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TestRail Publishes 4th Annual Software Testing, Quality Report   

TestRail released the fourth edition of its Software Testing and Quality Report, offering a global snapshot of the evolving landscape of software quality assurance. The 2025 report benchmarks key trends and analyzes responses from thousands of QA professionals worldwide, unveiling how software testers are adapting to modern challenges, leveraging automation tools, and ultimately helping release higher-quality software faster.    

The report examines the current state of QA across three main sections: 1.) QA Processes, Teams, and Benchmarks; 2.) Testing Tools and Technologies; and 3.) QA Responsibilities, Challenges, and Priorities. Aligning with evolving trends and pressures, researchers introduced new questions on compliance and security, artificial intelligence (AI), and the QA job market.  

“While headlines champion AI-led testing revolutions, this year’s response reflects a shift toward maturity and realism,” said Amanda Sundara, General Manager at TestRail. “It’s a story of professional development through expanding responsibilities and skillsets, allowing teams to test with greater efficiency, accuracy, and confidence. Despite fears that AI may one day replace human testers, we’ve found it’s actually most effective at freeing up time for human testers to sharpen core capabilities and focus on critical tasks.”  

TestRail recorded its highest response from enterprise-level professionals since the report’s inception, and survey respondents were predominantly from mid-to-large-sized organizations—holding specialized roles in QA analysis, engineering, and leadership. The three most common respondent titles were QA/Test Engineer, QA/Test Analyst, and QA/Test Lead, which reflect those who create, execute, and analyze tests daily. 

Key Trends and Takeaways: 

• AI Adoption is Fragmented and Early Stage: While 54% of teams use ChatGPT and 23% use GitHub Copilot, fewer than one-third have integrated AI into core QA workflows, citing low impact and integration complexity. 
• Automation Goals Outpace Reality: Teams aim to automate 63% of testing by next year, up from a current average of 40%, yet test breakages, data issues, and skill gaps remain widespread. 
• Testing Remains a Human-Centric Practice: Despite the availability of more advanced tools, manual testing remains essential. The majority of respondents reported conducting functional, regression, end-to-end, and smoke testing manually, demonstrating that manual testing continues to fill critical gaps and is evolving alongside automation.  
• Shift-Left Gaining Ground: 39% of teams are embedding QA earlier in the SDLC, which correlates strongly with reduced defect leakage and higher satisfaction with quality processes. 
• CI/CD Leaders See Results: 86% of teams with strong automation and CI/CD pipelines report faster releases, while 71% report fewer defects in production. 
• New Challenges, Same Constraints: End-to-end testing complexity, late-stage QA involvement, and understaffing (reported by 47%) remain top barriers for organizations seeking to scale their quality programs. 

“Looking ahead, QA teams are focusing on intelligently answering organizational and customer demand to release higher quality, more cost-efficient software under rapidly shortening timelines,” continued Sundara. “As part of the Sembi portfolio for quality and security, TestRail helps empower QA and DevOps teams to establish new standards for testing and quality. We are proud of our continued dedication to providing leading primary research and actionable insights to our global industry.”  

For more information and to download the report, visit https://www.testrail.com/fourth-edition-software-testing-and-quality-report/?utm_source=pr&utm_medium=press_release&utm_campaign=4e-stqr. 

E Tech Group Appoints Lunan CFO 

E Tech Group announced the appointment of Karla Lunan as Chief Financial Officer, effective immediately. In her new role, Lunan will oversee both the finance and human resources teams. Lunan succeeds Sharon Koenig, who is retiring after a distinguished tenure and will remain with the company through July 3, 2025, to ensure a smooth transition. 

With more than 25 years of leadership experience spanning finance, human resources, and IT, Lunan brings a proven track record across industries such as energy, construction, and manufacturing. She has held senior leadership roles at both private and publicly traded companies, including The Tile Shop, MasTec, and Trueline Infrastructure Solutions. Her background includes leading large-scale financial operations, managing mergers and acquisitions, implementing ERP systems, and guiding enterprise-wide transformation initiatives. 

At The Tile Shop, a $400M+ publicly held company, Lunan led financial, legal, and HR functions, developed strategic planning and forecasting processes, and participated in investor relations activities. At MasTec, she supported revenue growth from $400 million to $1 billion by overseeing finance, HR, and IT for multiple business units and led integration efforts following major acquisitions. Most recently, at Trueline Infrastructure Solutions, she standardized financial reporting practices, reduced month-end reporting cycle time by 70%, and developed long-term forecasting models to support strategic growth goals. 

