July 2008 Edition
INDUSTRY NEWS
Shipments of workholding equipment from the U.S. were $63.6
million for first quarter 2008, up 4.4 percent from first quarter 2007,
according to the Advanced Workholding Technology Group – AWT – formerly the
Workholding Product Group, The Association For Manufacturing Technology.
Workholding equipment shipments within the U.S. by the 36
companies participating in the AWT statistical report totaled $54.8 million
while exports amounted to $8.8 million.
The report from the AWT shows that domestic workholding
equipment increased 2.8 percent and U.S. exports increased 15.3 percent from
year-earlier levels.
The Midwest remained the largest domestic destination with
41.6 percent of total domestic first quarter shipments going to that region,
although this represents a slight decline from fourth quarter 2007.
The Central region gained 1.2 percent, bringing it to 17.5
percent, whereas the Northeast lost 1.2 percent to account for 13.9 percent of
domestic shipments in the first quarter.
The South and West increased shares slightly, making up 16.5
and 10.4 percent of domestic shipments, respectively. Additionally, first
quarter 2008 employment levels were up 0.4 percent from the same quarter in
2007.
The AWT is comprised of AMT members who produce chucks, jaws,
collets, vises, fixtures, and other workholding equipment.
The Modern Applications News Industrial Average – MANIA – tracks 34 publicly traded companies in the metalworking field and compares the companies’ 30-day trend to the corresponding trend of the Dow-Jones Industrial Average for the same period, to compare the movements between the averages
PennEngineering, Danboro, PA, announced a settlement
agreement with Richard Manno & Co., Inc. that resolves allegations that Manno
sold, or offered for sale, products that infringe PennEngineering’s intellectual
property. Details of the settlement agreement were not disclosed.
PennEngineering develops and manufactures PEM self-clinching, broaching, weld,
and surface mount fasteners.
The original complaint was filed November 13, 2007, in
Federal District Court in Nevada. The PEM products in question included PEM
Types SKC, TPS, and FH fasteners.
According to Mark Petty, PennEngineering president, his
company started the litigation to protect its intellectual property rights.
Tesco Technologies Inc., Novi, MI, has dropped the Tesco
identity and will carry the Seco Tools Inc. name. Seco acquired Tesco in 2004.
Tesco was known for its Jabro brand line of tooling, targeted at mold and die,
medical, and aerospace applications. Jabro is a Seco Tools Inc. brand.
What was the Tesco Technologies facility in Hayes, VA, will
remain open and be re-assigned as a Seco Tools sales office.
Seco Tools has corporate headquarters in Warren, MI, and is
part of the Seco Tools AB global organization.
FARO Technologies, Inc., Lake Mary, FL, a maker of portable
computer-aided measurement hardware and software, announced that it acquired an
exclusive license from Dimensional Photonics International, Inc. DPI is a
provider of high-speed, high-accuracy digital shape scanners – for global rights
to develop, manufacture, and sell DPI technology and products. Terms of the
agreement were not disclosed.
FARO expects the transaction to be mildly dilutive to
earnings in 2008 and 2009. The license covers technology and products only – no
personnel or facilities are involved; rights to more than 20 existing and
pending patents; and to technologies developed and patented by the Massachusetts
Institute of Technology.
FARO will establish a new Technology Center of Excellence in
the Boston area, close to the existing DPI team, to ensure technology transfer,
as well as to draw upon the technical talent available in that area. The new R&D
team will fall under FARO’s current engineering organization.
DPI’s proprietary technology – Accordion Fringe
Interferometry – creates a 3D digital model of a physical object’s surface by
immersing it in patterns of light, then recording how the light reflects. Its
non-contact technology can achieve accuracy of 25µ or better in a 500mm field of
view. The technology is scalable, able to scan objects from nano-scale to
several meters in size.
KUKA Robotics Corp., Clinton Township, MI, celebrates its
35th year in the robotics industry with an open house at its headquarters. The
robot manufacturer will showcase more than 15 operating robotic demonstration
cells.
Bernie Sievers, a student at Vincennes University, won the 2007/2008 Innovator of the Future contest from CNC Software after designing and cutting this
steering wheel
CNC Software, Tolland, CT, developer of Mastercam CAD/CAM
software, announced that the winner of its Innovator of the Future contest for
the 2007/2008 school year is Bernie Sievers, a student in the Advanced
Manufacturing Program at Vincennes University, Vincennes, IN.
