McLean, Va. (April 8, 2019) – Manufacturing technology orders totaled $337.2 million in February 2019, a 15% decline from January and a 7% decline from the previous February, according to the latest USMTO report from AMT. The year-to-date total was $735.2 million, less than 1% off the year-to-date total at this point last year.

“It’s important to look at the February numbers in context. It’s true that order levels declined, but from the second strongest January in the history of the USMTO program. They’re still at good levels compared to this time a year ago,” said Douglas K. Woods, President, AMT. “Other indicators signal continued manufacturing strength. AMT members are generally positive heading into the second quarter; the U.S.-China tariff negotiations look to be moving toward a successful conclusion; and the March ISM Manufacturing PMI showed expansion which beat analysts’ expectations and rallied the stock market. However, uncertainty lingers on issues such as tax, trade, and the budget, and continued inaction in Washington could stall already sluggish growth.” 

While companies in many industries reduced their orders in February, the nearly 50% decline in orders placed by aerospace as well as engine and turbine industries led the downturn between January and February. The automotive sector recorded a modest double-digit uptick. Bucking the general trend, February 2019 had a notable expansion in orders from commercial and service industry machinery manufacturing such as water treatment and commercial cleaning equipment. The big gain was the result of large orders in the Great Lakes area and the West.

Four of the six USMTO regions had fewer orders in February than January, with the largest decline coming from the Southeast. In the West, metal cutting orders rose slightly. However, declines in forming and fabricating lead to roughly stagnant orders compared to the previous month. The South-Central region outperformed all other regions, with orders expanding by over a third from January 2019 led by growth in oil & gas, contract machining, and food processing equipment sectors.

Capacity utilization had a second month of declines in February, settling at 77%, off the post-recession high of 77.8% in December 2018. Despite an increase in orders from the automotive sector, light vehicle sales rebounded to 17.477 million annualized units in March. March Manufacturing ISM Report On Business registered a Purchasing Manager’s Index of 55.3%, an expansion of 1.1 percentage points over February, signaling underlying strength in the manufacturing sector.

SAVE THE DATE: On Thursday, June 6, 2019 at 2pm, EDT, BTG Lab’s Dr. Giles Dillingham will offer insight how to surface sensitive inspections and preparations deliver increased bond reliability.

When you attend this webinar, you will get a review of surface sensitive inspections, a definition of cleanliness for critical applications, a look at variables in medical device surface preparations, and how awareness of these variables permits implementation of simple process control steps that significantly increase bond reliability.

Meet your presenter: Dr. Giles Dillingham has worked in the areas of surfaces, interfaces, and adhesive bonding for 30 years, and has more than 120 publications and patents in these areas. After receiving his Ph.D. in materials science from the University of Cincinnati in 1987, Dillingham worked in the Advanced Composites Laboratory of the Dow Chemical Co. Returning to Cincinnati he worked on plasma processing of materials and adhesive bonding of advanced composites while incorporating and growing BTG Labs since 2001.

Click here to register today.

Bioscientists are moving closer to 3D-printed artificial tissues to help heal bone and cartilage typically damaged in sports-related injuries to knees, ankles, and elbows.

Scientists at Rice University and the University of Maryland reported their first success at engineering scaffolds that replicate the physical characteristics of osteochondral tissue – basically, hard bone beneath a compressible layer of cartilage that appears as the smooth surface on the ends of long bones.

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Sandvik creates smash-proof, 3D printed guitar

Rock stars have been smashing guitars for decades, few with more enthusiasm than Swedish-born guitar virtuoso Yngwie Malmsteen. Global engineering company Sandvik decided to test its cutting-edge techniques by building the world’s first all-metal, unbreakable guitar and letting Malmsteen unleash his smashing skills.

In the film, Malmsteen plays the guitar in front of an excited crowd in a rock club outside Miami – after which he does his very best to destroy it.

Sandvik engineered the smash-proof guitar to demonstrate how advanced, precise, and sustainable the company’s techniques are.

