Companies in the Midwest and Northeast can attend Discover More With Mazak technology and education events.
The first will be at Mazak’s Midwest Technology Center in Schaumburg, Illinois, April 19-21, 2016, from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. The technology and education event will explore how today’s advanced metalworking technologies and data-driven production strategies contribute to productivity gains and improved quality management. https://goo.gl/0moqmK
From models with simple milling and turning capabilities to advanced manufacturing cell solutions, real-world part cutting demonstrations will occur on 25 of Mazak’s tools, many of which will feature the latest ancillary equipment from its Value Inspired Partners.
Mazak application engineers will also be available during the demonstrations to discuss how to solve production challenges. Attendees are encouraged to bring their toughest projects for help in developing optimized machining strategies.
The second event will be at Mazak’s Northeast Technology Center in Windsor Locks, Connecticut, May 3-4, 2016, from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. This event will feature the largest presentation of Mazak CNC machine tools in the region, as well as other innovations for enhancing productivity and versatility on the shop floor. A special day for students will be held on Thursday, May 5. https://goo.gl/P0TqWG
Several Value Inspired Partners will also be on hand to discuss how tooling, fixturing, CAD/CAM, and other peripheral equipment can create total manufacturing solutions. Those attending the event will see Mazak’s Smooth Technology, a process-performance platform that combines the company’s Mazatrol Smooth CNCs with advanced machine design and engineering resources to create ease of use and productivity. www.mazakusa.com
Holt named president of the Americas at Sandvik Coromant
Effective Jan. 1, 2016, Sean Holt was appointed president of the Americas market area. An experienced executive in the manufacturing industry, Holt was a key member of the Americas management team as the vice president of engineering and is now part of the global sales management team reporting to Eduardo Martin, global vice president of sales, whom he succeeds as the head of the Americas organization.
“Sean brings in-depth knowledge to all facets of our industry,” Martin says. “From business development and sales to engineering and R&D, I believe that his experience and skillset will be significant in delivering high-value solutions to our customers.”
“Sandvik Coromant is in a good place with a strong market position and we will continue to build on that. Drawing inspiration from the talented people throughout the company and our network of partners, we will focus on our customers’ needs and ensure that we consistently exceed their expectations,” Holt states. www.sandvik.coromant.com
H&I Mfg. acquired by Spectronics
Bohemia, New York-based H&I Mfg. Inc. has been acquired by Spectronics Corp. H&I became a new division of Spectronics, and its machinery and personnel were moved into the parent company’s 100,000ft2 manufacturing facility in Westbury, New York. Kristian Immoor, the former president and owner of H&I, is now the advanced manufacturing foreman of the new division.
H&I’s machinery, plus the planned acquisition of additional machinery, will boost Spectronics’ R&D efforts while streamlining the output, quality, and dependability of existing products. With Spectronics’ ISO 9001:2008 quality management certification and AS9100 aerospace certification, which H&I did not have, the company will further develop services. www.spectroline.com;www.himanufacturing.com
Encouraging news for manufacturing
Despite market volatility, economic indications from the Credit Managers’ Index (CMI) from the National Association of Credit Management (NACM) are pointing in a positive direction.
A combined reading of 53.5 for January 2016, up from December’s 52.8, “puts the numbers back to what they were in October of last year,” according to NACM Economist Chris Kuehl, Ph.D.
“In general, the CMI report [for manufacturing] is more upbeat than the case in the recent past,” Kuehl says. However, regarding a two-point drop in the rejections of credit applications, “there are companies that are in trouble right now and seek someone to throw them a lifeline by offering credit when that would likely be a bad idea.”
The combined CMI score for manufacturing has improved from 51.6 to 52.5, higher than at any time since last October. The data for the favorable factors showed a jump from 54.1 to 56.2, comparative to levels of last October. The combined index for the unfavorable factors remained unchanged, just as the overall CMI unfavorable index. The reading has remained at 49.9. www.nacm.org
Gosiger, Schütte partner
In an arrangement that supports the sales efforts of Schütte USA, Gosiger High Volume now offers the Schütte line of multi-spindle machines, including 6- and 8-spindle models.
According to Gosiger High Volume President, Mark Walker, “As we continue to support the Euroturn with service and parts, we are excited to offer the innovative quality products of Schütte as a way for our customers to upgrade to the latest technology. These products, along with BTB rotary transfer machines and iFP vacuum solvent parts washing systems, enable us to recommend the most appropriate technology to our customers.” www.gosiger.com; www.schutteusa.com
rConnect Central Communications platform
Officials from GF Machining Solutions have introduced rConnect, a central communications platform for the company’s milling, EDM, and laser texturing machines. Advancing the Industry 4.0 vision of the smart factory of the future, the first phase of rConnect is Live Remote Assistance (LRA), allowing customer-authorized remote assistance by connecting machines to GF Machining Solutions’ local diagnostics center and plants in real time.
