Manufacturers that make gears in the U.S. are encouraged to take part in the AGMA ORR. The Operating Ratio Report (ORR) is the benchmarking report for the gear industry. It is the annual profitability survey of AGMA members. Learn more and download this year’s questionnaire from the AGMA website.

The American Gear Manufacturers Association (AGMA) announced the changing of its Board of Directors at the 2022 AGMA Annual Meeting held March 31 through April 2 in Palm Beach Gardens, Florida.

Wednesday, April 6 | 1-2 p.m.
Interact Analysis and AGMA partnered a year ago to bring more intelligence insights to the AGMA membership. They provide, for free, their quarterly Manufacturing Industry Output Report, the MIO Tracker. This presentation will walk you through the production data and forecasts as well as provide some new data sets that will be included in the reports moving forward. Manufacturers and suppliers are looking for more data to make smarter decisions. This webinar will assist with this.

April 19-21 | Clearwater Beach, FL
Gain a solid and fundamental understanding of gear geometry, types and arrangements, and design principles. Starting with the basic definitions of gears, conjugate motion, and the Laws of Gearing, learn the tools needed to understand the inter-relation and coordinated motion operating within gear pairs and multi-gear trains. Basic gear system design process and gear measurement and inspection techniques will also be explained. In addition, the fundamentals of understanding the step-wise process of working through the iterative design process required to generate a gear pair will be reviewed. Learn the steps and issues involved in design refinement and some manufacturing considerations. An explanation of basic gear measurement techniques, how measurement equipment and test machines implement these techniques, and how to interpret the results from these basic measurements will also be covered.

Press release
March PMITM data from S&P Global signaled a sharp improvement in operating conditions across the US manufacturing sector. Overall growth was supported by faster increases in output and new orders, as domestic and foreign client demand ticked higher. Although backlogs of work rose at a sharper pace - largely due to greater new sales - firms noted that fewer supply bottlenecks allowed production to expand at a faster rate.

Manufacturing.net
Deloitte and The Manufacturing Institute conducted a study to measure perceptions of U.S. manufacturing. While there have been significant gains in technological advancements, public awareness lags. Study findings suggest U.S. manufacturing is at an inflection point, and this can be used to increase public awareness and emphasize career opportunities.

Mining.com
Researchers at the University of North Texas have developed a method to grow ultra-uniform nanodiamonds without the need for explosives. The tiny gems, only a few nanometers wide, are crucial for drug delivery, sensors and quantum computer processors. Thus, making them consistently sized is important to the success of these technologies.

Press Release
The U.S. Department of Commerce’s National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) has awarded a total of $1.2 million to four organizations to develop technology roadmaps aimed at strengthening U.S. manufacturing and innovation across industries. The projects span a wide variety of industries and technologies, from microelectronics to biomanufacturing to building a resilient U.S. manufacturing supply chain.

Today’s eMobility
The U.S. Air Force awarded a Phase III Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) contract to Electra.aero, Inc. to support the development of Electra’s hybrid-electric ultra-short takeoff and landing (eSTOL) aircraft. The contract, awarded through the Air Force Agility Prime program, will accelerate Electra’s plan to flight test a full-scale hybrid eSTOL technology demonstrator aircraft in 2022, and charts a clear transition path for future Air Force acquisition of Electra’s eSTOL aircraft.

New Atlas
Hyundai the company has made a presentation at the Vertical Flight Society’s H2 Aero workshop to confirm that it’s also bringing its hydrogen expertise into the aviation world.

Press Release
Rental car firm Hertz Global Holdings said on Monday it would buy up to 65,000 electric vehicles over five years from Swedish EV maker Polestar, the latest move by the rental car firm to add zero-emission models. Hertz and Polestar cars would be available beginning this spring in Europe and later in 2022 in North America and Australia.

GE Press Release
U.S. Army Combat Capabilities Development Command, Army Research Laboratory (DEVCOM ARL) has awarded GE a $5.1 million research and development contract for the Applied Research Collaborative Systematic Turboshaft Electrification Project (ARC-STEP), bolstering GE’s efforts to develop hybrid electric engine technologies for the future of flight.

Power Transmission Engineering
New communication features, European partnerships and high-performance stepper motors underline PTE's recent motor news coverage. Companies like Nidec Servo Corporation, Piezo Motion and Faulhaber are providing motor precision and reliability requirements for a wide variety of applications. 

Inside Cybersecurity
The Defense Department is looking into how to keep contractors who pass a CMMC assessment accountable for maintaining their systems during the three-year certification period, according to John Ellis of the Defense Contract Management Agency, who says DoD may add an affirmation mechanism for companies to assert their compliance each year.

New Atlas
Robots used for epidemic prevention in areas such as publicity, disinfection and deliveries are a foretaste of a digital future. A video of a dog-like robot, which is patrolling a Shanghai community making health announcements, has gone viral on social media.

Bloomberg
Two years of supply shocks have made efforts to strengthen supply chain resilience top-of-mind for manufacturers and retailers. Economists at Goldman Sachs see three main solutions for those in the U.S. reshoring foreign production, diversifying supplier networks and overstocking inventories.

Automation World
This interview with educators at Patrick & Henry Community College, conducted by Festo, dicsusses the ways that improving workforce development outcomes and closing the skills gap can depend on how well institutions and industries can work together. 

All 3DP.pro
There are about 10 ways to 3D print metal parts. These fall into technology categories loosely based on whether you’re printing with metal filament, metal powder, or metal wire. There are even metal-infused resins, metal rods, and metal pellets as material options, all producing parts with different attributes. Selecting which metal technology to use is a balance of needs.

Today’s eMobility
BAE Systems, an electric propulsion company, was selected by the Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority (SEPTA) to supply up to 340 electric drive systems for its new fleet of low emission transit buses. BAE Systems will provide 220 electric drive systems to New Flyer of America Inc., with an option for 120 additional systems, over the next three years. Incorporating the company’s latest technology for future zero-emission platforms, the Series-ER (Electric Range) systems will deliver significant emission reductions and fuel savings across the fleet.

Manufacturing.net
For hundreds of years, raging blast furnaces – fed with coking coal – have forged steel used in cars, railways, bridges, and skyscrapers. But the puffs of coal-fired smoke are a big source of carbon dioxide, the heat-trapping gas that’s driving climate change. However, a high-tech pilot plant is seeking to significantly reduce the carbon emissions involved in steel production by switching some of that process away from burning coking coal to burning hydrogen that itself was produced with renewable energy.

TCT Magazine
GE Aviation has announced its Loyang facility in Singapore is repairing commercial jet engine components with metal additive manufacturing technology. In applying the technology for repairs of engine components, GE AESS has established an automated process to repair high-pressure compressor blade tips, which run at high speeds, tight tolerances and experience regular erosion that demands continuous repair and replacement. GE AESS believes it is the first MRO facility in the world to implement an approved additive repair for high pressure compressor airfoils.