Changes in health care are driving more innovative tooling, including new machining strategies and complex cutting tools that help deliver more patient-centered solutions.
We all know the buzzwords circulating around digital data and the factory. You have heard them—Industry 4.0, smart factories, data analytics, and artificial intelligence (AI). The question we all have is how will this impact workers in the long term? What do these terms really mean? Nevertheless, both traditional software suppliers and makers of advanced manufacturing equipment are offering digital solutions.
For machine shops in a competitive global marketplace, keeping spindles running and making product is the only way to stay in business. Still, adding a new piece of equipment, even with the promise of improving the efficiency of your existing ones, may be a difficult sell to management.
Vertical machining centers with advanced features and functions are earning their stripes as more productive members of machine shops’ CNC equipment arsenal.
Heidenhain, a global manufacturer of motion control feedback solutions, has established a new partnership with the Community College of Denver (CCD), making the Rocky Mountain region a focal point for CNC machining with Heidenhain’s Five-Axis Touch Numerical Control (TNC) technology.
As of June 2019, Erie Press Systems has merged with Ajax-CECO under parent company Park Ohio (NASDAQ: PKOH).
Marshall Aerospace and Defence Group is now using 3D printing from Stratasys to manufacture flight-ready parts for several of its military, civil and business aircraft—while producing specific ground-running equipment at a lower cost than aluminum alternatives.
Material science, tooling and wear-resistant solutions provider Kennametal Inc. (Latrobe, Pa.) announced it has signed a multimillion-dollar distribution agreement for its KennaFlow valve seats with Gardner Denver (Milwaukee), a global provider of industrial equipment and related parts and services to oil and gas and other markets.
The bane of modern engineering is complexity. One promise of artificial intelligence and machine learning is helping engineers to use complex tools and harness vast data sets effectively.
The state of manufacturing is always a combination of tried and true methods; improvements (sometimes dramatic) in traditional processes; and brand new technology few people even conceived of a few years ago.