Sustainability & Environment

See how the PRAB Guardian recycles your spent cutting fluids

A lot of factors need to be assessed when analyzing the state of China's environment. One is the role of the CNC machining revolution that has gripped the country.

Humanity really started messing with the global climate system during the Industrial Revolution when we began burning coal to meet rising energy demand from industrial manufacturing. Most industrial energy efficiency programs target large manufacturers, which represent about 10% of all manufacturers and account for half of the total industrial energy demand. But there still aren't many programs out there to help small and medium-size manufacturers save energy through efficiency improvements, even though the group constitutes 90% of the manufacturing sector and accounts for the other half of industrial energy demand. Together, small, midsize and large manufacturers drive about a third of the harmful climate-warming emissions today.

Greg Olson is the heavy machine shop supervisor at Washington Iron Works, Sherman, Texas. As a supervisor of a 12-person crew working on everything from crankshaft services to engine overhauls for oil and gas customers, he knows attention to detail is important. However, when Texas temps are pushing 90 degrees F in the shade and the sun is beating down on the metal shop, concentrating on details can be tough.

Researchers at the University of Waterloo have taken a huge step towards making smart devices that do not use batteries or require charging.

The challenge racing across businesses today is how to improve, scale and sustain an excellent customer experience (CX). CX is the sum of all the customer's interactions, good, bad or indifferent, with a company's products, services and other support services that the customer encounters in their pre-, during and post-purchase activities.

It's no secret that many manufacturers are scrambling to attract skilled workers to fill openings. A host of training programs are available to provide job seekers with the skills needed to get hired, and one in my hometown of Chicago that caught my attention is the Jane Addams Resource Center.

Residents and activists in California continue to fight business interests over exposure to the carcinogen chromium-6, made famous by the 2000 film "Erin Brockovich." One issue involving the substance concerns its use at metal-treating companies. They oppose tightening air regulations. The metal-finishing industry provides about 9,000 jobs in the state, with more than half of them in Southern California.

Briggs & Stratton Corp. announced this week that it will move production of its V-Twin Vanguard engines from a joint venture partnership in Japan to its existing manufacturing facilities in Statesboro, Georgia and Auburn, Alabama. The increased production in North America will create approximately 50 new jobs at each of the facilities.