December 2007 Edition

CAD/CAM

Nightmare on Outer Drive West
Even with 3D visualization, designs can sometimes require nightmarish manufacturing contortions. A shop with the right software and hardware beat the competition in creating a tool to overcome a design bad dream.

CNC

A Sign of the Times
Purchasing a CNC router allowed a sign maker to step into the 21st Century

COATINGS

Quality Never Takes a Tumble at a Finishing Shop
Known for its quality tumble finishes, a company found that it had to design its own finishing line to maintain its reputation

MACHINING CENTERS

Excess Capacity? No Such Thing
A Guyana toolmaker runs a successful Canadian company on the philosophy to be prepared to take advantage of that "golden" phone call from a customer

CAD/CAM

Ford is Driven Lately
Sharing a last name with an auto giant isn't intimidating for a Louisiana native

CUTTING TOOLS

Greasing the Skids for Oil Exploration Production
An oil-industry supplier was wasting time and not meeting its speed or material-removal roughing demands until it found the right insert

LASERS

Tapping the Power of Lasers and Brakes
A shop found speed and precision in the combined power of laser-cutters and press brakes

DEPARTMENTS

Editor's Corner
Creating a succession plan means more than expecting a gold watch

Letters to the Editor

Industry News

From the Shop Floor
Dave details the pitfalls in searching for software

Controlling Interst
Channel CNC offers increased capabilities

Spotlight: Abrasives/Grinding Machines

New Products

The Last Word

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Industry News

Unemployment on the Upswing
The growing number of underemployed workers is painting a grim picture of the difficulties jobseekers are facing, according to the Economic Policy Institute.

Boeing and Machinists Settle Strike
Boeing Commercial Airplanes, Chicago, and striking machinists in Washington, Oregon, and Kansas voted to ratify a four-year contract that includes wages and pension agreements.

FABTECH Pulls 21,000 Visitors
In contrast to the financial news, an unprecedented number of people attended the opening day of the 2008 FABTECH International & AWS Welding Show.

Company Lawsuits Drop in 2008, but Trend Points to Increase
Following two years of reporting declines in the number of new lawsuits and regulatory proceedings – including a drop in large-dollar cases – U.S. companies now anticipate an uptick in new actions and government probes, as well as the need to hire more in-house litigation staff to help manage the expected rise in disputes, according to the 2008 Litigation Trends Survey published by international law firm Fulbright & Jaworski L.L.P.

Manufacturing Consumption Up Before Market Fell
August U.S. manufacturing technology consumption totaled $323 million, according to The Association for Manufacturing Technology and the American Machine Tool Distributors’ Association.

$350K Lunar Lander Prize Awarded
Armadillo Aerospace, Rockwall, TX, earned $350,000 in NASA prize money during the Northrop Grumman Lunar Lander Challenge in Las Cruces, NM.

Lincoln Electric Sees a Good 3rd Quarter
Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc., Cleveland, reported a 39.1 percent increase in third quarter 2008 diluted earnings per share to $1.60 from $1.15 per diluted share in 2007.