Maier USA Establishes North American Headquarters

Maier USA LLC was established in March and is now operating out of Webster, Massachusetts, in a technology center that will also serve as the company’s North American headquarters and warehouse. The building features a technology center with machines for sale and machines used for customer application testing, training and support. The headquarters will also be used for distributor training, user seminars, warehousing of machines and a full spare-parts inventory. Contact Maier USA at (978) 460-5371.

Tornos Group has acquired 95 percent of the share capital of Almac SA and 100 percent of Almatronic SA. The two companies are located in La Chaux-de-Fonds, Switzerland, and manufacture products complementary to Tornos’ existing product lines. Almac develops, manufactures and markets CNC machining equipment for small, high-precision parts. Its machines are used to produce parts for the medical, dental and semi-connector industries. Almatronic specializes in CNC controls and programming used in Almac machines. “Almac shares our target markets and its products are complementary to our existing lineup of machines,” says Willi Nef, vice president of worldwide sales and marketing for Tornos. “This acquisition will allow us to offer our customers a more comprehensive solution to their micromachining needs.” Contact Tornos by visiting www.tornos.com.

Robert K. Simpson will become the president of AMT - The Association For Manufacturing Technology, on October 7 this year. He joins the association in June and will work in transition with President John B. Byrd III, who is retiring after 5 years with AMT. Simpson has worked for 25 years in manufacturing operations and has significant international experience. He most recently served as corporate vice president and president, global plastics machinery, for Milacron Inc. Contact AMT by visiting www.amtonline.org.

Gibbs and Associates announced that the SkillsUSA competition team from the NTMA Norwalk and Ontario facilities took home the gold medals for CNC mill and CNC lathe categories from the SkillsUSA 2008 California State Competition held in Fresno, California, on April 12. This latest series of wins is a repeat of the team’s exceptional performance at the California SkillsUSA Region 6 competition, where they won all 12 medals, gold, silver and bronze, across four categories—CNC Mill, CNC Lathe, Conventional Mill and Lathe, and Conventional Mill. In recognition of their gold medal wins at the California State Competition, the students were presented with seats of GibbsCAM software. Contact Gibbs by visiting www.gibbscam.com.

Haas Automation opened two new Haas Factory Outlets (HFOs) in India to accommodate the country’s booming manufacturing economy. One outlet has opened in Bihwadi (near Delhi) and another in Ahmedabad, increasing the number of HFOs in India to four, with a fifth scheduled to open in Chennai. According to Haas business manager for Asia, Justin Quan, the Indian economy is remarkably strong. “It already has the largest forging facility in the world,” he says. “India has about 8- to 9-percent growth in GDP each year, and this year should be no different.” Contact Haas by visiting www.haascnc.com.

DP Technology is remodeling and expanding its corporate headquarters. With the acquisition of an adjoining structure, the 12,000-square-foot building that has served as the company’s headquarters since 1989 will undergo a complete reconstruction and be expanded to almost 20,000 square feet. This face lift will include the remodeling of the two adjoining buildings, resulting in a 70-percent increase in overall office space to create a more efficient and spacious working environment. Construction should be completed by late August. Contact DP Technology by visiting www.dptechnology.com.

Bryn Edwards is the new vice president of aftermarket services for Xspect Solutions Inc. He most recently worked for Carl Zeiss IMT Inc. where he had been director of aftermarket services. Prior to that time, Mr. Edwards held various other upper-level management positions, throughout a 25-year period, including president and CEO of Automation Software, president of LK, vice president of aftermarket services for Brown & Sharpe, and vice president of marketing for Cincinnati Milacron.