Lunan’s experience building scalable financial processes, integrating acquisitions, and driving operational excellence aligns with E Tech Group’s next phase of growth.  Her leadership will be instrumental as the company expands its international footprint and invests in emerging areas such as cybersecurity and business intelligence. 

“Karla’s deep expertise in financial strategy, operational efficiency, and enterprise transformation will be an incredible asset as we continue to grow and evolve,” said Matt Wise, CEO of E Tech Group. “She will play a key role in helping E Tech Group scale globally and advance our capabilities in cybersecurity and business intelligence.  Beyond her impressive professional accomplishments, Karla’s collaborative leadership style, focus on continuous improvement, and strong work ethic make her an outstanding fit for our culture.”  

“I’m truly excited to get to know the team and the people of E Tech Group,” said Karla Lunan. “My vision for finance and HR is to evolve them into trusted business partners—teams that leaders proactively turn to for insight and support. Numbers can be complex, but they tell a story. When we understand that story, we can make smarter, faster decisions. I’m committed to ensuring finance and HR play a strategic role in driving the business forward.” 

For more information, visit https://etechgroup.com/. 

Estes Gains AS9100D Certification for the Aerospace, Space and Defense Industries 

Estes Design and Manufacturing has received its AS9100D certification for its quality management system governing the design, manufacture and assembly of fabricated sheet metal products. 

The certification validates Estes’ compliance with quality management standards specifically for the aviation, space and defense industries developed by the International Aerospace Quality Group and emphasizes controls to ensure the quality and safety of mission critical aerospace products, components and services.  

This most recent certification paves the way for Estes to further serve customers in the aerospace and defense sectors with advanced sheet metal design and production work. 

“Estes’ commitments to quality, state-of-the-art technology and continuous improvement are central to everything we do,” said company President Tim Estes. “In addition to broadening the scope of our capabilities, we have also expanded to serve additional markets and clients with our Lean Manufacturing and Estes Accelerator Product Development and Prototyping.” 

Additionally, Estes recently added CNC machining with the acquisition of an Okuma 30 HP, 15,000 rpm Genos M560-V vertical machining center that can process a variety of materials from titanium to aluminum. This 5-axis machine provides accuracies of 0.00055" in the X axis, 0.00047" in Y and 0.00039" in Z, making it well suited for the tight -tolerance precision needed for the aerospace and defense sectors. Though the machine is not included in the most recent AS9100D certification scope due to the timing of its acquisition, it is anticipated it will be included in the certification by July 2025. 

CNC machining capabilities further enhance Estes’ menu of services in the manufacturing industry. Its recent commissioning of a robotic laser welding unit that pairs an IPG Photonics’ LightWELD laser welder with a FANUC CRX-25iA Collaborative Robot (cobot) gives Estes fast, repeatable and precise robotic welding capabilities. 

The FANUC CRX-25iA cobot takes LightWELD precision to a new level. With a repeatability of ± 0.002", the six-axis cobot provides consistent quality that is essential for precision welds. 

Estes specializes in light-gauge sheet metal fabrication for carbon steel, stainless steel and aluminum. Part processing capabilities range from plate materials up to ¼” thick to bar and tube stock. The company will also fabricate other material types and alloys per customer request. 

For more information, visit https://www.estesdm.com/.  

MSI Viking Signs Channel Partner Agreement with Baker Hughes’ Waygate Technologies 

MSI Viking announced a commercial agreement to be an official channel partner of Waygate Technologies, a Baker Hughes business and provider of nondestructive testing (NDT) solutions for industrial inspection. Under the agreement, MSI Viking will be an official channel partner of Waygate Technologies for industrial computed tomography (CT) systems in the U.S. market enabling it to offer leading solutions for both dimensional metrology and NDT, addressing a wide range of industrial needs like lightweight casting inspection, composite material analysis, battery cell defect detection, and high-precision medical component validation, among others. 

MSI Viking and Waygate Technologies share a commitment to advancing precision and quality in manufacturing. As an exclusively metrology-focused provider, MSI Viking is uniquely positioned to integrate Waygate Technologies’ industrial X-ray and CT systems into comprehensive solutions that enhance process control and product integrity. 

