When this podcast was just an idea to help manufacturing in the US, many a brainstorm of ideas occurred. During those sessions, the foundation of the Manufacturing Advocates Podcast was gradually emerging. The resulting notes contained ideas, such as how broadly to classify "manufacturing", who the possible guests might be, and even how long should an episode be. In those "the … [Read more...]
Proud Advocate of the Made in the USA Brand, Al Stimac EP10
This week's episode showcases a gentleman who has an impressive list of accomplishments. Al Stimac is a champion for the "Made in America" brand, Florida manufacturing, and US manufacturers in general. He possesses a tremendous amount of experience and knowledge and unlike some big thinkers, he puts what he learns to work rapidly. Listen to hear how he has helped US … [Read more...]
Shop Floor Screens for CIMCO MDC
This feature is now live and available with CIMCO MDC. At the end of March we shared with you the next generation CIMCO Web MDC Client. This week we have some really cool news about another feature that will be available soon, Shop Floor Screens. These customized representations of your plants or departments allow you to see the status of all your equipment based on where it … [Read more...]
Making a Difference in Florida for US Manufacturing
The story about next week's guest on the MFA podcast is full of examples of tenacity and flexibility. The former Siemens exec wondered why so many parts were being outsourced offshore, so he did something about it. He started a shop to make those parts in Florida and proudly slap the favorable "Made in the USA" label on them. He then wondered why Florida was not participating … [Read more...]
New CIMCO MDC Web Client Now Available
As a part of a significant update, version 8.01 of CIMCO Software, the CIMCO MDC-Web client shared recently here is now available to customers with valid maintenance. Not being predictable the developers had a few more tricks up their sleeve and this final version has some excellent added features including the ability to remove the overview bar scale from and to scale the size … [Read more...]
One Critical Option to Consider When Buying a New CNC Machine
CNC machines can be quite expensive, and they should be. They are complex machines often capable of the magical manufacturing duty of turning a piece of raw material into something more intricate with another purpose while maintaining extreme precision. The parts made on CNC machines are in every room of your home and business. Right under your nose right now, there are … [Read more...]
Drag and Drop Sending with CIMCO DNC-Max (Video)
Something that is frequently requested from customers using DNC-Max with DNC Max Client alone is the ability to drag and drop to send files. It has been possible for quite a while to do this on the machine where DNC Max server is running. That is not enough for many of us, in fact people who don't have the luxury of using CIMCO MDM or NC-Base to organize their programs are … [Read more...]
Mr. Bezos, a Simple Request
Last year, I made a plan to start buying and reviewing US-made products off Amazon. I was going to post the reviews to my personal blog and "practice what I preach" as a US manufacturing advocate. To get started I was able to find some camouflage cloth tape for a Halloween project somewhat by chance. I was then starting to look for other practical things and I really struggled … [Read more...]
CIMCO MDC Web Client Preview (Video)
Back on May 6th we introduced you to some clean concept images of the upcoming MDC-Max Web Client. The images were pretty stunning, so it was easy to imagine that the actual interface may not quite live up to them. I was recently given the opportunity to install the current build of the client and wow did it not disappoint. Oddly as much as I love how it looks, I was more … [Read more...]
How to Drip Feed using CIMCO DNC-Max or Edit
When Drip Feeding is Necessary Most new CNC controls are now Ethernet capable and support Windows networking for file transfer and offer plenty of room for storage. There are, however, a huge number of perfectly functional CNC machines out there with older controls that support only RS-232 for file transmission. We also see a number of machines where the company orders them … [Read more...]