Join us March 10, 2021, for a free webinar that discusses how to have a significant marketing plan in place in conjunction with your trade show appearances. Attendees will learn how to market with press releases, content marketing, networking, sponsorship and more. Don’t spend hundreds of thousands of dollars on a booth without making sure that you get customers to come see it.

Restrictions Impacting U.S.-China Trade and Investment
Join us March 17, 2021, for the next installment of our popular trade series. Companies purchasing products from China, selling to the Chinese market, or investing in or with Chinese companies face daunting challenges under both U.S. and Chinese export control, trade and government contact laws. This panel of U.S. and Chinese law specialists will explain and provide their insights on how to overcome these challenges and continue to successfully operate in both markets.

Join us April 8, 2021, for a virtual course on spur and helical gears. Learn how to develop and understand customer gear drive application specifications and target expectations. Review calculate and select basic gear terminology variables and design parameters which define tooth bending and contact rating safety factors on two real life examples.

Gear Technology
The acquisition of Samputensili Machine Tools and Samputensili CLC by the EMAG Group — including the 87 employees across two sites near Bologna and Reggio Emilia, Italy — took place on February 3, 2021. The two companies will be legally integrated into the newly founded EMAG technology company, EMAG SU Srl. Over time, the plan is for the two plants of Samputensili Machine Tools and Samputensili CLC to physically merge, with a shared location near Bologna, Italy.

Press release
Power management company Eaton’s Vehicle Group is developing gearing solutions for electrified vehicles (EVs). Leveraging its expertise in producing transmissions and contract manufactured gear-sets for passenger and commercial vehicles, the Vehicle Group aims to be a leader in the global design, development and supply of EV reduction gearing. 

Manufacturing.net
Pennsylvania Governor Tom Wolf’s administration has begun drafting a regulation that would require automakers to offer electric cars for sale in as a way to cut emissions of greenhouse gases and pollutants that cause lung problems. At least 12 states already have a requirement of the zero-emission electric vehicles, including neighbors Maryland, New Jersey and New York.

Press release (via ThomasNet)
The Timken Company is expanding upon its decades-long relationship with the United States Navy. Huntington Ingalls Industries – Newport News Shipbuilding recently awarded a contract to Timken’s Philadelphia Gear to supply the main reduction gears for the future USS Doris Miller (CVN-81) aircraft carrier.

Engineering.com
Recent disclosure surrounding the future of advanced manufacturing has been dominated by two methodologies. Computer numerical controlled (or CNC) machining remains the most widely used method of industrial production today. Additive manufacturing (AM), though pioneered in the 1980s, has only lately advanced far enough as a technology to figure significantly in the production processes of manufacturers. While both CNC machining and AM have distinct advantages that make them indispensable to modern manufacturers, neither is without drawbacks.

Manufacturing Global
The world as we know it has changed significantly in the last decade. Robotics, AI, quantum computing, fully autonomous vehicles and more are changing the way we work, the way we communicate and, importantly, the way we store and share information. The manufacturing sector is no exception, and it is currently seeing a resurgence of interest in next generation technologies, with blockchain in particular capturing the imagination of many.

Modern Machine Shop
In machining facilities today, automation applications tend to call for robots that are powerful and perilous. That is, robots with a high payload and high speed, typically fixed in one place and operating behind a safety fence. By contrast, collaborative robots (cobots) are designed to be easily redeployable and safe for use near people, but this generally makes them payload-limited and slow to an extent that limits the machining jobs where they can succeed.

New Atlas
Rare earth magnets form an important part of many of today’s electronic devices, ranging from wind turbine generators to MRI scanners. Despite their prevalence, only a tiny fraction of these magnets are recycled once they reach the end of their lives, but a new project involving Bentley Motors is intended to steer this trend back in the right direction, by repurposing them for use in luxury vehicles.

Press release
Caterpillar^® enters the 50th year of manufacturing in India. The company has a long history of equipping its machines with leading-edge technology to increase the safety, productivity and efficiency of its operational sectors. Globally, Caterpillar has more than 95 years of product support expertise, a large installed base and a robust worldwide dealer network serving 193 countries with approximately 160,000 employees.

Machine Design
NASA just landed its fifth rover on Mars, Perseverance. Here’s a quick look at all the rovers that have made that trip over the last quarter of a century.

Metal AM
The ExOne Company has been awarded a U.S. Department of Defense contract to develop a fully operational, self-contained additive manufacturing system, housed in a standard shipping container of up to 12.2m (40 ft) long.

Press release (via Business Wire)
California Manufacturing Technology Consulting announced today the launch of their new podcast, Shifting Gears. In the world of manufacturing, where change is a constant, it can be difficult for small and medium-sized manufacturers to keep up with new technologies, regulations and other important shifts. SMTC’s Shifting Gears covers the latest news, trends, technology and expert insights with the sole purpose of helping manufacturers recover and thrive in today’s economy. 

3D Print.com
As we know, the metal additive manufacturing (AM) market was not immune to the effects of collapsing global supply chains due to the COVID-19 pandemic in the early months of 2020. At the Additive Manufacturing Strategies 2021 conference, attendees from all over the world tuned in to watch virtual keynotes and visit virtual booths. The conference would have been an in-person event, but due to COVID-19, co-hosts 3D Print.com and SmarTech Analysis pivoted to a virtual platform.

3D Printing Progress
As California-based metal additive manufacturing leader VELO3D continues on its accelerated growth path, the company has announced the appointment of Jon Porter to head its commercial operations in Europe. Based in the U.K., Porter will oversee VELO3D’s ongoing expansion efforts into this key strategic region.

Material Handling & Logistics
It is no surprise that more robots are being used in industrial settings. However, the rate of the increase if high as annual installations of industrial robots more than tripled within ten years reaching 381,000 units in factories around the world, according to The International Federation of Robotics.