AGMA Gear Industry News

Fiat Chrysler is moving production of heavy-duty trucks from Mexico to Michigan and paying bonuses to U.S. workers in response to the passage of U.S. tax reform late last year. The automaker will invest $1 billion in its Warren Truck Assembly Plant to make the Ram Heavy Duty Truck starting in 2020. That truck is currently made in Saltillo, Mexico, where workers will continue to make commercial vehicles.

Machine tool orders posted mixed results in November, slipping a bit on a monthly basis while recording a solid gain compared with a year earlier, according to a monthly report by the Association for Manufacturing Technology.

The good news: Michigan is still No. 1 when it comes to auto manufacturing. Michigan is home to one of five U.S. auto manufacturing jobs. In fact, Wayne County alone has more auto manufacturing jobs than any state except Kentucky, according to the most recent data from the federal Bureau of Labor Statistics. Michigan also ranks No. 4 in total manufacturing jobs of any type, behind California, Texas and Ohio.

This course addresses the various types of materials used for gears and the advantages and disadvantages of specific material choices. Heat treatment processes and their relation to gear performance, cost, reliability and load characteristics are examined as well as best practice for engineer drawings related to the materials selection process. Learn the roles of the gear design engineer and the gear metallurgist from two instructors (who have worked together for 40 years) and how collaborative efforts can provide better outcomes. Discover how both the gear design engineer and the gear metallurgist can better grasp their related, critical roles in the exciting world of gear processing, heat treatment and inspection.

2017 was a momentous year furthering our understanding of the universe. SpaceX now routinely lands its rockets, NASA’s Cassini craft crashed into Saturn in a spectacular and invaluable mission finale and researchers proved once and for all the existence of gravitational waves. 2018 will also bring some landmark moments in space, beginning with the biggest bang the industry has seen in nearly half a century, the maiden launch of the world’s most powerful operational rocket later this month.

The Digital Manufacturing Design and Innovation Institute (DMDII) announces that it is opening its floor to manufacturers and academic institutions needing to quickly test process improvements.

Worker shortages in the supply chain may have been a worry a few years ago, but Fetch Robotics’ highly advanced AMRs could be the answer you’ve been waiting for.

The prized $1.6 billion car factory awarded to Alabama by Toyota Motor and Mazda Motor could be an even bigger win than expected, as the site’s size leaves plenty of room for future expansions. The 2,500-acre Huntsville location announced Wednesday is more than twice as big as the 1,100 acres the partners targeted initially.

In a wide-ranging interview with ZDnet, 3D Systems CEO Vyomesh Joshi talks about the impact of additive manufacturing, 3D Systems approach and how more materials innovation is needed to scale customization.

Boeing is bringing weight to the UAV market, 500 pounds to be exact. Boeing unveiled an unmanned electric vertical-takeoff-and-landing (eVTOL) cargo air vehicle (CAV) prototype with some serious lifting power. Designed to progress, test and mature autonomous technology for future systems, the prototype can deliver cargo weighing up to an impressive 500 pounds.

Many users do not keep their devices’ software updated, allowing hackers easy entry points into their IoT networks.

In this course, you will gain a better understanding of various types of gears and bearings. Learn about the limitations and capabilities of rolling element bearings and the gears that they support.  Grasp and understand how to properly apply the best gear-bearing combination to any gearbox from simple to complex. 

Brought to you by Modern Machine Shop, the Gardner Business Index (GBI): Metalworking registered 56.2 in December. It expanded faster in December than it did in November, and it grew by more than 12 percent over December 2016. The Metalworking Index’s average of 55.8 for all of 2017 slightly exceeded the average expansion rate seen in 2011.

In the ‘Readiness for the Future of Production Report’, Japan was awarded the top spot, due to its structure of production. The Geneva-based company then rated South Korea second, followed by Germany, Switzerland, China, Czech Republic, the U.S., Sweden, Austria and then Ireland. India was ranked 30th, ahead of fellow BRICS nations, such as Russia who ranked 35th, Brazil’s spot at 41, and South Africa at 45.

Cutting tool and tooling system specialist Sandvik Coromant has extended the functionality of its InvoMilling software. The latest version of this user-friendly CAD/CAM solution for fast and simple NC programming offers more possibilities when manufacturing gears on universal five-axis machining centers. As of late 2017, the software will also enable customers to produce straight bevel gears and herringbone gears.

Speed, power and durability are key characteristics of industrial robots. These robots are typically used in applications such as welding or in lifting heavy components for vehicle assembly. Yet despite advanced calibration methods, the positional accuracy of industrial robots has been inadequate for certain tasks. This is now changing thanks in part to highly accurate, output-side encoders from Heidenhain and AMO.

The Bureau of Labor Statistics recently reported that the United States added 196,000 factory jobs in 2017, including 25,000 jobs in December. Scott Paul, president of the Alliance for American Manufacturing, says that factory jobs are growing at a faster rate than jobs in the overall economy.