Chris Felix Former Editor-in-Chief
A Cool Way To Cool
With increasing regulations on handling and use of metalworking fluids, the industry needs to look at other options to help resolve the contradictions between the need for cooling lubrication and the requirements for cleaner, safer technology.
Read MoreWeb Writing
So what communicates a message best on the Web? The rules at the beginning of this column are a good start. Now imagine those phrases on a Web page, each hyperlinked to another page that gives further detail about how to do each item on the list effectively.
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Bringing Competitors Together
A group of organizations in the Haute-Savoie Department and Arve Valley region of France has assembled a lineup of about 150 screw machine shops (and growing). The group has teamed with the Chamber of Commerce, the General Council of Haute-Savoie and 250 researchers belonging to university labs, engineering schools and training centers to form what they term a "Competitiveness Cluster."
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Increased Control For Programmers
Here is a CAD/CAM system designed to be inviting to programmers, with a comfortable interface, integrated guides and a learning mode to facilitate operation and allow the shop to start creating tool paths—and turning parts—as quickly as possible.
Read MoreReaching Out
What better way for a supplier to find out what more it can do to make the customer happy than to come right out and ask? This information is commonly gathered informally through conversations with individual customers, but there are more efficient ways to quickly attain this data.
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Optimizing Cycle Times With CAM
Swiss-type lathes and CNC automatic screw machines now have more power and flexibility and better accuracy than ever. As the popularity of CNC continues to grow on these machines, a good computer-aided manufacturing (CAM) system is increasingly necessary to take full advantage of the machines’ true multitasking capabilities.
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Efficient Operation With High-Pressure Coolant
Manufacturers spend millions of dollars on liquid coolants each year to help machine tools cut metal more efficiently. In many cases, however, the effect of this coolant could be greatly enhanced—in some applications by 100 percent or more—by using a high-pressure coolant delivery system.
Read MoreClosing The Loop
We have designed this Buyer’s Guide to be used in tandem with our Web site. The Guide identifies suppliers of specific products and services, but the Web site gives further detail about these suppliers, allowing you to continue your research anonymously until you’re ready to make contact with the companies of your choice.
Read MoreNew Year, New Technology
I’ve been doing a lot of research lately on wireless technology, and the capabilities it brings make it worth serious consideration for companies wishing to add flexibility to their operations while enabling far more rigorous data analysis and inventory tracking functionality.
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The New American Night Shift
Strong customer service is what has made this company successful. However, while keeping the customer happy is a primary goal for American Eagle, it is the customer service it has received that has made the biggest difference. Now, increased lights-out operations are allowing the company to be even more competitive by providing lower shop rates for the customer.
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Riding Out The Storms
After a machine setback in this shop, management got in touch with Ganesh Machinery Inc. (Chatsworth, California). This company offered a selection of machines that seemed to fit well with the needs of G&L, so the two companies worked out a deal on a multitask lathe with bar feeder—the model GH-25M.
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Tool Life Means Spindle Utilization
It is this goal of keeping the machines running that Schwanog LLC (Elgin, Illinois) has set its sites on helping its customers accomplish. Since modifying its direction about 18 years ago to specialize in indexable form tools, the company has been increasing tool life and providing fast turnaround to help shops reduce machine downtime.
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