Fanuc FA America, the largest CNC sales, service, and support organization in the Americas, is gearing up to celebrate its 35th anniversary on the continent.

"We want to thank our customers for their loyalty over the past 35 years. We take pride in our leading position in the industry and we never take it for granted. We promise our customers in the Americas continuous innovation to remain their CNC of choice in the future" states Tomo Ishibe, President of Fanuc FA America.

On November 29, 1977, Fanuc USA was founded with headquarters originally in Elk Grove Village, IL, to provide service and support for imported machine tools with Fanuc CNC systems. Fanuc FA America has evolved and grown over the years to meet customer demand. Today, Fanuc FA America's current headquarter location in Hoffman Estates, IL, provides customers with a wide range of sales and after-sales service, and support from a single source and supports all of the Americas with 43 offices and service centers throughout the United States, Canada, Mexico, Brazil, and Argentina.

Founded in Japan in 1956, Fanuc continues to contribute to the automation of machine tools as a pioneer in the development of computer numerical controls. Fanuc technology has contributed to a worldwide manufacturing revolution, which evolved from the automation of a single piece of equipment to the automation of entire production lines.
 

Officials at Gibbs and Associates announces that it will participate in four sessions within the manufacturing track at Autodesk University 2012, where it will also have an exhibit. Bill Gibbs, company founder and president, will chair the panel discussion on the future of CAD/CAM, and will be a member of two other panels, one discussing integration and interoperability, and another on CAM selection criteria and considerations. Mario Guerrero, Gibbs’ technical support manager and GibbsCAM trainer, will conduct a hands-on demonstration of a GibbsCAM workflow for making and programming parts for CNC machining.

“We are pleased and excited to support Autodesk in its industry education and forum for discussing topics important to business, design, engineering and manufacturing,” says Gibbs. “Aside from helping manufacturers plan for the future and make critical decisions today, Autodesk University provides us a great opportunity to demonstrate GibbsCAM interoperability with Inventor, and GibbsCAM’s superiority in ease of use, flexibility, and efficiency in programming CNCs of all types, even the most complex multi-axis, multi-task machines, using models created with Autodesk Inventor.”

Early this year, GibbsCAM was certified for Autodesk Inventor 2013, marking the twelfth consecutive year that the software has been certified for Autodesk Inventor, and Gibbs and Associates continues to be an authorized member of the Autodesk Developer Network and an Autodesk Authorized Independent Software Vendor. GibbsCAM offers seamless integration with Inventor, directly reading Autodesk Inventor IPT (part model) files, preserving all color information assigned within Inventor to provide continuity in recognizing and communicating part and feature attributes.

GibbsCAM’s full associativity of geometry, processes, and toolpaths accommodates updates to Autodesk Inventor part geometry and process parameters. CNC programmers can quickly optimize parts and define the process for machining the parts, whether they have simple geometry needing only 2-axis turning or 2.5-axis milling, or complex geometry requiring the latest 5-axis machining centers, multi-task machines or Swiss-style turning centers. Once machining processes are defined in GibbsCAM, they are automatically updated when the Inventor model is revised. GibbsCAM also directly reads AutoCAD DXF and DWG files, enabling use of part geometry to program machining processes.
 

CardioNet Inc., the leading wireless medical technology company with a current focus on the diagnosis and monitoring of cardiac arrhythmias, announces the launch of its new wireless event monitor, wEvent.

Joseph Capper, president and CEO of CardioNet, says the device offers wireless transmission of symptom and activity reporting, providing a better quality of information to physicians than a traditional event monitor.

Following the roll out of MCOTos earlier this year, wEvent marks the company's second major product launch of 2012, but Capper is focused on the future.

"Looking forward, we remain committed to introducing the most advanced technologies designed to meet the needs of an evolving healthcare market," says Capper.

Officials at MedShape Inc. introduce the first surgical use of the DynaNail Ankle Arthrodesis Nail, an intramedullary (IM) nail that contains an innovative internal nickel titanium (NiTiNOL) element. The product represents a breakthrough in that it is the first IM nail to harness the shape memory properties of NiTiNOL, which up to now has been impeded from clinical use due to various technological challenges ranging from basic materials science to manufacturing and device design.

After receiving 510(k) clearance from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, DynaNail was successfully used in an ankle arthrodesis procedure performed by Dr. Doug Pacaccio, DPM, at Valley West Community Hospital in Chicago, IL.

"I was impressed with the performance of the DynaNail device," says Dr. Pacaccio, who is a co-founder of MedShape. "The nail sustains compression across the joint like an external fixator, but because it is inserted like traditional IM nails, it reduces operating time significantly."

DynaNail is expected to become an effective alternative to external fixators for treating limb salvage procedures, as the NiTiNOL compressive element gives the nail unique properties over traditional IM nails. Compression across the joint is important for not only ensuring the joint bones remain in close apposition, but also in promoting healing.

"The NiTiNOL compressive element allows DynaNail the ability to apply sustained compression across the joint on the level of an external fixator. Traditional nails lose compression upon hardware removal or require follow-up procedures to re-apply compression," says Jeremy Blair, team leader for DynaNail. "NiTiNOL gives DynaNail 'shape memory' so that it can automatically transform and adapt to bone resorption minimizing the need for follow-up procedures."