I just read a provocative book called The Walk by Richard Paul Evans. It’s hokey and a bit contrived, but I still recommend it, if just for the epilogue, which I will now recount.

A master and his apprentice are traveling the countryside. The master sees a ramshackle hovel and commands his apprentice to knock on the door to ask for food, which he dutifully does. The poor peasant with five children answers the door and says, “I have meager food but I will spare what I can. Our little cow provides us with some milk. Here is some cheese and a crust of bread.”

The apprentice goes back to the master with the food and tells of the man’s poverty and his little cow. The master tells the apprentice to find the little cow and take it. The apprentice protests but does what the master commands. He brings the little cow to the master who then says, “lead the little cow to the cliff and push her off.” The confused apprentice reluctantly follows the order.

Years later they return to the area, and the master sends his apprentice to the peasant’s house to once again ask for food.

The apprentice goes to the site of the hovel and sees a beautiful villa surrounded by other substantial homes. He fears that the poor farmer has died or been foreclosed upon. He knocks on the door and a servant answers. The apprentice asks about the man who used to live on this land. The server then brings down a distinguished gentleman.

“What happened to the poor farmer?” The apprentice asked.

“I am that man,” he said. “A few years ago my little cow who used to provide us a bare living ran away. At first we were terrified, but our family realized we had to go out and work hard, and be resourceful and we prospered far beyond our greatest expectations. The best thing that could have happened to us was losing our little cow.”

Question: Do you have your own little cow story?

Little Cow

DuPage Machine Products President, Dave Knuepfer

Dave, do you consider DuPage Machine Products a job shop?
We’re still a traditional job shop. We run 5,000 and 500,000 pieces, but we’re not always profitable doing that. I have thought about changing the mix, and we’ve gotten more into dedicated and longer runs, but we’re still dealing with shorter runs, and I don’t think we make money on those jobs. I know you want to know about the economics of buying an Index. Why would somebody spend $1.4 million on an Index machine? The way I see it, at least for my survival, it is the only way we can survive as DuPage. We must get into a niche, and that is not doing commercial work.

How do you define commercial work?
I consider commercial work hardware-type parts, home appliance, plumbing; not the techy stuff that you’re grinding and lapping and honing. I think hardware will be gone from this country, certainly in our lifetime. We had several million dollars worth of commercial work in fire suppression systems for restaurants, which we ran for years. It was a couple of nuts with different types of washers on them – Screw Machine 101. The customer came to us 3 or 4 years ago and said, “We’re going to go to China with this thing.” At one time, we shipped 100,000 of these into one of their 15 warehouses throughout the country. We said, “Listen, we will add some value. Rather than ship 100,000 of these for you to assemble, we will assemble, package them in your bag and identify the part number, and when the Denver warehouse needs 15, we will send them 15.” Out of sight, out of mind. That bought us about 2 or 3 more years; it finished last year. $2 million worth of business they could buy delivered here for about $1 million. They would have been foolish not to shift. I don’t think there is any future for that type of work in this country unless you’re interested in just getting along and not making a reasonable rate of return on your investment.

You’ve chosen high-volume, high-precision.
It’s not all high volume to begin with. We hope it matures into that, but it is certainly high-precision. That’s how you afford an Index. We went with the Index for two reasons; one was to get that high-volume, high-precision dedicated part; and the other was to run a family of parts. We run a family of hydraulic cages, and these parts run anywhere from 500 pieces to maybe 7,000 to 10,000 pieces a week per part. Our biggest problem was the big run that ran 10,000 pieces a week. We were running 50,000 pieces and couldn’t get to the next job because we had all this production time, and everything was waiting in the queue before we ran the 50,000 pieces off. With the Index we can run 10,000 pieces or 2,500 pieces, switch over to a similar part where we run the same size stock, and it reduces our inventory. But more importantly, it reduces that queue time, where we couldn’t get to the next job because the machine was tied up with a job and we couldn’t ship for 4 or 6 weeks.