The contest is designed to help introduce students to
real-world manufacturing by asking them to produce a specific part that would be
judged by a guest from the manufacturing industry. The IOF contest required
entrants to design and cut a steering wheel. Each contestant also had to submit
a written description of the part, such as the inspiration for the design, the
materials used, and other specifications.
The guest celebrity judge for IOF 2007/2008 was the late Boyd
Coddington, known to many from the popular TLC show American Hot Rod.
Runner-up was Kenyon Burrell from Eastern Arizona College,
Thatcher, AZ. His design integrated both aesthetics and ergonomics in a steering
wheel. Alex Beranek and Jordan Hinkson, both from Kenmore Middle School,
Arlington, VA, had honorable mentions with their biohazard symbol steering
wheel.
A recently completed market study from Venture Development
Corp., Natick, MA, focused on shipments of products for on-site industrial
monitoring and control.
The study, RF/Microwave Industrial Wireless Monitoring and
Control Products: For Discrete and Process Manufacturing, Global Market Analysis,
found that the largest share of 2007 shipments of these consisted of products
using proprietary wireless protocols.
- Proprietary in these frequency bands: 5, 4.9, 2.4, and 1.4 GHz; 900, 800, 400, 300, 150-174, 54-108, 72, 27, 13-22 MHz
- IEEE 802.11 Standards: a, b, g, n
- IEEE 802.15.4 Standards: 802.15.4, ISA SP-100, Wireless HART, ZigBee
- Other Standards: Bluetooth, Wireless USB
Those using proprietary wireless protocols accounted for
$339.9 million of the total of $615.5 million, or over 55 percent.
Proprietary networks operating in the 400, 800, and 900 MHz
ranges have been preferred in industrial applications for several reasons.
Industrial applications in large facilities, such as oil and
gas fields or water/wastewater treatment plants, require longer distances, for
which these bands are suitable.
Compared to higher frequency networks, these provide better
propagation – especially through walls and other obstructions – and require
lower transmission power and/or provide longer transmission distances.
The RF components for the products – and thus the products
operating at these frequencies – have lower prices.
Dramatic shifts in shipment shares are expected over the next
four years, with a trend toward greater implementation of standard wireless
networks, and a decline in shipment share of the wireless – RF/microwave –
products using proprietary networks.
VDC forecasts that in 2012 shipments of these products using
wireless standards will account for 56.5 percent of a market valued at nearly
$1.5 billion.
Typical advantages of using standard networks include lower
costs, interchangeable products from different suppliers, and established best
practices.
VDC forecasts that in 2012 the largest worldwide shipment
share will be for products using the IEEE 802.11g standard, followed by those
using proprietary protocols operating in the 2.4 GHz band.
Overall, the wireless Ethernet IEEE 802.11 a/b/g/n standards
accounted for 34.2 percent of worldwide shipments in 2007.
The share is forecast to increase to 36.7 percent of the
total in 2012.
The largest share gain among these is expected for the
high-throughput, broad-bandwidth IEEE 802.11n standard.
Declining shares are forecast for the IEEE.11a and b
standards, with these expected to be displaced by shipments using the IEEE 802.g
and n standards.
The largest share losses are expected for shipments using
proprietary networks in the 400, 800, and 900 MHz bands.
Shipments of products using these are still expected to grow
over the forecast period, however, at relatively slow rates, as these are being
displaced in applications by products using standard networks.
There is also displacement expected by shifts to proprietary
networks in the 2.4 GHz and 5 GHz bands. As the price of components for products
operating in these bands continue to decline, shifts to these frequency bands
follow.
Networking products using these communication bands have
higher data throughput than for those in lower frequency bands and can be used
in all geographic regions.
Small but rapidly growing shipment shares of the products
using IEEE 802.15.4, ZigBee, Wireless HART, and ISA SP100 standards are
forecast.
Sandvik Coromant, Fair Lawn, NJ, a
manufacturer of cutting tools, will increase the size of its
research and development department by nearly 20 percent,
adding 40 new employees during the next three years. Between
its R&D department and the research center for cemented
carbides in Vastberga, Sweden, the company employs more than
200 employees.
Most of the hiring will take place during the remainder
of 2008, with about 20 new positions to be filled during
that time.