AGMA Gear Industry News

The best way to boost the number of manufacturing jobs in the U.S. is to create new, high-paying jobs, not to bring back jobs from poor countries. That may sound like a subtle difference from what President Donald Trump promised on the campaign trail, but it is a distinction that makes a big difference. The United States shouldn't want low-paying, low-skilled jobs using 20th-century technology. To boost the economy, we need the latest technology operated by the most highly skilled workers.

Manufacturing production expanded for the fourth consecutive month. Output in the sector was up 0.2 percent in January, extending the 0.2 percent gain seen in December. The recent improvements suggest that manufacturers are beginning to recover from notable weaknesses over the past two years, with a strong dollar and global headwinds dampening overall activity. In that regard, manufacturing production grew just 0.3 percent year-over-year in January, highlighting the significant challenges seen over the past 12 months in growing production. Similarly, manufacturing capacity utilization edged up from 75.0 percent to 75.1 percent, which, despite some progress, remained below the 75.5 percent utilization rate observed one year ago. Meanwhile, total industrial production returned to negative territory, down 0.3 percent in January, after jumping 0.6 percent in December, largely from swings in utilities production.

A news release came recently that described a new finding of massive American job losses since China joined the World Trade Organization in 2001. What caught the eye was a specific estimate for Minnesota: 89,100 mostly manufacturing jobs lost.

Japan’s manufacturing sector enjoyed another strong month in February, with activity levels improving at the fastest pace in nearly three years.

Plant floor data can help manufacturers improve product quality, reduce machine downtime and boost productivity, an expert told attendees at the recent Pacific Design & Manufacturing Show. Saeed Kazi, an automotive solutions executive for IBM Watson Internet of Things, said that the beauty of data is that it can help improve products, even after they leave the manufacturing facility. "There’s a more digital way to do manufacturing today. Using the IoT and analytics, you can capture data, keep your machines running and get a better yield."

Renishaw Inc. is preparing to move into a new 133,000-sq.-ft. office and warehouse facility in West Dundee, IL, about 40 miles from Chicago. The two-story facility will be the company’s new North American headquarters, but also includes space for product development, testing, warehousing and distribution. It includes the new U.S. Additive Manufacturing Solutions Center — part of Renishaw’s network of global Solutions Centers, opening over the next year.

Artificial intelligence could dramatically improve the economy and aspects of everyday life, but we need to invent ways to make sure everyone benefits.

Advancing manufacturing techniques are, of course, the key to competitiveness. Smart factories, connected products, additive manufacturing and advanced materials are all driving innovation and competitiveness. However, what about the number one challenge to manufacturers today: growth. 

The relatively strong job and wage growth in the country belies the reality that quality jobs are disappearing for lower-skilled workers, particularly blue-collar workers. While trade is partially the culprit, it is more likely that automation has been the main cause of job loss. Some estimates have suggested that up to half of current jobs could be replaced by automation in the future, including many white-collar jobs. Artificial intelligence experts warn that whatever our estimates today, the impact will be much greater than we can imagine.

American manufacturers grew in January at the fastest pace in more than two years and many executives said the outlook "looks stronger" at the start of the 2017.

The future is looking good to small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), both in the U.S. and globally, according to the American Express Global SME Pulse report.

As Ford Motor Co. has been developing self-driving cars, the U.S. automaker has started noticing a problem during test drives: Engineers monitoring the robot rides are dozing off. Company researchers have tried to roust the engineers with bells, buzzers, warning lights, vibrating seats and shaking steering wheels. They’ve even put a second engineer in the vehicle to keep tabs on his human counterpart. No matter — the smooth ride was just too lulling and engineers struggled to maintain "situational awareness," said Raj Nair, Ford’s product development chief.

(Video) Rethink Robotics designs collaborative industrial robots that work alongside people. Bloomberg Technology visits the Boston-based startup and speaks with its founder and robotics pioneer Rodney Brooks.

According to the December 2016 U.S. Manufacturing Technology Orders Report from The Association For Manufacturing Technology (AMT), manufacturing technology orders finished 2016 down 4.0 percent compared to 2015. When comparing month over month, December 2016 orders were up 20.6 percent compared to November 2016.

This study shows how the global equations tool and general calculation formulas in the SolidWorks application can be used to update a model just by modifying the spur gear number of teeth to reproduce a new gear with equivalent mechanical characteristics in simulation.

IBM and Bosch are looking to simplify device updates for Industrial Internet of Things, coming together to offer Bosch IoT Suite on open standards-based IBM Bluemix and IBM Watson IoT Platform. Bosch is making available its "Bosch IoT Rollouts" service for advanced device management and cloud-based software updates on Bluemix and integrated with the IBM Watson IoT Platform.

Professor Moataz Attallah is the director of the University of Birmingham’s specialist Advanced Materials and Processing Lab, known as AMPLab. Additive manufacturing from the AMPLab is behind of some of the most cutting edge materials research in the 3D printing industry, including a 3D printed ceramic thruster, that achieved "unprecedented results," and a machine that can 3D print metal in zero gravity conditions.

Gain a better understanding of various types of gears and bearings. Learn about the limitation and capabilities of rolling element bearings and the gears that they support.  Grasp an understanding of how to properly apply the best gear-bearing combination to any gearbox from simple to complex.

Japan’s manufacturing sector enjoyed another strong month in February with activity levels improving at the fastest pace in nearly three years. The Nikkei-IHS Markit "flash" manufacturing purchasing managers index (PMI) rose to 53.5 in February, above the 52.7 level of January and the highest level since March 2014.

The Markit February German flash PMI index for the manufacturing index rose to 57.0 from 56.4 the previous month. This was above expectations of a slight decline to 56.2 and the highest reading for 69 months.