FEATURES

Critical Skills For Effectiveness

Today's business and competitive world is different than it was even a couple of years ago. Are we using the right tools to maximize our effectiveness today or are we still using yesterday's tools because we are comfortable with them?

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European Environmental Directives Impact The North American Machining Industry

The PMPA Technology Services Department has recently published a technical overview of five European directives and regulations. The report is available only to PMPA members.

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Interaction With An Auditor

A recent PMPA Listserve thread indirectly referred to the role of the outside auditor. Are such auditors called in to measure you to the standard to which you are trying to be certified or are they there to provide advice and direction? How should your management representative interact with these auditors?

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Turning Machines

Meet The Multi-Center

How shops use the multi-spindle machine tool is changing. Complex workpieces, shorter production runs, rapid change-over and single part handling reflect the new reality of multi-spindle production. Builders are responding to these changing needs with new ways to make the multi-spindle machine more profitable, useful and efficient.

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Member Profile: Teton Machine Company

Teton Machine Company began in 1952 as a small tool and die shop in Jackson Hole, Wyoming. Named for the surrounding Teton mountain range, the company was originally located in the basement of the founder's house. Eventually, the operation outgrew that space and, in 1979, was purchased by current owner Rick Rupp.

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Multifunctional Tool Brings Immediate Savings

What would it be worth to a shop to address a problem job in the morning and by afternoon, be running it 40 percent faster? That was exactly BVR Technologies’ (Rockford, Illinois) situation in regards to a standard carrier—a turned part they were machining on a regular basis.

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Revisiting An Intriguing CNC Multi-Spindle Experiment

Otto Engineering is a manufacturer of mechanical switches and related products. The vertically-integrated company has its own machine shop, which produces many of the switch components that supply the company’s assembly lines. Like most other manufacturing firms, Otto was looking for ways to cut costs and improve the efficiency of its manufacturing operations.

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Medical

Software Meets Shop's Multitasking Machine Programming Needs

Structure Medical is not new to the medical supply industry; it is a spin-off of a company called Inovo, which is a manufacturer of oxygen regulators used in hospitals, nursing homes and the like. Inovo’s principals had been looking for growth opportunities.

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Swiss-Types

Forming Hex Holes For Bone Screws

Close tolerances and quality surface finish are critical in successful medical machining. To meet such requirements in broaching titanium and stainless steel bone screws, with machined depths ranging anywhere between 0.080 and 0.150 inches, Hassay Savage Company (Turners Falls, Massachusetts) has recently developed an indexing-broach process using four-point or two-point punch broaches for use in Swiss-type CNC lathes.

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