In the heart of the Great Lakes region, the Van Dam family business is carrying on the timeless tradition of wooden boatbuilding, incorporating the latest techniques for manufacturing attractive and functional metal fixtures and components.

Peterson Machining, Boulder, Colo., celebrates its 30th anniversary in 2019. Its success over the years can be attributed in large part to thoughtful, planned capital investments.

Rod Anthony is the president of Anthony Screw Products Ltd., Burlington, Ontario, Canada. He has more than 25 years of experience working in every position in his plant’s manufacturing process.

I’ve been covering the manufacturing industry as a journalist for more years than I’d like to admit, so when someone tells me about something new in the industry, my usual thought is, “We’ll see.” Of course, there is a lot of new technology and things change in manufacturing, but I can’t usually say “Wow, that really surprised me.”

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.

When manufacturers envision the future of the Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT) for their own operations, they’re likely to focus on its potential within the walls of their own factories. And they’re not wrong.

Laser welding is a superior technology for repairing defects in tooling, plastic injection molds, stamping dies, blow molds, turbine blades, and nearly any tooling component made of stainless steel, aluminum, copper alloy, cast iron, and all tool steels.

BIG Kaiser’s “Breakfast and Learn” event, hosted at its Hoffman Estates, Illinois, headquarters, is by now is an annual event not to be missed for a great breakfast and technical presentations on the latest developments in precision tooling.

When it comes to the production of high-precision parts for industries ranging from aerospace to medical, grinding remains the best, most cost-effective approach to obtaining fine surface finishes and tight tolerances.

Today, I am a mechanical engineering student who dreams of working in the aerospace industry. Today, I know where my passion lies, where my future may take me and the kinds of problems I may be solving.

Simulation technology must keep pace with rapid advances in manufacturing so that users can learn to use and protect new equipment. Recent advances in Vericut include support for additive manufacturing and hybrid methods, robotic welding, laser sintering, and grinding while dressing to change the shape of the grinding wheel.

The Charlotte, N.C., region has been successful in attracting internationally owned manufacturing concerns. Officials have also used a German-style apprenticeship program as a way to increase worker skill levels.

From August 22–27 in Kazan, Russia, something spectacular will happen relevant to all the talk and angst about the skills gap in manufacturing—the WorldSkills competition.

Well into the 21st century, the medical industry faces a host of intriguing challenges, from aging populations to a growing range of personalized and at-home diagnostic and care devices—all set against a backdrop of increasing digital collection, transfer and storage of sensitive patient data.

Innovations in workholding, tooling and measurement for medical manufacturing are helping meet the challenges of medical manufacturing.

Changes in health care are driving more innovative tooling, including new machining strategies and complex cutting tools that help deliver more patient-centered solutions.