Lance Brown spent 28 years at CGI, Inc.—a Carson City, Nevada-based manufacturer of precision drive systems founded in 1967 and best known for its work in medical robotics and aerospace, now part of The Timken Company—working his way from the shop floor into design engineering and tackling gear problems across some of the most demanding industries in the world. Now, as MPMA’s first Senior Technical Instructor, he’s channeling that experience into a growing education program at a pivotal moment for the organization. We sat down with Brown to talk about the career that got him here, what he’s seeing in the classroom, and where MPMA’s training offerings are headed next.


Water spray quenching achieves heat transfer coefficients up to 4,000 W/(m²K)—nearly double conventional oil quenching rates—enabling potential material substitution and tailored quench intensity for complex gear components.
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20NiMo9-7 alloy achieves up to 48 percent higher fatigue strength than conventional carburizing steels in the as-carburized condition, eliminating the need for shot peening and grinding in automotive gear applications.
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This study systematically evaluates how material selection, progressive wear, and grease lubrication affect the noise, vibration, and harshness (NVH) performance of polymer gears, providing new insights for designing quieter, more optimized transmission systems.
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This study investigates how manufacturing-related geometry deviations in the tooth root area affect gear bending strength calculations, demonstrating that accounting for measured tooth contours rather than nominal geometries is essential for accurate material comparisons in fatigue testing.
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Gas carburizing has been around for a long time. One could argue that gas carburizing is the most common heat treating process. Heat treaters performing gas carburizing are often characterized by a dirty environment, hazy surroundings, and that “smell.” While the product quality may be acceptable, gas carburized parts do come with some challenges, like excessive intergranular oxidation (IGO) or intergranular attack (IGA), which is often ground off. Low-pressure carburizing (LPC) has proven to be a much cleaner and very capable alternative process. Most furnace companies have combined LPC with high pressure gas quenching, which moved carburizing from the dark back room to a relatively “clean room” environment. However, there is still a strong need for oil quenching, which is the common feature of the long used standard integral-quench (IQ) furnace.
TfG’s RGC 350 Radial Chamfering Machine from Machine Tool Builders produces defined, reproducible chamfers and ‘perfect’ teeth every time. The continuous, high-speed cutting process works wonders even on workpieces with interfering contours. What used to be slow, painful and expensive is now fast, painless, and perfect.
Deburring gears is dusty, repetitive, and hard to staff. The OB7 cobot from Productive Robotics automates it with quick setup and no programming required. Consistent finish on every part, built in the USA. See the full cobot deburring package and request a quote.
Download the whitepaper to learn how lifecycle management improves tool performance, reduces downtime, and drives measurable cost savings.
This white paper explores how the use of an automatic tool change system can boost productivity in the grinding process. When manufacturing large gears, the demands regarding surface quality of the ground tooth flanks are increasing.
Join Kevin Meister and Troy Kirby from Productive Robotics, for a practical look at moving from hand deburring to cobot-automated in their own facility and many others.
Kapp Technologies L.P., the North American subsidiary of the Kapp Niles Group, has taken a significant step toward strengthening its domestic manufacturing capabilities. The company has successfully launched in-house production of diamond dressing tools at its Boulder, Colorado facility — marking a major milestone in its U.S.-based operations.


Sep 22, 2026 - Sep 24, 2026

TPS (Houston) is a vital industry event, offering a forum for the exchange of ideas between rotating equipment engineers and technicians worldwide. Now surpassing 54 years, TPS is known for its impact on turbomachinery, pump, oil & gas, petrochemical, power, aerospace, chemical and water industries through two pathways: an exhibition and a technical program.
Oct 12, 2026 - Oct 14, 2026
Jun 14, 2026 - Jun 18, 2026
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