The results of our Annual State of the Gear Industry Survey (See page 26) provided insight on 2016 as well as forecasts for 2017. Here is additional insight from some of the industry's leaders.

I was going to reflect on how November 22, 1963 changed so many things, but decided it wasn’t an anniversary ending in a five or a zero and I would...

Our industry makes parts for all different types of energy and transportation. AGMA, our national trade association, was formed, in part, because t...

It's Monday morning, December 15, 2036. An autonomous vehicle drops off two engineers in front of a gear manufacturing facility in Metro Detroit. They punch in for work on their wristwatches and pay Uber for the ride on a smartphone. One of the engineers begins walking the shop floor, monitoring a series of collaborative robots using a tablet the size of a paperback novel. These robots interact right on the floor with the minimal staff scheduled to oversee manufacturing operations. Another engineer wears an interactive headset and begins training a group of new engineers (in real time) from China using some form of augmented reality.

While 3-D printing looks for its place in the manufacturing world, other non-traditional methods are finding their way into our gear shops. Some, s...

Our society seems enamored with new technology and the fortunes that can be made through a startup company. This has always puzzled me; a number of...

This proposed standard would not make any recommendations regarding the required quality for any application. The intent is to establish standard pre-finish quality classes for typical finishing operations, which only include the inspection elements that are important to properly evaluate pre-finish gear quality as it applies to the finishing operation. It would be the responsibility of the manufacturing/process engineer, quality engineer, or other responsible individual to establish the required pre-finish quality class for their application.

Paul Nylander is something between an entrepreneur and a Renaissance man. He has degrees in engineering and physics, but he's also a creative artist who's put together sketches and 3D renderings alike. His website, bugman123. com, features everything from an in-depth explanation of a Tesla coil to 3D renderings of physics equations to an extensive library of fractal-based artwork. At first glance, one might find Nylander's many pursuits to be somewhat scattershot, but at their core, his works are tied together by his love for all things mathematical.

Plastic gears are everywhere today - throughout your car, at the oceans' lowest depths, in deep space. The question, when is a metal gear a candidate for plastic conversion, can be addressed in three words, i.e. what's the application?