Today’s Motor Vehicles
GM Defense LLC, a subsidiary of General Motors, has delivered its first Infantry Squad Vehicle (ISV) – a light and agile all-terrain troop carrier intended to transport a nine-soldier infantry squad and their equipment – to the U.S. Army as part of a $214.3 million contract awarded in June. GM Defense will manufacture 649 ISVs and will support the production of up to 2,065 vehicles with additional authorization throughout eight years.

Gear Technology
All cutting and machining operations produce some type of burr or leave sharp edges on metal components. These unwanted by-products are especially troublesome when producing precision components such as gears. The burr can loosen from the gear — either during assembly or later when the gear is in operation — and damage components or lead to critical part failure.

Today’s Motor Vehicles
August 2020 U.S. cutting tool consumption totaled $136.1 million, according to the U.S. Cutting Tool Institute (USCTI) and AMT – the Association for Manufacturing Technology. This total, as reported by companies participating in the Cutting Tool Market Report collaboration, was down 0.2% from July's $136.3 million and down 33.5% when compared with the $204.7 million reported for August 2019. With a year-to-date total of $1.3 billion, 2020 is down 23.4% when compared with August 2019. 

CNBC
Employment growth was better than expected in October and the unemployment rate fell sharply even as the U.S. faces the challenges of surging coronavirus cases and the impact they could have on the nascent economic recovery. 

Sikorsky, a Lockheed Martin company, will build six additional production CH-53K King Stallion helicopters under a new contract for the U.S. Navy. The six helicopters are part of 200 aircraft Program of Record for the U.S. Marine Corps, and their addition makes a total of 24 CH-53K production aircraft now under contract. Under the terms of this most recent contract – known as Low Rate Initial Production (LRIP) Lot 4 – Sikorsky will begin deliveries of the six aircraft in January 2024. 

Gear Technology
Gear noise is a common evil any gear manufacturer must live with. It is often low enough not to be a major problem but, at times, gear whining may appear and then, tracking the source and, especially, curing the ill can be tricky at best. 

You don’t have to do it alone: How to outsource your marketing strategy
Far too often we think that we need to have all the answers. Marketing is expensive, design is expensive and hiring someone in house might not be financially the right move for your company. That is where outsourcing comes in. This webinar will share all the things you need to think about when deciding to use an outside company for hire to help grow your brand. From budgeting, the RFP process, deciding what you want and maintaining the ongoing relationship, attendees will leave feeling confident that they can field out the help they need to showcase their products in a way that they are comfortable with and within budget.

Nextgov
The University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and the University of West Florida received a total of $8 million in separate grants from the Department of Homeland Security and the National Security Agency to tackle the enduring challenge of filling public- and private-sector cybersecurity vacancies across the country. UIUC leads the Critical Infrastructure Resilience Institute, one of 10 DHS centers of excellence focused on addressing homeland security challenges.

Road Show
General Motors saw its profits soar in the third quarter of this year amid a better economic recovery than expected, and thanks to sales of its full-size pickup trucks and SUVs. As GM rakes in the cash, the automaker’s CEO, Mary Barra, on Thursday said we’re going to see the company invest heavily in even more electric vehicles. 

New Equipment Digest
In order to reduce unplanned machine downtime to a minimum, improve response time to downtime, and to free up latent machine capacity BETW Utensili has installed a low cost and retrofittable machine monitoring and data collection system at its plant in Lodi in Italy. Signal tower indicate machine status and transmit this information wirelessly to a PC workstation where it gives a completely transparent overview of the operation. 

3D Printing Industry
The vehicle group of multinational power management company Eaton has announced the launch of a new metal 3D printing program as part of its Industry 4.0 strategy. The company aims to reduce production times and improve efficiency through its new 3D printing capabilities, and will look to deploy the 3D polymer printing technology globally by the first quarter of 2021.

3D Printing Industry
ASTM International’s Additive Manufacturing Center of Excellence (AM CoE) has signed a co-operative agreement with NASA to partner on “activities of common interest.” The three-year contract between the organizations, worth a reported $750,000, will see NASA identify potential 3D printing projects for the AM CoE to execute. NASA was a founding member of the AM CoE, and the deal serves to build on their existing partnership, while providing NASA with a more “defined role” in each research area. 

World Economic Forum
The painful impacts of the COVID-19 have been felt by markets across the globe. Textile and apparel manufacturing is among the industries that have been hit heavily by the pandemic, due to a drop in customer demand, cost-control pressures and troubled trade relationships. To shore up their resilience, many companies have been trying to introduce innovations to increase agility and efficiency in operations. 

CNET
General Motors saw its profits soar in the third quarter of this year amid a better economic recovery than expected, and thanks to sales of its full-size pickup trucks and SUVs. As GM rakes in the cash, the automaker's CEO, Mary Barra, said we're going to see the company invest heavily in even more electric vehicles. 

CNBC
Much of the data produced by industrial companies remains unused, according to a senior executive at Swiss engineering firm ABB. Peter Terwiesch, president of ABB’s industrial automation said that “at least” 80% of data generated is not being utilized by companies. 

Columbus Business First
Honda Motor Co. is putting all of its auto manufacturing and development into one Marysville-headquartered organization. The automaker announced the formation of Honda Development &
Manufacturing of America LLC, which will combine all of its U.S. auto manufacturing facilities, purchasing operations and the automobile development operations of Honda R&D Americas. These changes are effective April 1, 2021.

AGMA
We had an amazing turnout for the 2020 FTM and we want to say thank you to our sponsor, Cotta Transmission and all the speakers and attendees who joined in the fun on live Q&A day! We are already
getting ready for next years’ FTM by opening up the Call for Papers. 

New Atlas
In a landmark moment for the experimental transportation technology, Virgin Hyperloop has welcomed aboard its first ever passengers, albeit only for a short spin along a test track. These first ever human trials of a hyperloop system follow hundreds of unmanned test runs at the company’s facility in Nevada, and bode well for its ability to safely transport people through near-vacuum tubes.

Industrial Machinery Digest
When we think of industrial automation, the first things that pop into our mind are robotic arms, material handling or CNC machines. The idea of automation, however, goes far beyond these major, buzzworthy capital investments. There are ways to introduce some level of automation in all kinds of places across a manufacturing floor, tooling included.

Gear Solutions
Mitsubishi Heavy Industries America hired J. Scott Knoy as vice president of sales for the Wixom, Michigan-based Machine Tool Division. Knoy will be responsible for sales team leadership, driving revenue, strategic planning and marketing, as well as management responsibilities. He has 26 years of experience in the gear machine and tooling industry.