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The Honey Crisp apple season will begin with the Labor Day weekend. Honey Crisp is the apple that has overwhelmed the Golden Delicious, Macintosh, Pippin and Gala varieties in the hearts and palate of the applistas who frequent farmers’ markets in search of the perfect pomme.

Count me as an apple knocker with credentials.

I have traveled to the orchards of Wenatchee, Washington; Logan, Utah; Laporte, Indiana; and Honeoye Falls, New York, searching for apple succulence, but in the mountains of North Carolina I found my best Apple anecdote if not the tastiest fruit.

I stopped at a roadside stand near Asheville where a young woman was selling Winesaps—not my favorite variety but a presentable late season species. I always like to talk to apple sellers for tidbits about their growing approaches. The Winesap lady told me her story gladly. She said her husband was a minister and they knew they never would make a lot of money. When their children were born they planted apple trees under their homestead. They tended to trees with great care, and after five years began to get apples.

Their plan was to let God’s bounty pay for their children’s college education. She said they took a portion of the proceeds of each year’s crop to buy more trees, and the Apple reinvestment plan was working just as she had hoped.

I hope they planted Honey Crisps before they caught fire in the market. If they did they probably could afford Harvard.

Question: What is your favorite variety of Apple?

Stayman Winesap Apple

For over 50 years, SPI has continuously introduced exciting new products to the market while keeping three principles in mind: Precision, Quality, and Value.

The catalog also features over 1,000 SPI brand precision tools and gages that ship with a certificate of calibration traceable to NIST or NPL. A symbol notates these items when they appear in the catalog.

“To be competitive in today’s market, manufacturers need to be entirely confident in the precision of their measurement tools,” says Allan Neuman, General Manager of SPI. “With this new program, we’ll be providing customers with a definitive guarantee that their tools are of high quality, defect free, and comply with the required standards. This results in savings of both time and money.”

To order MSC’s 2010 SPI Precision Measuring Catalog, please visit http://www.mscdirect.com or call 800.645.7270.

The new specialist software from PartMaker provides more realistic simulation of the machining processes carried out on Bar Fed Mills with unique architectures from such leading builders as Willemin-Macodel, Bumotec, Chiron, Mazak, Star, Tornos-Almac, Stama among others. Bar Fed Mills are a unique breed of mill-turn centers that combine the continuous production capability of traditional bar-fed turn-mill center with platform of a vertical machining center.

PartMaker CAM software has a unique ability to automate the programming of Bar Fed Mills as a result of the blend of two unique technologies it employs. For parts with features requiring 2-axis, 2 ½ axis, 3-axis and 3+2 machining, the software employs a patented “Divide and Conquer” programming strategy to automate programming. PartMaker’s Patented Divide and Conquer technique makes programming the multi-axis operations found on a Bar Fed Mill easier by allowing the programmer to break the part down into a series of simpler operations. When a part requires simultaneous 5-axis programming, PartMaker is able to integrate the extraordinarily sophisticated 5-axis machining strategies found in PowerMILL, Delcam’s industry leading CAM system for automating the programming of complex shapes like turbine blades.

PartMaker users of Bar Fed Mills have already been able to take advantage of this unique combination of technology for some time. The new version of PartMaker, to be previewed at IMTS, will take users to another level of productivity by allowing them to simulate the very unique kinematics of Bar Fed Mills in the PartMaker 3D Simulation environment.
“We at PartMaker Inc. see Bar Fed Milling technology as a major part of the future of complex, small parts manufacturing,” says Hanan Fishman, President of the PartMaker Division of Delcam Plc. “These machines are effectively miniature “machine shops in a box”, allowing users to produce highly complex, tight tolerance parts with minimal set-up time.”

“Programming these machines also raises unique challenges from a tool path development, simulation and post processing perspective. As a result, we have invested heavily in R&D to create a CAM solution specifically tuned to the needs of the users of Bar Fed Mills,” says Fishman. “Already, many of our users, especially those in the medical device arena are benefiting from these developments, and the improved simulation which will be available in PartMaker Version 2011 will allow our users to be even more productive.”

