Current pulse

Nye Lubricants earns ISO 13485

Certification to ISO 13485 will guide the design, development, and production process of Nye Lubricants’ products, available in fluid, dispersion, or grease form and use an array of formulations. Damping gels or greases are particularly important in the medical market and are offered for motion, noise, and haptic control in sensitive equipment and devices.

“ISO standards are becoming more important globally,” says Chris Andreola, Nye’s senior product and innovation manager for medical. “Quality and regulatory compliance issues can influence device development strategy.” www.nyelubricants.com

Hurco acquires two machine tool companies

Hurco has acquired substantially all of the assets of U.S.-based Milltronics Manufacturing Co. Inc., also known as Milltronics CNC Machines, from Liberty Diversified Inc. (LDI).

Founded in 1973, Milltronics designs and manufactures CNC knee mills, toolroom bed mills, vertical machining centers, combination lathes, slant-bed lathes, horizontal machining centers, and bed mills.

Hurco’s subsidiary Hurco Ltd. entered into an agreement to acquire the business, technology, goodwill, and operating assets of LDI’s Takumi Machinery Co. Ltd., a Taiwanese company founded in 1988. Takumi designs and manufactures CNC vertical machining centers, double column machining centers, high-speed bridge machines, and other machine tools, with sales primarily in Taiwan, China, and Europe.

Gregory Volovic, president of Hurco, says, “We believe these strategic acquisitions will significantly benefit global customers and Hurco. The Milltronics and Takumi machine tool brands are strong global brands for expansive machine tool product lines, having a combined customer base exceeding 18,000 installed machines throughout 30 countries.” www.hurco.com

Manufacturing technology orders up 4.6% in the latest USMTO report

June U.S. manufacturing technology orders totaled $355.43 million according to the most recent report from AMT – The Association For Manufacturing Technology. This total, as reported by companies participating in the USMTO program, was up 4.6% from May’s $339.86 million but down 13.2% when compared with the total of $409.68 million reported for June 2014. With a year-to-date total of $2,157.64 million, 2015 was down 8.7% when compared with 2014.

The numbers in this report are based on the totals of actual data reported by companies participating in the USMTO program. The USMTO report, compiled by the trade association representing the production and distribution of manufacturing technology, provides regional and national U.S. orders data of domestic and imported machine tools and related equipment. www.amtonline.org

Okuma launches web-based machine selector tool

The machine selector tool provides users with a method of finding the Okuma machine tool that best suits their manufacturing needs.

Users select the machine type (lathe, machining center, grinder, double column, or 5-axis machine). Based on the machine type, various parameters are chosen (chuck size, turning diameter, turning length, bar diameter, spindle speed, and table size).

After a user selects specifications, the machine selector populates a list of all the available Okuma machines that meet the submitted requirements. The tool displays complete machine descriptions and related video demonstrations, and users can access additional information and detailed specifications for individual machines by clicking on the machine photos.

Additional options

• Live tooling
• Secondary spindle
• Automatic tool changers (ATC)

www.okuma.com

LEMO USA achieves ISO 13485:2003

Accredited by the Swiss Association for Quality and Management (SQS), in partnership with IQNet, LEMO USA has achieved ISO 13485 certification for the design, manufacture, and distribution of medical components and cable assemblies to medical customers.

LEMO USA meets the certification requirements for a comprehensive quality management system for product design and development consulting services for the medical device market. To become certified as ISO 13485 compliant, LEMO USA underwent an evaluation process that included initial assessment, quality management system development, and a full management system documentation review. www.lemo.com

GF Machining Solutions hits 100,000 mark in global machine installations

The 100,000 global machine installations number includes machines from the company’s portfolio of milling, electrical discharge machining (EDM), and laser texturing product families.

Approximately 65,000 machines are in Europe, 20,000 machines are in the Americas, and 15,000 machines are in Asia. www.gfms.com/us

Micrometal expands presence, support in North America

Micrometal Germany is adding Karl Martinson as sales director for North America. The addition to the group’s sales management team ensures a management presence in the North American market to provide full-time support of Micrometal’s contribution to the North American medical, orthodontic, and dental markets.

Martinson is based in the U.S. at Engineered Materials Solutions (a co-member of the Wickeder Group), and will play a role in the development and servicing of Micrometal’s business for ultra-precision etched metal components.

With more than 23 years of experience in high-level technical sales and project management, Martinson works with the Micrometal sales and manufacturing teams to manage customers’ requirements for retention bands, blades, lancet needles, encoder wheels, and other precision metal and dental components. www.micrometal.de/en