Industry News for 07/2017

Growth in China's manufacturing sector slowed marginally in July, reinforcing expectations that the world's second-largest economy will cool in coming months as borrowing costs rise and regulators clamp down on riskier types of financing. The official Purchasing Managers' Index stood at 51.4 in July, down from the previous month's 51.7 but still well above the 50-point mark that separates growth from contraction on a monthly basis. Analysts surveyed by Reuters had forecast that the reading would come in at 51.6, little changed from June.

Padded reamers are utilized throughout the manufacturing industry to generate the final hole geometry and meet demanding surface finish tolerances. Some examples of padded reamer applications are automatic transmission valve channels, engine valve guides and engine crankbore/cambores. Because the reaming process is one of the
last manufacturing steps prior to assembly, it is extremely important to optimize the process to reduce costly scrap.

Massachusetts Lt. Governor Karyn Polito and Primetals Technology USA manufacturing support manager Jim Laliberte have co-authored a plea to Massachusetts manufacturers to hire at least one high school student for a paid STEM internship. "Companies with a STEM intern program can nurture a strong pipeline of skilled talent, one that can fill critical job openings," they write in the Worchester Telegram. At Primetals, student interns learn how to operate CNC machines and are taught safety protocols and quality standards. "We need more companies to join us," they write.

Doug Yates was having trouble finding folks to run his CNC machines, so he called his buddy John Dodson at the NASCAR Technical Institute in Mooresville, N.C. Dodson had an answer for Yates, CEO of Roush Yates Engines in Mooresville, but it would cost him. The idea is to train students on how to run the complex metalworking machines, not only for making NASCAR engines and race cars but for medical, energy and aerospace applications.

"Without irony, Wal-Mart Stores on Wednesday outlined its recommendations to improve the U.S. manufacturing sector," writes Steve Goldstein for MarketWatch. "Wal-Mart could arguably be said to be a contributor to the demise of U.S. manufacturing, with its rapacious sourcing of consumer goods from China as it became the nation's dominant retailer. A 2015 estimate from the Economic Policy Institute, a left-leaning think tank, said Wal-Mart's trade deficit with China had displaced more than 400,000 U.S. jobs."

Everyone’s talking about it – the fourth industrial revolution. Rollomatic S.A., based in Le Landeron, Switzerland, is one of the companies setting a course for an interconnected future for machinery. After all, although precision is still a top priority for Rollomatic customers, aspects such as monitoring of machinery and production processes from anywhere in the world are growing more important by the day.

Heller Group COO Manfred Maier and Heller Machine Tool president Keith Vandenkieboom describe and demonstrate ways a machine tool builder prepares for the future of mobility—whatever it turns out to be.

Driven by improving demand and steady global economic recovery, Taiwan's manufacturing output in terms of revenue is expected to grow 3.87 percent to NT$17.54 trillion (US$576 billion) this year, said the Industrial Technology Research Institute's Industrial Economics and Knowledge Center. Meanwhile, IEK said that in value-added terms, Taiwan's machine tool industry is the worst-performing segment behind all other segments of the manufacturing sector.

President Donald Trump has issued an executive order on assessing and strengthening the manufacturing and defense industrial base and supply chain resiliency of the United States. He said strategic support for a vibrant domestic manufacturing sector, a vibrant defense industrial base and resilient supply chains is a significant national priority. A comprehensive evaluation of the defense industrial base and supply chains, with input from executive departments and agencies, has been ordered to assess the nation's strengths and weaknesses.

The Valley Morning Star (Harlingen, TX) reports on how tool and die technology at Texas State Technical College has given student and former college dropout Andy Juarez "a new lease on life." Juarez plans to get his associate degree this Fall. "After speaking to supervisors at Arlington-based United States defense contractor and industrial corporation, Raytheon, he has a position waiting for him immediately after he graduates." The whole story is at the link.

Japan’s manufacturing activity has fallen to an eight-month low in July, according to IHS Markit survey results. The Nikkei Flash Japan Manufacturing Purchasing Managers Index (PMI) for July is calculated to be a seasonally adjusted 52.2, following a 52.4 level in June. The Flash Manufacturing Output Index was pegged at at 51.4, down from 52.2 in June and the weakest growth in 10 months.

AGCO Corp., a worldwide manufacturer and distributor of agricultural equipment, announced ths week that it is increasing the efficiency, quality and safety of its manufacturing programs by doubling the number of Glass, an assisted reality, wearable headset device being used in its Jackson, Minnesota, factory, and will begin using Glass at six additional factories.

Seco Tools, LLC has partnered with Ferris State University (FSU) in Big Rapids, Michigan, to offer local area engineering students an opportunity to participate in a multi-year internship program at Seco. The program invites the top three engineering applicants to participate for an initial first year internship. Based on their interest and performance, the students may be asked back for a second year. Graduates of the program will often be offered employment by Seco.

For today’s manufacturers of precision components, there’s no getting around deburring, rounding and polishing. These production steps are often seen as a necessary evil due to the high costs associated with them in some cases. Use of the right technology permits reliable processing at reduced costs.

The 6 S system is a modified version of the lean manufacturing principle of 5 S. Developed by Taiichi Ohno, an industrial engineer for Toyota, lean production is a systemic method designed to optimize the efficiency of a business. Lean was born from the more specialized Toyota Production System, which is a system that helped Toyota grow from a small automobile manufacturer when it was founded in 1937 to where it is today: one of the largest manufacturing conglomerates in the world.

"The clunky, AR device never really clicked with 'cool cache' in the public domain, but in the professional or industrial workplace Google Glass is turning out to be incredibly useful. Stripped of the Insta-photo, email-checking trimmings, the device is now being used to cleverly enhance workflows and make it easier for people to do their jobs."

Stents and tubes are used in countless medical devices and new ones are being added every day, fueled in part by the growth of minimally invasive surgery and the commonplace use of stents. The sheer number and diversity of devices is rapidly increasing – and with it, the demand for more and more laser cut stents; flexible tubing, cannulas and micro cannulas, needles, biopsy devices and other minimally invasive tools.

KOMET GROUP is using Renishaw metal additive-manufacturing technology to produce new ranges of innovative cutting tools. As well as allowing special cutters to be produced more quickly, the use of additive manufacturing enables more complex shapes to be generated, both for the external shape of the tooling and for the internal cooling channels.

New commercial agreement between Spirit and Norsk Titanium identifies thousands of titanium parts currently manufactured at Spirit or by its suppliers as 3D-printing candidates.

Hanging on to talented older workers steeped in institutional knowledge has become a critical issue for many manufacturing businesses. The worker shortage is driving employers to take creative approaches to retirement. About 78 million baby boomers are nearing or at retirement, and the National Association of Manufacturers (NAM) estimates that factories will need 3.5 million new factory workers in the next 10 years just to keep production lines and distribution routes going.