Assembly machines are dumb. They can only do what they’re told, over and over again. Without a sense of sight or touch, they can’t know if parts or pallets are where they’re supposed to be.
All professors are teachers, but some are also entrepreneurs. Three of note are mechanical engineering professors Stephen L. Dickerson, Wayne Book and Nader Sadegh, who together founded CAMotion Inc. in 1997 while working at the Georgia Institute of Technology.
HUNTINGTON, IN—PHD Inc., a supplier of industrial automation components, is investing $4.18 million to expand and re-equip its manufacturing facility here, creating up to 22 new jobs by 2017. The company is installing multi-axis CNC equipment in the coming weeks, with plans to begin insourcing production of CNC-machined parts.
LEXINGTON, KY—The former pneumatics business unit of Bosch Rexroth Corp. is now a standalone company operating under the name Aventics. The company’s U.S. headquarters will remain in Lexington, while its global headquarters will be in Laatzen, Germany.
FARMINGTON HILLS, MI—Ace Controls Inc., a manufacturer of industrial shock absorbers, has developed a free smartphone app, the Vibrochecker, that measures machinery vibration, performs FFT analysis, and helps engineers choose vibration isolation components.