Automating Job Shops? You Bet! February 28, 2019 If “automation” is the constant drone you hear from practically everyone in metalworking these days, job shop owners might be the only people yelling “No!” Or at least “Wait!” How, they ask, can you cost-effectively automate low-volume, high-mix parts? Yet it’s not only doable but probably necessary.
Who’s Afraid of Five-Axis Machining? January 2, 2019 According to McNamara, director of sales for Doosan Machine Tools America (Pine Brook, NJ), the most important tools in getting customers to move into five-axis machining are features within the control that make it simple to create, understand and prove out machining programs.
Testing the Metal November 27, 2018 Materials science has opened new possibilities for designers of cars, planes and other products. Metal alloys are now as precisely engineered as they are machined. The result is longer lasting, stronger parts. But with a wider selection of materials comes risk—how can you be sure that one piece of gray metal stock is different than another? Careful warehousing procedures and paperwork only go so far.
Price Downturn Leads Shale Producers to Greater Efficiency November 15, 2018 After petroleum prices collapsed in the mid-2010s, shale oil and gas producers responded to the down-swing by borrowing techniques and technology from the energy sector’s offshore well operations, manufacturing, and even the medical industry to increase efficiency.
READY TO SHARE: MetraLabs Robots Poised to Grease the Skids for Automotive Suppliers in an AI World November 27, 2018 Cofounder Johannes Trabert, who lives a poetic life in the Thuringian Forest, says the future will be focused on ‘the clever share of work’ between humans and robots.
Manufacturing in 2050: The World Turned Upside Down? November 26, 2018 Powerful trends will push manufacturing close to complete automation by 2050, while the people still working in the industry will be empowered to rapidly innovate like never before.
Custom Cutting Tools Create a Competitive Edge January 4, 2019 For certain machining applications, off-the-shelf cutters come up short. Here’s how to increase productivity, reduce costs, and improve part quality with a custom cutting tool solution.
Digital Tool Management: Multiple Concepts Begin to Converge October 31, 2018 The focus on digitalization in design and machining has highlighted the importance and advantages of more sophisticated digital tool management (DTM) systems. While this has generated a great degree of differentiation, and some confusion regarding a generally accepted system definition, it has resulted in the evolution of objectives and capabilities that are both more comprehensive and more customer-centric.
Five-Axis Workholding: Modular Approach Yields Many Benefits October 30, 2018 The rules of thumb for shops experienced in five-axis machining aren’t any different from those for first- time users of this sophisticated machining process. The difference is that the experienced shop has already traveled the learning curve for five-axis machining.
Digitalization Boosts Auto Parts Cell Production By 20% September 5, 2018 Increases in size and quantity of its orders led Wisconsin-based auto parts manufacturer Felss Rotaform LLC (New Berlin, WI) to expand operations through a new dual-robot machine-tending cell. The company is a supplier of precision parts using its rotary swaging, axial forming and tube end-forming processes.