I’ve always been a planner, and a new calendar feels like a blank slate of possibilities. 2025 promises an exciting year for AGMA Emerging Technology, with a packed schedule of programs. We began the year with a webinar featuring Noel Mack, CTO of LIFT: The National Advanced Materials and Manufacturing Institute. If you missed it, it is available on-demand on the AGMA website. Alongside committee meetings, we’ll host eleven webinars (first Wednesdays) and live presentations at key AGMA events, including the Annual Meeting, SNL, and the Motion + Power Technology Expo.
With its unique concept, Smart Production Solutions (SPS) covers the entire spectrum of smart and digital automation – from simple sensors to intelligent solutions, from what is feasible today to the vision of a fully digitalized industrial world. SPS, located in Nuremberg, Germany, is an innovative platform for the automation industry with topics on control technology, electric drive systems, HMIs, software, sensors and mechanical infrastructure.
This article requires that the reader be familiar with Job Shop Lean, an approach to adapt the principles of lean manufacturing for a job shop, regardless of its size or industry sector. The following articles will give the interested reader a sufficient background on the many differences between Job Shop Lean and Lean.
Continuing its leadership role in secure digital connectivity and Industry 4.0 manufacturing, Mazak has joined major cybersecurity research universities and enterprises throughout the country as a collaborative partner with the Cybersecurity Manufacturing Innovation Institute (CyManII).
To ensure all customers and their machines benefit from digital assistance, GF Machining Solutions (GFMS) has launched their new My rConnect platform engineered for the company’s EDM, milling, and laser texturing machines. The all-encompassing platform allows shops to connect any model of GFMS machine for fast, responsive, and easily accessible service and support while also providing expanded digital capabilities.
With Closed Loop, Kapp Niles offers a system that enables the integration of machining and measuring machines. By using Closed Loop, efficient processes and optimized production are realized. This tool helps companies to improve the quality of their workpieces and to make their processes more efficient.
Platinum Tooling, the exclusive importer of Heimatec live tools and angle heads plus other global brands of precision machine tool accessories, is pleased to announce the appointment of Frank Twomey as the company’s Regional Sales Manager. In his new role, he will oversee all activities in eighteen states located in the Northeast, Mid-Atlantic and Southeast Regions of the United States. Company President, Preben Hansen, made the announcement at the company’s headquarters in Prospect Heights, Illinois.
As an accompanying event to the International Conference on Gears 2023, the 5th International Conference on Gear Production is one of the most important biannual meeting points for the gear manufacturing industry both for technical experts and for decision-makers. Current challenges and solutions are presented and discussed, strongly emphasizing new potentials in productivity and/or the flexibility of gear manufacturing processes.
At this year's traditional Chicago Innovation Days 2023, hosted at DMG MORI USA's headquarters in Hoffman Estates from April 11–14, Machining Transformation (MX) was the omnipresent highlight, including Technology Integration, Automation solutions, Digital Transformation (DX), and Green Transformation (GX).
In the fast, cost-effective, sustainable future, smart software is paving the way to optimized production and improved decision making. Digital technology and smart software have already transformed the machining industry with unprecedented access to actionable data for better results in less time. With a wealth of data generated from production processes of all kinds, shops need to understand how to use that data to their advantage. Now, progressive manufacturers can move toward even greater benefits with software that fulfills the promises of Industry 4.0.
It’s little wonder there’s more and more interest in the potential of lights-out or unattended production. The benefits seem immediately obvious. Staffing costs fall significantly if you can run equipment unsupervised, or with far fewer operators. Production capacity of the business greatly increases, offering the opportunity to add more customers without the expense of adding new equipment or staff.
The closed-loop concept has become widespread in recent years, especially in relation to the Industry 4.0 concept. The term “closed loop” will be used herein to refer to the pairing of specifications and checking (Figure 1) which all ISO standards, starting with ISO 1, the “mother” of all standards, use in relation to GPS (Geometrical Product Specifications).
Leela AI will present a webinar – Visual Intelligence for Industry 4.0 – to demonstrate Leela Platform on Thursday, March 2, 2023 at 12 p.m Eastern time.
Market changes and mutual dependencies between value creation stages require both new technical and economical solutions. How can companies face these challenges with greater resilience? How can we exploit the benefits of increased cost-effectiveness? These questions are being posed by the transnational "EuProGigant" project. The aim is to ensure smart, sovereign use of data for production and bring this to Europe.
