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Whether building spacecraft, commercial aircraft, military helicopters or single-engine planes, manufacturers in the aerospace industry must lift, turn and position large, heavy components every day. There are many ways to do this, from ride-on vehicles like forklifts to conveyor belts and overhead equipment. However, aerospace manufacturers are increasingly turning to cranes and other hoist systems to precisely place critical equipment in ongoing construction projects.

There will be 4.6 million new manufacturing jobs in the United States to fill between 2018 and 2028, according to a report from Deloitte. Unless manufacturers start exploring new strategies, they won’t be able to find enough people qualified to work in their specialized factories.

At ShopBot, we’re understandably passionate about making things with CNC machines and about the power of digital fabrication tools. We’re always looking for ways to help show what these amazing tools can do, and for items that are made with a ShopBot that showcase several of the processes that a ShopBot tool can handle. Things that use multiple materials and techniques to give a broad overview of the power of CNC in a small, tangible package.

AB Tools are leading experts in the special cutting tools market as a specialty house in high performance rotary cutting tools. Started in 1977 by Alan Baker and Jonathon Baker joined in 1979 as the first employee. Today, they service almost every industry, from smaller shops to large facilities, including aerospace, automotive medical part manufacturers.

It is October 1978. On Oct. 13, my discovery at the former Matra company in Frankfurt that PCD can be eroded by means of electric sparks was registered at the patents office. In October 2018, we looked back at 40 years of experience in the application of spark erosion for manufacturing and versatile application with polycrystalline blades of PCD- and PCBN-tipped tools.

The advantages and benefits of the industrial internet of things all start with communication. In industrial applications a simple event increases the advantages as it goes wireless.

The growing use of work robots and the deployment of artificial intelligence have been most disruptive in just those areas of the country that provided President Trump with crucial margins of support in 2016.

Robots don’t take away jobs.
When companies lose to their competition, that’s when workers lose jobs.
There seems to be this idea: If the robots hadn’t shown up, the jobs would have stayed. But nothing could be further from reality.
Here’s the truth: We aren’t using enough robots.

President Donald Trump once named his style of elocution “truthful hyperbole” — what he described as a form of promotion to get people excited. One area the president currently likes to pump up is foreign jobs coming back to the United States.

By now, you’ve probably heard the troubling statistics. IndustryWeek reports that nearly 25% of manufacturing employees are age 55 or older, and many will soon be leaving to enjoy a well-earned retirement. Unfortunately, there’s no influx of new talent waiting to take their places. Some people feel shut out of job opportunities by degree requirements they don’t have; others lack on-the-job experience they can’t get; and then there are those who still view all manufacturing jobs as “dark, dirty, and dangerous,” and simply aren’t interested in the industry.

When machining for precision, there’s no such thing as planning too much. There are many important aspects to account for, from bit tapers to material burrs to caliper readings. Even what direction you attach your material to the stage can matter. Here are some quick tips to keep in mind as you plan your next machining project.

The operations manager at the largest nail manufacturer in the United States, Mid Continent Steel and Wire Inc., says his company has fought hard to survive in the face of unfair foreign competition over the past 12 years. The business planned for further growth and was on a great path until the Trump administration levied steel and aluminum tariffs, which took effect in June.

The General Aviation Manufacturers Association expresses optimism about the industry’s prospects for 2019. Also, increased third-quarter 2018 aircraft delivery figures were seen across all aircraft segments.

If not for a high school technical program that introduced Matt Schauer to the manufacturing industry, the 25-year-old might have never ended up at Fredon Corp., operating a machine as big as a room in a house.

Inevitably, disagreements arise in the manufacturing industry, whether involving applications, performance, specification compliance, intellectual property ownership or any of a number of other subjects. What has not kept up with technological change is the sophistication of dispute resolution. That is a particularly serious problem for manufacturers because the increasing complexity of manufacturing technology often makes disputes more complex, even arcane, than disputes of the past.

In the United States, the universal complaint about recruitment for manufacturing jobs is that there aren’t enough qualified candidates for all the positions that people are working feverishly to fill. So why are recruiters hobbling their own efforts by purposely limiting the candidate pools they’ll even consider?

The Oregon Manufacturing Innovation Center (OMIC) R&D facility is the only one of its king in the United States. It's mission is to “Develop and apply advanced metals manufacturing technologies and processes for industrial competitive advantage and academic growth, while inspiring and educating the next generation’s manufacturing workforce.”

No matter how well your manufacturing business performs, it can always perform better. If you want to keep up with emerging trends, such as shop floor automation, additive manufacturing and the industrial internet of things, you’ll need to make a quantum leap with your manufacturing technology. The surest route is to embrace connected manufacturing.

Digital manufacturing as a service now delivers big manufacturing advantages regardless of customer size. The freshly leveled playing field is great news for upstart and small businesses no longer priced out by the costs of equipping, maintaining, operating, staffing and upgrading complex production lines.

MachineMetrics, which equips factories with the digital tools needed to increase productivity and win more business, announced Dec. 11 it has raised $11.3 million in Series A financing.