Today’s products require high finishes, burr-free edges, freedom from contamination, and often close tolerances. Electropolishing provides all of those conditions and more in a matter of seconds for many metal parts. It is a process that has been used for more than a hundred years. It is widely known and the science is widely discussed, but its ability to run job shop lots and high-precision high-volume parts in the same equipment makes it a bit unique.
All fixtures are designed to hold a workpiece in position firmly and accurately during a manufacturing process.
After petroleum prices collapsed in the mid-2010s, shale oil and gas producers responded to the down-swing by borrowing techniques and technology from the energy sector’s offshore well operations, manufacturing, and even the medical industry to increase efficiency.
Glenn Bridgman describes the difference between his shop’s manual grinders and its newest state-of-the-art CNC ID/OD grinder, a Studer CT960 OD/ID from United Grinding (Miamisburg, OH), as “feel vs. facts.” Bridgman, president of Bridge Tool & Die (Buckley, MI), believes that manual grinding is a somewhat personal operation.
Powerful trends will push manufacturing close to complete automation by 2050, while the people still working in the industry will be empowered to rapidly innovate like never before.
The concept of attaching data to CAD models, such as GD&T, seems to be growing. Using model-based definition, the industry is beginning to take advantage of the technique.
From a simple locating pin to a complex fluid manifold, every manufactured part starts out as an idea. A Colorado shop brings its customers’ concepts to reality by blending advanced manufacturing technology and careful process and data management with a team-focused company culture and nearly 40 years of experience.
General Motors Co. (Detroit) is boosting its use of collaborative robots, a manufacturing executive said at this week’s Management Briefing Seminars (MBS).
The Center for Automotive Research’s Management Briefing Seminars (MBS) is an annual rite of summer for the auto industry. Representatives of automakers and suppliers head to northern Michigan near the resort town of Traverse City for lectures and presentations about the industry.
Visitors to the Valley of the Sun were recently treated to a dizzying display of software technology at Arizona’s Phoenix Convention Center. From June 4-7, the Siemens PLM Connection—Americas 2018 user conference hosted thousands of visitors from hundreds of manufacturing companies.
