Industry News

Find yourself in a machine shop, and you’ll find a familiar scene. A highly capable CNC machine, eagerly waiting for its next part. An idle CNC is money flying out your shop door.

Horizon Microtechnologies is reporting that it is achieving measured progress in the manufacture of corrugated RF and millimeter-wave components using its combination of high-precision polymer micro-additive manufacturing and proprietary metallisation technologies. The activity covers three related but technically distinct application areas: overmoded waveguides, mode converter waveguides, and corrugated horn antennas.

ARCH Medical Grinding was named the winner of the ANCA Tool of the Year Award 2026. The judges called out a standout entry that combines highly realistic cutting geometry with an elegant, polished overall design, with the effective use of milling operations adding complexity and visual interest — a technically convincing and cosmetically impressive tool, built with ANCA software.

Novelis Inc. has produced the first coil on the cold mill at its $5 billion aluminum recycling and rolling plant in Bay Minette, Alabama. "Producing the first coil on the cold mill is an important step in commissioning Bay Minette and increasing the supply of rolled aluminum in the United States," said Steve Fisher, president and CEO of Novelis.

Manufacturing precision is essential for most manufacturers, but perhaps some more than others. DMM, for instance, is the UK’s only hot-forging manufacturer of climbing and safety hardware for applications such as climbing, tree care, rope access, work-at-height and rescue, and manufacturing quality and process consistency in these industries are essential.

QT9 Software, a provider of Quality Management System (QMS) software and Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) solutions, plans to showcase its connected QMS, ERP and BI platforms at Pack Expo International 2026, which will be held October 18–21, in Chicago.

Tungaloy Corporation and NTK Cutting Tools announce that, effective January 1, 2027, NTK Cutting Tools will merge with Tungaloy, marking a new chapter for both organizations. The merger is subject to compliance with applicable legal and regulatory requirements. Following the merger, the integrated organization will operate under the Tungaloy corporate name, while retaining the NTK Cutting Tools brand.

Kennametal Inc. launched a new 10% cobalt grade tungsten carbide that the company says is a "breakthrough in additive manufacturing" that enables the rapid production of custom carbide hole-finishing tools with advanced features such as optimized cooling channels and complex geometries.

Hitachi Energy, a wholly owned subsidiary of Hitachi, Ltd. plans to build a new $528 million transformer manufacturing facility in Gallman, Mississippi, creating over 700 jobs. The Mississippi facility will be the cornerstone of Hitachi Energy’s around $1.5 billion U.S. manufacturing expansion program, the largest in the industry, increasing domestic production of transformers and other critical grid infrastructure to meet rapidly growing energy demand across the country.

Shipments of cutting tools totaled $278.1 million in July 2026. The value of shipments increased 2.8% from June 2026 and was up 29% from July 2025, according to data from the Cutting Tool Market Report, a collaboration between AMT – The Association for Manufacturing Technology and the U.S.

Gleason Corporation plans to exhibit its latest developments in gear design, manufacturing, and inspection technology, including closed-loop manufacturing and lights-out production at IMTS 2026, complemented by the Gleason Digital Ecosystem. Gleason’s gear technology experts will be available to discuss specific applications, such as the manufacture of gears for humanoid robots, aerospace and energy industries, as well as solutions addressing other key global trends shaping the future of gear manufacturing.

At EuroBLECH in Hanover, Teqram will present a major enhancement to its EasyGrinder. The AI-powered grinding robot, already used for the automated finishing of cut sheet metal parts, can now also create and finish weld bevels. This marks another step toward fully automated weld preparation, specifically for manufacturers working with medium and heavy plate fabrication.