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1 8 N O V E M B E R / D E C E M B E R 2 0 0 6 • G E A R T E C H N O L O G Y • w w w . g e a r t e c h n o l o g y . c o m • w w w . p o w e r t r a n s m i s s i o n . c o m
State of the Gear Industry 91% of Gear Industry Respondents are Optimistic About their Ability to Compete over the next 5 Years 1% Extremely Pessimistic 1% Fairly Pessimistic 4% Slightly Pessimistic 3% Undecided 28% Extremely Optimistic 49% Fairly Optimistic 14% Slightly Optimistic Based on the chart above, gear manufacturers are clearly optimistic about 2007 and beyond. They’ve been riding a wave of increased employment, increased sales and increased production. Nearly all involved in gear manufacturing believe in their companies, their technology and their processes. It’s safe to say the gear industry has a positive outlook. Of course, the optimism shown by these results reflects a worldwide gear manufacturing economy that has been strong over the last few years. If you make gears these days, chances are good that you’re pretty busy. But that doesn’t mean that you aren’t concerned. The results presented here are biased. They aren’t representative of the entire gear industry, nor are they representative of all of its facets. For example, this survey definitely underrepresents the thousands of Americans who manufacture gears for automotive transmissions and axles—and that industry, at least in America, continues to struggle. “Our highest-volume products are tied to trucks and SUVs, which have fallen out of favor due to higher fuel prices,” said a design engineer for a U.S. Tier One automotive supplier. “We either need new products, new customers or both.” Another automotive industry respondent said, “This facility is closing and production is being moved to low-cost countries, like India, Poland and China.” A number of other respondents mentioned that the automotive industry downturn was negatively affecting their businesses. In October, Gear Technology conducted an anonymous survey of gear manufacturers. Invitations were sent by e-mail to thousands of individuals around the world. More than 300 individuals at gear manufacturing locations responded to the online survey, answering questions about their manufacturing operations and current challenges facing their businesses. The respondents considered here all work at locations where gears, splines, sprockets, worms and similar products are manufactured. They work for gear manufacturing job shops (45%), captive shops at OEMs (53%) and shops manufacturing gears for maintenance, spares and their own use (2%). The survey covers gear manufacturing around the world, with 57% of respondents working in the United States, and 43% outside the United States. A full breakdown of respondents can be found at the end of this article. w w w . p o w e r t r a n s m i s s i o n . c o m • w w w . g e a r t e c h n o l o g y . c o m • G E A R T E C H N O L O G Y • N O V E M B E R / D E C E M B E R 2 0 0 6 1 9
Page 1 and 2: GEAR TECHNOLOGY NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2
Page 3 and 4: Shave with the experts When it come
Page 5 and 6: Our business is to help make your b
Page 7 and 8: Flexibility is our strength. Liebhe
Page 9 and 10: PUBLISHER’S PAGE Coming Soon! The
Page 11 and 12: PRODUCT NEWS Affolter Introduces Ge
Page 13 and 14: profilator_ad 7/10/06 3:15 PM Page
Page 15 and 16: PRODUCT NEWS “Revelations softwar
Page 17 and 18: PRODUCT NEWS Nitrex Develops New Sm
Page 19: SINK SOME TEETH INTO YOUR SALES! OC
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Page 25 and 26: 40% 50% Work at Locations Where Cap
Page 27 and 28: What Other Factors are Presenting S
Page 29 and 30: Primary Method of of Manufacture 60
Page 31 and 32: It’s All About the Science at Gea
Page 33 and 34: Great Minds! Great Gears! Great Pol
Page 35 and 36: And to show that the measured value
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Page 39 and 40: workpieces were also ground before
Page 41 and 42: tact conditions are shown in Figure
Page 43 and 44: the area of the root flank is most
Page 45 and 46: Management Summary The palette of t
Page 47 and 48: There are two key conclusions to be
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Page 51 and 52: used to study the effect internal l
Page 53 and 54: EVENTS Power Transmission and Geari
Page 55 and 56: Coming Soon 2007 For mor
Page 57 and 58: INDUSTRY NEWS Philadelphia Gear Off
Page 59 and 60: INDUSTRY NEWS workload with enough
Page 61 and 62: What Can Take 70,000 Hits and is St
Page 63 and 64: We are your job shop Need Your Gear
Page 65 and 66: SERVICE United States P
Page 67: CUSTOM BEVEL GEAR MANUFACTURING Per

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