Join our IHS Markit economists as they take us through the latest industry numbers and discuss important trend lines. This will be a significant presentation as we examine where manufacturing is rebounding. We will have a special speaker to address issues related to supply disruptions and order backlogs due to supply constraints and raw material price inflation. 

With the support of a unique and powerful consortium of technology companies, the Center for Automotive Research (CAR) investigated the state of Industry X in automotive. They have recently released the report State of Industry X in Automotive. Brett Smith, Director of Technology at CAR, and the lead author of the paper will join us to provide an in-depth information session on what they discovered. This is relevant to not only those in auto but anyone who wants to learn more about how technology is being used to transform industries.

This course is designed for engineers and scientists in the rolling element bearing and power transmission industries who desire a more fundamental knowledge of the lubrication, friction and wear sciences.

A good understanding of individual failure modes and the failure scenarios that led to the actual system failure is essential to designing gear/bearing systems that will operate properly for their full design life. In this course, we will define and explain the nature of many gear and bearing failures and we will also discuss and describe various actual failure scenarios. In addition, a detailed primer on bearing technology prefaces the failure scenario discussions. You will gain a better understanding of various types of gears and bearings. Learn about the limitation and capabilities of rolling element bearings and the gears that they support, and gain an understanding of how to properly apply the best gear-bearing combination to any gearbox from simple to complex.

June 9-11, 2021 – Charleston, SC
Join AGMA as we return to in-person events. Our first event will be the SRN meeting in Charleston, S.C. The event includes a tour of the SCE&G Energy Innovation Center at Clemson University. The center houses the world’s most-advanced wind-turbine drivetrain testing facility capable of full-scale highly accelerated mechanical and electrical testing of advanced drivetrain systems for wind turbines.

Manufacturing Global
As a founding member of the Catena-X Automotive Network — which currently consists of 25 partners — Volkswagen Group is pursuing the creation of uniform standards for the exchange of data in the automotive value chain. The aim for this network is to serve as the base for a digital ecosystem in the automotive industry for manufacturers, suppliers, dealer associations and technology suppliers.

Machine Design
The extraordinary pictures and data coming back from the Mars Perseverance exploration has been amazing. Machine Design has put together a list of their articles that specifically speak to the articles that provided information on technology used in Mars exploration efforts.

Federal Aviation Administration – press release
Final rules have taken effect for remotely identifying drones and allowing operators of small drones to fly over people and at night, under certain conditions.

Press release
Harley-Davidson, Inc. has received notification from the Economic Ministry of Belgium, that following a request from the European Union the company would be subject to the revocation of Binding Origin Information (BOI) credentials, effective April 19, 2021. The E.U.’s new ruling will apply to the entire Harley-Davidson product portfolio and will effectively prohibit the company from functioning competitively in Europe.

Reuters
Senators Gary Peters (D-MI) and John Thune (R-SD) have circulated a draft amendment that would grant the U.S. National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) the power to initially exempt 15,000 self-driving vehicles per manufacturer from safety standards written with human drivers in mind. The figure would rise to 80,000 within three years.

Mining.com
Canada’s Fortuna Silver Mines is buying fellow miner Roxgold in a cash-and-stock deal valued at about $884 million, as strong gold prices spur a wave of mergers and acquisitions in the sector. 

Gear Solutions
A new fixture design minimizes runout and helps ensure greater accuracy for hard finishing and inspection. Gear manufacturers are turning to workholding to help reduce costs without compromising quality. Pitch Line Fixtures can be used to provide a more precise relationship between the pinion/gear member datums and the gear teeth, thus reducing the amount of runout on those datums relative to the pitch diameter of the gear or pinion. 

Engineering.com
The manufacturing industry has long operated in two worlds: the physical realm of stamping, molding, machining, forming and assembling as well as the virtual world of research, design, measurement, control and quality. Change is often incremental, as the stakes are high and operations with hundreds of millions of dollars in capital assets take risk seriously. Change also adds risk in the form of opportunity costs with production changes and unknowns.

Bloomberg
Global manufacturing and services continue to recover from the pandemic, but purchasing managers in several developed economies say businesses are still straining to meet deliveries and keep costs down amid shortages.

Today’s Motor Vehicles
The ExOne Co, maker of industrial sand and metal 3D printers using binder jetting technology, has been awarded a U.S. Department of Defense contract to develop a fully operational, self-contained 3D printing factory housed in a shipping container.

New Atlas
Scotland’s Orbital Marine Power has completed the build on what it claims will be the world’s most powerful operational tidal turbine. It is now on its way to the Orkney Islands, where it will have a chance to prove its worth connected to the grid.

RigZone
The Odessa Development Corporation and Nacero Inc. have announced plans to build a $6.5 billion to $7 billion lower carbon gasoline manufacturing facility at a site in Penwell, Texas. 

Modern Machine Shop
Good fortune and years of long working hours have both figured into the success of this young shop, which because its founder’s sole employment starting last year. The shop owner shares his story.

Engine Technology International
Electric truck company Tevva, and energy infrastructure company Vattenfall, have signed an MOU to provide a complete zero-emission transport solution for businesses that wish to reduce the carbon footprint of their operations. Teeva specializes in developing long-range zero-emission truck capabilities, while Vattenfall Network Solutions provides a "power-as-a-service" model that supplies businesses with an energy infrastructure as a service rather than an expensive asset to invest in, own and maintain. 

Industry Week
Contingency plans and risk assessments are an integral part of supply chain management; however, a global pandemic is beyond the scope of most plans. The complications that arose from companies facing supply chain disturbances at the same time that consumers’ expectations increased became overwhelming.

Industry Week
Equipment maintenance, quality assurance and supply chain optimization are as critical to industrial and manufacturing processes today as they were more than a century ago, but doing these successfully at the scale and complexity required in the current global market is challenging. Thanks to the convergence of data and machine learning, these enduring practices of industrial manufacturing are now poised to be reinvented.