“We don’t make products for consumers, so people don’t realize how far in the forefront our methods are,” says Klas Forsström, president of Sandvik Machining Solutions. “Creating a smash-proof guitar for a demanding musician like Malmsteen highlights the capabilities we bring to all complex manufacturing challenges.”

Malmsteen, named one of the ten greatest electric guitar players in the world by TIME Magazine, is known for his virtuoso performances — as well as the fury he unleashes on his guitars. A master of neo-classical heavy metal, Malmsteen has produced 30 albums and has been smashing guitars onstage for more than 30 years.

“This guitar is a beast! Sandvik is obviously on top of their game. They put the work in, they do their hours, I can relate to that,” Malmsteen says. “The result is amazing. I gave everything I had, but it was impossible to smash.”

Sandvik engineers teamed with guitar designer Andy Holt, of Drewman Guitars, to match Malmsteen’s exacting musical standards and his lightning-fast playing style.

“We’ve had to innovate from the top down. There’s not a single part of this guitar that has been made before. It’s a piece of art, really,” Holt explains. “The weak point in any guitar is where the neck joins the body. Sandvik solved the problem by milling the neck and the main hub of the body as one piece. You could use the guitar as a hammer and it wouldn’t break.”

Several different divisions of Sandvik collaborated to make the instrument. For the guitar’s 3D printed body, Sandvik relied on its expertise in metal powder and additive manufacturing (AM). Lasers traced a design in beds of fine titanium powder, fusing layers of material one on top of the other. The layers, each thinner than a human hair, built up to make the body of the guitar.

“Additive manufacturing allows us to build highly complex designs in small production runs,” says Amelie Norrby, additive manufacturing engineer at Sandvik. “It lets us create lighter, stronger and more flexible components with internal structures that would be impossible to mill traditionally. And it is more sustainable because you only use the material you need for the component, minimizing waste.”

The guitar’s neck and fretboard were machined by Sandvik Coromant in one machine from a solid block of recycled stainless steel.

“Precision was critical,” says Henrik Loikkanen, machining process developer at Sandvik Coromant. “Our software is built on years of experience, giving tool and the cutting data recommendations that helped us mill the fretboard down to a challenging thickness of one millimeter in places.”

The next challenge was to strengthen the fret and neck as they extended into the guitar’s body. That solution took the form of a new, super-light lattice structure that was sandwiched between the guitar’s neck and fretboard. Made from hyper-duplex steel, a recent Sandvik innovation, the lattice structure is the strongest in the world for a given weight.

“Collaborating like this, working together to solve even more complex problems is key for the future,” says Tomas Forsman, product development specialist at Sandvik.

“Our customers’ challenges continue to grow more and more complex. We need to bring our expertise to work hand-in-hand with our partners and customers to invent new ways of meeting those challenges.”

 Just the facts

• The guitar body was produced by additive manufacturing (AM), or 3D printing, a technique involving laser-melting titanium powder in microscopically thin layers
• The guitar’s volume knobs and tailpiece which anchors the strings, were also created with 3D printing.
• Additive manufacturing minimizes waste and cuts transport and warehousing because components can be printed in small series close to where they are needed.
• The guitar neck and hub were made of recycled stainless steel and milled all in one machine in one continuous process.
• Extra material was milled from between frets to meet Malmsteen’s preference for a scalloped fretboard.
• The back of the guitar’s neck is hollowed out from the inside and is only 1mm thick in places.
• Advanced software allowed Sandvik Coromant to simulate milling digitally before the first cut was made, enabling the correct choice of tools, saving manufacturing time and ensuring desirable outcomes.
• Made of hyper-duplex steel, the lattice structure used inside the guitar neck is the strongest structure in the world.
• Only Sandvik makes hyper-duplex steel, combining high yield strength and extreme corrosion resistance unheard of before.
• Before the guitar was built, Sandvik simulated potential impact forces in the same way as car makers digitally crash-test new models.