Gear Up for Precision will take place April 12-13, 2023. Both Wenzel and Nidec Machine Tool America, located across from each other in Wixom, Mich., will be open to visitors with displays, technical discussions, presentations, and demonstrations.
Solar Atmospheres of Western PA successfully vacuum heat treated two massive H13 extrusion dies at their Hermitage PA facility. Their newest high performing Solar Manufacturing 10-Bar 600 Horsepower high pressure gas quench vacuum furnace was able to fully harden two huge H13 extrusion dies in successive cycles.
Marposs has announced MAINDO, its new digital platform that integrates Marposs monitoring, measuring, testing or other manufacturer device/solutions throughout the entire production process, combining quality and process into a holistic production monitoring view.
IMTEX is a flagship event for the Indian metal cutting industry. It is South Asia's apex exhibition showcasing the latest trends as well as technological refinements from India and other global players. The event attracts visitors from a wide spectrum of manufacturing and ancillary industries including key decision and policy makers as well as industry captains who are keen to source latest technologies and manufacturing solutions for their product lines.
Formnext (Frankfurt, Germany) is more than an exhibition and conference. It’s an entire platform for companies from the world of additive manufacturing. Here, a veritable who’s who from the realms of design and product development, industrial tooling, production solutions, quality management, and measurement technology comes together with leading providers in basic materials and component construction.
EMAG will highlight productive, and at the same time, flexible manufacturing solutions for electromobility at IMTS. Among other things, the focus is on the vertical pick-up lathes of the VL series, which EMAG now delivers IoT-Ready.
The ANCA Integrated Manufacturing System (AIMS) optimizes cutting tool production through streamlined manufacturing, automation, and connectivity. With ANCA and AIMS, customers can achieve continuous, unattended production that dramatically reduces non-productive machine time, with smart automation that connects sequential tool production processes and offers connectivity across the whole factory.
MC Machinery will showcase its latest EDM and precision milling technology, including wire and sinker EDMs, machining centers and automation during IMTS 2022.
Although gears have been indispensable components in various sectors such as mechanical engineering, the automotive industry and industrial gear manufacturing for many decades, increasing requirements and current market developments are constantly presenting the drive technology sectors with new challenges. In the case of modern gear drives, competition is determined not only by price but also by load capacity, operational reliability and noise behavior. In automotive engineering in particular, reliable torque transmission is required with high power density, low weight and minimal noise emissions. The current trend towards e-mobility as well as general ecological and economic challenges to improve resource efficiency lead to increased demands on the entire process chain.
The Big Kaiser EWA Automatic Fine Boring System from Big Daishowa performs closed-loop boring operations without a human operator. This breakthrough eliminates the need to stop the spindle to manually adjust the boring tool, which results in considerable time savings. Also, eliminating human interaction reduces cost, improves accuracy, and minimizes scrap. The adjustment range of this fine boring head allows for the handling of multiple bore sizes with the same tool and ensures a repeatable boring process.
Sandvik Coromant offers its CoroPlus Productivity Improvement Program to provide in-depth analysis of the production cell.
Hexagon’s Manufacturing Intelligence division recently announced the winners of its first cohort of start-ups selected to help the manufacturing industry operate more sustainably and efficiently. The company launched its Sixth Sense open innovation platform in January 2022 to challenge how multinationals approach innovation and help nurture creative solutions to emerging manufacturing challenges by connecting with world-class companies to solve some of humanity’s biggest challenges.
Wintriss Controls Group has announced it will be demonstrating new, advanced features in its ShopFloorConnect OEE and Data Collection Software at IMTS Booth #135073 located in the East Building, Level 3, in McCormick Place, Chicago IL from Sept 12- 17, 2022.
SMW Autoblok sets a new standard for power chucks with the introduction of the CC e-motion electric 4-jaw chuck featuring wireless power and signal transmission.
IBS Quality GmbH has launched the new PAM-System (Portable Automated Measurement System), a portable cobot-based 3D scanning and measurement solution, at Control, Stuttgart, Germany, May 3 -6, Hall 3, Stand 3312. The launch is in collaboration with Verisurf Software, Inc., and its integrated 3D measurement software for automated quality inspection, reporting, scanning, and reverse engineering.
As part of a $2 million National Science Foundation Grant, robots from Kuka Robotics are helping the University of Michigan (U of M) advance research that could result in robots working side-by-side with humans on building construction sites. The research involves three KUKA KR Quantec robots along with the company’s robot sensor interface (RSI) software, all of which will allow human workers to use interactive task learning technology to teach the robots to perform construction tasks.