PM Blog

15 Sep 2005

Career In The Precision Machining Industry: What's In It For You

Ready employment. There are real jobs available in the precision machining industry. I read the classified advertising sections in the Sunday newspapers every week.

Workforce Development 15 Sep 2005

Online Training--A Lesson In Reality

As machines become more complex, training becomes an even greater issue. Regardless of what machine features attract a customer, if the operator does not learn how to take advantage of these features, the machine can quickly become a white elephant.

Basics 15 Sep 2005

Quality's Role In Achieving The Goal

Eliyahu M. Goldratt's books, "The Goal" and "The Race" provide a clear approach on how to improve a manufacturing process.

15 Sep 2005

Rotary Sawing Takes A Turn In Cutoff Operations

Although Rotary Saw Cutting (RSC) has been used in cutoff operations since the 1940s, the process is still relatively unknown. However, Watkins Manufacturing Inc. (Cincinnati, Ohio) is looking to enlighten more shops by showing them the benefits of their RSC systems known as SAW-lution Systems.

Workholding 14 Sep 2005

Workholding Advantages Of Barstock

Barstock is versatile raw material. It’s easily held, easily fed and has significant capacity for many parts per bar. Usually we think of barstock and bar feeders in relation to turning machines. What about applying the advantages of automatically fed barstock to a vertical machining center?

Single & Multi-Spindles 14 Sep 2005

Shop Jumps Into CNC Machining

Although this shop was already established and highly successful, it recently decided to make the "jump" into CNC machines, acquiring three new machines.

Single & Multi-Spindles 14 Sep 2005

Changing Products With Higher Quality And Productivity

Advanced Secondaries Inc. has an unusual position in the marketplace. By making specials from standard screw machine parts or cold-headed parts for the past 30 years, this company has found its comfortable niche.

18 Aug 2005

Member Profile: Curtis Screw Company

Curtis Screw Company, LLC is marking 100 years in business this year. By coincidence, the Buffalo, New York-based manufacturer is also moving its headquarters to a larger, more modern building. The company recently began relocating most of its operations to a 150,000 square-foot facility in Buffalo, leaving a building that it had occupied since 1908. The move is expected to be complete this fall.

Measurement 18 Aug 2005

Conformance, Traceability And Measurement Uncertainty In Coordinate Metrology

Customer-supplier disagreements over product compliance to specifications often are costly to the parties involved. Recognition of measurement uncertainty when determining conformance to geometric dimensioning and tolerancing (GD&T) specifications has risen in recent years. This article will focus on some important developments in this arena.

18 Aug 2005

Non-Contact Digital Measurement

The Digital ShadowGage from Resec Systems Inc. (Bergenfield, New Jersey) is designed to provide better and faster inspection, measurement and data collection. This system digitizes all dimensions of a piece, so the user can read off any dimensions exactly as they would be read from a print.

18 Aug 2005

Things I Learned At Steel Success Strategies XX

I recently attended the Steel Success Strategies conference in New York City. My purpose was to find out what is going on in the world markets for our steel raw materials. The following comments were of such broad interest and applicability, I thought I’d pass them along for your review.