Horizon
A digital twin is a virtual replica of a real-life entity, such as a city or a factory, which often evolves a real-time along with its physical counterpart through data gathered through sensors. It can be used as a testing ground to simulate what happens under certain circumstances or provide alerts of potential problems thanks to predictive algorithms.

QuesTek press release
In a joint effort, QuesTek Innovations LLC and the German Aerospace Center will explore the full potential of QuesTek’s new printable aluminum alloy. QuesTek Innovations LLC, a leading developer of metal alloys, announced that it has developed the new aluminum alloy for additive manufacturing, which is capable of high-strength performance at elevated temperatures in the as-built condition.

Today’s Motor Vehicles
U.S. manufacturing technology orders fell 1% from the previous month to a total of $361.5 million in September 2019, according to the latest U.S. Manufacturing Technology Orders Report published by AMT – The Association For Manufacturing Technology. Orders decreased 41% from September 2018, yielding a 10% decline in the first three quarters of 2019. Aerospace orders were flat, machine shops were down modestly, and the automotive sector saw a slight increase despite a decrease in orders in the transmission and powertrain sector.

Gear Technology
In the factory of the future, technology will of course be key. Factories will integrate networked machines, sensors and advanced robotics IT systems into existing processes. They will thrive on data, real-time figures and unprecedented access to information to be more efficient, less wasteful and better connected.

Industry Week
Better job descriptions and cross-communication between HR and IT are among the ways to start attracting this specialized talent. 

The London Economic
The number of manufacturing companies entering insolvency has hit a five-year high, new research suggests. There was a 7% increase in the last year, to 1,466, said chartered accountants and business advisers Moore. The rise is driven partly by Brexit-related uncertainty and a broader slowdown across Europe.

Join more than 300 of your industry peers at the Disney’s Grand Floridian Resort & Spa at Lake Buena Vista, Florida, March 19-21. Come to the one meeting where you can gather resources to grow every aspect of your company while staying up to date on the latest happening in the gear and bearing industries.

3D Printing IndustrySiemens, Europe’s largest industrial manufacturing company, has signed an agreement to acquire Atlas 3D, the cloud-based developer of Sunata, a print preparation software for Direct Metal Laser Sintering (DMLS) 3D printers.

Supply Chain Digest
The consultants at Deloitte have released their latest annual Manufacturing Outlook report for 2020 – and the picture is murky. As 2019 winds down, there are several signs of U.S. manufacturing weakness. The Purchasing Managers Index from the Institute for Supply Management was below the 50 level that separates manufacturing expansion from contraction for the third straight month in October.

Kohler Co. may cut 90 jobs as it moves assembly of engines out of Kohler, Wis., the firm told state officials Friday. The company said it is trying to place the low-seniority workers in other jobs at its Sheboygan County manufacturing complex, but that a slowdown in housing and other sectors of the economy had affected the number of open positions. Kohler Co.’s extensive manufacturing of bathroom and kitchen fixtures is tightly tied to the hosing market. 

From specific engineering courses on work & cross axis helical gears, bevel gears, and other specific types of gears to our Basic training there is a class for you. Find one that will help you advance your career today.

Associated Press
China issued an outline Friday of policies aimed at promoting high-tech manufacturing after it stopped pushing a strategy that helped trigger a tariff war with Washington.

Machine Design
Ducted fuel injection for diesel engines, developed at Sandia National Lab’s Combustion Research Facility, can fine-tune the fuel-air mixture in an engine to the point of eliminating between 50% to 100% of the soot typically generated by diesels. “And engine manufacturers are starting to show excitement about it,” he says. Manufacturers like it because it cleans up the emissions, it work well with conventional diesel fuels, and it is conceptually simple and can be built from low-cost materials.

3D Printing Industry
Reporting live from FormNext 2019, 3D Printing Industry will be providing readers with news and announcements as they happen. So far, we have Q&As from Exponential Technologies Ltd., Glassomer, AdditiveLab and Spectroplast – winners of the Formnext 2019 startup challenge. We have also been staying abreast of releases made ahead of the event.

Venture Beat
(infographic) Thirty percent of IoT projects fail in the proof-of-concept stage. That’s because it’s treated as an off-the shelf, install-and-go solution. When business leaders jump to the integration stage without a technology roadmap, without a plan for the company’s technology future state and leadership buy-in, their IoT project becomes a statistic.

New Atlas
In 2017 a demonstrator of Airbus Helicopters' VSR700 Optionally Piloted Vehicle (OPV) made its first self-piloted test flights. Now a prototype of the aircraft that can no longer be optionally piloted has successfully completed its maiden flight. On November 8, 2019, at a drone test center near Aix-en-Provence in the south of France, the unmanned drone prototype carried out a series of tethered flights with the longest lasting 10 minutes.

Manufacturing.net
The Federal Reserve said last week that manufacturing output tumbled 0.6% last month, largely because production of cars and auto parts plunged 7% due to the GM strike.

SDX Central
Microsoft, C3.ai, PTC and Siemens are leading the industrial IoT (IIoT) market with analytic services to enhance connectivity that enterprises can use with actionable intent, according to new research from Forrester.The firm evaluated industrial IoT software platform providers based on 24 criteria and concluded those four companies offer pre-packaged applications that support comprehensive integration capabilities with services that extend greater value to enterprises. Forrester ranked IBM, Software AG, Hitachi, SAP, Amazon Web Services (AWS), Oracle, and GE Digital as “strong performers,” followed by Samsung, ABB, and Bosch as “contenders.”

AGMA
The American Gear Manufacturers Association (AGMA) Foundation is seeking contributions of industrial machines and material to outfit the AGMA National Training Center at Richard J. Daley College in Chicago. AGMA and Richard J. Daley College partnered to establish the AGMA National Training Center in April 2019.  More than 600 students per year will receive training in all aspects of gear manufacturing at the 10,000 square foot center. Classes offered will range from Basic Gear Manufacturing for shop floor operators, to Gear Failure Analysis for mechanical engineers.