Although fabricated metal parts are found in all types of products, not all fabricators are open to making multiple types of metal parts. Lancaster, SC-based Industrial Manufacturing Services (IMS), for example, specializes in producing components for OEMs in the heavy machinery industry.

In my June column, I described the magnitude of the skilled workforce problem and some efforts by industry and associations to overcome the problem. This month, I will talk about what federal and state governments are doing to help, and I’ll offer one simple, no-cost, government action that must be implemented immediately.

On June 6, 51-year-old welder Quoc Le died at a railcar assembly plant in Hamilton, ON, Canada, after a 1-ton bulkhead fell on him. Shockingly, it was the third fatal accident at the factory, which is owned by National Steel Car, in the past 21 months.

The Automate Show was held June 6-9 in Detroit. More than 550 robotics and automation vendors exhibited. Here are five new products on display at the event.

If you think banks, insurers and credit card companies are the only enterprises that need worry about cybersecurity, think again.

A slightly crooked painting gets most people’s attention, whereas very few people will notice a car door that is askew by less than a millimeter. Catching that imperfection is often reserved for trained personnel on an automobile assembly line.

Based in Genoa, Italy, Istituto Italiano di Tecnologia (IIT) is one of the best research centers throughout all of Europe. Researchers there focus on several specialties, including robotics, computer vision and optical microscopy.

Because safety is a big concern for bike riders, it is also important to bike manufacturers. This is the case for BMC Switzerland AG, which has designed and built road, mountain and commuter bikes since 1986. 

Recently, I hired professionals to cut down some large, dead trees near my house. I then used a chainsaw to cut the trees into smaller, moveable pieces that I could chop for firewood. 

Traditionally, electric traction motors use permanent magnets made with rare-earth metals. However, materials such as dysprosium and neodymium are a limited resource.