“The channel partner agreement with Waygate Technologies is a significant milestone for MSI Viking as we continue to expand our portfolio of advanced measurement solutions,” said Eric Luzier, Senior Director of Engineering and Solution Strategy at MSI Viking. “Our exclusive focus on metrology, combined with Waygate Technologies’ cutting-edge industrial CT systems, positions us to deliver unmatched value to our customers. While dimensional control is at the core of this partnership, we will also leverage the breadth of NDT product offerings for other critical applications, such as defect analysis and material integrity assessment.” 

With over 125 years of expertise in advanced imaging and a focus on X-ray and CT technologies, Waygate Technologies and its leading Phoenix and Seifert product lines are revolutionizing dimensional control in the metrology space. X-ray CT has emerged as a transformative tool for dimensional metrology, providing unparalleled capabilities for measuring complex geometries, verifying tolerances, and performing comprehensive quality control. This technology complements traditional metrology by enabling manufacturers to inspect internal and external features of components with exceptional accuracy, often in a single scan. 

X-ray CT technology is increasingly recognized as a game-changer in the metrology industry. By capturing high-resolution 3D images, CT systems provide complete and nondestructive insights into a part’s dimensions and internal structures. Unlike traditional tactile or optical methods, X-ray CT enables precise measurement of hidden or hard-to-access features, making it an indispensable tool for industries like aerospace, automotive, medical devices, and energy. 

Key benefits include: 

• Enhanced Dimensional Control: High-precision measurements of internal and external geometries to ensure compliance with GD&T standards. 
• Improved Efficiency: Nondestructive inspection in a single scan, reducing time and cost for complex quality assurance tasks. 
• Comprehensive Analysis: Simultaneous defect detection and dimensional verification, enabling manufacturers to optimize both product quality and process efficiency. 

For more information, visit https://www.msi-viking.com or bakerhughes.com/waygate-technologies. 

Report: 95% of Manufacturers Are Investing in AI to Navigate Uncertainty, Accelerate Smart Manufacturing 

Rockwell Automation, Inc., announced the results of the 10th annual “State of Smart Manufacturing Report.” The global study, fielded in March 2025, surveyed more than 1,500 manufacturers across 17 of the leading manufacturing countries. 

As manufacturers continue to face uncertainty driven by economic shifts, the report highlights how companies are turning to smart manufacturing technologies to manage risks, improve performance, and support their workforce. It also examines adoption of emerging technology, including artificial intelligence (AI), machine learning (ML), and cloud-based systems. 

“Today's technology advancements are unlocking new opportunities where the combined potential of people and technology will shape our collective future,” says Blake Moret, Chairman and CEO, Rockwell Automation. “As this year’s report shows, manufacturers around the world are using smart manufacturing to navigate disruption and create new opportunities for speed and agility. At Rockwell, we believe innovation and resilience go hand in hand. With the right technology and right people, we can simplify complexity and lead with confidence during times of dynamic change.” 

Key global findings include: 

• 81% of manufacturers say external and internal pressures are accelerating digital transformation, with cloud/SaaS, AI, cybersecurity, and quality management ranking as the top areas of smart manufacturing technology investments. 
• 95% of manufacturers have invested in, or plan to invest in, AI/ML over the next five years. 
• Organizations investing in generative and causal AI increased 12% year-over-year, signaling a maturing approach to advanced technologies beyond experimentation. 
• Cybersecurity ranks as the second biggest external risk, with 49% of manufacturers planning to use AI for cybersecurity in 2025 – up from 40% in 2024. 
• 48% of manufacturers plan to repurpose or hire additional workers due to smart manufacturing investments. Additionally, 41% are using AI and automation to help close the skills gap and address labor shortages. 
• Quality control remains the top AI use case for the second year in a row, with 50% planning to apply AI/ML to support product quality in 2025. 

Beyond these data points, the report reflects broader movement towards more efficient and adaptive operations. Manufacturers are using smart technologies to strengthen supply chains, accelerate sustainability initiatives and make faster, more informed decisions. There has also been a 5% rise in the importance of analytical and AI skills for leaders, showing that talent development and technical innovation must go hand in hand. 

Still, many manufacturers face challenges when implementing AI. Nearly half of respondents say the ability to apply AI is now an extremely important skill – up from just 10% last year. 

