Southwest Manufacturing News • June 2025

SW SOUTHWEST M ANUFACTURING N EWS Serving Since 1965 Texas, Oklahoma, Arkansas, Louisiana & New Mexico Feature Editorial Aerospace/Defense Vol. 60 No. 6 June 2025 See Online DIGITAL EDITIONS at www.mfgnewsweb.com Energy, Aerospace Production Take Center Stage at MAZAK Southwest Event Technology Evolutions Drive IMTS 2026 Floor Plan Movement With more than 1 million sq. ft. of exhibit space already booked for the 2026 show, IMTS—The International Manufacturing Technology Show is poised once again to be the strongest manufacturing marketplace in the West-ern Hemisphere. IMTS 2026 returns to McCormick Place in Chicago on Sep-tember 14-19. Currently, 85% of the booth space capacity is filled, and sev-eral exhibitors have secured larger foot-prints on the show floor. IMTS 2026 will feature a new floor plan layout, where the South Building Continued on Page 45 Software Optimizes Nose Cone Structure CAE software reduces nose cone weight and adds stability. See Page 6 Controls/DRO 5-Axis Integrated Technology New series supports evolving needs of machine tool builders & CNC users. See Page 16 Mazak will highlight its extensive range of machine tool technology and automation that boosts production and profitability for manufacturers in the oil & gas and aerospace industry sectors during the company’s two-day DIS-COVER MORE WITH MAZAK South-west Open House event. Taking place June 18 and 19 at the Mazak Southwest Technology Center in Houston, TX, the event will help manufacturers in those sectors and the job shops that support them learn more, do more and make more with innovative technology and expert applications support from Mazak. From 9 AM to 4 PM each day, at-tendees will experience live real-world cutting demonstrations, lectures and a variety of automation, technology and application displays. Mazak will spot-light its full 5-axis and DONE IN ONE Continued on Page 46 Applying Technology Optimizing Worker Efficiency User friendly automation solution boosts productivity. See Page 24 Hartwig Inc., bavius Announce Partnership Hartwig Inc. and bavius have an-nounced the formation of a new partner-ship that sees Hartwig Inc. as the first full service distributor of bavius equipment in the United States. Hartwig, Inc., a Midwest machine tool distributor covering 14 states, was founded in 1960 and has installed over 12,000 machine tools. It offers manufac-turing solutions and supports turning, milling, grinding, EDM and additive manufacturing. “The power, speed, performance and reliability of the bavius equipment is something we are excited to add to our portfolio of world class machine tool builders,” said Greg Hartwig, Vice Continued on Page 46 Precision Pieces for Global Aerospace Wieland Lone Star Casting & Machine in Kilgore, TX, is a precisely controlled, vertically inte-grated, carefully orches-trated production of essential aviation com-ponents. Its parts are specific to landing gears, serving new builds as well as the maintenance, repair and overhaul market. The aerospace op-eration was acquired by Germany-based Wieland last year, ex-panding its workforce, equipment inven-tory, output and role as a key supplier of centrifugally-cast aluminum bronze bushings for clients around the globe. “What started with a handful of Retrofit/ Remanufacture/Repair Retrofit Gear Hobbing Machine A complex operation has a successful outcome. See Page 30 Plant Maintenance Briquette Press Chip processing solution contributes to sustainable manufacturing. See Page 34 people grew to a full production shop that offers everything in-house, including heat treat and mechanical test-ing. There are only a handful of suppliers in the world that do what we do,” said Operations Manager Ryan Rector. Continued on Page 46 Taber Extrusions Breaks Ground on $70M Expansion Taber Extrusions has broken ground on its new facility expansion, which will introduce the largest direct extrusion press in North America, in Russellville, AR. Taber Extrusions is investing $70 million in its Russellville operations as part of the expansion, and this invest-ment is expected to create 70 new jobs. “We are excited to finally be break-ing ground on this long-awaited project,” said Chuck Stout, President of Taber Ex-trusions. “We are happy to be growing here in Russellville, a location that pro-vides so many of the key elements for our Continued on Page 46 Finishing/ Grinding/Abrasives Vertical Honing Series is designed for machining long steel tubes and other heavy workpieces See Page 40 Subscription Changes: To make name, address subscription changes contact: • Phone: 800-375-8488 • Fax: 817-488-7813 • E-mail: info@mfgnewsweb.com • www.mfgnewsweb.com CHANGE SERVICE REQUESTED Gross Publications, Inc. SOUTHWEST MANUFACTURING NEWS P.O. Box 847 Grapevine, Texas 76099-0847 U.S.A. PRSRT STD U.S. POSTAGE DALLAS, TX PERMIT 4245 People in the News Page 38 Advertiser Index Page 37 PAID