MetalForming Xtra Feature

Manufacturing Barometer—Growth in 2015 to Surpass that of 2014
According to the recently released PricewaterhouseCoopers Manufacturing Barometer, a quarterly survey of U.S.-based executives at large, multinational industrial manufacturing businesses, U.S. manufacturing grew by 5.2 percent in 2014 and is projected to grow by 5.8 percent in 2015. Eighty-five percent of those surveyed expect positive revenue growth through the year.

Also addressed in the survey: escalated hiring plans for 2015, and a sharp decline in the potential barriers to growth put up by legislation and regulations. Concern about legislative/regulatory pressures has dropped 27 points, the survey finds, to 32 percent; 59 percent of survey-takers cited similar concern in the previous quarterly PwC survey.

> Reflecting on the Best Year Ever for the North American Robotics Market
Robot orders and shipments in North America set new records in 2014, according to the Robotic Industries Association (RIA), Ann Arbor, MI. North American companies ordered 27,685 robots valued at $1.6 billion during 2014, an increase of 28 percent in units and 19 percent in dollars over 2013. Robot shipments also set new records, with 25,425 robots valued at $1.5 billion shipped to North American customers in 2014. That’s a 13-percent gain in shipments and a six-percent increase in dollars compared to 2013.

The automotive industry receives most of the credit for the growth, where robot orders increased 45 percent year over year. The fastest growing applications for robot orders:

• Arc welding—up 58 percent
• Spot welding—up 57 percent
• Assembly—up 16 percent
• Material handling—up 11 percent.

> An 8-min. Lesson in Tig Welding of Lap Joints
From the weekly welding-tips videos posted to www.weldingtipsandtricks.com comes this lesson in gas-tungsten-arc welding (GTAW, tig) of lap joints. Watch and learn as our instructor walks us through the proper welding technique for 11-gauge cold-rolled steel, welding at 95-120 A using 1/16-in.-dia. ER70S2 filler wire. The high-quality video technology used makes the instructional video, loaded with terrific advice, highly useful as a training tool.