PM News: Methods Machine Tools Forms New Group

Methods Machine Tools Forms New Group

Titled “Methods Automation,” Methods Machine Tools’ new group will assist customers in maximizing the performance of their individual machine tools as well as their overall manufacturing processes. The group will study and evaluate the customer’s manufacturing process as a whole and suggest automation opportunities to reduce labor and overall production costs while improving product quality. These opportunities may include robotic loading/unloading of parts or tooling; improved machining methods; and integrating/automating processes such as deburring, cleaning, polishing, inspection, marking (for traceability and documentation), assembly, packaging, sealing, labeling, and more, as well as the transferring of parts between these processes.

Methods appointed Norton Kaplan, who has more than 28 years of experience in manufacturing automation, to head the new group. Visit Methods Machine Tools PM Online Showroom.

THK Manufacturing of America, Inc. has earned prestigious Association For Manufacturing Technology – AMT member status. The company met AMT’s requirement of producing a product line consisting of power-driven manufacturing machinery used in the process of transforming man-made materials into discrete durable goods. THK was also required to demonstrate that the foreign content in these qualifying products does not exceed 35 percent of the qualifying product’s total U.S. revenue. Visit THK's PM Online Showroom.

D&S Wire hired Robert Beebe as the regional sales representative servicing Ohio and Kentucky. Robert brings more than 20 years of experience in the metals industry. Joe Messina is the company’s new production manager. He has more than 20 years of hands-on experience in aviation mechanics/avionics as well as management. Visit D&S Wire's PM Online Showroom.

PartMaker Inc. and Mori Seiki have partnered to provide Mori Seiki users a program for the new Mori Seiki NT turn-mill center. PartMaker CAD/CAM software, in addition, supports the line of Mori Seiki multi-axis lathes. Mori Seiki engineers have tested NC program output generated by PartMaker for programming various machining scenarios on the NT. These scenarios include various turning and milling operations, canned cycle routines and synchronous machining combinations using the machine’s articulating B-axis head and lower turret. Visit PartMaker's PM Online Showroom.

Seco Tools Inc. has appointed Kurt Nordlund as the new company president, replacing Bruce Belden, who retired at the end of last year. Nordlund has spent 28 years with Seco, serving in numerous positions both in Europe and North America.

“We’re working hard to get the basics embedded into the Seco workplace culture—quality, delivery and employee knowledge will be crucial to helping our customers stay competitive,” he says. “We want to do much more than just sell an insert.” Visit Seco Tools PM Online Showroom.

TPS International, Inc. and Manurhin KMX have joined forces to sell and service the KMX line of lathes targeted at manufacturing shafts and spools as large as 32 mm in diameter. Visit TPS' PM Online Showroom.

Dörken Corporation’s European parent firm has garnered the 2006 German Material Efficiency Prize. The award was given to the firm in recognition of its Delta-Proteckt KL 105 microlayer corrosion protection system. The award was presented by Germany’s Federal Ministry of Economics and Technology and is intended to acknowledge significant contributions to the area of material savings, cost reductions and overall process economics. Visit Dörken's PM Online Showroom.

David C. Parry, Ph.D. has been promoted to executive vice president of Illinois Tool Works (ITW). Dr. Parry will be responsible for several ITW groups including ITW Performance Polymers and ITW Fluids. His experience includes more than 25 years of management, marketing and sales in the adhesives, chemical and manufacturing industries. Visit ITW's PM Online Showroom.