PM News: May 2011

Matthias Walter is the new chief sales officer for Hydromat Inc. He has been in the machine tool business for 25 years and has a new set of goals to achieve for the company. “We need to be more of a global player,” Mr. Walter says. “And I would like to expand the product portfolio of Hydromat. The ICON products, including the new ICON tripod line-up are both key. These products with their premier technology will contribute to an increase in sales.” 

 

What Mr. Walter is so excited about are the new five-plus axis Parallel Kinematics Machines (PKM), a flexible machining unit called the ICON Tripod, with several sizes being introduced by ICON Technologies. 

 

AMT – The Association For Manufacturing Technology has elected its 2011-2012 officers and directors. The board of directors elected Eugene R. Haffely Jr., general manager, Dayton facility at ATW Automation, as chairman. He follows Daniel D. Janka, president, MAG Global. Mr. Janka will now serve the association as an ex-officio member of its board of directors, along with Ronald F. Schildge, president, Eitel Presses Inc.

 

The board elected Timothy B. Dining, president and CEO, Greenerd Press & Machine Company Inc., to serve as first vice chairman in the coming year. Also elected was R. Stephen Flynn, president, Optical Gaging Products Inc., to serve as second vice chairman and treasurer.

Kim W. Beck, president and CEO, Automatic Feed Co., will continue to serve as secretary. Newly elected to a 3-year term as a member of the association’s board of directors are Larry G. Schwartz, president and COO, Okuma America Corporation, and Richard L. Simons, president and CEO, Hardinge Inc. Both Mr. Flynn and Michael Powell, president, Master WorkHolding Inc., will be returning for a 3-year term. 

 

Ganesh Machinery has expanded the classroom training area at its Chatsworth, Calif., campus to accommodate the needs of its customers. The new 500-square-foot classroom is equipped with computers and projection equipment to facilitate an efficient transfer of the knowledge necessary to make the company’s seven- and eight-axis machines as productive as possible. Harvinder Singh, president of Ganesh Machinery, states, “Our business model relies on the satisfaction of our customers and their ability to get the highest level of performance out of their Ganesh machines.” 

 

Dreyer & Reinbold Racing (DRR) and Hurco Companies Inc. have formed a strategic alliance for the 2011 IZOD IndyCar Series season. Hurco will have a fully furnished Hurco machine shop in the team’s Indianapolis facility and will see its logo featured on the No. 22 car of Justin Wilson.

 

As DRR embarks on its 12th year of open-wheel competition, the team will expand its headquarters by 12,000 square feet to the existing 30,000-square-foot facility and will house a new machine shop outfitted with high-tech milling machines manufactured by Hurco. Dreyer & Reinbold Racing will become a beta site for the company, allowing them to run different types of software before it goes to market. This opportunity will not only give DRR the edge it needs in intense competition, but it will give Hurco the chance to showcase equipment being used in a high-tech market such as IndyCar. 

 

At Focus: HOPE, the momentum is building for young men and women pursuing careers in the machinist trades. The SME Education Foundation has provided $50,000 from the Gene Haas Machining Technology Scholarship Fund to Focus: HOPE for its Machinist Training Institute (MTI), repeating last year’s investment in a program that provides training and education in machining technology.

 

This additional funding of the Haas Machining Technology Scholarship at Focus: HOPE will allow students to attend its newly-updated machinist training program. 

 

“There is a perfect synergy between Focus: HOPE, the scholarship fund and the SME Education Foundation,” says Bart A. Aslin, COO, SME Education Foundation. “Our rhythm of cooperation serves the community, benefits students and their families, and in the long-term, supports our mutual goal for building a well-educated, technically skilled workforce.”

 

Delcam has played a major part in a GKN Aerospace project to supply new electro-thermal ice protection technology for the wings of the Boeing 787 Dreamliner aircraft. The project represents the first application of this technology to a major wing environment.

 

The process is based on Delcam’s machining technology that uses a combination of the company’s machining and inspection software to manufacture complex components to high levels of accuracy on a consistent basis.

 

The staff at GKN was so impressed with the results from the Delcam software that they purchased both the PowerMILL CAM system and the On-Machine Verification version of the 

PowerINSPECT inspection software. Contact Delcam at delcam.com. 

 

PartMaker Inc. has launched a webinar series for manufacturing professionals focusing on the optimal manufacturing and CNC programming techniques for a variety of common families of medical devices. Each webinar is conducted by a PartMaker product specialist with extensive medical device manufacturing expertise. Upcoming webinars are scheduled for May 27 (Spinal Plate Manufacture) and June 24 (Spinal Hook Manufacture). Each webinar is at 1 p.m. EST and is approximately 1 hour in duration. You can see a complete description of these webinars at partmaker.com/medicaldevice.