This week in metalworking: January 13 – January 17

EU falls short of manufacturing goals, 3D printing with Photoshop, and aluminum takes over.

 

Hello again. Here’s our round-up of all the stories making news this week in the world of metalworking. 

Also, if you want to keep up to date with all the other metalworking news we’ve got going on, you can follow us on Twitter @CdnMetalworking, like us on Facebook, or find us on Google+ or our LinkedIn page. Thanks for reading!

Now to the stories - some of which are a little older, since we're playing catch-up from the holidays. Check back every week to see what’s piqued our interest… or left us scratching our head:

 

There was a massive spike in the Japanese machine tool market over the month of December, but overall, year-end totals were down. [LSE]

Modern Machine Shop has launched an online "robots and automation"" hub. Check it out. [MMS Online]

The EU fell short of their manufacturing goals for 2013. [ETMM Online] But, that didn't stop German carmakers from having a banner year in the U.S. [ETMM Online]

Industry Week tells us why we should be optimistic about manufacturing for 2014. It cites a US-based manufacturing survey, but certainly still positive news for all those in the manufacturing industry. [Industry Week]

There's a looming threat of a steel crisis in India, or so The Hindu claims. They cite the fact that China has recently become a net exporter of steel, as opposed to an importer, and how their proximity could hurt India's steel industry. [The Hindu]

GE saw its profits rise 5 per cent this past year [Industry Week]

General Motors will pay out its first dividend in since 2008. [Industry Week]

Meanwhile, at the Detroit auto show, Toyota's North American CEO sees the growth of the auto industry slowing this year. [Forbes]

Another interesting one from Industry Week about how cars are cutting back on steel and going to aluminum and composites. [Industry Week]

Despite the advancements in the aluminum industry, some steel executives see no reason to worry. [AMM.com]

After U.S. Steel shut down their operations in Hamilton, the city went ahead and formed a steel committee... but U.S. Steel never bothered to show up. [CBC]

10 trends in equipment financing for the upcoming year. [American Machinist]

The U.S. is going to start investing in manufacturing in particularly hard-hit economic areas of the country. Seems obvious to some of us in the industry, but nice to see others recognize manufacturing for its ability to create quality jobs. [CNN]

Here's a story about how some of the RAF's jets have taken flight using 3D printed parts. It sounds a little more interesting than it really is though. The parts are fairly inconsequential ones, like the radio panel cover. [Gizmodo]

EPT.ca has an article up estimating that the world demand for 3D printed equipment and software will reach $5 billion by 2017. [EPT.ca]

But that said, stocks in the technology are starting to dip a bit right now. [Zacks.com]

Here's a look at the idea of 3D printing metals in space. [Design News]

This is pretty interesting... Adobe is adding 3D printing capabilities to Photoshop. Seems like a pretty interesting step forward. Combine this with the 3D printers you can use in your home, and future children's lives are going to look very different than ours did. [Mashable]

 

And a good little skills-related thought to end on: