Manufacturing Job Growth Resumes in September October 5, 2018 Manufacturing job expansion resumed in September after pausing in August. The sector added 18,000 jobs last month, with 17,000 of the gain taking place in durable goods, according to a breakdown by industry issued today by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.
Testing the Metal November 27, 2018 Materials science has opened new possibilities for designers of cars, planes and other products. Metal alloys are now as precisely engineered as they are machined. The result is longer lasting, stronger parts. But with a wider selection of materials comes risk—how can you be sure that one piece of gray metal stock is different than another? Careful warehousing procedures and paperwork only go so far.
Hexagon Thinks Big, Gets Bigger August 8, 2018 It’s easy to become dazed by the continuing stream of buzz words. For those of us in manufacturing, all this buzz creates a sense of impending change, but no clarity on what that change might be. Uncertainty means anxiety.
Bill Ford’s Third Act: Fighting for Automaker’s Future, His Own Legacy August 11, 2017 Bill Ford, executive chairman of Ford Motor Co., is now in Act III in his career at the automaker. The outcome will determine Ford Motor’s future and his legacy.
Milling vs. Grinding for Rapid Stock Removal February 16, 2015 A recent effort by the Norton Advanced Applications Engineering Group demonstrates that for difficult-to-machine materials, grinding can be an economical alternative to other machining processes.
Fast, Flexible Fixturing May 2, 2017 Secure, accurate workholding sets the stage for consistent machining productivity. Depending on the parts and processes involved, workholding can be as simple and temporary as a plain vise or clamp or as complex and permanent as a machined and fabricated fixture that is custom-designed to hold a unique part.
Tips for Trouble-Free Centerless Grinding May 8, 2017 Coolant is a key component to successful centerless grinding but is often overlooked. Many coolant delivery systems for centerless grinders are under engineered and are often neglected.
Grinding Advances Power Faster, More Efficient Round Solid-Carbide Toolmaking November 1, 2018 Hats off to tool manufacturers! They make some of the most geometrically complex products out of the toughest materials and with the tightest tolerances. And yet cutting tools represent only 3% of the total cost of the average metalworking process.
Shop-Floor Monitoring Critical to Improving Factory Processes July 1, 2013 Process improvement encompasses a wide range of tools, techniques and strategies. When properly deployed, shop-floor data collection and monitoring systems can help factory-floor managers leverage key data metrics including overall equipment effectiveness (OEE) and total effective equipment performance (TEEP) that measure machine uptime and pinpoint bottlenecks or other problems in order to improve machining performance.
Quality Scan: Thread Inspection: Your Application Matters June 1, 2009 Not all threaded connections serve similar purposes.The load-carrying needs of an aerospace engine support bolt in a tension assembly greatly exceed those of a simple screw that fastens a cover plate to an electrical wall socket. International thread-acceptance documents and standards recognize this basic engineering fact, and incorporate different thread-inspection requirements into their verification standards.