Modern Applications News articles from March 2006

Modern Applications News archives from March 2006

'What's good for the United States is good for ... General Motors and vice versa.' Spoken by Charles E. Wilson, president of GM during his confirmation hearings for becoming Dwight Eisenhower's secretary of defense, these words expressed the man's belief that was probably more true then than today. Now, more than 50 years after this belief was entered into the record, I think we may have to confront it and re-evaluate.(EDITOR'S CORNER)
March 1, 2006... As I have hammered home several times in this column, people in the job shop business--you--seem to have a complete understanding that the only person who will always act solely in your best interest is you. You have learned not to expect...

Quality tune not enough?(Letters to the Editor)(Letter to the editor)
March 1, 2006... George, [Regarding your article, 11-2005 in Modern Applications News.] I've been pondering this same question for some years now. Is high quality enough, faced with the Chinese connection regarding low cost manufacturing? Probably...

Taking only the tough jobs carves out a special niche: anyone can do the easy jobs the easy way. And, if anyone can do it, they will, which makes for a pretty crowded field. In the job shop business, if anyone can do it, they probably will and at a price where nobody's making any money.(MACHINING/TURNING CENTERS)
March 1, 2006... Fascinated by the machining his father did, Mike Vella was naturally drawn to machining, but a very select part of the business. His father was a machinist for the old Dictaphone company. The Dictaphone was a mechanical voice-recording...

Compact integral shank boring heads.(MACHINING/TURNING CENTERS)
March 1, 2006... BIG Kaiser Precision Tooling Inc. introduces a new integral-shank design for the popular EW2-50XL precision boring head. The new boring heads will be available for CAT40, BT40, HSK-A63 and Capto C6 size spindles and provide a shorter tool than...

Vertical hobbing machine set for dry machining.(MACHINING/TURNING CENTERS)
March 1, 2006... Gleason's new Genesis[TM] 130H CNC vertical hobbing machine features a new design that optimizes dry machining, significantly reduces floor space requirements and greatly improves cycle times. The 130H Hobber is the first in a new family of...

IMTS changes to six day show in 2008.(Industry News)
March 1, 2006... AMT-The Association For Manufacturing Technology has announced that beginning in 2008 it will adjust the schedule of IMTS. IMTS 2008 will become a six-day event from its traditional eight day schedule. The International Manufacturing...

Walter, Titex and Prototyp reorganize into Walter USA.(Industry News)
March 1, 2006... Walter, Titex and Prototyp have decided to cooperate through coordinating their operations in North America. Walter, Titex and Prototyp will continue to exist as brands within the combined organization. All back office functions will be...

Miller combines Bernard MIG products line.(Industry News)
March 1, 2006... Miller Electric Mfg. Co. and MIG welding gun innovator Bernard[R] have announced that Miller will integrate Bernard Q[TM]-Guns with Centerfire[TM] consumables on most of its industrial wire feeder products and bundled MIG welding systems. This...

Makino partners with EDM Sales.(Industry News)
March 1, 2006... Makino (Mason, OH) and EDM Sales and Supplies, Inc. (Union, NJ), have agreed to partner the businesses pertaining to EDM consumable supplies and EDM machines. EDM Sales and Supplies offers its own Versacut wire line in various spool sizes,...

New orders, production expanding employment growing.(Industry News)
March 1, 2006... Economic activity in the manufacturing sector grew in January for the 32nd consecutive month, while the overall economy grew for the 51st consecutive month, say the nation's supply executives in the latest Manufacturing ISM Report On...

HMC slashes process times and boosts profits: when an electrical components company began to grow, one expensive option was to hire outside help. However, by investing in an HMC, the company saw immediate productivity gains--75% less setup time and 50% less cycle time.(MACHINING/TURNING CENTERS)
March 1, 2006... As the electronics and computing industries took off, so did Virginia Panel Corp. (Waynesboro, VA)--a designer and manufacturer of electrical components, including mass interconnect systems for testing applications. The company's growth...

