While today’s machining tools – such as CNC (computer numerical control) lathes – are marvels of technology, these programmable machines wouldn’t exist if early man hadn’t played around with some sticks and stones, several millions of years ago, and come up with Tool #1.

Success in business today means knowing your markets, and being adaptable, flexible, and ingenious – all the attributes that have fueled the growth of Federal Foam Technologies, Inc.

Since the earliest times, ceramics have brought people together. But rather than for dining, engineered ceramics and glass bring people together through the components, devices and systems that contain this unique family of materials. Ceramic and glass materials are used in many building products, including bricks, cement, and windows, and in many common and uncommon engineered products and systems, including mobile phones, sensors, cars, airplanes, and more.

Founded in 1975, ATEQ Corporation has a tester for every application. The company is proud of its four and a half decades of visionary innovation and technical expertise, ensuring that its products set the gold standard in leak testing and detection.

An Oklahoma sun reflects off the rooftops of giant facilities. Inside, sparks fly as massive machinery is designed and fabricated to be shipped across the country. Big Elk is a much-awarded explosively-growing company that is making the pipeline industry sit up very sharply.

ProPart Modular is a construction company headquartered in Burlington, Ontario specializing in the design and construction of modular building components such as office partitions, controlled environments, and prefabricated structures.

Canadian construction engineering firm Norda Stelo specializes in integrated projects. Headquartered in Quebec City, the company has twenty locations on three continents and is deeply committed to building longstanding client relationships based on integrity and trust.

Balchem develops and produces premium, specialty ingredients used by food and beverage manufacturers in centrally located manufacturing facilities. “At Balchem, we are committed to making the world a healthier place by delivering trusted, innovative, and science-based solutions to the nutrition, food, sterilization, and energy markets,” says the company.

Finding quality packaging machinery with sufficient support services is often easier said than done, but Aesus Packing Systems is a home-grown North American fabrication firm that stands by its machines, no matter what.

Synergy Medical manufactures pharmacy automation systems that dispense solid oral medications into blister packs to organize patient medication into a calendar for safe and accurate dosing. When pharmacists and their technicians are filling hundreds of these packs by hand, it is labour-intensive, and there is plenty of room for error, especially as they must keep up with tight deadlines. Although blister packs have existed for decades, there was no fully automated solution for filling these packages until Synergy Medical.

Look up New Hampshire Industries’ (NHI) capabilities on the company’s website and you will see a catchphrase that describes them perfectly: “Yeah, we can make that.”

Indications are, it’s a good time to be in the die casting industry right about now, and it appears Ramsden Industries is in a great position to capitalize on the current production increases happening across North America.

When it comes to polymer-based products, Plastic Molding Manufacturing (PMM) of Hudson, Massachusetts is the go-to manufacturer. Throughout its fifty-year history, the company has aided in the design and production of its clients’ molds, reducing costs and incorporating the latest in technology. Chief Executive Officer George E. Danis takes great pride in his company’s products being American-made.

Precision Automation® Company, Inc. was established in 1946 by Fred Rexon Sr., an engineer, a tool maker and entrepreneur. What began in a garage in New Jersey now supplies complete automation services and a plethora of related services to all of North America and around the globe. It also maintains a positive presence within the community.

Conditions in space can be hostile. There’s orbiting satellite and rocket debris, radiation from the sun, solar flares and extremes in temperature – not to mention the unknowns of extraterrestrial travel. Is it any wonder astronauts go through such intensive mission training to prepare for any eventuality?

The finishing materials for aircraft components, missiles, spacecraft and satellites are mission-critical in aerospace operations. Without that fine, protective coating, millions of dollars’ worth of technology might never get off the ground.

Things are booming at APCT, a printed circuit board (PCB) manufacturer based in Santa Clara, California. Since we featured the company in August 2017, it has grown enormously thanks to acquisitions and visionary work. It has also expanded both its technological capabilities and its presence in the aerospace and defense markets.

I spoke with Keytronic’s President and CEO Craig Gates on the phone from his Spokane office. He seems very proud of his company’s accomplishments – and why not? Keytronic is still expanding after all these years (it just celebrated its 50th anniversary), having just opened its newest location in Vietnam. On the same day, the company was selected as one of the top ten metal manufacturing services companies by a key industry publication, and its almost 900,000-square-foot manufacturing campus in Mexico is doing extremely well in PCBA, plastics, metal stamping, fabrication, powder-coating, painting, and full product assembly.

The Electronic Components Industry Association (ECIA) is a large organization with a strong membership that represents the entirety of the electronic components industry supply chain, including distributors, manufacturers and independent manufacturer representatives.

Our civilization, Carl Sagan noted, “profoundly depends on science and technology.” He also noted that “almost no one understands science and technology.” This duality certainly applies to the new and extraordinary technology which arrives in our lives almost daily. But what are the real effects?