The global medical manufacturing industry is one of the world's fastest growing industrial sectors. It has accounted for more than 10 percent of the gross volume of metalworking activities recorded in 2015. Yair Selek, product manager of face grooving systems and miniature industry, Iscar, tells us more about machining medical parts.

Robotic technologies are gaining popularity across the world, especially Asia, with their improving features and functionalities. Small and medium-sized enterprises are also gaining increased accessibility to these robots as they become more affordable and simpler to implement. By Shermine Gotfredsen, general manager, APAC, Universal Robots.

US: August manufacturing technology orders totaled US$356.69 million in the US according to AMT — The Association for Manufacturing Technology. This total was up 0.4 percent from July but down 6.0 percent when compared with the total of US$379.26 million reported for August 2013. With a year-to-date total of US$3,076.98 million, 2014 is down 2.4 percent compared with 2013.

“US manufacturing activity remains at a brisk pace, and especially encouraging for manufacturing technology orders was a recent uptick in durable goods orders, particularly in aerospace, automotive, and several other key industries,” said Douglas K Woods, president of AMT. 

“There has also been good news in factory employment as more manufacturers add workers to their payrolls. With AMT’s Global Forecasting & Marketing Conference taking place this week in Detroit featuring some of the top industry analysts and economists, we believe we will be hearing more positive news from their forecasts for the manufacturing technology industry over the next few years.”

Staying in the US, the country’s cutting tool consumption was down 2.7 percent in August, totaling US$166 million, according to the US Cutting Tool Institute and AMT. This figure is also a 3.0 percent drop on the y-o-y numbers. 

“August has traditionally been a period of slower sales for the cutting tool industry due to summer holidays and automotive model change-overs,” said Tom Haag, president of USCTI. “The three-month rolling average actually shows the sales as fairly steady throughout the summer.  The third quarter should close much stronger with September bringing the industry back to full speed and the IMTS exhibition driving new interest with record attendance.” 

Jakarta, Indonesia: Sandvik Coromant has inaugurated a sales office and training centre in Jakarta, Indonesia on August 14, 2014. According to the cutting tool maker, the centre will provide all levels of metal cutting training and serve as a place for cooperation in solving advanced application problems as well as providing industry specific support.

Global president Klas Forsström said at the inauguration that the facility is the first of its kind in the Indonesian metalworking industry and it will help elevate productivity levels in manufacturing.

"Sandvik Coromant’s training centres are really productivity centres. We see a growing demand for these services in countries like Indonesia where there is strong awareness both at the corporate and government level of the importance of productivity gains as a driver of economic growth and development. Indonesia is on a fantastic journey, and as productivity increases and its industry moves up the value chain the country is on track to becoming Southeast Asia’s most important manufacturing hub,” he said.

Reuven Shapir, Iscar’s aerospace industry manager gives us his take on the aerospace industry from a cutting tool supplier’s point of view.

US: May US cutting tool consumption totalled US$169 million, according to the US Cutting Tool Institute and AMT - The Association For Manufacturing Technology. This total, as reported by companies participating in the Cutting Tool Market Report (CTMR) collaboration, was down 3.5 percent from April's total and down 4.4 percent from May 2013. 

"Overall cutting tools shipments were down in May despite many other manufacturing indicators being positive in the same time period," said Brad Lawton, chairman of AMT's Cutting Tool Product Group. "This down month should be taken in context with that other data and an upward three-month trend."