You may or may not know that AGMA manages the American Bearing Manufacturers Association, ABMA, similarly to AGMA. Because gears and bearings go together like “peas and carrots!” to borrow a phrase from one of my favorite movies. I thought that the GT audience would like an update on what is going on in the technical division of ABMA.

AGMA, and its member companies are busy helping develop, modify, and contribute to the international standards process.  Without the dedication of our U.S. delegates and the shadow technical committees supporting them, the AGMA methods and processes would not be incorporated in these international standards.  

If you are a true gear geek, you are probably aware of AGMA’s Fall Technical Meeting (FTM). However, we have true gear geeks attending the FTM for the first time each year, and we are thrilled to see that!

In 2023, the Technical Division Executive Committee (TDEC) worked on a technical committee restructuring that replaced the standing, topic-specific committees with working groups, which would focus only on an active project and fold when the project was completed. Due to feedback received on the change, the TDEC took a step back and re-evaluated the restructuring. This led to a new committee-based structure that takes the good parts of project working groups and merges them with the good parts of technical committees. The committees are consolidated and include sub-working groups to perform the work on information sheets and standards.

AGMA is pleased to announce the publication of two new revisions: ANSI/AGMA 2116-B24, Evaluation of Double Flank Testers for Radial Composite Measurement of Gears, written by the AGMA Gear Accuracy Committee, and ANSI/AGMA 6008-B24, Specifications for Powder Metallurgy Gears written by the AGMA Powder Metallurgy Committee.

For each FTM, AGMA selects abstracts submitted by authors for development into technical papers. Subject matter may include topics relevant to the gear industry, such as design and analysis; manufacturing and quality; materials, metallurgy, and heat treatment; operation, maintenance, and efficiency; and gear failure. The papers then go through a double-blind peer review process to ensure the efficacy of the research. The authors then present the results of their work at the FTM.

For 107 years, AGMA has been the go-to place for gear standards. We have been bringing together engineers and leaders from across our industry to keep our standards updated and in line with new technologies. We started with noise issues on electric street cars in the early 1900s, and today we lead the global ISO TC 60 committee on standards including wind-turbine gear-box development. As new technologies and gear applications emerged, AGMA has gathered experts to discuss, brainstorm, share, and collaborate on the topics of the day such as plastic gears, epicyclic gears, marine gears, wind turbine gearboxes, and, of course, gear sets for internal combustion vehicles. We have also kept updated standards on gear accuracy, materials, and lubrication. This work has led to standards that reduce costs, improve quality, and make safer products for manufacturers and consumers worldwide.

I’ve been seeing a lot of hype surrounding OpenAI’s artificial intelligence chatbot ChatGPT-4 recently. Including acing standardized tests and writing college term papers in seconds. Each time I read about it, I wonder how it, or a future generation of artificial intelligence (AI), will be used in companies and particularly in my job. To answer my question there’s no better place to go than to ask ChatGPT-4 itself.

This month's issue of Gear Technology covers a subject engineers love to learn about from others but hate to learn about through firsthand experience: gear failure. In a broad sense, all engineering is concerned with failure. Eventually, all parts fail, so engineers need to determine the limits of their design and ensure that it will meet the requirements of the particular application.

AGMA is pleased to announce the publication of three new documents: AGMA 923-C22, Metallurgical Specifications for Steel and Cast Iron Gearing, written by the AGMA Metallurgy and Materials Committee, AGMA 929-B22, Calculation of Bevel Gear Top Land, Slot Widths and Cutter Edge Radii, written by the AGMA Bevel Gearing Committee, and AGMA 955-A22, Guidance for Industrial Gear Lubrication written by the AGMA Lubrication Committee.