HMC with robot.(SPOTLIGHT)
March 1, 2006... Featuring a Fanuc robot, the Nexus 6000 has a 50-taper, 50-hp, 10,000-rpm spindle with 388 ft-lb torque. With a 500-mm pallet, the work size is 39.3" high and 35.4" diameter. Rapid-traverse rates in X, Y, and Z are 2,362 ipm, and acceleration...

Office Mills.(SPOTLIGHT)
March 1, 2006... The new compact OM series Office Mills are small enough to fit through a 36" doorway. The machines run on single-phase power (240 VAC). The OM-1 features a work envelope of 8" x 8" x 8" XYZ travels, while the OM-2 has a work envelope of 12" x...

Turning/milling center.(SPOTLIGHT)
March 1, 2006... The Super NTJX multitasking turning center has milling/drilling capability (including Y-axis machining) on both upper and lower turrets, and a B-axis tool spindle with 40-station ATC. For synchronized shaft/work turning, two spindle motors are...

Tool tray loader.(SPOTLIGHT)
March 1, 2006... Compatible with most turning centers, the compact DS1200-MTL uses robotic technology to load and unload parts. The system is designed to perform secondary operation, like part washing, packout and stacking. The DS1200-MTL accepts stacks of...

Mill-turn center.(SPOTLIGHT)
March 1, 2006... The G160 series mill-turn center includes an optional motorized milling spindle with speeds up to 24,000 rpm (oil/air lubrication) with high rapid traverse rates. This machine is for complex bar, chuck and shaft work up to 60 mm, chuck size to...

Machine controller.(SPOTLIGHT)
March 1, 2006... Mapps II (Mori Seiki advanced programming production system) is a machine controller designed to withstand vibration and contaminants. Featuring a new operation panel, this upgraded version has 256 MB, of which 50 MB are available for program...

Shaving system increases tool life, reduces chatter: for a Michigan-based company, traditional shaving systems with dovetail tooling affected productivity, as operators had to adjust the holders and change tools. But switching to a system with newly designed insert technology leads to improvements in surface finish and tool life, and a reduction in downtime.(CUTTING TOOLS)
March 1, 2006... While quality and uptime were considered acceptable at Berkley Screw Inc. (Rochester Hills, MI), Ken Janik, manufacturing manager, wasn't satisfied. Established in 1962, the company specializes in high volume production of precision turned...

CAM program copes with die machining changes: a flexible, full-featured CAM program allows a stamping die producer to cope with streams of engineering changes easily and efficiently and still meet delivery deadlines.(CAM)
March 1, 2006... Started in the 1990s as a part of the Tooling Systems Group (Grand Rapids, MI), Dienamic Tooling Systems took root in Lenoir City, TN, producing medium to large sheet metal dies for nearby auto manufacturers. Today, automotive work accounts for...

Laser automation sparks productivity: thanks to productivity and performance, what began as a captive fabrication operation for a case and cabinet manufacturer has evolved into a thriving contract manufacturer.(LASER AUTOMATION)
March 1, 2006... When Great Lakes Manufacturing, Inc. (Corry, PA) began operations in 1998 as a precision sheet metal fabrication shop, its original function was to be a supplier to sister company Great Lakes Case & Cabinet. However, this modest objective was...

WESTEC[R] advanced productivity exposition.
March 1, 2006... WESTEC[R] 2006 takes over the Los Angeles Convention Center from March 27-30, featuring approximately 600 companies exhibiting the latest in metalworking technology. To help you plan your visit to the show and make the most efficient use of...

Productivity: China, India gain. Creativity an American advantage? If there's a pot of gold in manufacturing it's got to be labor productivity, right? That's the goal, the way to increased profits and decreased unit labor costs. Yet, is that the whole competitive equation? I think not. First some comparative numbers.('BY GEORGE')
March 1, 2006... For several years the economy of the U.S. has shown nice increases (about 3% per year since the 90's) in productivity growth. Most economists attribute these increases to modern production equipment and the increasing use of high-tech tools...