It's Monday morning, December
15, 2036. An autonomous vehicle
drops off two engineers in front of a gear manufacturing facility in Metro Detroit. They punch in for work on their wristwatches and pay Uber for the ride on a smartphone. One of the engineers begins walking the shop floor, monitoring a series of collaborative robots using a tablet
the size of a paperback novel. These
robots interact right on the floor with
the minimal staff scheduled to oversee
manufacturing operations. Another
engineer wears an interactive headset
and begins training a group of new engineers (in real time) from China using some form of augmented reality.
It was late November in Northern Italy, and everything was coming up vinegar oil and high-performance cars for Cory Sanderson and the 11 other members of his Yankee armada.
We are well into an odd-number year, so it must be just about time for another Gear Expo. Indeed, the big show -- Gear Expo 2013 -- kicks off in Indianapolis at 9:00 a.m. Tuesday, September 17, wrapping up Thursday the 19th at 4:00 p.m. And whether you are exhibiting or attending, the bottom line is you are going -- a good thing for you, your company and the tightly knit U.S. gear industry.
Gear Technology's complete back issue archive is now available online. Read more about the archive in this issue's GT Extras. Also highlighted are a new video from Koepfer and the Gear Technology e-mail newsletter.
Publisher Michael Goldstein sat down with Dr. Thomas Koepfer, whose family company, Josef Koepfer & Söhne GmbH, was founded in 1867. Over the years, the Koepfer name has become one of the best-known in the gear industry, with company operations including the manufacture of gear machines, cutting tools and gears.
This is the second in our series of interviews with the leaders in the gear industry. This interview is with Dennis Gimpert, president of Koepfer America, South Elgin, IL.
