Economic activity in the manufacturing sector expanded in March and the overall economy grew for the 107th consecutive month, say the nation’s supply executives in the latest Manufacturing ISM® Report on Business®.

U.S. factories expanded at a slightly slower pace in March and a measure of raw material prices hit an almost seven-year high, as manufacturers struggled to keep up with demand, data from the Institute for Supply Management showed this week.

GE highlighted the work that goes on at their Fort Worth, Texas locomotive factory.

Whether you realize it or not, you are a technology company. Understanding the dependencies between customer needs, projects, products, services and applications is critical to aligning your strategy with execution and beating the competition to market.

The next "dynamic duo" may not involve humans at all. "Machine vision and robots make for a perfect marriage," stated Klas Bengtsson, global product manager, vision systems for ABB Robotics (Auburn Hills, MI). Vision and robotics have gone hand in hand for years and this relationship is thriving as machine vision is expanding in capability and finding new applications.

This course explores all factors going into good gear design from life cycle, load, torque, tooth optimization and evaluating consequences. An in-depth discussion of real-life gear failures is provided. Students should have a good understanding of basic gear theory and nomenclature.

The 2018 Annual Meeting combines the expert knowledge of the gear and bearing industries with the latest emerging technologies that influence manufacturers and suppliers. More than 300 executives will gather in Naples, Florida this April, to experience the information-packed week full of top-tier speakers. Members will be connected to innovation and opportunities in the industry with potential to strengthen business connections and relationships. Join AGMA & ABMA for an event that is tailored directly for our members to address trends, successes and future possibilities. 

According to Gallup’s 2017 State of the American Workplace, only 25 percent of U.S. manufacturing employees are engaged, meaning they are involved in, enthusiastic about and committed to their work and employer. An equal percentage are actively disengaged. These disengaged employees negatively impact their coworkers and cost employers anywhere from $483 billion to $605 billion each year in lost productivity. 

More than 80 percent of leading executives in aerospace and defense companies expect to see artificial intelligence systems working alongside their human employees in just the next few years.

It is important to analyze the level of the R&D occurring at the leading 3D printer manufacturers to help understand the technology commitment and future growth prospects of the 3D printing industry. A table providing the last three years per capita R&D for eight companies’ public reporting purposes is presented in this article.

(Inforgraphic) Have you ever wondered which manufacturing company’s employees are generating the most revenue for their business? From Apple to Toyota and Nestle, take a look at a graphic that shows the top 10.

In November 2014, the average hourly pay of production and nonsupervisory workers in durable goods manufacturing fell behind that of their peers in the rest of the private sector for the first time on record, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics’ monthly established survey. Since then, factor workers have continued to trail their private-sector peers in hourly pay most months, although they’ve stayed close. 

The HCN-5000, Mazak’s world-class horizontal machining center, is now available with the company’s Multi-Pallet Pool (MPP) System, a basic automation solution is a compact footprint. Thanks to the innovation MPP System, shops that lack the floor space necessary to accommodate a conventional linear horizontal pallet stocker now have the ability to automate for continuous unmanned, lights-out operations.

Looking past the numbers is the right perspective in other aspects of data collection and decision making. When the first results are reported after a machine-monitoring system is implemented, what do they mean?

When you 3D print something, you expect that the image you see on your computer screen will be perfectly reproduced on the 3D printer. But that’s not always the case, especially when it comes to more complex industrial metal prints. It is difficult to fully control the material properties that a 3D printed object will have.