There were 7.35 million positions waiting to be filled, compared with an upwardly revised 7.38 million in May, according to the Labor Department’s Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey, or JOLTS, released last week. The quits rate held at 2.3%, the highest level in more than a decade and a sign workers remain confident about their ability to find a job in a robust environment for employment.  

AGMA
Motion + Power Technology Expo (formerly Gear Expo) will open this October 15 in Detroit. One new feature of this event is a conference bringing you high-level speakers on a variety of topics including Blockchain, Workforce, 3D Printed Metal, Electric Drive Technology and more. Registration is open.

For Construction Pros
Know the key differences in performance and operating cost to determine which jobs are best for today’s new electric-drive construction equipment.

3D Printing Industry
Researchers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) have developed a system to design and 3D print complex actuators. The toolkit, presented in the study published in Science Advances, consists of multi-objective topology optimization software for design synthesis and multi-material drop-on-demand 3D printing for the fabrication of robotic actuators.

3D Printing Industry
Aeromet International, a UK-based foundry specialist, has announced that its patented aluminum additive manufacturing powder, A20X, has surpassed the Ultimate Tensile Strength (UTS) mark of 500 MPa. According to the company, this achievement establishes the material as “one of the strongest aluminum additive manufacturing powders commercially available.”

Advanced Manufacturing
Loading and unloading CNC machines is becoming one of the most popular applications for collaborative robots, as manufacturers face significant difficulties in staffing this tedious task. A new distributor agreement between Universal Robots and Phillips Corp. will further the rapid deployment of cobot with Haas CNC machines, offering machine shops a safe, user-friendly solution to optimize spindle uptime. 

Irish Tech
Due to ever-increasing emissions throughout Asian countries, regulatory bodies have looked to reduce emissions and their impact on the environment. This has resulted in enforcing laws and obligations from businesses manufacturing in Asia to reduce their dust collection, carbon footprint and emissions, especially within surrounding suburban areas.

Alton Daily News
A recent study from the Illinois Manufacturers’ Association underscores the importance of the manufacturing industry in the southern part of the state. Mark Denzler, president and CEO of IMA, said that the industry is integral from Belleville to Metropolis.

Defense News
The U.S. military is a few years from launching offensive hypersonic weapons that are currently under development. But building those initial missiles is one thing—manufacturing the weapons in multitude is another issue entirely.

Aerospace Manufacturing and Design
Boeing, the U.S. Marine Corps, U.S. Air Force and U.S. Navy celebrated the transformation of a 350,000 square foot facility near Philadelphia, into a modern factory where company employees will build fuselages for the V-22 tiltrotor aircraft and modernize the MV-22 fleet for the Marines.

Thomas Net
Jaguar's first all-electric production vehicle, the I-PACE, features American Axle & Manufacturing's all-wheel-drive front and rear e-Drive units. The e-AAM Hybrid and Electric Driveline™ BEV system delivers 400 hp., 516 lb. ft. of torque and high-performance all-wheel-drive via two electric drive units.

Hackaday
The history of automotive production is littered with the fallen badges of car companies that shone brightly but fell by the wayside in the face of competition from the industry’s giants. In the world of electric cars it has been a slightly different story. Though the big names of dipped a toe in the water they have been usurped by a genuinely disruptive contender.

M Live
NASCAR driver Brad Kaselowski wasn’t blazing a new trail when he started his own racing team, but closing down the Truck Series team to start a manufacturing company is something unique to Keselowski’s story. Brad Keselowski Racing closed after the 2017 season and Keselowski Advanced Manufacturing opened the same 70,000-square-foot North Carolina facility this January.

Advanced Manufacturing
Listen up, major manufacturers and CAD vendors: You’ve got the whole world in your hands – the world in this case being the vision of the digitally connected enterprise and cyber-physical ambitions for Industry 4.0.

Gear Solutions
Intelligent drive technology is the prerequisite for digitalization and automation of production, as it enables networked or autonomous production in “smart factories.” As a leading supplier in the sector, Nord Drivesystems provides pioneering drive solutions (hardware and software) and supports customers with its communication and application know-how for networking and connection of their Industry 4.0 environments. 

Crain’s Detroit Business
India-based automaker Mahindra plans to revitalize Flint’s Buick City in a deal that could lead to 2,000 jobs. Mahindra North America Inc. signed a letter of intent with RACER Trust to build a plant what is expected to be a $1 billion investment on the remaining 364 acres of the site, which was once the home to the majority of Buick’s operations before operations ceased in 2010 following the General Motors bankruptcy.

AGMA
Learn the fundamentals of gear manufacturing in this hands-on course. Gain an understanding of gearing and nomenclature, principles of inspection, gear manufacturing methods, and hobbing and shaping. Utilizing manual machines, develop a deeper breadth of perspective and understanding of the process and physics of making a gear as well as the ability to apply this knowledge in working with CNC equipment commonly in use. 

Advanced Manufacturing
Machine tool orders fell in June on both a monthly and year-over-year basis, the Association for Manufacturing Technology said in its latest reportm with additional declines forecast for the second half of 2019.

Plant Services
Using machine learning to streamline every phase of production, starting with inbound supplier quality through manufacturing scheduling to fulfillment is now a priority in manufacturing. According to a recent survey by Deloitte, machine learning is reducing unplanned machinery downtime between 15 – 30%, increasing production throughput by 20%, reducing maintenance costs 30% and delivering up to a 35% increase in quality.

Forbes
The leading growth strategy for manufacturers in 2019 is improving shop floor productivity by investing in machine learning platforms that deliver the insights needed to improve product quality and production yields.