Through LRA, unexpected machine downtime is minimized, and downtime is reduced when an issue does occur. LRA allows a manufacturer to interact directly with GF Machining Solutions via audio, video, chat, whiteboard, file transfer, screen sharing, and system access.
rConnect and LRA are powered by an instant virtual private network that allows highly secure access to the machine and is certified with TÜViT Trusted Product Certificate. rConnect and LRA result from GF Machining Solutions Industry 4.0 partnerships with European research institutes. www.gfms.com/us
Delcam’s PartMaker hosts user group tour
A series of user group meetings will be hosted around the country to launch PartMaker 2016. Each event will focus on the more than 50 new features and enhancements.
PartMaker product specialists will be on hand to answer any technical questions. They will also discuss the future of PartMaker’s development efforts and listen to delegates’ input to incorporate into future versions.
It’s a presidential election year, so combing through headlines to find any positive news is challenging. Both sides of the aisle are trying their best to spin the news in their favor. You have Republicans saying the economy is in turmoil, pointing fingers at the current administration. Democrats are walking a tight rope, promoting the positives that have occurred in the last 7+ years while acknowledging there’s room for change, improvements, or a slightly “different” approach. Then again, there’s always room for improvement somewhere, in something.
As I looked into the strength of the medical device manufacturing industry, this, too, was overshadowed by doom and gloom, and glory for only a select few. Headlines claim that manufacturing is struggling, cutting-tool consumption is down, and machine tools sales are off. Then, on the “other side of the aisle” headlines scream how the aerospace and automotive manufacture sectors continue to grow at some of the strongest paces since pre-Great Recession levels. This is true, since our sister publications, Aerospace Manufacturing and Design and Today’s Motor Vehicles, continue to report on the strength of these sectors. The medical device sector is strong, and all indications are that it’s staying that way. While some parts of manufacturing struggle, with just a little digging through headlines, I could find a lot of good news about the medical device sector. It’s not struggling.
Each year medical device regulatory consultant firm Emergo produces a Global Medical Device Industry Outlook. This year’s report notes that, “while economic conditions in Europe, Brazil, Japan, and China remain uncertain, the medical device sector showed resilience in 2015, with firms generally optimistic about their prospects for 2016. In terms of economic and regulatory conditions, 2015 was no cakewalk in terms of performance for medical device firms, but more than 80% of the respondents are expecting improved outlooks in 2016, both for themselves and the industry as a whole.”
Additional key takeaways from Emergo’s study:
North American firms were more optimistic about their prospects for 2016 than European and Asian counterparts – highlighting the strength of the U.S. economy
7% of survey respondents reported sales decreases, down from 19% in 2014
72% indicated that North America had average-to-high growth potential for medical device sales for the next 5 years, only overshadowed by 80% of respondents saying they felt Asia had growth potential
Manufacturing still faces challenges. One is the need for educating and developing the next generation of skilled workers – a key reason AMT – The Association For Manufacturing has partnered with us in the #WhyMFG campaign (www.WhyMFG.com). Another is reducing healthcare costs, which is putting pressure on delivering products at lower price points or innovating products that allow better patient outcomes.
The medical device industry must continue to innovate – all industries must if they want to grow and thrive. So, there’s no better time to take a close look at your manufacturing operations, equipment, and processes; determine where you need to upgrade, improve, or change; and then chart your course for growth now and well into the future. What are your plans to innovate and thrive?~ Elizabeth
Edgecam quote accompanies each Hurco machine tool sale
Stone Machinery, based in St. Paul, Minnesota, now includes a price quote for a license of Vero Software’s Edgecam with each Hurco machine tool it sells.
“Edgecam has broad applications that most customers can use – whether they’re in tooling manufacturing, job shops, high-speed machining, prototyping, or EDM,” says Tom Drazkowski, owner of Stone Machinery.
Edgecam price quotes mark the first time that the 80-year-old company, which serves a base of more than 2,000 customers, has included a software quote of any type of software with sales of its machine tools.
Drazkowski credits the Edgecam Workflow interface for assisting programmers in managing jobs. Stone Machinery performs extensive customer training on both machinery and software, and Drazkowski notes that Edgecam Workflow pairs well with his training methods.
“Workflow ‘thinks’ the same way that we train customers to think with our machine tools,” he says. “They’ve moved past the standard CAM system by treating the work setup as an integral part of the software.” www.hurco.com;www.edgecam.com;stonemachinery.com
Steve Schmidtke appointed group manager for Jergens Inc.’s Workholding Solutions Group
Jergens Inc. officials appointed Steve Schmidtke as the group manager for the Workholding Solutions Group.
