EASTEC marks 30th show with spotlight on medical devices

The recession hasn’t stopped business, if the activity at the EASTEC Advanced Productivity Exposition is to judge. The show, in its 30th year, drew 570 exhibitors, down from 608 in 2008 and 650 in 2007. About 15,000 attendees pre-registered. Last year’s show tallied 14,000 attendees. The largest industrial tool trade show on the East Coast, EASTEC was held May19-21 in West Springfield, MA.

Observers noted that center stage at the exhibit was medical device manufacturing, which EASTEC has deemed the largest manufacturing sector in the country, overtaking the automotive industry.

HAIMER REPORTS GOOD YEAR— Haimer, a manufacturer of precise tool holders, reports an “extremely” successful year 2008, with a turnover growth of 20 per cent. Company management is also in an optimistic mood for the year 2009, and even expects comfortable growth.

Despite a slight decline during November and December, 2008 was a very successful year, said CEO Claudia Haimer.

“Of course, we are also affected by the impacts of the worldwide financial and economic crisis,” she added. “However, we expect a moderate growth between five and 10 per cent.”

Claudia Haimer

Haimer subsidiaries report a successful year as well as in the whole world. Haimer India is now able to invoice directly to its Indian customers. Haimer USA — located in the center of the recession – is still on a growth course and will move into a bigger office in 2009.

Haimer Asia has finalized all formalities for the establishment of a further Chinese subsidiary and will rent an office in Shanghai this year. The aim is to be even closer to Chinese customers and to serve the East Asian region better.

NEW HQ FOR BIG KAISER — BIG Kaiser Precision Tooling Inc. has broken ground for new corporate headquarters in Hoffman Estates, IL. Featuring a state-of-the-art facility for administration, application engineering, inventory, testing, and training, the new facility will be nearly three times larger than the current headquarters.

The new 5,000 square-foot showroom will offer extensive tooling and demonstration displays from the company’s product lineup. In-house machining centers will allow the showroom to double as a resource center for customer demos and training.

“This is a significant and necessary investment for our company,” said President Chris Kaiser. “BIG Kaiser is dedicated to delivering superior tooling solutions and engineering support to its customers. This new facility will give us the floor space, resources and technology to truly support our commitment to our customers and this industry’s future.”

The company will be operating from this new site at 2600 Huntington Blvd., Hoffman Estates, IL, before the end of the year.

SOFTWARE MARKET GROWS —CIMdata reports that based on end-user payments, the worldwide NC software and related services market grew by 5.2 percent in 2008 to reach a level of $1.47 billion.

CIMdata further projects that in 2009, the growth rate of these payments will slow to 1.3 percent as the market approaches the $1.5 billion level. The expected reduction in the market growth rate in 2009 is a direct result of a downturn in the global economy, specifically the manufacturing industry.

The above information is contained in Version 18 of the CIMdata NC Software and Related Services Market Assessment Report from the Ann Arbor, MI-based independent consultants. The company’s website is http://www.cimdata.com/.

AEROSPACE CENTER OPENS — Sandvik Coromant’s new Aerospace Application Center in Fair Lawn, NJ, was opened April 28 to customers, industry representatives, and news media.

The goal of the state-of-the-art center is to focus on projects for machining in high temperature and titanium alloys for aero frame structural parts and engine components. The application center will concentrate specifically on customers who are interested in readdressing their current processes.

A dedicated team of industry specialists, process and development engineers and CAM programmers support the customer projects and training at the center, which is equipped with the latest machines to develop the most productive processes for aerospace customers.