To a discrete manufacturer, process manufacturing is odd territory indeed. It’s a world in which textiles, pharmaceuticals, chemicals, plastics, and food and beverage are produced en masse.
After three years of work, military researchers are near the end of a project to find a faster, cheaper way to make tools for large aerospace parts like skins for wings and fuselages.
In an announcement orchestrated from Barcelona, California-based HP in June announced an expansion of its 3D printing business.
Today’s job shops can distinguish themselves from competitors by adding deep hole drilling/gundrilling to their offerings. But complex, custom-built machines require more floor space and a bigger investment.
If you ask any number of manufacturers exactly what they felt the first time they crashed a stationary machine tool or dropped portable measuring equipment, you’re bound to get a range of answers—though dread, terror and even nausea will almost certainly be on the list of responses.
Betting that the worst of the pandemic will be over and travel restrictions lifted, the 2021 edition the machine tool exhibition is putting out the welcome mat to the world.
As more original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) and job shops “warm up” to the idea of laser welding, many have turned their attention to four specific technologies.
Improvements in manufacturing management software, robotics, additive manufacturing and thermal controls are making small batch sizes more cost effective—even for smaller shops. Manufacturing plants are able to reduce inventory, improve throughput and reduce demands on human operators.
Manufacturers have begun using sensors and actuators to monitor their cutting processes and adjust parameters to optimize tool life and workpiece quality. However, traditional monitoring systems have some drawbacks.
With a single example, Ira Moskowitz makes the case for why the organization he leads may be critical for advancing manufacturing in the United States.