INDEX Corp.
Prior to heading of for the weekend…and a small family reunion with the majority of family coming to town I have never met in 22 years of marriage into the family…I’m sharing updates from Manufacturing Day (MFG DAY) events that took place last Friday. We’re still interested in hearing from others that hosted events and those planning events later through the month. Let us know how your event went.
Pelican Products celebrates MFG DAY with local high school students
Pelican Products Inc. a designer and manufacturer of high-performance protective cases, temperature-controlled packaging systems, and advanced portable lighting systems, celebrated National Manufacturing Day with local high school students.
“With this event, our goal was to shine a light on the many career paths that manufacturing can offer,” said director of public & media relations Sharon Ward. “It’s important to Pelican to inspire and encourage our next generation of manufacturers."
Local students from Hawthorne High School and the California Academy of Math and Sciences had a rare chance to tour Pelican’s 200,000ft2 manufacturing plant, check out state-of-the-art product building robots, and enjoy presentations and lunch with Pelican’s stellar manufacturing and engineering teams.
TTG Automation hosts middle school students on MFG DAY
TTG Automation (TTGA), a Tooling Tech Group company, hosted eighth grade students from Ida Middle School as part of Monroe County’s Manufacturing Day activities.
As part of their experience, Tyson Stoll, TTGA general manager, led the students on a facility tour explaining the various areas of operations including engineering, machining, assembly, sales and administrative functions. In the machining area, students were guided through the job sequence of a CNC machine and saw the metal cutting process in action.
After the tour, students were provided lunch and viewed two videos, providing them insight into the history of automation and its impact on society, as well as the growing use of robots in industrial applications.
150+ students attend INDEX Corp.’s MFG DAY event
INDEX Corp. held its first MFG DAY event at the company’s North American headquarters in Noblesville, Indiana, Oct. 4, 2019. The event drew more than 150 students from local schools in Hamilton County, providing young people with insight into the benefits offered by a career in the manufacturing sector. Additionally, INDEX formally announced the donation of an ABC production turning center to Purdue Polytechnic Anderson during the event.
Upon their arrival at INDEX’s facility, students were treated to a catered lunch during speeches by Tom Clark, president and CEO of INDEX Corp., Corey Sharp, director of Purdue Polytechnic Anderson, and Noah Dockrey, field service intern at INDEX Corp.
Following lunch, students broke into small groups and received guided tours of INDEX’s facility. Stations throughout the company’s shop floor focused on a variety of subjects, from the advanced technology found in INDEX’s turning centers to common manufacturing tasks to details on the above-average earning potential for students who pursue STEM degrees and careers. Following the guided tours, students had the opportunity to chat with INDEX interns and employees, revisit stations with follow-up questions and participate in a virtual reality experience.
“American manufacturing is undergoing a radical shift,” Clark says. “For many years, manufacturers didn’t do enough to draw talented young people into our industry. As a result, we’re now facing a situation where there aren’t enough individuals going into manufacturing to offset the numbers we’re losing to retirement. At INDEX, our continued success and growth depends on identifying and connecting with young people in our community who are interested in engineering careers and working with advanced technology.”
In recent years, INDEX has fostered strong relationships with local post-secondary institutions such as Purdue Polytechnic and Ivy Tech, both of which participated in the company’s MFG DAY. Flexware Innovation, a Fishers-based engineering firm heavily involved in workforce development, also took part in the event.
The donation of an ABC production turning center follows a deepening relationship between INDEX and Purdue Polytechnic. INDEX has provided internships to multiple students from the college, as well as hired multiple graduates. Valued at more than $350,000, the ABC machine will provide Purdue Polytechnic students the opportunity to learn on an advanced, state-of-the-art piece of manufacturing equipment.
Stiles Hosts Local Schools for National Manufacturing Day
Manufacturing Day is a nationwide event designed to showcase careers in manufacturing while also helping to shift the perception of the industry for future generations. This year, Stiles University hosted the MFG DAY event at Stiles’ headquarters and HOMAG Machinery North America in Grand Rapids, MI.
The event kicked off with a tour of HOMAG Machinery North America, where students witnessed how German-engineered flat table CNC machines are built and assembled right here in the United States.
Following the tour of HOMAG, students visited Stiles Machinery where they had the opportunity to see those same machines in action as members of Stiles’ staff demonstrated how to program and operate them to produce hundreds of wooden cell phone holders. Once the machines had processed the parts, each student had the chance to sand and stain their own cell phone holder which they were able to take home as a memento.
Companies to benefit from integrated Arena, Acumatica environments
Arena Solutions’ partnership with Acumatica – integration from Arena to Acumatica – will extend an organization’s end-to-end cloud environment to help rapidly design, produce, and deliver innovative products.
With Arena’s product lifecycle management (PLM) and quality management (QMS) solutions, customers can accelerate new product launches and eliminate costly errors caused by manually entering information in ERP. This gives engineering, quality, and manufacturing teams a completely connected approach throughout new product development and introduction.
Streamlining the passage of product information from PLM to ERP the instant it is approved by cross-functional teams gives companies a strategic advantage to continually innovate and deliver solutions fast. Once the design of a new product is approved in Arena PLM, all part and assembly information will be automatically passed to Acumatica Cloud ERP, giving procurement and production teams immediate and accurate product record access to speed their planning and manufacturing processes.
Bosch Rexroth demonstrates mechatronics, transport systems, Industry 4.0
Presenting an array of advanced assembly technologies, Bosch Rexroth will showcase its intelligent, step-by-step approach to building the Factory of the Future in booth #531 during The Assembly Show 2019, Oct. 22-24, 2019 at the Donald E. Stevens Convention Center in Rosemont, Illinois. The company will have booth exhibits demonstrating a full range of integrated mechatronics concepts and transport systems that can provide scalable technologies on the path to the Factory of the Future.
Once in the booth, the demonstrations help manufacturers learn about and step through key points on the journey to the Factory of the Future – whether seeking to add digital assistant capabilities to manual production solutions, looking to add modular technology that incorporates new sensors to capture production data, or are ready for full I4.0 connectivity.
Two new products debut during show too:
- Smart Function Kit: This new, modular mechatronics package consists of mechanical components, electrical components and software and is immediately ready for use across a wide range of standardized pressing and joining applications. It’s a smart, complete solution that simplifies product selection and configuration as well as commissioning.
- GoSelect: This new online ordering tool is designed to streamline product selection and make cost quoting a breeze. The user-friendly interface offers pricing and availability on hundreds of products. Users can instantly download CAD drawings which are available in a variety of formats, including PDF3D, STEP, IGES and DXF.