Cheryl Wellman was able to bring back most of her furloughed workers last month with the help of a special government loan. Now she’s laying them off again. Wellman, president of Integrity Metals LLC in Romeoville, Ill., which makes metal parts for big companies including General Electric Co., and Honeywell International Inc., was hoping for a surge of orders as the pandemic shutdowns lifted and companies moved to restock shelves, but that hasn't happened yet. 

Nasdaq
Manufacturing activity in New York steadied in the month of June after seeing sharp contractions in April and May, according to a new report by the Federal Reserve Bank of New York. The New York Fed said its general business conditions index spiked to negative 0.2 in June from negative 48.5 in April. A negative reading indicates a contraction in regional manufacturing activity.

Statistics Canada
Manufacturing sales fell by a record 28.5% to $36.4 billion in April, following a 9.8% decline in March. April marked the first full month of physical distancing measures in the wake of COVID-19 and manufacturing plants operated at limited capacity or ceased operations completely. 

Online June 23-24, 2020
Explore process, machine setup, pitfalls, failures and expectations related to finish ground gearing. Learn definitions of gearing component features, process steps from blanking, through heat treatment to finished part read to ship. Study aspects of Quality Assurance, Inspection Documentation and corrective actions for measured non-conformances. Understand pre-heat treat, heat treatment and post-heat treatment operations including the how’s and why’s to produce finished gears that conform and perform to end user expectations.

Forbes
Succeeding in manufacturing today requires extreme efficiency. Every step to produce parts must be optimized in order to eliminate potential errors, as well as to maximize productivity, speed and throughput. This applies to all manufacturing processes, whether filling a mold, printing a part, machining or forming sheet metal.

Fortune
Electric-truck maker Nikola Motor has endured a rollicking stock market entry this month after listing through an unusual reverse merger. The frenzy has been fueled in part by the company’s claims that it will reveal a new kind of battery by the end of this year. But despite the looming deadline, Nikola appears to still be in the early stages of developing tis battery. And even if Nikola succeeds in creating a working version, it could be as much as a decade before manufacturing begins.

Today’s Motor Vehicles
Emuge-Franken, a manufacturer of taps, thread mills, drills, end mills and other rotary cutting tools, celebrates its centennial. In 1920, Richard Gimpel, a German engineer and master craftsman, founded a company and invented a single-finishing tap with a spiral point that changed the machining of internal threads. The tool was successful it helped secure a large order and growth for the fledgling company that Richard and three employees had started. 100 years later, Emuge-Franken has more than 1,900 employees with locations worldwide.

Today’s Motor Vehicles
After more than two years of dedicated preparation, Toyota Motor Manufacturing West Virginia has produced Toyota’s first hybrid transaxle in North America. “Our team has been planning for this new production line for several years, from construction to pilot projects to hiring new employees and countless hours of training,” said Srini Matam, TMMWV President.

Gear Technology
Machine Tool Builders Inc. of Machesney Park, Ill., and Hans Grass, president of G-Technologies have teamed up to formally announce the transfer of G-Technologies North American representation agreement for HAMAI Machines, to Machine Tool Builders, Inc. Following the appointment of Grass as CEO of Machine Tool Builders, Inc., MTB has assumed the exclusive rights as North American distributor of Hamai’s hobbing solutions line.

Future IoT
Rockwell Automation and PTC are making strategic enhancements to the FactoryTalk InnovationSuite, powered by PTC to serve the needs of a very fast growing, dynamic industrial digital transformation market. Launched in 2018, the FactoryTalk InnovationSuite, powered by PTC has seen rapid customer adoption, helping achieve significant improvements in operational efficiency, reduction in unplanned downtime and improved quality.

Tech Crunch
We were promised robots everywhere — fully autonomous robots that will drive our cars end-to-end, clean our dishes, drive our freight, make our food, pipette and do our lab work, write legal documents, mow the lawn, balance our books and even clean our houses.

MachineDesign
Universal Robots (UR) has released a Q&A with Martin Kjaerbo, its VP of operations and supply chain, about adaptions to the company’s robotics manufacturing operations in the wake of COVID-19 and how the crisis will shape UR going forward. 

Online July 14-15, 2020
This course provides 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, those attending will be given 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, and attendees will also briefly discuss the steps and issues involved in design refinement and some manufacturing considerations.  Also, 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 be covered.

3D Printing Industry
Researchers from the University of California San Diego have used 3D printing to produce soft and flexible, walking “insect-like” robots. The budget-minded additive manufacturing technique used to create the bots could lower the cost of entry for 3D printing soft robotics, and open new applications for the technology in places that aren’t safe for humans, such as navigating disaster or war zones.

New Atlas
Israeli VTOL air taxi developer Urban Aeronautics has announced it’s partnering with HyPoint to develop a long range, hydrogen fuel cell-powered, emissions-free version of its remarkable CityHawk aircraft, based on the military Cormorant/AirMule design. 

Volkswagen press release
Ford Motor Company and Volkswagen AG signed agreements that expand their global alliance to meet rapidly evolving needs of their respective customers in Europe and other regions by leveraging complementary strengths in midsize pickup trucks and commercial and electric vehicles. 

H2View
BMW said fuel cell electric powertrains could become the fourth pillar in its portfolio. The German car manufacturer shared a new video on Friday of its BMW iHydrogen NEXT. Based on the BMW X5, a rear-wheel drive luxury SUV, the iHydrogen NEXT is an indication of how hydrogen technology can be integrated into existing vehicle models.

Green Car Congress
Peugeot introduced the electric version of its Travler van – the e-Traveler – earlier this month. Now Groupe PSA co-brand Citroën is unveiling its corresponding electric version of the Space Tourer MPV: the ë-SpaceTourer. Like it Puegeot cousin the Citroën ë-SpaceTourer is based on the EMP2 platform, seats up to 9 people and offers a choice of two range levels depending on battery power.

Wednesday, June 17
Nonpartisan, A.B. Stoddard will cover the latest on the campaign trail. Frequently meeting with sources and politicians, Stoddard has her finger on the pulse of Washington, D.C., as she offers detailed and smart political and electoral analyses. Stoddard will cover the latest on the campaign trail, the most up-to-date happenings between Congress and the White House, ongoing budget battles and the electoral prospects for the two parties.