The Hot Sheet
technology
(L) AIMS Vice President Mark Gearding and (R) President Dave Delph work with new Summit.
Game Changer
New CMM Gives Job Shops MultiSensor 5-Axis Inspection
Job shops are being asked to process and measure more complex parts amid stricter supply chain quality standards. Demand for 100 percent parts inspection for new product lines is also growing. AIMS Metrology, an OEM for coordinate measuring machines, has designed and introduced the new Summit 10.10.10 to put REVO-2 5-axis dynamic scanning and multisensor surface finish measurement [including video probing] into the hands of the operator. Engineered with 1 meter cubed capacity, the Summit provides high-volume large parts inspection. It can be automated with a robot load/unload system or pass through process with a conveyor.
Honda Transmission Manufacturing of America Inc. adopted two of the first Summits for installation in a new automated production line that requires 100 percent parts inspection. “One for one-to-one knock hole inspection of transmission cases … and a second to measure less critical hole features [one out of every 30 parts] at the end of our line,” says Engineering Coordinator Dan Sokolow. “It’s a critical measurement because the location of these knock holes dictates the location of the rest of the features that will be processed … during downstream operations. We will be inspecting every hole for every part, something we haven’t done before.”
Honda expects to have the first Summit cell operational in February 2021 and has ordered additional CMMs.
We will be inspecting every hole for every part, something we haven’t done before.
Engineering Coordinator
Dan Sokolow
Dan Sokolow
AIMS Metrology
The Summit provides the industry’s largest workpiece weight of 2,200 kg while preserving valuable floor space. The REVO-2 provides measuring speeds up to 500 mm/second and data collection rates of up to 4,000 points per second for increased part throughput. Rapid calibration for all positions expands uptime. Infinite positioning and 5-axis motion offer easy access to difficult features while flexible tip sensing aids accuracy and flexibility.
Dual linear motors work off permanent magnets that don’t wear out. Conventional belt and pulley mechanisms have a tendency to break, resulting in costly service calls and extensive downtime. AIMS’ design minimizes wear and tear for zero maintenance and enhanced uptime.
Summit’s polymer-cast base has built-in vibration resistance and thermal stability for longer life and greater accuracy, unlike granite shop floor machines. The CMM uses standard 110/220 volt outlets, eliminating the need for shop air.
Industry
Senate Appropriations Committee includes key aluminum program in funding bill
The Aluminum Association today applauded the Senate Committee on Appropriations for including funding for a new Aluminum Import Monitoring (AIM) system – a longtime policy priority for the Aluminum Association – in its fiscal year 2021 Commerce, Justice, Science, and Related Agencies appropriations bill. The committee allocated $1.3 million to fund the program, which the Commerce Department listed as a priority in its FY21 budget request earlier this year. The committee also encouraged the department to consult with the aluminum industry on implementing the program. The AIM system will enable government officials and the industry to better identify trends in trade flows and address misclassification, transshipment and evasion of duties.
business
Coherent and II-VI enter supply agreement
Coherent, Santa Clara, California, and II-VI Incorporated, Saxonburg, Pennsylvania, announced that they have entered into a supply agreement creating a collaboration to enable faster process development and streamlined production services for automotive laser welding applications. These include high-strength alloy welding for automotive body-in-white applications and mass production copper welding for electrification applications. Specifically, the combination of II-VI’s advanced laser processing heads and the Coherent Adjustable Ring Mode (ARM) fiber laser technology delivers power adjustment and beam positioning on the fly to produce optimal welds with the highest quality at a very high speed and over large working areas, increasing the efficiency and decreasing the cost of ownership.
award
3DEO wins Gold Medal LEAP Award
3DEO has won a Gold Medal in Additive Manufacturing from Design World’s Leadership in Engineering Achievement Program (LEAP) Awards. More than 100 entrants were received for the annual competition, which celebrates the most innovative and forward-thinking products serving the design engineering space. Winners were chosen by an independent judging panel of 14 engineering and academic professionals. One of the judges commented, “To integrate CNC milling into the process should really help 3D metal parts move from prototype to production.” This award is recognition of 3DEO’s unique ability to scale metal additive manufacturing and compete with traditional manufacturing methods such as CNC machining and metal injection molding.
