People & Companies

ARNO USA, Harvard, Ill., has hired Kevin S. McCabe as the company's new Regional Technical Support Engineer for the Midwest region of the country. McCabe will provide technical sales, engineering and training activities for ARNO USA's range of cutting tools over a four-state territory that includes Illinois, Indiana, Iowa and Missouri.

The Star Cutter Co., Farmington Hills, Mich., plans to mark its 90th anniversary throughout 2017 by reflecting on the company's past and future. Founded in 1927 by Howard B. Lawton and Frank Burgess, Star Cutter is a fourth-generation, family owned business and one of the oldest Michigan-based manufacturing companies.

Contrary to public perception, U.S. manufacturing and logistics industries experienced dramatic growth over thepast generation, says a new report from Ball State University. U.S. manufacturing production grew 11 percent since the dot.com bust (2000-03) and the ensuing economic turbulence of the 2001 and 2007-09 recessions.

According to Frost & Sullivan's Industrial Automation and Process Control team, cognitive technologies and artificial intelligence (AI) are "poised to transform all manufacturing sectors." Partnership, collaboration, and technology investment are crucial for growth opportunities in an era when "data is the new currency." n

Mastercam, a global partner of WorldSkills, is the official supplier to the four machining competitions at WorldSkills 2017: CNC Turning, CNC Milling, Plastic Die Engineering, and the Manufacturing Team Challenge. The Manufacturing Challenge requires the teams to use Mastercam to produce parts on turning and milling machines that may be assembled together to produce a workable product.

There are some common mistakes people make when buying a new CNC machine that we see all too often, writes Okuma's Brian Kateley. "Sometimes they skip important steps in space planning that can really come back and bite them when installation day arrives. All of this can easily be avoided if you contact your distributor and request a 2D drawing so you can plan your installation correctly." Kateley's entire checklist is at the link below.

Carey Manufacturing makes pedestrian products -- the same handles and latches it's turned out for 40 years. But it's making a name for itself these days because of an unusual distinction. Almost half its workers are women, and women outnumber men on the factory floor.

NSI Laser, Fremont, Calif., in April opened a new applications laboratory (App Lab) intended to meet the rising demand for new and advanced laser micromachining processes. The App Lab is a direct "response to the whole electronics industry moving toward high density interconnect (HDI) and finer geometry PCBs," according to a company news release.n

Proactive security measures become even more important as manufacturing software moves into the cloud, machine tool intelligence and automation continue to grow, and the Industrial Internet of Things makes big data an increasingly big deal.

Craftsman Jasper Röders set up shop during the early 1800s to make pewter tableware for his neighbors in Soltau, Germany. Six generations later, his descendants still produce pewter but have expanded into blow molds and CNC machine tools.

Weiler Abrasives Group, a leading provider of abrasives, power brushes and maintenance products for surface conditioning, announced last month that it appointed Bill Dwyre as Managing Director of the newly formed Americas business. This promotion, part of a larger restructuring, supports the integration of the "game changing" acquisition of Swatycomet in late 2015, launching the company into the global abrasive market space. n

Synova, a manufacturer of high-precision laser cutting systems, has relocated its North American Micro-Machining Center (MMC) operations to Secaucus, N.J. The MMC offers laser machining services such as application trials, single and recurring cutting jobs and machine demonstrations.