Automation

Toolcraft Inc., a small machine shop in Monroe, Washington, makes parts for such industries as aerospace, defense and medical. The company needed help tending its CNC machine and ultimately turned to e-Series collaborative robots by Universal Robots A/S.

The global servo motors and drives market was valued at about US$ 9 Bn in 2014, and is expected to surpass US$ 12 Bn by the end of 2019. The servo motors and drives market is expected to grow at a CAGR of about 8% between 2019 and 2029, and is estimated to reach a global value of about US$ 28 Bn by the end of 2029.

In 1919, Louis Affolter, the second child of the watchmakers Samuel and Marie-Louise Affolter, founded his own company and started to produce gears and pivots for the Swiss watch manufacturers in the area. 100 years later, nine Affolter family members work in the high-tech enterprise Affolter Group and its daughter companies Affolter Technologies and Affolter Pignons.

Loading and unloading CNC machines is becoming one of the most popular applications for collaborative robots as manufacturers face significant difficulties in staffing this tedious task. A new distributor agreement between Universal Robots and Phillips Corp. will further the rapid deployment of cobots with Haas CNC machines, offering machine shops a safe, user-friendly solution to optimize spindle uptime.

Applied Manufacturing Technologies announced Aug. 11, 2019 marks the company’s 30-year anniversary. Founded in 1989 by Michael Jacobs, the company has grown to 130 employees serving U.S. manufacturers from the Orion, Michigan, headquarters. AMT has built a tradition of excellence in providing customers with engineering and design services, and turnkey automation systems.

With application-tailored implementation of the umati interface for the machine tool sector, since 2017 clear contents and technical key data for translation into hands-on reality have been drawn up. What this means specifically, and what visitors can expect to see at the EMO Hannover, are explained by three experts: Götz Görisch is responsible at the VDW for the field of digitization and Industry 4.0, and is chairman of the umati Joint Working Group. Bernd Zapf is responsible for development new business and technology at Gebr. Heller Maschinenfabrik GmbH in Nürtingen, while Andreas Wohlfeld is lead architect smart factory at Trumpf GmbH + Co. KG in Ditzingen, and heads the modeling group of the umati Joint Working Group.

BLM Group USA has announced the appointment of two new regional sales managers to help develop sales of the company’s laser tube cutting systems, benders and machining equipment product lines.

OnRobot, a manufacturer of end-of-arm tooling for collaborative robot applications, has opened its first location specifically dedicated to R&D in the U.S. Based in Culver City in Los Angeles, California, the new office area boasts 6,000 sq. ft. for engineers, researchers and local staff to work and develop new products.

Cole Technologies Inc., Columbus, Indiana, is a certified Universal Robots system integrator that supplies automation systems specializing in pick-and-place, deburring and plastic part trimming applications. One recent project involved the deflashing of molded parts where a more accurate robot path was deemed necessary.