Industry News

Laser Mechanisms Inc., Novi, Mich., announced Monday that it has acquired Livonia, Mich.-based Visotek, a provider of Smart Laser Tools™ that are said to simplify the use of lasers in any environment. The acquisition is expected to complement Laser Mechanisms' core business of providing industry-leading laser beam delivery solutions.

CARVEsmart, a division of Bellatex Industries and maker of the original quick-change vise jaw system featuring dovetailed jaw technology, announced a deal giving the Orange Vise Co. an exclusive opportunity to offer CARVEsmart patented features in the Orange Vise Integrated Jaw System (IJS). With CARVEsmart dovetail and clamp features machined directly into the Orange IJS vise, there is no need for master jaws, which is said to save 1.5" of opening, according to a CARVEsmart news release issued Feb. 2.

With the acquisition of Prometec GmbH, Aachen, Germany, Sandvik Coromant "strengthens its offering in digital manufacturing," according to a Sandvik news release issued Feb. 1. A supplier of advanced solutions for monitoring and controlling of machining processes in production machines, Prometec will be integrated with  Sandvik Coromant, a product area within Sandvik Machining Solutions.

Though up two-tenths of 1 percentage point since December 2015, economic activity in the manufacturing sector contracted in January for the fourth consecutive month as measured by the Manufacturing ISM Report on Business, which is published monthly by the Institute for Supply Management, Tempe, Ariz.

While data used to calculate the 2015 A.T. Kearney U.S. Reshoring Index contradicts reports of a reshoring trend for U.S. manufacturing, the index itself should not be construed as opposition to reshoring efforts, according to A.T. Kearney, the Chicago-based global management consulting firm that publishes the index. 

Irvine, Calif.-based CGTech, the developer of Vericut CNC verification and simulation software, recently formed a subsidiary company in South Korea. Headquartered south of Seoul, CGTech-Korea is responsible for marketing, sales, technical support and reseller support throughout South Korea, according to a company news release.

Women in Manufacturing (WiM) and Case Western Reserve University’s Weatherhead School of Management recently announced the creation of a Leadership Lab for Women in Manufacturing, which will provide executive education and training to WiM members in mid- to high-level management roles in the industry.

The National Institute for Metalworking Skills (NIMS), Fairfax, Va., last year awarded a record number of credentials to individuals seeking to start or further a career in manufacturing, NIMS announced in a Jan. 26 news release. In 2015, NIMS issued 21,420 industry-recognized credentials, with 18,901 of them issued in the United States, the organization reported. Compared to 2014, that's a 20 percent increase in U.S. credentials issued by NIMS.

WorldSkills International, an Amsterdam-based organization promoting the need for skilled professionals through various means, recently welcomed Mastercam to its global partnership group, according to a CNC Software news release issued Jan. 26. The partnership begins in early 2016.

Harry Moser, the founder and president of the Reshoring Initiative, an industry-led group out to prove offshoring is not always the best economical decision for companies, takes issue with the recently released 2015 A.T. Kearney U.S. Reshoring Index, which suggested that the reshoring trend was an aberration. A.T. Kearney, a global management consulting firm headquartered in Chicago, reported in December that its reshoring index dropped to -115 in 2015. A negative value is said to indicate net offshoring, according to the consulting firm.

A partnership between GF Machining Solutions, Lincolnshire, Ill., and a Colorado community college that brought 5-axis training to the school's machine technologies program recently earned recognition from the Obama administration for its efforts to confront an estimated 2 million manufacturing jobs expected to go unfilled over the next decade, according to a GF Machining Solutions news release issed Jan. 21.

Okuma America Corp., Charlotte, N.C., recently named Caron Engineering its Partner of the Year, according to an Okuma news release issued Jan. 6. Based on Okuma's annual distributor survey, Caron Engineering received the highest overall partner rating from among all 50 members of Okuma's Partners in THINC, which is a collaboration network of more than 40 industry leaders who come together to solve problems and explore new productivity ideas for real-world manufacturers. 

U.S. manufacturing reshoring trends appear to have been short-lived, according to a Dec. 21 news release from A.T. Kearney, a global management consulting firm headquartered in Chicago. "The reshoring phenomenon appears to have been more a one-off aberration than an inexorable trend," the firm reported, citing new data from its second annual A.T. Kearney U.S. Reshoring Index. "Data from 2015 confirms that offshoring is gathering steam, while the reshoring train has yet to leave the station."

Manufacturers face "unprecedented global complexity," according to a Jan. 12 blog post on the website for the Manufacturers Alliance for Productivity and Innovation (MAPI). "The sector is now powered by software and data every bit as much as by steel and electricity," continued the post, which was authored by MAPI Marketing Council Manager Cam Mackey. "The ability to access insights about how to survive and thrive has never been more critical. "Recent shifts in technologies, demographics and markets have created a new normal for manufacturers. Those that adapt quickly will emerge more innovative and agile than their competitors, but not without undergoing a transformation in everything from the people they hire to how they create value," Mackey observed in report titled, "The Impact of Megatrends on U.S. Manufacturers." 

Norsk Titanium AS, Oslo, Norway, announced the first shipment of Airbus test parts manufactured by the company's patented Rapid Plasma Deposition (RPD) process has been delivered to Premium AEROTEC's plant in Varel, Germany, where it has already undergone finish machining, according to a joint company news release issued Jan. 20.

Briney Tooling Systems, Bad Axe, Mich., recently worked closely with a leading medical manufacturer to develop a special HSK50E balanceable grinding wheel arbor for a precision CNC grinding machine producing shaped bone fragments for surgical grafting, according to a company news release issued Jan. 19.

John Gardner, a founding partner of Razorform Tools, has started CNC Broach Tool LLC to provide a line of off-the-shelf, inserted keyway broach tools for CNC lathes and mills, Gardner announced in a news release Jan. 20. CNC Broach Tool will continue to sell direct to provide CNC keyway broaching technical support and cut costs for end-users.

Jay Timmons, National Association of Manufacturers (NAM) president and CEO, will kick off the 2016 State of Manufacturing Tour on Jan. 28 at Saint Anselm College in Manchester, N.H. Joining Timmons will be Neil Levesque, executive director of the New Hampshire Institute of Politics and Political Library, and Jim Roche, president of the Business and Industry Association of New Hampshire.

Speedgrip Chuck Inc., an Elkhart, Ind.-based designer and manufacturer of highly engineered workholding mechanisms, has been sold to an affiliate of Stratford-Cambridge Group, a private investment firm headquartered in Plymouth, Mich. Speedgrip announced the transaction in a news release issued Dec. 16.

Dorner Holding Corp., Hartland, Wis., recently announced the acquisition of FlexMove, a leading manufacturer of flexible chain conveyors for food, beverage, automotive, electronic and other industries. The addition of FlexMove, located in Penang, Malaysia, expands Dorner Holding's geographic coverage and complements existing products and capabilities of the corporation's Dorner Mfg. line.