Industry Watch: Business

Commenting on the local support, Mark Cadogan, the vice president of sales for North America, said, “Having a demo center here will not only benefit customers and prospects in the healthcare markets, but also other areas of manufacturing by showing how technology can be applied by companies that want to increase their productivity, improve their quality and reduce their lead times.” www.delcam.com

CENTERLINE LTD. (WINDSOR, ONT) . . .
recently won the Windsor-Essex Regional Chamber of Commerce 2011 Business Excellence Award for the Product Innovation category that recognizes unique and practical product and process solutions that help companies remain competitive. Over the past 50 years CenterLine has become a recognized industry leader in the design, manufacture and supply of products and services for welding, metal forming and cold spray applications in the automotive, mass transit, aerospace and defense industries. www.cntrline.com

MAZAK CORPORATION (FLORENCE, KY) . . .
welcomed Penske NASCAR Sprint Cup Racing Team drivers Kurt Busch and Brad Keselowski to its Florence plant in July, when the drivers gathered in the Technology Center of the manufacturing campus and shook hands with employees and signed autographs. The drivers toured the expansive Production-On-Demand machine tool manufacturing areas, where many of the machine tools used by Penske racing machine shops are built from the ground up.

Busch and Keselowski were in the area for the NASCAR Sprint Cup Quaker State 400 race at the Kentucky Speedway in Sparta, only a short distance from the Mazak facility. Busch drives the No. 22 Shell-Pennzoil Dodge for Penske and Keselowski handles the well-known No. 2 Miller Lite Dodge. Local media was also on hand covering the event. Reporters from the Cincinnati Enquirer and Cincinnati television stations WXIX Fox 19, WKRC 17 CBS and WLWT 5 NBC conducted interviews with the drivers, discussing Penskeʼs technical partnership with Mazak and other racing-related topics.

The machine shop at Penske Racing uses a Vertical Turning Center 800/30 SR, Vertical Center Nexus 510 C, Quick Turn Nexus 250 MSY and Vertical Center Nexus 410 B to manufacture simple components in the race shop and extremely complex ones in the engine shop, where Penske also uses an Integrex E-410, Integrex 300, Vertical Center Nexus 510 C, Vertical Center Nexus 410 B, Quick Turn Nexus 250 M and a Vertical Turning Center 200 B.

“We were proud to be able to welcome the Penske Racing Team drivers to our facility and to display both cars. We have been a strong Penske Racing technology sponsor since 1994, and our logo can be seen on these cars,” said Brian Papke, the president of Mazak. During the factory tour, both Busch and Keselowski showed marked interest in the technology that plays a key role im manufacturing components for their cars. The drivers also acknowledged how critical technical sponsorships, such as the one with Mazak, are to Penske Racingʼs success.

Mazak is considered the largest metalworking machine tool builder in the world. The company operates international technology centers in 30 different locations including all the major countries of the world, with factories in the U.S., Japan, United Kingdom, Singapore and China. The Florence facility is the North American headquarters and employs 455 people. www.mazakusa.com

LINCOLN ELECTRIC HOLDINGS, INC. (CLEVELAND, OH) . . .
acquired substantially all of the assets of Applied Robotics, Inc. (Reno, NV), a leading manufacturer of CNC cutting tables and accessories in North America. Applied Robotics, known in the welding industry by its brand name, Torchmate, has its headquarters and manufacturing facilities in Reno.

Torchmate offers a wide selection of CNC plasma and oxyfuel cutting tables and systems to small and medium-sized fabricators. The company’s trailing 12 months of sales are approximately $13 million, and Torchmate currently employs 44 people. Terms were not disclosed. “Metal cutting is closely aligned with arc welding, and the addition of Torchmate will bolster our ability to provide cutting process solutions for our customers,” said John M. Stropki, the chairman and chief executive officer. “Their CNC plasma cutting tables provide an economic option to cutting solutions required by many metal fabricators. This product offering will enhance existing cutting options for our customers here in North America and around the world.”

