August  •  September 2005 • Vol. XXIII No. 6 • An Arnold Publication

Industry  News • Executive Hotline

Executive Hotline

Colorado Manufacturing Jobs Up 1% Over Past 12 Months

Colorado’s industrial employment rose 1% over the past 12 months, according to the 2007 Colorado Manufacturers Directory, published by Manufacturers’ News, Inc.

MNI reports Colorado has gained 3,596 jobs since June of 2005, indicating a slight reversal in the downturn the state has felt since 2001.

 According to MNI, Colorado is now home to 7,411 manufacturing companies employing 219,140 workers, ranking it second in the Mountain Plains region by number of manufacturing jobs and plants.

Machine Tool Orders Up Sharply In May

Manufacturers received some encouraging news in June when the latest report on machine tool orders showed a big jump for the month of May.

The report is compiled by AMTDA, the American Machine Tool Distributors’ Association, and AMT - The Association For Manufacturing Technology.

Machine tool orders surged 30 percent in May versus a year ago, and rose by 21.4 percent from April. Year-to-date, orders are up 22 percent versus the same period in 2005.

 Western Region Totaling $56.16 million, May manufacturing technology consumption in the Western Region was 25.2 percent higher than April’s $44.87 million and 71.9 percent more than the May 2005 total. With a year-to-date total of $229.60 million, 2006 was running 48.3 percent ahead of 2005 at the same time.

Mergers & Acquisitions

Intel Sells Handheld Manufacturing Division To Marvell For $600 Million

Intel Corp., facing rough competition and slowing demand for personal computers, is selling its division that makes processors for handheld devices in a $600 million deal announced with Marvell Technology Group Ltd.

Kennametal Continues Divestiture Of Non-Core Operations

Kennametal Inc., a supplier of tooling, engineered components and advanced materials, said  it completed the sale of its UK-based Presto brand high-speed steel assets, and is making progress on the divestiture of its Kemmer Praezision Electronics business. Both dispositions are in line with Kennametal’s strategy to focus on its core technology business, with an emphasis on advanced materials and engineered components.

Parker Hannifin Becomes Majority Shareholder of Taiyo

Parker Hannifin Corporation has become the majority shareholder in Taiyo Ltd., an Osaka, Japan-based manufacturer of hydraulic and pneumatic technologies.

Parker increased its equity stake in Taiyo to approximately 60% by purchasing all Taiyo voting stock previously held by Kyoei Steel Ltd. Terms of the deal were not disclosed.

AMD to Buy Top Graphics Chip Maker ATI

SAN FRANCISCO - Advanced Micro Devices Inc., said it will pay $5.4 billion to acquire top graphics chip maker ATI Technologies Inc., as Intel Corp.’s biggest rival in the market for personal-computer microprocessors attempts to expand its product portfolio.

Under terms approved unanimously by both companies’ boards of directors, Sunnyvale-based AMD will pay $4.2 billion in cash and 57 million AMD shares to acquire all of ATI’s outstanding stock, according to a news release.

 U.S. Aerospace And Defense Industry’s Health Looks Positive For Future

The U.S. aerospace and defense industry’s overall health continues to improve according to The Teal Group’s Mid-Year Market Briefs Report, released recently during the opening of the 45th Farnborough International Airshow.

Revenues are continuing to increase, up 8% in 2005. Although the lowest increase in three years, it remains a healthy growth rate.

Backlog bodes particularly well for future sales. It increased by approximately $43 billion total, a 13% increase for the 15 companies included in the report. The backlog increase resulted entirely from Boeing’s $51 billion boost in its backlog to $160 million. “That rise in Boeing’s backlog from commercial airliner orders promises to maintain growth in U.S. aerospace even if defense spending stalls over the next several years,” said Philip Finnegan, Teal’s Director of Corporate Analysis.

Boeing Delivered 97 Commercial Planes In Second Quarter

Boeing Co. said it delivered 97 commercial airplanes in the second quarter, bringing its total for the year so far to 195.