In addition to the improvements made in the simulation of Bar Fed Mills in PartMaker Version 2011, the company is also introducing a new 3D CAD system at IMTS 2010 called the PowerSHAPE Companion for PartMaker. While this new product is not directly related to automating the programming of Bar Fed Mills, it will be especially helpful to users using such machines to program 5-axis simultaneous operations by allowing them to create, manipulate and repair 3D geometry to facilitate more efficient 5-axis machining operations.

More on PartMaker
PartMaker is a Knowledge Based Machining system, allowing it to provide a substantial gain in programming efficiency by remembering the tools, material and process information necessary to machine individual part features. It thus relieves the user from reentering the same features information for subsequent parts. It also improves productivity by placing the emphasis on tool management functions.

PartMaker pioneered the field of CAM software for Turn-Mills and Swiss-type lathes with its patented Visual Programming Approach for programming multi-axis lathes with live tooling. It assures quicker learning and easier use. It makes an extensive use of pictures to help the user describe tools, part features and machining data. Synchronization of tools working on multiple spindles is achieved by a few mouse clicks.

PartMaker Inc. is a subsidiary of Delcam Plc, the world’s leading developer and supplier of complete CAD/CAM software solutions. Delcam Plc is publicly traded on the AIM exchange in London. While PartMaker is sold direct in North America by PartMaker Inc. PartMaker is sold overseas through a network of sales partner offices operating in over 120 countries.

Sudeep Reddy and Neal Lipschutz break down comments today by Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke on the U.S. economy and look at what’s left in the Fed’s arsenal. Plus, Microsoft Co-Founder Paul Allen Sues Google and others over patents.

From the Wall Street Journal

The new facility will be dedicated to laser additive (laser cladding) manufacturing, a process used to improve the mechanical and corrosion resistance properties of a wide range of parts. With drive through and dock height access, the building will have the capacity to lift and manipulate parts up to 3.5 tons. It will contain laser cladding equipment capable of processing parts up to 40 feet long. The facility’s location near Bradley International Airport and major highways makes it easily accessible to customers.

“We are excited to open this new facility in response to our growth in this area,” said Dave Hudson, company president. “The new wholly-owned division of Joining Technologies is expected to add several jobs over the next year.”

In addition to the state-of-the-art manufacturing facility, the building will also be the future home of a laser additive technology institute, North America’s first and only center of excellence for laser additive manufacturing.

The joint venture with a leading European-based authority on laser additive manufacturing processes will focus on laser additive processes for original equipment manufacturers (OEM’s) in the aerospace, power generation, marine engine, and other high value industries. Research and development will be conducted to produce methods and parameters to repair high value parts and put them back into service or create new parts using laser additive processes.

At FABTECH, FANUC CNC America will be demonstrating a stamping press simulation utilizing a main ram controlled by a FANUC large servo motor and an additional servo controlled die cushion. This configuration optimizes the advantages of a servo controlled press.

In metal forming and injection molding, servo systems are being utilized as a replacement to hydraulic actuators or a constant speed motor with flywheel. The machines that see benefits to large AC servo motors are those that require higher precision or flexibility. A large servo system improves productivity and provides a rapid ROI when compared to hydraulic or flywheel based machines.

General benefits to a synchronous servo solution:

• Controllability – Using advanced digital drives makes a high degree of controllability possible.
• Reliability – No brushes, servo values, etc., to fail.
• Long Life – Only the bearing life limits the overall lifespan.
• Higher RPM – Using a PWM drive makes higher speeds possible.
• Accuracy – Fully closed loop systems. FANUC large servo motors come standard with a 1 million PPR encoder with a 16 million PPR option.
• Acceleration – The rotor can be lower weight and utilize rare earth magnets easily lowering inertia and increasing torque. These factors allow these motors to accelerate rapidly.
• Energy Savings – Power line regeneration during deceleration saves up to 50% over a hydraulic or standard electric system.
• Environmental Concerns – Noise, oil use and shop air are all reduced.
• Safety – The control system can utilize redundant monitoring of critical components needed to be compliant with machine safety requirements.
• Maintenance – The control system contains many diagnostics and messages reducing the mean time to repair.

