Industry News for 07/2017

A bipartisan and bicameral group of lawmakers is proposing a bill that would incentivize and boost American manufacturing, in addition to research and development, as the Trump administration looks to keep a promise from the presidential campaign. Reps. Mike Kelly, R-Pa., and Ron Kind, D-Wis., with Sens. Chris Coons, D-Del., and Pat Roberts, R-Kan., have introduced the Invent and Manufacture in America Act, a bill that would give a tax credit to companies that not only conduct research and development, but also manufacture products resulting from that R&D as well.

With the advent of technologies like the iPad, the field of predictive maintenance has become an accessible and achievable goal for many businesses. The iPad allows anyone from small companies to large multi-facility corporations to implement and commit to a predictive maintenance program utilizing technology that is constantly improving.

The U.S. Manufacturing Technology Orders report for May 2017 showed gains for the month and year over year, according to AMT – The Association For Manufacturing Technology. May orders were up 3.1 percent over April, and 21.8 percent over May 2016.

The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reports that manufacturing employment rose by only 1,000 in June after falling by 2,000 in May. Manufacturing sectors with gains in June included machinery, electrical equipment and appliances, primary metals, and computer and electronic products.

The worldwide installed base of Internet of Things (IoT) endpoints is expected to grow from 14.9 billion at the end of 2016 to more than 82 billion in 2025. However, a study conducted by Cisco shows that 60 percent of IoT initiatives stall at the Proof of Concept stage and only 26 percent of companies have had an IoT initiative that they considered a complete success. A third of all completed projects were not considered a success.

Amidst the ongoing discussion of how to interest young people in manufacturing careers comes news of one young person who certainly is. The Westfield (N.Y.) Republican profiles Andy Reinwald, the 24-year-old owner of Ripley Machine & Tool.

An Australian manufacturer of rotary shank cutting tools, Sutton Tools, has gained market share in the highly competitive aerospace industry by producing superior tools using the linear motor technology on ANCA’s MX7. To gain traction in the aerospace market Sutton’s needed to push the boundaries of what could be expected from a tool machining materials in the aviation industry.

Metal laser melting is used in many sectors. The advantages of the technology over machining not only lead to peak performances in motor sports and aerospace, but even pave the way for ground-breaking success in the medical technology sector. One example of this is the use of a 3D-printed bone drill, which is capable of preventing possible tissue damage caused during operations with traditionally manufactured drills.

Economic activity in the manufacturing sector expanded in June—up 2.9 percent from May—and the overall economy grew for the 97th consecutive month, say the nation's supply executives in the latest Manufacturing ISM Report On Business.

The St. Louis Post-Dispatch reports: "Years before President Donald Trump began promising to bring back good manufacturing jobs by getting tough with U.S. trade partners, such jobs had already been on the rise, largely thanks to foreign companies now cast as villains in Trump’s narrative. A Reuters analysis of federal jobs data shows that out of 656,000 new manufacturing jobs created between 2010 and 2014, two-thirds can be attributed to foreign direct investment."

The sector has shrunk, but "it still draws more than a third of foreign direct investment in the country, and foreign companies still employ nearly 1 in 5 people in manufacturing jobs," the feature points out.

A profile of Basin Precision Machining LLC in the Jefferson Co. (Wisconsin) Daily Union describes the company's pioneering use of an ATL iTEM400/600 thermal deburring machine--the first to be used in the U.S. In the feature, Basin president and CEO Erik Anderson contrasts traditional deburring via cutting or drilling with the new ATL process: "We actually take the sharp edges off of a part with an explosion." The machine uses a controlled explosion to generate 6,000 degrees in 20 milliseconds, which oxidizes burrs off of a part.