Precision Tool Technologies Inc., Brainerd, Minn., is a manufacturer and distributor of high quality products and services for wholesale optical laboratories and retail optical industries.

The Commonwealth Center for Advanced Manufacturing (CCAM), Prince George County, Va., brings together industry, academia, and government to solve advanced manufacturing challenges.

Fiber laser welding is all about control of the process, according to Kurt Magedanz, laser process engineer at Ace Precision Machining Corp., Oconomowoc, Wis. With its new Laserdyne 430 systems, Ace Precision has made huge strides with weld quality while reducing operator intervention in the process.

FABTECH is coming to my home town, Chicago, and I’m looking forward to it. Along with IMTS and EMO, it’s one of the top-shelf manufacturing trade shows and it’s big enough to keep people coming back every year to see new technology, get educated and network with their peers.

When it comes to the number of flutes on an end mill, the right choice always depends on machine tool capabilities, material properties and part design. Shops that select the wrong number of flutes—or use a tool simply because they own it—may be disappointed to find that their part quality, tool life or both will suffer.

Much has changed in the world of automotive accessory designing, engineering, and manufacturing in the past few years. Sales and after sales of automotive parts have witnessed a surge in data-usage across the horizontal and vertical value chains between suppliers, business partners, internal departments, and the end-customers.

As parts and materials have advanced, tools and methods that were once standard have been replaced by better, more advanced technologies. It is important to recognize the advancements essential to your operation.

Dynamic milling is becoming more popular due to its ability to improve material removal rates while maintaining process security. Incorporating two different machining strategies creates the dynamic milling concept and allows for advantages not previously realized.

The renowned computer scientist Alan Kay once said, “Technology is anything that wasn’t around when you were born.’’

This past August, when we officially opened the Gene F. Haas Center for Advanced Manufacturing Skills (CAMS) at Hudson Valley Community College, Troy, N.Y., there were smiling faces all around—industry donors, federal and state representatives, and, most of all, faculty and students who were poised to begin working and learning in a state-of-the-art facility.

For years, manufacturers of all sizes and across every industrial segment have heard about Industry 4.0. The definition changes depending on the speaker or publication, but the essential idea remains the same.

Describe Hexagon’s latest moves in factory automation, including unifying its metrology software with its CAD/CAM and other manufacturing software.

The United States is about to begin a new era as a net energy exporter, according to U.S. Energy Department projections. The shift will snap a 67-year streak of being a net energy importer, going back to 1953.

The ever-volatile oil and natural gas industry—roiled most recently by September’s drone attacks on Saudi Arabian oil facilities that temporarily reduced the kingdom’s output by nearly half (about 5 percent of global production)—faces particularly challenging requirements for machined components to meet evolving supply targets.

Located at the center of Canada’s Niagara Peninsula, Brock University is a public research university in St. Catharines, Ontario, with a total enrollment of over 19,000 students. Graduates enjoy one of the highest employment rates of all Ontario universities—96.5 percent within two years of graduation.

According to the Eaton Blackout Tracker, 36.7 million people were affected by more than 3,500 power outages in the U.S. in 2017 alone. These outages lasted twice as long as the year before, keeping the lights off for an average of nearly eight hours per disruption.