FANUC CNC America offers servo motors up to 530KW peak power output. Up to 4 drives can be used to control one motor and up to 8 motors can be driven in tandem to provide large design flexibility and output power that can control the very large stamping presses. All our motors use digital drives, are PWM controlled and all the large motors use power line regeneration for lower cost of operation.

FANUC servo technology has won awards for its technology and energy savings abilities.

As a subsidiary of FANUC LTD., FANUC CNC America is the exclusive provider of industry leading FANUC CNC systems and solutions in the Americas. FANUC CNC America provides a one-stop shop for comprehensive CNC solutions including industry-leading control systems, a complete range of reliable drives and motors and turn-key CO² laser solutions. FANUC CNC America also offers world-class engineering support, genuine FANUC parts, repair and factory automation solutions and training programs.

For more information, visit us at FABTECH, Booth #2353 or contact FANUC CNC America, 1800 Lakewood Blvd., Hoffman Estates, IL 60192, phone: 1-888 FANUC US (888-326-8287), e-mail: fanuc.marketing@fanuccncamerica.com, website: www.FanucCNC.com.

John Ratzenberger

John Ratzenberger is best known for his role as Cliff the mailman on Cheers. Today he hosts Made in America, a documentary-style television show on the Travel Channel in which he travels around the United States visiting American manufacturing companies and meeting factory workers. He also recently started the Nuts, Bolts and Thingamajigs Foundation to encourage and help kids develop the manual skills required to work in the manufacturing industry.

NG: John, tell me about your family background. What did your parents do?
JR: I grew up in a factory town. My mother worked in a factory, my dad drove a truck. I was a carpenter before I became an actor.

NG: Like Harrison Ford?
JR: No, No, everyone says that, but Harrison Ford was a different kind of carpenter. I was a house framer, he was a fine carpenter. I actually did it for a living. I traveled around the country and throughout Europe building houses before I became an actor.

NG: Why did you start the Nuts, Bolts and Thingamajigs Foundation?
JR: Traveling with my show, Made in America, it occurred to me after about 50 factory visits that the biggest problem [our country] is facing is the fact that kids now come out of high school without any manual skills. The average age of a factory worker is 52-years-old. So in six to 10 years, that’s it. And without people who manufacture things, there is no civilization. It’s over.

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Race to 100 MPG

The disastrous blow-out of BP’s well in the Gulf of Mexico is expected to have a devastating, long-term impact on everything from marine life to the region’s tourist industry. If there’s an upside to the murk of spilled crude it’s the way the catastrophe is putting a renewed spotlight on the nation’s dependence on petroleum, whether imported or domestic.

“We are concentrated on a single source of energy,” says Eric Cahill, an energy researcher and now the senior director of the Auto X-Prize, but whether you believe in global warming, worry about the cost of importing crude or simply fear the potential for more disasters like the BP spill, there is increasing pressure to find alternatives to that primary energy source. Nowhere is that more visible than in the auto industry, where the strain on the global oil supply is already apparent.

In the U.S., the Corporate Average Fuel Economy, or CAFE, standard was recently raised 30 percent, and is set to reach 35.5 miles per gallon by 2016. Skeptics contend that increase could add significantly to the cost of the typical automobile, perhaps as much as $9,000, according to a new report by the National Research Council, the research arm of the National Academy of Science.

But not everyone buys that argument. And that includes the organizers of what is now known as the Progressive Auto X-Prize. Formally unveiled at the 2008 New York Auto Show, it’s a follow-up to the original Ansari X-Prize that helped spur the first private sub-orbital spaceflight in 2004. But its roots go even deeper, says Cahill, back to the early days of aviation, when the Orteig Prize helped spur Charles Lindbergh to make the first successful solo crossing of the Atlantic Ocean.

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