Robot integration and automation has come into the reach of small and medium-sized manufacturers. But utilizing this technology in low volume, high mix environments is still hard. That is where the AGMA Robotics & Automation committee comes in to provide members with the latest information on technologies that may assist. Join us next week for this webinar with READY Robotics Co-Founder, Kel Guerin to learn how software can assist you by taking the coding out of the equation of robotics integration. 

Gain a basic understanding of steel and its properties. Learn to make use of steel properties in an application and understand the potential that different steel and heat treatment options can offer. Explore how performance of the material depends on how the steel is produced.

This course is specially designed for engineers and others with technical backgrounds that have had limited exposure to bearings and need to adapt their technical training to bearings or seek an upgrade to their technical knowledge. The Essential Course focuses on understanding basic internal geometry, tribology, bearing attributes and applications and explores the basic concepts around manufacturing methods, loads, internal load contacts, lubrication and failure.

AGMA is hosting its first live event next month. This is the last chance you have to join us at the SRN. This future leaders conference includes an in-depth contract negotiating class, leadership presentations, lots of networking and culminates with a tour of the Clemson Wind Turbine test facility. 

Press Release
Economic activity in the manufacturing sector grew in April, with the overall economy notching an 11th consecutive month of growth, say the nation’s supply executives in the latest Manufacturing ISM Report on Business. 

Gear Solutions
In the design of transmissions, the high demands on running and noise behavior are fulfilled by specific topography designs, therefore a compromise must be found between low gear excitation, sufficient load carrying capacity and high efficiency.

Press release
QuesTek Innovations LLC announced that it was awarded $1.1 million in Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase II funding from the U.S. Department of Energy. The funding will be used to design, develop and qualify a novel materials solution and process for next generation molten salt reactors. 

Engine + Powertrain Technology International
Israel-based Aquarius Engines has developed a hydrogen-fueled version of its single-piston, linear engine design. The company states that it has successfully tested the engine and feels that its lightweight design and unique internal-gas-exchange method can significantly reduce emissions in vehicle applications. 

Engine + Powertrain Technology International
UK-based Swindon Powertrain originally forged its reputation in motorsport, most notably the British Touring Car Championship (BTCC) and World Rally Championship (WRC), where its engines have been responsible for a plethora of race wins. However, in recent years, it has branched out to mainstream automotive development, including electrification, playing to its strengths by catering primarily for niche vehicle applications.

Engine + Powertrain Technology International
Stephan Winklemann, the president and CEO of Lamborghini, has unveiled “Direzione Cor Tauri” (Toward Cor Tauri), a roadmap that outlines company plans for the decarbonization of future models. Furthermore, the company’s Sant’Agata Bolognese manufacturing site will adopt a new approach to improve its facilities and environmental sustainability. Cor Tauri is the brightest star in the Taurus constellation and is said to represent Lamborghini’s move toward an electrified future.

Science
The quest for planar sp2-hybridized carbon allotropes other than graphene, such as graphenylene and biphenylene networks, has stimulated substantial research efforts because of the materials’ predicted mechanical, electronic and transport properties. However, their syntheses remain challenging given the lack of reliable protocols for generating nonhexagonal rings during the in-plane tiling of carbon atoms. 

Chesapeake Bay Magazine
You may not know the name Brunswick Corporation, but you certainly know its boating brands — think Mercury engines, boats like Boston Whaler and Sea Ray, parts and accessories like MotorGuide and Lenco, and Freedom Boat club.

Business Facilities
Hydro-Gear officials announced today that the power equipment drive systems manufacturer will locate a new operation in Carroll County, TN. Hydro-Gear selected Huntingdon, TN for its fourth U.S. location, where it will invest $10 million to create 375 new jobs. The company also has a corporate office in Williamson County.

Wired Magazine
A team at the University of Pittsburgh needed a volunteer to test whether a person could learn to control a robotic arm simply by thinking about it. This kind of research into brain-computer interfaces has been used to explore everything from restoring motion to people with paralysis to developing a new generation of prosthetic limbs to turning thoughts into text. Companies like Kernel and Elon Musk’s Neuralink are popularizing the idea that small electrodes implanted in the brain can read electrical activity and write data onto a computer. 

Manufacturing.net
In a resource-constrained world, there is a noticeable trend of companies opting into the circular economy model. For manufacturers, the shift involves a move away from the “take-make-dispose” linear economy and a step towards increased responsibility over the total lifecycle of a product and its environmental impact. But to close the loop, manufacturers need to embrace change and learn to adapt their processes and products.

Daily Herald
Forced into a new situation by the COVID-19 pandemic, the Illinois Manufacturing Excellence Center in Park Ridge decided to try something new. The IMEC decided to write a book, for Illinois manufacturers, by Illinois manufacturers. The book — Made in Illinois: A Modern Playbook for Manufacturers to Compete and Win — not only is a new concept to the IMEC, it’s something that similar organizations in other states haven’t tried.

Physics World
Tungsten has many excellent properties. It resists corrosion and its melting point of 3422 degrees Celsius is the highest of all metals, making it an ideal material for components that operate at extreme temperatures. There is a problem, though: it is highly brittle at room temperature, which means it is hard to process using conventional techniques. Researchers at the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT) in Germany have now addressed this problem by adapting an additive manufacturing technique called electron beam melting (EBM) for use in tungsten processing. The resulting crack-free metal could be used in high-temperature components such as rocket nozzles, heating elements for furnaces, or parts for fusion reactors and medical imaging systems. 

KnowTechie
For many years now, CNC machining has been the go-to precision manufacturing method. This process involves using computer software to move tools and machines for the creation of parts. However, there is a new contender in the picture — Metal 3D printing.

Benzinga
Hexagon, a global leader in sensor, software and autonomous technologies, and Plex Systems, the leader in cloud-delivered smart manufacturing solutions, have announced a new strategic partnership. The global partnership will enable Hexagon’s Manufacturing Intelligence division and Plex to co-sell Plex MES to Hexagon manufacturing customers, helping them to take control of the plant floor through fully visibility and connectivity and realize the promise of Industry 4.0.