Makino— a leading manufacturer of horizontal and vertical machining centers and EDM machines — has announced a new series of online Webinars. Designed for shops of all types and sizes, the seminars are free to anyone who registers. The planned seminars are intended for shops in the automotive, aerospace, medical product and die and mold industries. In addition to metal cutting and die/mold, the seminars will cover new technologies, such as micromachining. Mark Rentschler, marketing manager, says, "Online seminars allow anyone with an Internet connection to attend without losing a day of work." The seminars concentrate on shop efficiency, lean manufacturing, asset utilization, machine tool integration and automation, machine tool technologies, and metal cutting processes. Makino's application engineers, product managers and guest speakers will give presentations.
While auto sales are down, automotive-machining is alive and well. It also has evolved. In one aspect of the automotive market, the Department of Defense is planning to spend hundreds of millions of dollars in the near future to rearm and re-equip the U.S. Military. Those vehicles already have become a high priority as military acquisitions, and demand continues to rise. At the same time, demand for turbine engines is also increasing. Together, these markets offer profitable opportunities to the shops that are smart enough to recognize and seize them.
Manufacturers Answer Call for More The U.S Department of Defense is demanding more Mine Resistant Ambush Protected vehicles (MRAPs). Manufacturers are answering that call for increased production while they turn out improved versions of these vehicles. MRAPs provide greater protection for U.S. military personnel in theaters of war in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Paradigm Precision Makes Three Acquisitions To Launch Company Paradigm Precision (www.paradigmprecision.com) acquired Smith West of Tempe, Ariz., Palmer Manufacturing Company of Malden, Mass., and Eurocast of Tunis, Tunisia, in what the company said were initial steps in its strategy to combine and grow multiple machining suppliers into a low cost, high performance international competitor. In a prepared statement, the company said its customers include three of the four largest gas turbine engine manufacturers in the world, and that its components will be used in a diversified mix of power plants for commercial, business and defense aircraft, including GE Aviation's "next generation" turbofan engine, the GEnx, that will power Boeing Company's new 787 Dreamliner aircraft and the Airbus A350 aircraft.
Staying Competitive Is A State Of Mind To be competitive, or even to just survive in today's global economy, machine shops need to produce better parts faster and at a lower cost. The shops that are thriving, the shops that are successfully competing with shops across the street and across the oceans are successful because they are able to turn the pursuit of higher productivity into a culture, a never-ending quest instead of a one-time event. That quest usually starts with a new machine because today's machines are inherently several times more productive than machines that were sold 10 years ago or even five years ago. But buying a new machine is not the goal, it's only a step toward the goal of increased productivity, and sometimes it is not even the right step.
Software Helps Save DoD Millions Since it was founded in 2003, the National Center for Defense Manufacturing and Machining (NCDMM) (www.ncdmm.org) in Latrobe, Pa., has undertaken nearly 50 projects for the Department of Defense (DoD) facilities and its suppliers. The DoD-funded NCDMM relies on equipment and technology solutions provided by dozens of U.S.-based alliance partners, as well as a proprietary methodology, called Jumped (Joint Ultimate Manufacturing Process and Development), to develop and transfer state-of-the-market and state-of-the-art solutions to specific project objectives. Manufacturing process improvements based on this work have saved an estimated $435 million.
Alive And Well In Automotive After careful consideration, Southern Michigan Tool and Machine Inc. made a gutsy move: It partnered with a Tier One automotive supplier it had never worked with before and agreed to take on a long-term, high-volume job. As a result of the partnership, the shop and its Tier One customer worked together to put a fully automated cell on Southern Michigan Tool and Machine's shop floor to machine the job's complex, high-tolerance automotive components.
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