Automation Days highlights solutions, competition, road show

ZOLLER Inc. welcomed manufacturing professionals to its North American headquarters in Ann Arbor, Michigan, for Automation Days Aug. 9-10.

Customers and industry leaders highlighted solutions ZOLLER offers to automate cutting tool management and establish more resilient, reliable processes in the face of a labor shortage expected to leave 2.1 million jobs unfilled by 2030.

“We need to automate because there’s a labor shortage in the market,” said ZOLLER Inc. President Alexander Zoller. “How can I produce more parts in a short amount of time for less cost and higher quality?”

The message was echoed by Automation Days speakers, including Peter Cockburn, principal engineer – manufacturing innovation at Bell Textron. Bell integrates ZOLLER automation technology into its factories to standardize and optimize toolroom processes.

“The biggest challenge we have as a manufacturing company is obtaining talent, training talent, and retaining talent,” Cockburn said. “Automation helps us run 24/7 as needed and use our skilled workforce in better locations.”

During a panel discussion on initiatives to draw young people into manufacturing, guest speaker Christopher Townsend, advisor for Eagle Manufacturing, a student-run business at Brown County High School in Nashville, Indiana, said, “We’re trying to get students exposed to as much industry-standard technology as we can and give them the opportunity to learn how it’s used in industry.” The school incorporates ZOLLER products into its curriculum.

ZOLLER’s Toolroom of the Year competition, which seeks to find the most connected, high-tech toolroom in North America, will launch soon. The winner, announced at IMTS 2024, will win a trip to ZOLLER’s Smart Factory in Pleidelsheim, Germany.

Next year, ZOLLER will offer demos of the roboBox at partner sites and ZOLLER locations across the U.S. and Canada. The roboBox system automatically pulls, assembles, heat-shrinks, and measures tools to accuracy guaranteed within 10µm.
https://www.zoller.info/us

Appointments

CERATIZIT USA added Steve Smith as a technical sales engineer serving customers in North Dakota and Minnesota. Smith has 42 years of industry experience, including factory training programs and Kaizen lean strategies. https://www.ceratizit.com

Ontic, a licensor and manufacturer of complex engineered parts for the global aerospace and defense industries, appointed Joshua Florio as GM for their Creedmoor, North Carolina site. Florio joins Ontic from AAR’s Landing Gear Services business, with experience in aerospace, technical engineering, and management. https://www.ontic.com

MicroCare LLC, a cleaning, coating, and lubrication solutions provider, named Phil Brockelman strategic account executive for precision cleaning. Brockelman brings nearly four decades of industry experience to his role, including sales and management positions at Branson Ultrasonics and 3M. https://www.microcare.com

Seco Tools appointed Maria Blomqvist vice president, sustainability & environmental health and safety (EHS) and Johanna Alkberg vice president, Enterprise IT. Both become members of the Seco management group, reporting to Seco President Stefan Steenstrup. https://www.secotools.com