Machine tool orders for August through October reached the highest level in more than 20 years, the Association for Manufacturing Technology said today.
Glenn Bridgman describes the difference between his shop’s manual grinders and its newest state-of-the-art CNC ID/OD grinder, a Studer CT960 OD/ID from United Grinding (Miamisburg, OH), as “feel vs. facts.” Bridgman, president of Bridge Tool & Die (Buckley, MI), believes that manual grinding is a somewhat personal operation.
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.
The International Federation of Robotics (IFR) in 2016 showed unit sales figures in 2015 up 15% on the year before, reaching an all-time high of 253,748. Since 2010, technical improvements in robots and automation have turbocharged investment, according to the report.
Metalcutting Exhibitors at IMTS 2018 did not disappoint, nor were they disappointed with results from the largest version of the biennial event in terms of number of exhibitors, attendees and, more important, attendee leads.
Seco Tools LLC (Troy, MI) hosted a Mold and Die Manufacturers Seminar for metalworking professionals at its headquarters on July 26 in collaboration with hyperMILL (Open Mind Technologies, Needham, MA) and Heidenhain Corp. (Schaumburg, IL).
If there is a primary goal for what companies in this sector want to deliver to their customers it is quality. But throughput comes in a fairly close second.
CAD/CAM developer CNC Software Inc. (Tolland, CT) announced the release of Mastercam 2019, which was developed to streamline the manufacturing process from job setup to job completion.
Methods Machine Tools Inc. (Sudbury, MA) announced two key management appointments: President Jerry Rex was named president and chief executive officer, and Dale Hedberg was promoted to vice president of operations.
A new report urges the United States invest in emerging manufacturing technologies, saying the private sector can’t preserve US manufacturing by itself.