AGMA
Join other executives for the Virtual Annual Meeting featuring a line-up to hit the most important issues facing manufacturers today — workforce, automating/IIoT and planning for the future. Great networking events are planned and so much more.

Scholarships of up to $2,500 to students at the technical/associate level, and $5,000 scholarships to undergraduate and graduate students will be awarded in the Fall 2021. Over the past 13 years, the Foundation has awarded $312,000 in scholarships to 45 outstanding students. Make sure you have your students apply and make sure we continue this good work. 

AGMA
Taught by Powertrain Gears and Bearings Technical Expert at Ford Motor Company, the purpose of this course is to cover the concurrent design and analyses of gears and bearings in integrated systems like gearboxes, transmissions and electric motor drives so as to allow for good integration and faster optimization of the overall system. 

Gear Technology
The annual state-of-the-gear-industry survey polls gear manufacturers abut the latest trends and opinions relating to the overall health of the gear industry. As in years past, the survey was conducted anonymously, with invitations sent by email to gear industry companies — primarily in North America, but including some respondents from around the world. More than 200 individuals responded to the survey.

ISM Press Release via PR Newswire
Economic activity in the manufacturing sector grew in February, with the overall economy notching a ninth consecutive month of growth, say the nation’s supply executives in the latest Manufacturing ISM^® Report on Business^®.

New Equipment Digest
If the Eiffel Tower was built today, it would require just 25% of the steel used for its construction in 1887. This is one example of the impressive development of material science. But as material science develops, so too does the need to find more efficient ways of producing important metals such as steel. Here, Mats W. Lundberg, sustainable business manager at Sandvik Materials Technology, explores some of the ways to sustainably manufacture steel.

Manufacturing Global
Engineers at University of Sheffield have developed a new way to manufacture steel that could help to lower CO2 emissions from the car industry. Published by the journal Nature, the study's research team developed a new way of making lightweight, high-strength steel that may be adapted for mass manufacturing.

Tech Crunch
Additive manufacturing has been a popular buzz phrase for decades now. With a smattering of notable exceptions, however, 3D printing has largely been focused on rapid prototyping and limited-run, personal products. Metal 3D printing companies like Mantle represent an intriguing use case on the road to truly scaling the tech to mass manufacturing.

Autoweek
In the coming weeks, the next-generation NASCAR Cup Series car will be revealed to the masses, nearly race-ready and replete with individual manufacturer styling from Chevrolet, Ford and Toyota. This will be the culmination of years-long project fraught with equal parts promise and challenge. The Next-Gen will debut during Daytona Speedweeks and carries the hopes of an entire industry with it. To imply a great deal is riding on this platform would be a massive understatement. 

Press Release
Caterpillar announced that Gerald Johnson has been elected to the Caterpillar board of directors effective March 1, 2021. Johnson is executive vice president of Global Manufacturing at General Motors (GM) Company, a role he has held since 2019. 

TCT Magazine
The COVID-19 pandemic has clearly illustrated the vulnerability of conventional global supply chains. Over the past decade, a variety of natural disasters have resulted in major disruptions to company supply chains worldwide. Although the global supply chain and the majority of companies recovered from these natural calamities, the overemphasis of firms on cost-cutting measures by concentrating on production overseas through manufacturing clusters has caused many of the current problems, such as vast shortcomings in the supply of much-needed medical and non-medical products required to fight the COVID-19 pandemic. 

WAOW
A Wisconsin Fast Forward Grant is resulting in a program that will create 200 jobs in North Central Wisconsin. The Central Wisconsin Manufacturing Alliance (CWIMA) was awarded the $319,200 grant; and with the help of Greenheck and Northcentral Technical College (NTC), they’re creating the "Move to Manufacturing" program. 

Metrology News
Teradata will work with leading manufacturers in the Opening Manufacturing Platform community to develop solutions for industrial IoT and Industry 4.0 Group aims to enable faster and more cost-effective innovation and production in manufacturing and automotive through cloud-based data analytics. 

Manufacturing.net
Could COVID-19 be the catalyst for a “lights-out” factory? While 67% of manufacturing decision makers say their adoption of digital technologies has accelerated as a result of the pandemic, one expert in particular believes this doesn’t mean fully automated factories are in our near future.

Art of Gears
Sportscar racing will enter a new era this year with game changing introduction of the Le Mans Hypercars. And coolness levels have intensified with Wednesday’s news that Ferrari are going to join the category in 2023, and, in doing so, will fight for overall victory at the Le Mans 24 Hours for the first time since 1773.

Modern Machine Shop
John Shegda and Eric Wehelm each had different ideas about how they wanted to phase into retirement. The exit strategies for the three successful manufacturing businesses the two men operated included a mix of seeking equity groups, selling the business, or transitioning into an employee stock ownership plan. All it took was a friendly suggestion from a mutual friend to set them on a different path.

 

ThomasNet
Industrial designers create the concepts behind manufactured products through a mix of creativity, business acumen and a deep understanding of engineering principles. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, there were just over 42,000 industrial designers employed in the U.S. as of last fall. The highest concentration of those designers where working in Michigan, California and New York, followed closely by Texas and Illinois — though Career Explorer says that only about 30% of industrial designers are employed directly by manufacturers.

Pack World
FANUC and Rockwell Automation formed a coalition to address manufacturing skills gap with robotics and automation apprenticeships programs designed to upskill current and future workers for jobs in advanced manufacturing, robotics and automation. 

Electronic Design
Texas Instruments said the IC can reduce the footprint of the motor systems in electric vehicles by 30% and supply what is called the highest gate-drive current and power output of up to 30 kW. 

Freight Waves
Hyliion Inc. initially will use Peterbilt chassis to test its Hypertruck ERX hybrid electric system. Natural gas is still the preferred fuel for the electric generator. But using hydrogen fuel cells will be an option when the technology and fuel are available.

Gear Technology
After nearly six years, Atsuhiro Kawaguchi, general manager of Mitsubishi Heavy Industries America, Inc.’s Machine Tool Division, will rotate back to Japan. Filling the newly created role of president is Katsunori Nakamura. Nakamura has served numerous roles for Mitsubishi, most recently leading the cutting tool division in Ritto, Japan.