“Reality Redesigned” in Bike Frame Machine Shop

After looking at modeling and prototyping, the third stop on “The Edge Factor’s” tour for Reality Redesigned judges was the first look at actual production. A visit to Intense Cycles in San Diego shows how bike frames are made.

Posted by: Mark Albert 2. February 2012

A Great Tradition to Honor on Groundhog Day

Groundhog Day has been celebrated for more than 100 years in the United States and Canada. Its origins go back to misty, even mystic, traditions of folklore. If the groundhog sees his shadow (because the day is sunny), then winter will drag on. If he doesn’t (because the day is cloudy), then spring will be here soon.

Cloudy day means spring thaw, sunny day means prolonged chill—sounds like the confusing economic forecasts we see these days. Many of us in manufacturing like to be optimists. We have a rich tradition, and despite the predictions of many pundits, we think manufacturing has a bright future in North America.

In fact, the history of machine tool building in the United States shows the strong tradition behind the development and use of manufacturing technology that we are still building on today. History buffs may be interested in the chart which you can enlarge and explore. It shows the “family tree” of certain machine tool builders with roots in the Cincinnati area. We recently worked with Tom Clark, VP of Makino, to update this chart and are grateful for his help. You’ll also find a short slide show of some vintage images related to machine tool history provided by the Cincinnati Museum Center.

Finally, let’s hope all the groundhogs out there keep a sunny disposition, no matter what the weather is like outside their dens.

Posted by: Steve Kline, Jr. 2. February 2012

January MBI Grows Faster

January's MBI reading of 55.6 showed a second month of faster growth for the metalworking industry, marking the 30th consecutive month of growth. Just when you think the industry is showing signs of a slowdown, it starts revving back up again.

The three most significant contributors to the improvement in the MBI were new orders, production and backlog. The new orders subindex moved from 53.9 to 59.6. This growth rate was at the same level as the first three quarters of 2011. The production subindex saw an even bigger jump, moving from 54.1 to 61.6. It was the second fastest production growth rate since March 2011. While the production growth rate was faster than the orders growth rate for the fourth consecutive month, the faster growth in new orders was strong enough to cause backlog growth for the first time since September 2011.

The employment subindex remained essentially unchanged in January. However, the rate of employment growth was still strong. January’s index level of 57.4 was noticeably higher than the average of 53.6 since the inception of the MBI. The export subindex fell to 47.8 from 48.2, marking the fourth consecutive month of faster contraction.

In another survey done by Gardner Research, 17 percent of respondents indicated that they did work as part of a reshoring initiative. The change in exports from the MBI and the growth in reshoring clearly demonstrate that metalworking industry growth is a result of American demand. While the world, and even America’s economy continued to struggle, consumer durable goods and capital goods demand remained strong. Supplier deliveries continued to lengthen, albeit at a slightly lesser rate in January. This indicates continued strength throughout the manufacturing supply chain.

Finally, future business expectations moved from 74.9 to 77.4, which was a significant increase in expectations since October 2011. Also, this was the second highest level of expectations since December 2010.

Posted by: Mark Albert 31. January 2012

MMS Visits an IMTS Exhibitor Workshop

Marketing guru Steve Miller exhorts IMTS exhibitors to give attendees a great show experience.

I was one of four editors from Modern Machine Shop to attend the day-long IMTS Exhibitor Workshop at the Hyatt Regency Hotel in downtown Cincinnati, Ohio. The workshops began Jan. 20 and will run through Feb. 2 in six different locations around the country.

The event is produced and presented by AMT—The Association for Manufacturing Technology, the organization that sponsors IMTS (Sept.10-15, 2012). The workshop is structured to help exhibitors get the most from their IMTS investment. The presentations gave me a valuable look at the behind-the-scenes activity and preparation required to make the show an essential industry event. Perhaps that is the main point of what I learned—that success of IMTS is measured by the degree to which industry attendees satisfy their need for new manufacturing technology.

Ultimately, this workshop is focused on the attendees. Each booth visit should be a positive transaction between visitor and exhibitor—whether it’s the sale of a new machine tool or simply the transfer of knowledge.

Exhibitors must plan carefully and train their booth personnel to make good use of attendees' time. For example, Steve Miller, a marketing consultant, stressed the importance of sales engineers and other company reps who can interact with visitors effectively by quickly matching their needs with products on display. If there is no match, leaving a positive impression and better understanding of the company's technology is still vitally important.

Other presentations discussed what attendees should be doing to enhance their IMTS experience. For example, most attendees will have a structured plan for navigating the show floor and a schedule of pre-arranged appointments at important booths. For this reason, pre-show marketing is critical for exhibitors so that their booths are included in these plans.

That brings up another key point: IMTS is truly an industry event. It has a significant impact on the entire industry, even though the 100,000-plus who visit Chicago are only a fraction of the manufacturing professionals working in North America and around the world. For this reason, MMS will devote its entire August issue to the new technology on display in Chicago, making that issue a virtual compendium of new machines and processes of value to readers—whether or not they can attend the show.

Of course, attending the show in person is the best IMTS experience, as reflected in AMT's theme for show promotion: "You have to be there."

Finally, this point: reserve your hotel space now—the block of rooms is filling up fast.

Posted by: Matt Danford 30. January 2012

“Intelligent” CAM System Adapts to the Job

iMachining uses what the developer calls a “spiral morphing” tool path. This path is designed to keep a constant load on the cutting tool while avoiding air cutting and reconditioning moves that can stress the cutter and add time to the process.

Most modern CAM systems offer strategies for machining certain types of geometry into certain types of materials with certain types of tools. Sometimes systems even offer recommended cutting parameters. Nonetheless, even the most sophisticated software can’t take into account all the different variables that accompany a real-world manufacturing situation.

Consider the case of a delicate prototype part. Even if the part could be machined very quickly at aggressive feeds and speeds, a shop might opt to proceed more cautiously to avoid the potential expense of scrapping it. Likewise, consider how a shop on a tight delivery deadline might proceed with only a limited supply of breakage-prone cutting tools to do the job, or perhaps a case in which a workpiece is held by less-than-rigid fixturing. The point is, there are many issues in various scenarios that software simply can’t anticipate. This might prompt a manufacturer to deviate from recommended parameters and start making manual adjustments.

These potentially time-consuming, trial-and-error adjustments happen every day in shops of all types and sizes—a fact not lost on SolidCAM when it developed its iMachining CAM system. This software is designed not only to provide effective tool paths, but also to enable users to efficiently apply those toolpaths according to their own particular preferences and application circumstances. Read this article to find out how.