Boeing said deliveries of 70 of its next-generation 737s made up the bulk of the total. It also delivered 17 of its longer-range 777 jets.

Boeing delivered 28 aircraft for defense operations, including 11 F/A-18 ‘’Super Hornet’’ fighters. Year to date, the company said it has delivered a total of 55.

Airlines have recently been ordering more planes, hoping to replace the older, gas-guzzling portions of their fleets with lighter, more fuel-efficient aircraft. Boeing has been battling with European rival Airbus to meet the demand.

Iron Grip Completes Major Factory Expansion

At a time when all other barbell manufacturers are cutting costs by moving manufacturing overseas, industry leader Iron Grip Barbell Company is bucking that trend and improving quality, durability and efficiency by expanding its U.S. manufacturing operations.

 The company recently completed the third phase of its multi-year expansion plan, which now totals more than 43,000 square feet of manufacturing, warehouse and office space in Santa Ana. The new facility, designed by Iron Grip, features more than $1.5 million in sophisticated manufacturing equipment and includes a wide array of highly automated equipment, designed to improve quality, speed products to market and reduce reliance on outside suppliers.

Pentagon Said Urged to Buy More Lockheed F-22s 

A second study done for the U.S. Defense Department suggests the military should buy more Lockheed Martin Corp. F-22 fighter jets, rather than capping its production at 183 as currently planned, according to a defense analyst and a source familiar with the study.

The Air Force may use the new data to justify a request for more funds to keep producing F-22 fighter jets into the next decade, when Lockheed will begin building its more affordable next-generation Joint Strike Fighter.

Boeing to Close Anaheim Facility Company will Relocate Employees to Huntington Beach.

 The Boeing Co. said July 21 it plans to shut down operations at its space and defense facility in Anaheim by the end of the decade and will begin relocating the more than 3,000 employees there to plants in Huntington Beach. The first waves of employee relocations are slated for early next year and 2008, with the process expected to be completed by 2010, the company said. Boeing employs about 3,700 people at the Anaheim complex, all working on various projects under the company’s Integrated Defense Systems unit. No layoffs are planned at this time, spokeswoman Kari Kelley said. The company said it will begin design and construction for the Huntington Beach site immediately.

Kelly said the Orange County consolidation is the only move planned by Boeing between now and 2010.

Global Diversified Industries Announces $1.2 Million in Contracts

 Global Diversified Industries, Inc.   focused on the modular building industry with emphasis on the education market,  announced that its wholly owned subsidiary, Global Modular, Inc., has won two new orders for school classrooms and science labs, one project in Northern California, the other in the Southern portion of the state, totaling in value $1.2 million.

The Company recently announced that it also had won a $1.4 million contract for 20 modular classrooms in Southern California.

New Dates Announced for the 2007 Northwest and  Pacific Coast Machine Tool Expos.

Cygnus Expositions, the tradeshow division of Cygnus Business Media, has announced that the 2007 Northwest Machine Tool Expo will be held May 16-17, 2007 at the Oregon Convention Center in Portland, Oregon, and the 2007 Pacific Coast Machine Tool Expo will be held November 13-15, 2007 at the Santa Clara Convention Center in Santa Clara, California. Both events are sponsored by the American Machine Tool Distributors’ Association (AMTDA).

“We are pleased to once again offer these biennial shows for the machine tool industry,” says Joyce Lortz, Show Director. “This year should mark the third consecutive year of increases in machine tool consumption. With the continued strength of aerospace and demand for high-tech machine tools for medical equipment, the west coast market is poised for growth. Both the Northwest and the Pacific Coast Machine Tool Expos are uniquely positioned to help both buyers and sellers capitalize on this growth.”

The Northwest Machine Tool Expo is being held in conjunction with the 17th annual Northwest Facilities Expo, while the Pacific Coast Machine Tool Expo incorporates AMTDA’s former California Machine Tool Show. Both Machine Tool Expos will feature the industry’s leading companies showcasing the latest products and services, including metalcutting & metalforming machines, measuring equipment, EDM, tooling CAD/CAM, lasers, cutting tools,  and other manufacturing and industrial products.