“In his new role, Steve will be responsible for all of the Workholding Group’s activities including application engineering, product management, new product, and new market development as well as sales and support of our workholding products through our network of partner distributors,” says Jergens General Manager Robert Rubenstahl.
“I’m very pleased to join the Jergens team and eager to continue the growth initiatives we have in place to support our robust products and technologies,” Schmidtke says.
Prior to accepting this position with Jergens, Schmidtke served in both sales and operations management in this industry and related industries. www.jergensinc.com
CNC Solutions representing Ganesh Machinery
Milpitas, California-based CNC Solutions now represents Ganesh Machinery in Northern California and Nevada. CNC Solutions offers more than 65 years of experience in the machine tool industry ranging from service to applications and sales.
“The vast knowledge of the machine tool industry positions CNC Solutions to provide the best product support in the industry in their market, which perfectly matches up with our commitment to Ganesh customers,” states Harvinder Singh, president of Ganesh Machinery, which makes its machines in Taiwan.
Ganesh manufactures CNC lathes starting at two axes going up to the multi-tasking CNC lathes with 11 axes for complex parts with up to 3" bar capacity.
“Providing our customers with high quality machine tools that allow them to successfully compete in the world economy and then following up with great training and superior service are the means we use to ensure our customers are profitable for years to come,” says Jim Selway of CNC Solutions. www.cncsolutions.biz;www.ganeshmachinery.com
Servometer, BellowsTech acquisition is complete
MW Industries officials announced the acquisition of Servometer and BellowsTech in late 2015. Both companies offer technologies that service mission-critical applications across a variety of markets and that complement each other in terms of size, compatibility, pressure, and temperature capability.
Bill Marcum, CEO of MW Industries, says, “The Servometer and BellowsTech brands have an excellent reputation for quality, technology, material flexibility, and engineering expertise. The companies’ products and workforces are highly complementary to our existing business base, and as part of the MW integrated family of companies, we believe that both Servometer and BellowsTech are better positioned to penetrate and expand in our existing markets, including medical, aerospace, semiconductor, energy, and other industrial markets.” www.mw-ind.com
Plastikos expands, adds automation capabilities
Throughout the last year, Plastikos officials have invested more than $500,000 in automation and robotic centers throughout the facility.
“We are continuing to look at ways to automate our manufacturing-related process,” says Rob Cooney, manufacturing manager at Plastikos.
In addition, a cleanroom assembly area was built within the company’s larger ISO 7 cleanroom with two additional molding machines ranging from 88 tons to 220 tons of clamping force. www.plastikoserie.com
As the end of 2015 was approaching, chatter throughout the medical industry focused on Congress’ work on a spending package that would include a two-year suspension of the 2.3% medical device tax. Well, unless you went off the grid in mid-December, you know that Congress made good on that promise. Getting less attention was the fact that this $1.8 trillion spending bill also includes a permanent extension of the research and experimentation tax credit that expired at the end of 2014.
What do these changes mean to the medical design and manufacture industry?
With the tax credit extension, companies averaging less than $50 million in gross receipts for the prior three years can claim any credit generated against the Alternative Minimum Tax (AMT). Some start-up companies, averaging less than $5 million in gross receipts, can apply the credit against payroll taxes – up to $250,000 per year. This credit supports companies that invest working capital in basic and applied research aimed at creating or improving products. More than 70% of the credit funds R&D worker salaries – high-quality jobs contributing to the national economy – the remainder applied to new plant and equipment investment.
The two-year suspension of the medical device tax – which cost companies tens of millions in lobbying to achieve – will cost the federal government an estimated $3.4 billion between 2016 and 2017, according to the Joint Committee on Taxation. While bringing a significant windfall to the industry these next few years – the Congressional Budget Office estimates it will save the device industry nearly $5 billion – in the long-term, Obamacare needs these taxes for it to work as originally designed. However, until the new expiration nears late in 2017, hopes are that the companies – large and small – that raised device prices and laid off employees to offset the tax burden will take this opportunity reinvest for growth.
Just as this issue headed to press, President Obama vetoed Republican-backed legislation that would have repealed the Affordable Care Act and cut federal funding for Planned Parenthood. As the bill goes back to the Congress, which does not have the votes to override the veto, medtech companies still have two years to see if other attempts will succeed – and with a presidential election this year, anything is possible.
As you read the TMD 2016 Medical Outlook starting on page 20, consider that now is the time to invest in technology, people, and R&D. All indications show tremendous industry growth – with worldwide medtech sales forecast to reach $477.5 billion by 2020, representing a 4.1% annual growth rate. With numbers that strong, 2016 is going to be stellar. ~Elizabeth
Elizabeth Engler Modic