business
ESAB and YASKAWA sign agreement
The ESAB Group Inc. and leading robot and robot system company YASKAWA, Kitakyushu have announced the Nov. 5 signing of a global cooperation agreement to jointly develop and market a line of pre-engineered robotic welding systems called XCellerator. The XCellerator systems will be engineered and built by Yaskawa and marketed by ESAB through its global sales channels.
facility
MC Machinery opens showroom
MC Machinery has opened a new Southeast Technology Center in Concord, North Carolina, featuring a showroom and offices for service and applications employees. The facility will provide MC Machinery customers throughout the region with local access to direct sales, service, application and training support. The 16,000-sq.-ft. facility includes a 13,500-sq.-ft. showroom displaying the company’s range of manufacturing solutions, dedicated space for on-site and virtual training, and an area for on-site and virtual demonstrations.
community
Combilift releases children’s book
Combilift is lifting imaginations with Combi-Kids and new children’s book “The Forklift Trucks and Their Secret Superpowers.” Author Emer Conlon approached Combilift proposing a book that would provide a “unique way to communicate with existing and potential customers, as well as being involved in the education of the next generation.” The idea was to write a children’s book which “cartoon-izes” the main Combilift products and transforms them into characters that children will love. The Combi-Kids book highlights overcoming difficulties, the importance of friendship and that bullying is unacceptable. All proceeds from book sales will go to Make a Wish Foundation.
facility
Fronius opens a new prototyping center
In the new prototyping center in Wels, Austria, Fronius welding technology specialists will work with customers to develop the ideal solution for joining their components, starting with the design phase, feasibility studies using simulations, welding process evaluation and welding trials through to various quality checks and project support. Fronius also manufactures smaller quantities of customer components for pre-series production if required. Fronius therefore offers a complete solution for prototype construction.
industry
Market research highlights recovery path for businesses from the COVID-19 pandemic
New ultrasonic metal welding equipment market research from Technavio indicates neutral and inferior growth in the short term in the midst of the pandemic. Several industries including medical, aerospace, electronics, consumer and automotive extensively use ultrasonic metal welding equipment for various processes. This is encouraging vendors to continually innovate products to gain a competitive edge over their competitors through diff erentiation. Improving the effi cacy of welding equipment enhances production of the ultrasonic metal welding process for end-users. Technological advances in ultrasonic metal welding equipment are expected to drive market growth during the forecast period. As markets recover, Technavio expects the ultrasonic metal welding equipment market size to grow by USD 83.59 million, during the period 2020-2024.
equipment
Triform delivers large-diameter fluid cell sheet hydroforming press
Beckwood Press Company recently delivered a Triform model 68-10FC Fluid Cell Sheet Hydroforming Press to a major supplier of space launch vehicles. Delivered in October 2020, this machine features a 68-in.-diameter round forming area that can hold one large tool or multiple smaller tools simultaneously. Once the tooling and blank are loaded, they are transported into the press via an automated hydraulic shuttle system. The operator then sets the optimal forming pressures (up to 10,000 psi) and the desired dwell times, if any. The versatile recipe setup feature allows the operator to program up to 10 individual steps, selecting the desired pressure and dwell time for each. Up to 500 recipes can be stored in the HMI for fast, easy recall.
tech guide
Norton | Saint-Gobain Abrasives announces new online safety resource
Saint-Gobain Abrasives, Worcester, Massachusetts, announced a new Safety Resource Microsite (nortonabrasives.com/en-us/norton-product-safety) that provides a wide range of resources to help ensure the safe design, application and use of Norton abrasives products. Educational content on the new Online Safety Resource include Safety Data Sheets, which are accessed by entering the UPC code found on Norton products. Safety Guides for Norton’s most popular products such as grinding wheels, portable wheels and coated/ non-woven abrasives are available.
Also
“Next Steps” p. 22
Read more about resources for veterans wanting to enter the metals industries.
Read more about resources for veterans wanting to enter the metals industries.