“We believe the synergy of Cygnus and AMTDA is an excellent fit for our members in the Western U.S.,” states Jean Bryant, Trade Show and Meeting Manager of AMTDA.

Each Machine Tool Expo will feature a free, comprehensive conference program offering the industry’s latest applications and innovations.

Chick  Sponsors  Richard Childress Racing

Chick Workholding Solutions has announced its product sponsorship of the Richard Childress Racing team.  Chick and RCR joined together as valuable teammates in their shared pursuit of speed, efficiency and innovation.

Richard Childress, one of the most well known names in the sport of NASCAR, continues this legacy by making quality engines for their teams, as well as other teams on the NASCAR circuit. Continuing innovation and development of powerful engines, while still remaining efficient in output, has proven to be a steep challenge for RCR Racing.

EDM Network Selected Chmer EDM  Dealer Of The Year

EDM Network, Inc., with locations in Sugar Grove, IL and Arizona, was selected as Chmer EDM’s Dealer of the Year for 2005. EDM Network, Inc. is the exclusive importer for Chmer EDMs in North America and has been since 2000. According to Ron Vogel, EDM Network’s president, “Sales of Chmer  EDMs has been increasing at an annual rate of almost 25% per year since the 9/11 slowdown. Last year we sold 100 machines, including some refurbished EDMs, the other part of our business.” 

With many Fortune 500 companies—such as: GE Aircraft Engines, Pratt & Whitney, Parker Hannifin, Delphi and many others—now being Chmer EDM customers , EDM Network says it looks forward to continued growth and an increasing market share for Chmer  EDMs in the U.S.

OGP Announces Strategic Move To New Western Region Technology Center

To better serve its customers, Optical Gaging Products, Inc. (OGP) has relocated its Western Region Technology Center to Tempe, AZ. This facility is equipped to support sales, applications analysis, and training for its Western Region customers, and act as a single-source location for all their dimensional measurement needs.

The recently-remodeled 8,000 sq ft facility has an expanded OGP demonstration room that displays models from the entire range of OGP systems with ample space for customer application studies. Two separate multipurpose rooms with LCD projectors for classroom-based product training and/or regional sales meetings are also available. Over a half-million dollars worth of OGP metrology equipment is resident for customer demonstrations.

Advanced Coordinate Technology (ACT), OGP’s representative for Arizona, New Mexico, Colorado, Wyoming, and Montana, is co-located with OGP in this building. ACT is an authorized technical services provider for OGP, supplying training, contract inspection, and engineering services.

The Western Regional Technical Center is located at 615 South Madison Drive, Tempe, AZ 85281.

Mitutoyo America Honored With Ford’s 2005 World Excellence Award             

Mitutoyo America Corporation announced it has received a Ford Motor Company World Excellence Award.  The award was one of sixty World Excellence Awards presented to Ford’s top global suppliers for their performance in 2005. Mr. Tsuyoshi Yamamura, president, Mitutoyo America Corp. accepted the award in a ceremony held at the Henry Ford Museum, Dearborn, Michigan, on May 3, 2006.

The World Excellence Awards recognize suppliers who not only achieve highest levels of cost, quality and delivery, but who also embrace the vision to build on Ford’s legacy of driving innovation to new heights.  Mitutoyo’s award was for Recognition of Achievement in New Consumer-Focused Technology.

“Our World Excellence Award-winning suppliers are integral to our ability to address the needs of customers today and tomorrow,” said Tony (Thomas K.) Brown, senior vp, Ford global purchasing. “We are grateful for their ceaseless concentration on delivering value.”

Mastercam Ranks 1st In Installed Seats Worldwide For The 12th Year In a Row

The most recent analysis of CAM software seats produced by CIMdata, Inc., shows that CNC Software’s Mastercam is once again the world’s most widely used CAM software for the 12th straight year. They have 98,574 installed seats worldwide. CNC Software president Mark Summers says, “There is a lot of competition in the CAM market today, and we are pleased to be at the top again. By constantly changing our software to reflect our customers’ needs, we have worked hard to develop the best CAD/CAM sotware we possibility can.”

