A professor, who visited IMTS in September, discusses trends in machine tools.
Additive manufacturing lets companies think “outside the box.” Engineers can now start to look at a part without restrictions on size, shape or material. Instead of taking 15 different CNC milled parts and brazing them together, these companies have reimagined the part entirely—to be built as one part.
When visiting some machine shops I hear PM, most commonly known as preventive maintenance, referred to as “postmortem,” as in, “We just run the machines until they die.”
Additive manufacturing (AM) in medicine continues to grow each year. It is a remarkable enabler, but the industry is fraught with barriers to adoption, slow for the sake of patient safety.
One of the reasons the aerospace industry is so often talked about in trade journals is that it lives on the edge of new manufacturing technology development.
TRUMPF North America is embracing 3D printing, smart manufacturing and a vibrant workforce.
Additive manufacturing (AM) once was called “rapid prototyping.” Its earliest forms made prototype parts—and nothing else. However, manufacturers were intrigued by the prospect of using it to make cost-effective metal parts in production. That day is here.
I’m among the first to dive into the latest manufacturing innovations and see how they can improve our customers’ operations. Yet, I’m also among the first to advise them to pause and ensure that the fundamentals of their manufacturing processes are in place before adding something new into the complex mix of functionality and desired outcomes.
CAD/CAM helps auto racers employ CNC machining to maximum advantage.
It’s time to redefine AM and DfAM by what is possible from advanced LPBF systems—and to look ahead with the same determination the semiconductor industry used to better our lives.
