zaxis

The Starting Point for Machine Tool Monitoring: Data Analysis Is an Emotional Choice

For machine shops, the transformation that data-driven manufacturing promises to bring begins with machine monitoring, and there is a human component to this.

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Basics

The Sign on the Wall When I First Met Mark Albert: “When In Doubt, Tell the Truth”

Not just writing, but writing with integrity, is the work and the craft to which Mark Albert gave his career.

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Automation

How We Misread Productivity Gains in the Debate About Manufacturing Jobs

Manufacturing appears to lead other sectors in productivity growth, but productivity measures pick up factors besides automation. Recognizing this fact changes the terms of part of the public debate.

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Automation

10 Ways to Think Differently about Robotic Automation

Take another look: A lot is happening in and around robotic automation. What robots might mean for machining and manufacturing is getting ready to change.

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7 Impressions of IMTS 2018

The up-and-coming technologies hinted at during previous shows have now arrived, and they are being accepted as part of the now-standard means of making parts.

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IMTS: The Name Change Makes Even More Sense Today

With the rapid expansion of additive manufacturing’s place at the show, the biennial event expands well beyond machine tools.

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Automation

For Many Machining Facilities, the Mindset Now Must Be “Radical Automation”

What if there will never, ever be enough talent in your local labor pool to meet the still-growing demand for skilled manufacturing employees? The real challenge might lie in our expectations about how much skilled labor we need. Let IMTS 2018 be the beginning of facing this challenge.

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10 Takeaways about the Industrial Internet of Things

What will it look like for manufacturing to embrace and make use of interconnected hardware? Here are some clues.

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Even My Accurate Predictions Are Wrong

The future does not come in a straight line. Multiple factors affect one another and the final outcome. My prediction that machine shops would see more composites is playing out, but I missed an important means by which this would happen.

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Basics

10 Reasons Why Machine Shops Vary So Much in Quoted Pricing

Many factors explain the potential 10X variation in different shops’ bids for the same machining work.

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JTEKT
Koma Precision
SolidCAM
More blasting. Less part handling.
Hurco
715 Series - 5-axis complete machining
TIMTOS
Paperless Parts
TIMTOS