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If the third time is the charm for a grant request in Pardeeville, Wis., all its schools will win. But luck won’t get it done. Pardeeville High School applied last month for the Fab Lab grant from the Wisconsin Economic Development Council, which awards $25,000 in matching funds for technology education at school districts.

"Shaping Success Together" is Vollmer's motto at the international trade fair GrindTec 2018 in Augsburg, Germany. The specialist in grinding and eroding machines has further developed both technologies and services for its sharpening and machine tools in close communication with customers and partners.

Students in Birmingham, U.K., are being challenged to showcase the potential uses of magnesium within the aerospace sector as part of a competition being set by Birmingham City University and Meridian, a producer of magnesium components.

The technical closing report about EMO Hannover 2017 shows that exhibitors presented many innovations. For instance, to enable large components to be flexibly and cost-efficiently machined irrespective of the component’s dimensions, the start-up Picum MT, created by the Institute of Production Engineering and Machine Tools at Leibniz University in Hanover, Germany, is adopting fresh approaches. Instead of bringing the component to the machine tool, the Picum One, an intelligent tool robot weighing about a mere 100 kg with its own single-software solution and innovative metrology, is brought to the component.

Northern Maine Community College officials know the value of strong relationships among employers, educators and students, as evidenced by three campus visits from General Electric Co., Pratt & Whitney and the Associated General Contractors of Maine Inc. One of the visits was for students in the precision machining technology program.

Hardinge Inc., Elmira, N.Y., an international provider of metalcutting solutions and accessories, entered into a definitive merger agreement under which Hardinge will be acquired by an affiliate of Privet Fund Management LLC, Atlanta. Under the terms of the agreement, Privet Fund Management will acquire all shares of Hardinge common stock not currently owned by Privet Fund Management for $18.50 in cash, for a total transaction value of approximately $245 million.

The MEP National Network is a unique public-private partnership that aims to deliver comprehensive, proven solutions to U.S. manufacturers, fueling growth and advancing U.S. manufacturing. Focused on helping small and medium-size manufacturers generate business results and thrive in today’s technology-driven economy, the network comprises the National Institute of Standards and Technology’s Manufacturing Extension Partnership, the 51 MEP Centers located in all 50 states and Puerto Rico, and over 1,300 advisers and experts at more than 400 MEP service locations, providing any U.S. manufacturer with access to resources for success.

When seeking straightness, as well as parallelism, perpendicular end cuts and other important geometric dimensioning and tolerancing features, the goals at Metal Cutting Corp. are cost-effectiveness and high-quality, tight-tolerance parts. To that end, the company finds that using qualitative test methods for straightness and other features consistently helps keep production costs under control while delivering the results that customers need.

Myriad ways to boost productivity, enhance shop-floor flexibility and preserve data security are all on the market today for machine shops of many sizes. With the machine tool industry in flux currently, as it seeks to find its way into the digital world, the entire process chain necessitates the integration of suppliers who can respond to the needs of the industry. The situation has very little “history” and so large end-customers and machine shops of all sizes are seeking assistance from their suppliers, while the machine tool builders are likewise seeking to partner with hardware, software, communications and controls suppliers to bring the most needed machine types to market.

Adopting a modern fluid reclamation system can provide quick ROI while improving profits, equipment lifespan and employee safety.

With the August 1985 issue, Cutting Tool Engineering launched a decade-long series of articles titled, "History of Tools." The first installment, which you can download and read by clicking here, began as the ultimate Throwback Thursday endeavor: urging readers with their eyes on the future to recall the machine tool industry's humble beginnings. So, yeah, The Stone Age.

Economic activity in the manufacturing sector expanded in January, and the overall economy grew for the 105th consecutive month, say the nation's supply executives in the latest Manufacturing ISM Report On Business. The January Purchasing Managers' Index registered 59.1 percent, a decrease of 0.2 percentage point from the seasonally adjusted December reading of 59.3 percent. This indicates growth in manufacturing at strong levels for the 17th consecutive month, led by continued expansion in new orders and production activity, with employment growing at a slower rate and supplier deliveries continuing to struggle.

The Eriez Metalworking Demo Truck, a 32-ft. Peterbilt diesel rig with a 24-ft. equipment showroom belonging to Eriez Manufacturing Co., Erie, Pa., is once again traveling across North America to deliver hands-on training and education to customers and distributors. The 2018 tour has started with West Coast stops.

Without a fully optimized manufacturing process, individual machines and entire manufacturing operations fall short of their full productivity and cost-effectiveness potentials. To avoid this fate, shops should take advantage of engineering and process optimization support services typically offered by those well-equipped and truly capable manufacturing equipment suppliers. Such services can encompass just a few lines of code for a cutting program or a comprehensive, turnkey solution for the development and maintenance of an entire production line.

While spectators filled the Berry Bowl for Logansport (Ind.) High School’s Friday night basketball game, job seekers and employers gathered in the gymnasium next door. Nearly 20 manufacturing companies, schools and other workforce organizations partnered for the high school’s first advanced manufacturing night to promote skilled trades positions available in the area. Gov. Eric Holcomb attended the event. His “Next Level Agenda” emphasizes Indiana’s need to strengthen its workforce with high-wage, high-demand jobs.

Plenty of companies need specific machining done. For some, the best bet is to buy machines and work in-house. But that actually can cause turnaround to slow down. When you have to maintain machines that are expensive, large and difficult to manage, production can hit a snag out of the blue. When production stalls, consumers and clients can grow impatient. That’s why you may want to take a different path. Companies that don’t want to deal with the hassles that come with machining in-house can benefit by sending jobs to a CNC machine shop.

A bachelor's or graduate degree is not the only route to a financially rewarding career. There are good-paying technical jobs in fields like health care and other skilled trades that require some postsecondary training, experience or education but not a college degree. Policy leaders, including the National Academy of Sciences, have made it a priority to better understand how to prepare more adults for work in these fields. Data from Gallup Inc. and Strada Education Network's Education Consumer Pulse shed light on who advises students in vocational programs about fields of study and how helpful that advice is to students.

"Politics weighs more heavily on foreign companies in China than it has in nearly three decades," writes Joe McDonald, an Associated Press business writer. "The latest flashpoint was Beijing's fury last week at hotel keeper Marriott and other companies that labeled self-ruled Taiwan a country on websites or customer materials. But companies face pressure on many sides from President Xi Jinping's more nationalistic stance and twin campaigns to tighten the ruling Communist Party's political control and have it play a direct role in business."

Why shop locally for CNC machined parts? Cam Machine says they are better, from delivery/pickup speed and part quality to the support of local businesses and the ability to have firsthand knowledge of work.

Implementing a safety management system is no small task. Because safety is highly cross-functional, you will need buy-in and support from the full business, as well as dedicated time and resources to develop a plan.