PM News: United They Stand

United They Stand. United Grinding Technologies Inc. (Miamisburg, Ohio) will acquire Ewag USA (North Kingstown, Rhode Island) and merge its operations into UGT. Ewag makes tool grinding machines and tool grinding centers for the production of rotary tools and high-quality indexable inserts of tungsten carbide, PCD and PCBN. Ewag will be a UGT division specializing in tool and cutter grinding machines. Despite the current business atmosphere, UGT sees the merger as an opportunity to continue its business growth.

Where To Find Bridgeports Now. Hardinge Inc. (Elmira, New York) and BPT Holdings, Inc., along with its wholly-owned subsidiary Bridgeport Machines Ltd. (Leicester, United Kingdom), have signed a letter of intent whereby Hardinge Inc. intends to assume responsibility in North America for the manufacture and distribution of Bridgeport knee mills, related parts and service support functions, and other activities concerning products previously produced by the Connecticut operations of Bridgeport Machines, Inc. Finalizing this is contingent on the execution of definitive agreements and the satisfaction of certain conditions. Hardinge expects to be supplying parts and services as soon as definitive agreements with Bridgeport International are concluded, and it plans to be in production of machines at its Elmira facility in the first quarter of 2003.

Heading Up I-75. A Cincinnati-based division of UNOVA will merge with a Detroit-based division and will be headquartered in the Detroit area. The Cincinnati Machine and Lamb Technicon divisions plan to combine their business operations to provide more comprehensive products and services to their manufacturing customers in automotive, aerospace and general machining. The merger should be complete by the end of 2003. UNOVA intends the merger of engineering, production and service employees within a single organization to reduce costs, streamline decision making and maximize efficiency.

3D Solid Models. Jergens, Inc. (Cleveland, Ohio) now has its library of tooling components available on the Web as 2D or 3D solid models in formats for nearly all CAD systems. The part library is powered by 3D Partstream.net, which allows design engineers to preview a component before downloading. Models are available at www.jergensinc.com.

Interested In Rebuilding? A program at Cold Header Machine Corp. offers a true machine rebuild for CHMC customers with a contractual 1-year CHMC and Towa factory warranty and guarantee on the machines. The parts employed in the Towa rebuilds are factory certified and covered under factory warranty. The technical staff at CHMC performs an overhaul on the Towa secondary operation machines, including new main spindle including bearings; complete overhaul of camshaft or replacement if needed; and more. For more information, call (561) 393-3201.

Joining Up. Hangsterfer's Laboratories (Mantua, New Jersey) has joined PMPA as a technical member. Technical members promote advancement in the industry by organized and voluntary cooperation between companies manufacturing screw machine products and turned parts and companies in allied trades.

Correction. In the September/October 2002 issue of Production Machining, "Machine Both Shaft Ends Simultaneously," on pages 26-27, contained incorrect contact information. The article focused on rotary transfer machines from Eubama USA Inc. (Elkhart, Indiana). The company can be reached by telephone at (574) 262-1521. Production Machining regrets the error and any inconvenience it caused.