August 2019 U.S. cutting tool consumption totaled $205.1 million according to the U.S. Cutting Tool Institute (USCTI) and AMT – The Association For Manufacturing Technology.
Kennametal Inc., Pittsburgh, has formed a 3D printing materials and production business unit, Kennametal Additive Manufacturing, as part of its Infrastructure segment.
Kyocera Precision Tools, Hendersonville, N.C., has introduced a CVD Coated Cermet Grade for production in a wide range of finishing applications. The CCX Grade is a new technology composed of a unique, high-strength cermet insert with a thick layer of CVD coating.
Hard turning has long been used for finishing when it comes to high-volume applications. Now, tooling suppliers have pushed cubic boron nitride (CBN) insert technology further, with geometric innovations that further increase the efficiency—and cost-effectiveness—of hard turning.
The keynote for Haimer USA’s May Open House at its headquarters in Villa Park, Illinois, was delivered by President Brendt Holden, who remarked that his company’s toolholding and related products are designed to provide consistent setup for their customers’ machining jobs.
More and more manufacturers are seeing productivity as a crucial factor to their business success. In the meantime, business models are changing from the large quantities and few variants to small quantities with frequently changed variants. This change requires high flexibility during production.
Manufacturing got smart when companies figured out how to make products in one market and sell them in another. Today, we call this supply chain logistics. But somewhere along the way, the innovation chain connecting supply (manufacturing) and logistics (the supporting infrastructure) started to diverge.
Makers of workholding devices face a moving target. The machine tools they work with are changing. There’s more high-speed machining. More high-feed machining. More multi-axis machines. New uses of coolant to reduce temperatures during cutting operations.
The concept of attaching data to CAD models, such as GD&T, seems to be growing. Using model-based definition, the industry is beginning to take advantage of the technique.
Machine tool orders fell slightly on a monthly basis in July but posted a solid gain compared with a year earlier.