Industry News

Industrial distributor Fastenal, Winona, Minn., has partnered with The Cooperative Purchasing Network (TCPN) to provide maintenance, repair and operations (MRO) supplies to government entities nationwide. TCPN's lead government agency, Region 4 Education Service Center, uses a competitive solicitation process consistent with applicable procurement laws and regulations.  

Toolmaker NAP GLADU has expanded its diamond cutting tool servicing capabilities with the installation of additional equipment at its Statesville, N.C., service center, serving North Carolina and surrounding states. "This expansion improves our ability to provide our customers fast, high-quality sharpening and repair service on their diamond cutting tools," said Glenn McClain, service center manager, east. "Adding equipment and investing in jobs at our Statesville center reinforces our commitment to fast turnaround times and the local community." 

BIG Kaiser Precision Tooling Inc., Hoffman Estates, Ill., celebrates 25 years of North American operations in 2015. Incorporated in the spring of 1990 under the name Kaiser Precision Tooling (KPT), the subsidiary of Heinz Kaiser AG, Oberbüren, Switzerland, provided the North American market access to Kaiser's boring tools and modular boring systems. 

FLP Tooling's Applitec brand has launched its 2015-2017 product catalog with three new product lines added: Top-Watch, Trio-Line and Micro-Line. Top-Watch is a line of inserts and holders for micro machining ultrasmall parts, developed in collaboration with Swiss watchmakers. The Trio-Line boasts 3-sided inserts, including a set of grooving inserts for circlips, adhering to DIN 6799 and DIN 471 standards.

OSG Tap & Die Inc., a Glendale Heights, Ill.-based manufacturer of taps, drills, endmills, dies and indexable cutting tools, has changed its name to OSG USA Inc. The corporate name change was made to better reflect the products and services OSG markets domestically, according to the company. 

The Industrial Diamond Association of America will hold its annual Intertech conference May 19-20 at the Marriot Downtown in Indianapolis.

Mikron Corp. Monroe, based in Monroe, Conn., has added a new product family to its line of cutting tools. Tapping and threading tools from the DC Swiss company are now available directly from inventory at Mikron Corp. DC Swiss has been selected due to its specialized knowledge and decades-long experience in threading technology, according to Mikron.  

Industrial surplus reseller Industrial Surplus Solutions Inc., St. Charles, Ill., has launched www.toolingmarketplace.com, an online resource for buying and selling surplus cutting tools. 

OSG Tap & Die Inc., Glendale Heights, Ill., will open a new regional service center in Forest Park, Ga., on Dec. 1. The 21,198-sq.-ft. facility will stock a complete line of OSG cutting tools including taps, end mills, drills and indexables, as well as other products including thread gages and toolholders. OSG expects to create at least 10 new warehouse and customer service positions with this expansion. 

OSG Tap & Die Inc., Glendale Heights, Ill., will donate over $85,000 in new tooling to the College of DuPage in Glen Ellyn, Joliet Junior College and the College of Lake County in Grayslake to support the schools' manufacturing technology programs. As part of this effort, Mike Grzybowski, OSG regional manager, delivered over $30,000 worth of tooling to the Manufacturing and Machining of the Business and Technology Division of the College of DuPage. Included with the tooling donation was other OSG training aids including wall and pocket decimal charts, catalogs and safety glasses.

On Oct. 16, Sandvik Coromant Co. celebrated the opening of a Productivity Center in its new U.S. headquarters in Fair Lawn, N.J. The company held a grand opening ceremony for the headquarters on July 1. The combined $26 million, 100,000-sq.-ft. facility includes office space, meeting facilities, the Productivity Center and an aerospace-focused Engineering Competence Center for customer training, engineering and process development.  

New York equity firm Uni-World Capital LP has acquired CNC machine tool builder Drake Manufacturing Services Co., Warren, Ohio.

BENZ Inc., Charlotte, N.C., has released new catalogs for its Solidfix, CAPTO and Trifix modular quick-change tooling systems. BENZ specializes in tooling systems for turning and milling machines such as live and static tools, angle heads, multi-spindle heads, spindle speeders, large scale drill heads, 5-axis heads, and its lines of modular tooling systems. BENZ tooling systems are engineered in Germany and sold and serviced in the U.S. and Canada by Benz Inc.

Toolmaker Walter USA LLC, Waukesha, Wis., has expanded its Walter Xpress line to include specials with the addition of indexable insert tools for drilling, boring and counterboring. Using customer-specific parameters for drilling and boring applications, including diameter, number of steps (up to three), step lengths, chamfer angles, relevant cutting tool material options, insert shapes, machine features and cooling, the Walter configuration system designs the required tool and generates comprehensive documentation, including a 3D model.

Methods Machine Tools Inc., a supplier of machine tools, automation and accessories, will hold an open house at its Tempe, Ariz. Technology Center on Nov. 5th and 6th from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. each day.  Manufacturing professionals are welcome and encouraged to attend. For more information, click here.

U.S. Shop Tools, Anaheim, Calif., has released its 2014/15 Express catalog. The 178-page catalog contains information and pricing on the company's most popular offerings, including chuck jaws, lathe chucks, lathe toolholder bushings, collet pads, live centers, internal lathe workholding, ER, TG, DA & AF collets, retention knobs, vise jaws, milling toolholders and indexable drills.

MSC Industrial Supply, Melville, N.Y., opened its fifth distribution center, or Customer Fulfillment Center, in Columbus, Ohio. The distributor of MRO supplies marked the occasion with a ribbon-cutting ceremony. MSC first announced plans for the new facility in 2012 when it purchased the 70-acre plot where the 400,000 sq.-ft. facility now sits. The new CFC is currently home to 100 full-time associates, a number that is expected to grow to 300 by the end of 2017. The site is also designed to accommodate future expansion. 

On Sept. 10, the Guinness World Record for the "World's Largest Coin Mosaic" was broken during the International Manufacturing Technology Show (IMTS) in Chicago. In an effort to raise awareness of the role the manufacturing industry plays in the U.S. economy and the opportunities it presents for the next generation of workers, the mosaic incorporated more than $65,000 worth of coins to represent the amount of money manufacturing contributes to the U.S. economy each second.

Sandvik Coromant, Fair Lawn, N.J., is dedicating the months of July, August and September to raise money for "Workshops for Warriors." For every pound of carbide received for recycling during those months, Sandvik Coromant will donate $1 to the non-profit organization that is dedicated to training, certifying and placing veterans into manufacturing careers.  

Allied Machine & Engineering Corp., Dover, Ohio, broke ground July 15 on the second phase of its expansion project. The project involves a 30,000-sq.-ft. addition to its West Third Street facility, which includes R&D space, training areas, offices and a cafeteria. The addition is expected to cost $15.1 million.