State of the Gear Industry Perspectives takes an in-depth look at the challenges and opportunities in gear manufacturing today and in the future. Our seventh installment online is an interview with Kika Young, president, and Jared Lyford, director of manufacturing operations at Forest City Gear (FCG). 

VBN has always focused on hard and wear-resistant materials that are additively manufactured, and today offers four steels and one cemented carbide under the Vibenite brand. The tool manufacturer ANAJ Czech, a.s., which has tested components in said material, was so satisfied with the results that a license agreement has been signed to start manufacturing in-house. 

Due to near-net shape production, additive-manufactured (AM) gears have a high potential to decrease costs and increase resource efficiency. The decreasing product life cycles as well as the increasing individualization of components demand high flexibility in manufacturing processes

The Desktop Metal Shop System started printing metal parts at the SolidCAM’s Suhl Technology Center in Germany.

Additive Manufacturing (AM) is a space that is maturing at insensate speed—the growth and innovation in materials and technology are staggering. Because of the inherent process of 3D printing, it may allow for a renaissance in the physical design of gears (i.e., integral channels for cooling, lightweighting, and other possibilities) but also holds the potential for gear repairs. Gear Technology spoke with JEOL, Nidec, and Fortify about the technologies they will be on-site to discuss at IMTS 2022.

AddUp, a major player in the field of metal additive manufacturing and the ECM Group, creator of innovative thermal solutions, have signed a partnership to develop high value-added solutions for the thermal treatment of 3D printed metal parts.

AddUp, a joint venture created by Michelin and Fives, is a global metal additive manufacturing OEM and service provider of powder bed fusion (PBF) and directed energy deposition (DED) technologies. They have launched a suite of new process monitoring software to bolster the capabilities of the FormUp 350 PBF machine: AddUp Dashboards, Recoat Monitoring, and Meltpool Monitoring. This new software suite for its metal 3D printing technology optimizes part quality for prototyping and end-use industrial applications.

Hexagon’s Manufacturing Intelligence division recently announced the winners of its first cohort of start-ups selected to help the manufacturing industry operate more sustainably and efficiently. The company launched its Sixth Sense open innovation platform in January 2022 to challenge how multinationals approach innovation and help nurture creative solutions to emerging manufacturing challenges by connecting with world-class companies to solve some of humanity’s biggest challenges. 

The Chiron Group Open House in Tuttlingen, Germany welcomed more than 1,200 expert visitors from around the world May 11-13, offering new ideas and to improve their manufacturing practice – in the Chiron spirit of “Performance meets Precision.”

DMG MORI’s new Technology Center in the heart of Somerville, in Northeast USA, will be a hub for research and development of new digitization solutions and processes for customers worldwide.