CNC Software is the leader in global installed seats among all CAM vendors, including vendors representing many different CAM packages. CIMdata chairman Alan Christman notes, “With 13% of the global market for total industrial and educational CAM seats installed in 2005, CNC Software is the leader on the basis of seats installed. Mastercam is often viewed as the de facto standard CAM software product.”

Ellison California Now Serves Northern Mexico Mori Seiki Equipment Users

Ellison Technologies Southern California has expanded  its services across the border to now represent international machine tool company Mori Seiki in Northern Mexico. The new arrangement  affords manufacturing concerns there easy access to all of the products, programs, and support that Mori Seiki offers.   

Ellison Technologies, formerly called Ellison  Manufacturing Technologies, Inc., specializes in machine tool repair and applications support for a variety of CNC machines and laser marking systems.

Mori Seiki USA, Inc. Establishes New U.S.  Headquarters

Mori Seiki USA has relocated its U.S.  headquarters to Rolling Meadows, Illinois in the greater Chicagoland area. The new Chicago headquarters holds  national responsibility for sales, applications engineering, service, technical communications, training, marketing, administration and automated systems.

Mori Seiki USA’s previous headquarters, located in Irving, Texas, will continue to support its southern customers as one of the company’s seven Technical Centers. Technical Centers provide an additional resource of support for customers and provide training for distributors, ensuring the finest and most responsive support structure in a local setting. The American parts center will remain in Dallas, although Mori Seiki also provides parts, local sales, service and training support through its local distributors.

Matsuura Machinery Corporation and Gibbs and Associaties to Collaborate

Gibbs and Associates, developer of GibbsCAM®, and Matsuura Machinery Corporation, a leading manufacturer of machine tools, announced recently they are collaborating to develop a version of GibbsCAM which supports Matsuura’s new Cublex-25 multi-task machine tool. As a result of  this collaboration GibbsCAM will be able to provide Matsuura customers a factory-approved post processor and machine simulation model that is specific for the Cublex-25 , allowing the machine to go immediately into into production.

The Cublex-25 is a machining center where turning and grinding functions are combined within a 5-axis machining center, allowing it to maintain 100% milling performance. 

The Cublex-25’s extensive process integration capabilities allow high-speed, high-accuracy machining together with extended unmanned operation.

For turning operations, a unique mechanism is used to lock the spindle with a rotary table (C-axis) which is capable of high speed (3,000 rpm) rotation. The rotary table direct drive motor is specially developed for the high-speed rotation required for turning, while maintaining the precision positioning capability required for milling. Additionally, grinding operations are possible through the simultaneous rotation of the spindle and rotary table.

Delcam Acquires PartMaker Developer IMCS

Delcam has recently announced the acquisition the US-based company International Manufacturing Computer Services Inc. (IMCS), the developer of the PartMaker suite of CAM software.  The IMCS range includes applications for the programming of multi-axis lathes, PartMaker SwissCAM (for Swiss-type lathes) and PartMaker Turn-Mill (for turn-mill centres with live tooling), so the acquisition further extends Delcam’s comprehensive family of machining software, as well as reinforcing the company’s position in the U.S. market.

This latest expansion will follow a  pattern similar to Delcam’s acquisition of FeatureCAM last year in that PartMaker and SwissCAM will continue as independent product lines, developed in the U. S., but will be marketed worldwide through Delcam’s network of more than 150 subsidiary and reseller offices in more than 60 countries.

IMCS   was founded in 1991 by Lena Fishman, who is known throughout the CAM industry as the inventor of EX-CAM during her time as the manager of software development at Bridgeport Machines, Inc. The company subsequently specialised in software for more complex turning equipment and has experienced rapid growth in the last eight years as these machines have become more popular.