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Machining as a service is critical to the manufacturing and production of many different products ranging from household items to spacecraft.
Like every other industry in manufacturing, machining has suffered from the effects of COVID-19 closures.
The good news is that the industry is recovering in sync with the reopening of economies across the country.
What is Machining?
In the most elementary definition, machining is taking material and removing precise amounts to create the shape that is required. Officially, this method of machining is known as subtractive manufacturing. It is achieved through the use of a multitude of functionalities, some of which include turning, knurling, drilling, cutting and facing.
However, this definition of machining is no longer fully descriptive as additive manufacturing has become a viable alternative. As the name suggests, additive manufacturing is the act of machining by adding material to create the shape required.
Modern 3D printers can compete with traditional methods of machining in accuracy and durability but are still limited in producing at scale. Many manufacturers will use both additive and subtractive methods as they tend to have a complimentary overlap of capabilities.
Materials used in machining vary based on the application. By far the most popular of the metals is aluminum, partly because of its cost and partly because of its ease of machining. Wood is also a popular material to machine, although consistency can be more of an issue than with metals.
A new development in machining is the use of laser beams for material removal. A high-energy laser beam vaporizes and fuses the target material into the desired shape. The process can be used for etching, cutting, welding and cladding. Its current drawbacks are high cost, large energy demands and specialized operator training. Over the next few years, an expected drop in cost should begin to increase its popularity with machine companies.
The Future
Automation in the industry continues to grow with the increased use of Internet 4.0. Rather than a standalone machine that can do one thing automatically, Internet 4.0 connects multiple machines to control entire production runs. Essentially, machines can talk to each other and adapt even without humans being present. It also decentralizes the machining process where an operator remotely located cannot control dozens of production runs at various facilities anywhere in the world.
Industry Statistics
According to data collected by MNI, the machining industry consists of 12,547 companies. The majority of these are located in the Midwest, with 34% residing in this area. The Northeast and the West are nearly evenly split with 18% and 20% respectively. The remaining 28% are located in the South.
Most of these companies (97%) are privately held. Only 7% import raw materials, making them somewhat insulated from the trade war that affected so many other sectors of manufacturing. International distribution is substantially less than manufacturing on the whole at only 14% versus 29%.
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