Industry
Collaboration helps veterans transition
Olympus is supporting training school Warrior To Inspector’s mission to help transition retiring military veterans into a new NDT career by providing advanced inspection instruments for their ultrasonic testing courses. Warrior To Inspector helps veterans find job success through its three-semester, full-time NDT program that offers classroom and field training on real-world job sites. This ASNT CP-189 compliant program includes certifications in magnetic particle testing, ultrasonic thickness testing, ultrasonic shear-wave testing, phased array ultrasonic testing and Creaform laser profilometry. This collaboration will allow veterans to train with Olympus’ cutting-edge UT equipment used in the NDT field today.
technology
ABB to supply electromagnetic stirring and braking solution
ABB has been selected to supply its Flow Control Mold electromagnetic stirring and braking solution for one of the world’s widest thick slab continuous casters at the new Nucor Corp. steel plate mill in Brandenburg, Kentucky. With capacity for slabs of up to 305 mm thick by 3,150 mm wide, the caster is the widest ever to be equipped with FC Mold. The order—placed by caster supplier, SMS Group—will be operational by 2022.
defense
U.S. Army to apply machine learning software
Senvol has been awarded a contract with the United States Army Research Laboratory to apply its machine learning software, Senvol ML, to enable the rapid design and qualification of additive manufacturing parts. As part of the program, Senvol will develop a flexible qualification plan for AM that leverages machine learning algorithms (i.e., can be applied to any part using any AM process and any AM machine). By leveraging ML algorithms, the qualification plan will also be notably more efficient than more traditional qualification plans (i.e., require fewer builds and less time). The Senvol ML software supports the qualification of AM processes and the development of AM-specific material design allowables while simultaneously minimizing data generation requirements.
industry
Manufacturing adds
38,000 jobs
38,000 jobs
The U.S. jobs market continued to improve in October 2020. The Department of Labor’s Bureau of Labor Statistics reported November 6, 2020, that the U.S. economy added 638,000 new nonfarm jobs and the unemployment rate fell a full percentage point to 6.9 percent. Manufacturing added 38,000 new jobs, fewer than the 60,000 added in September 2020. Manufacturing still employs several thousand fewer people than it did before the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic. Durable goods manufacturing added 21,000 jobs: fabricated metal products added 7,200 jobs, primary metals added 6,000, and wood products added 4,400. Machinery manufacturers hired 3,900 more people, computer and electronics manufacturers hired 3,500, and miscellaneous durable goods manufacturing added 2,100.
Tech Guide
STI releases updated technical guide
The Hollow Structural Sections Committee of the Steel Tube Institute is introducing an updated technical guide, “Methods to Check Dimensional Tolerances on Hollow Structural Sections,” to help fabricators and service centers. Available on the STI website, the educational resource discusses in detail and illustrates the latest methods to correctly measure tolerances of hollow structural sections. The guide assists professionals in verifying compliance with American Society for Testing and Materials (ASTM) specifications. While it is written for the A500 specification, it may be used for verifying tolerances for A1085, A847, A1065 and other similar tubular specifications. The resource outlines instructions for checking tolerances for outside dimensions, wall thickness, length and straightness, squareness of sides, radius of corners, and twist of the member.
facility
Camfil to build new facility
Camfil Air Pollution Control announced construction of a new manufacturing facility in Jonesboro, Arkansas, to replace its previous building destroyed by a tornado in March. The new factory and office space will be located at Craighead Technology Park. The target date for completion is early 2022. Since the tornado, the company has been conducting manufacturing operations out of a rented local facility. Sales offices, filter cartridge production, warehousing and shipping were not damaged. All these functions will move to the new facility.
forecast
Equipment Leasing & Finance Foundation releases 2021 outlook
Equipment and software investment growth fared better than overall GDP growth in 2020 as businesses invested to adapt to the COVID-19 pandemic, and growth should remain well into positive territory in the beginning of 2021. Annual equipment and software investment growth of 7.8 percent is forecast for 2021. Annual U.S. GDP growth for 2021 is forecast at 4.7 percent, according to the 2021 Equipment Leasing & Finance U.S. Economic Outlook released December 16, 2020, by the Equipment Leasing & Finance Foundation. Full report can be found at leasefoundation.org.
technology
Mazak unveils Ez Machine Series and Smooth Ez Control
Ez Machine configurations within the new series include both horizontal turning and vertical machining center models, all of which feature the MAZATROL SmoothEz control and are designed and built in Kentucky. Among the turning center configurations are the QT-Ez 8, QT-Ez 10 and QT-Ez 12 models each offered in 2-axis M, MY and MSY versions. Each QT-Ez model number indicates the standard chuck size, but Mazak also offers a smaller size optional chuck for each machine to provide greater maximum rpm capability. M versions include milling capability, MY machines feature milling and Y-axis off-centerline capability and MSY machines are a combination of both milling and Y axis capability paired with second turning spindles for complete patentedDONE IN ONE part processing.