“Joining with Lincoln will significantly expand our ability to reach fabricators throughout North America and worldwide,” said Bill A. Kunz, the chief executive officer of Torchmate. “Our portfolio of products is perfectly aligned to service the cutting needs of these customers, and I am very excited to join their team.”

In related news, Lincoln Electric Holdings also acquired the welding operation assets of Techalloy Company, Inc. (Baltimore, MD), a privately-held producer of nickel alloy and stainless steel welding consumables, and of its parent company, Central Wire Industries Ltd. “The addition of Techalloy expands our product portfolio of high alloy consumables required to service customers in North America and around the world,” said Stropki. “In particular, Techalloy’s nickel alloy welding consumables are positioned well globally in the high growth energy and infrastructure segments of our business. We expect growth in these segments to continue worldwide, and believe the Techalloy product line will help expand and deepen our relationships with these key customers.”

Techalloy has annual sales of approximately $70 million and employs 55 people. Terms were not disclosed. www.lincolnelectric.com

EMERSON BEARING (BOSTON, MA) . . .
developed a new “Technical Toolbox” informational and troubleshooting section on their website to provide bearing customers with a number of tools to facilitate their bearing requirements.  Customers can obtain the necessary technical data and engineering information needed for their bearing application, with information in comparison charts of the load carrying ability of different types of bearings; inch, decimal and metric conversion charts; an overview of bearing types; shaft and housing fits for electric motor style bearings; interchanges; engineering data for super precision bearings; and a glossary of engineering terms.

A unique “Bearing Failure Analysis” diagnostic section has been incorporated, complete with illustrations, where customers can quickly and easily analyze the bearing that failed in-house. Customers can go online and identify the problem they are having with their bearing, determine why it failed, then learn how to correct it in order to prevent future failure and predict reliability. They can even learn how a ball bearing is made and find solutions to applications including machine tools, material handling, metal processing and more. www.emersonbearing.com

AURUBIS AG (HAMBURG, GERMANY) . . .
acquired the Rolled Products Division of Luvata Group (Pori Oy, Finland) earlier this year for an amount between €200-250 million as it continues to pursue its strategy of becoming the leading integrated copper producer and processor worldwide. This acquisition significantly strengthens the Copper Products Segment of Aurubis, which benefits from a broader product range and a regional expansion into the North American markets, as well as a stronger presence in Europe. The transaction is expected to close this month.

The Aurubis Group is the largest copper producer in Europe and the world leader in copper recycling, producing more than one million tons of copper cathodes each year and, from them, a variety of copper products from manufacturing sites in seven European countries with about 4,800 employees. Luvata is an international supplier of products and services for manufacturing and construction in industries such as power generation, renewable energy, telecommunications, architecture, automotive, medicine, air-conditioning, refrigeration, and consumer products. As of March, the Group employed 7,800 workers in 19 countries.

Luvata RPD produced about 160,000 tons of copper and copper-alloy sheets, strips and plates and generated sales of about €1 billion in 2010. With main production sites in Finland, the Netherlands, Sweden and the U.S., additional service centers in China and Italy and a global sales network, the division employs about 1,100 workers. Once this transaction closes, the business will join in the Copper Products Segment, which achieved total sales of €6.2 billion in 2009-10.

Aurubis expects that this acquisition will significantly enhance the competitiveness of the combined business in the global marketplace. The product portfolios of both entities have an ideal fit. While Aurubis has focused thus far on the production of copper strip and high performance alloys, Luvata RPD is well-positioned in the production of high-volume brass, as well as special products. Luvata RPD’s innovative vertical strip casting technology will enable it to competitively manufacture products from the Aurubis portfolio.

Dr. Bernd Drouven, the chief executive officer of Aurubis AG, said “This acquisition is an important strategic move for us, our customers, shareholders and employees. With the expanded product portfolio and additional production capacities of Luvata’s Rolled Product Division, we continue our internationalization strategy of becoming the world’s leading integrated copper producer and processor. Our customers will benefit from the creation of a strong and reliable supplier with a complete product portfolio and global reach. Aurubis is taking over key assets that will significantly contribute to profitable growth going forward.” www.aurubis.com