldon is nearly 100 years old, and Data Flute specializes in high-performance carbide endmills.

Allied Machine & Engineering Corp., Dover, Ohio, broke ground July 15 on the second phase of its expansion project. The project involves a 30,000-sq.-ft. addition to its West Third Street facility, which includes R&D space, training areas, offices and a cafeteria. The addition is expected to cost $15.1 million.

Machine tool builder Mazak Corp. has invited manufacturers to its "Discover More With Mazak" event July 29 and 30 at the company's Southwest Technology Center in Houston. The company will demonstrate its latest multitasking, 5-axis, milling and turning processes on Mazak machines. Applications engineers will also be available to discuss new ways attendees can streamline their operations. For example, performing multiple processes in a single setup helps minimize material handling and work-in-process. Furthermore, the company encourages attendees to present their part-production challenges so its engineers can offer solutions for overcoming such difficulties.