Methodology 

This report analyzed feedback from 1,560 respondents from 17 of the top manufacturing countries with roles from management up to the C-suite and was conducted in association with Rockwell Automation and Sapio Research. The survey sampled from a range of industries including Consumer Packaged Goods, Food & Beverage, Automotive, Semiconductor, Energy, Life Sciences, and more. With a balanced distribution of company sizes with revenues spanning $100 million to over $30 billion, it offers a wide breadth of manufacturing business perspectives. 

The full findings of the report can be found at https://www.rockwellautomation.com/en-us/capabilities/digital-transformation/state-of-smart-manufacturing2.html. 

For more information, visit www.rockwellautomation.com.  

Reshoring Survey Reveals Priorities for Reindustrialization: Improve Skilled Workforce, Use TCO, Prep for Geopolitical Risk 

A new industry report reveals what government, original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) and contract manufacturers (CMs) must do to further accelerate and benefit from reshoring. A collaboration between the Reshoring Initiative® and Regions Recruiting®, the survey attracted over 500 respondents and offers insight into OEM and CM perceptions of barriers to manufacturing reshoring. 

There have been a lot of reshoring surveys in the last few years. Why this one is especially newsworthy: 

• Offers alternative paths to reindustrialization if President Trump’s tariffs are permanently blocked by the courts 
• Quantifies the impact each of President Trump’s reindustrialization policies would have on future reshoring. An available and skilled workforce ranks #1, beating tariffs, taxes, regulations and currency.  
• Ranks the reasons why OEMs reshored. 
• Pinpoints factors that OEMs should prioritize more highly: geopolitical risk and use of total cost of ownership (TCO) 
• Is the first to survey U.S. CMs, a vital part of the domestic supply chain. Identifies opportunities for them to gain orders vs. imports by achieving faster delivery and providing stronger commercial and technical partnership with the OEMs. 

Conducted from February through April 2025, the survey comes at a pivotal time. As the Trump administration implements tariffs and contemplates new economic policy for U.S. manufacturing, manufacturers are navigating complex decisions about costs and planning for potential supply chain disruptions and workforce shortages.  

Get the report at https://reshorenow.org/blog/reshoring-survey-reveals-priorities-for-reindustrialization-improve-skilled-workforce-use-tco-prep-for-geopolitical-risk/. 

For more information, visit www.reshorenow.org.  

Sacramento’s Multimillion-Dollar Move to Train Engineers in High School 

Sierra College and Roseville Joint Union High School District are teaming up through a new dual-enrollment partnership to start building that talent pipeline early˗˗during students’ high school years. 

The district recently secured $2.2 million in state grants to build cutting-edge mechatronics labs at northern California’s Oakmont and Antelope high schools, and Sierra College is investing additional resources and staffing to ensure course rigor mirrors its Applied Technology Center. Teachers will be trained by Sierra faculty this summer, with classes launching in fall 2025. 

This initiative is especially critical as the U.S. ramps up efforts to reshore production, requiring a new generation of engineers and technicians who can drive innovation and help boost domestic capacity. 

Program Highlights: 

• These California high schoolers earn real college credits in mechatronics engineering. 
• New labs in both high schools replicate Sierra’s facility – down to the robotics workstations and Programmable Logic Controller (PLC) stations. 
• Helps create a direct pathway to Sacramento State’s mechanical engineering program; its administrators aim to add 150+ California students to the university’s degree pipeline within three years.  

For more information, visit https://www.sierracollege.edu/. 

Jacquet Appointed Chief Quality Officer at Stellantis 

Stellantis N.V. announced the appointment of Sébastien Jacquet as Chief Quality Officer, effective immediately. He succeeds Antonio Filosa, who has been appointed to be the Company’s new Chief Executive Officer. 

Sébastien Jacquet, who previously served as Deputy Chief Engineering and Technology Officer and Head of Cross Car Line and Project Engineering, has almost 25 years of extensive experience in quality, automotive engineering and technology, research and development, and project management. He played a pivotal role in launching the Company’s first multi-energy platform, STLA Medium. 

For more information, visit www.stellantis.com. 

ESAB Donates Equipment, More to High School Competition at Ferris State 

Safety pays—especially for three students from Clinton County RESA (Regional Education Service Agency), St. John, MI. They achieved the highest combined score on an oxy-fuel cutting and welding safety test and won a prize package valued at more than $11,500 donated by ESAB’s Future Fabricators program. The safety test was part of the 21st annual secondary school welding competition hosted by the Welding Engineering Technology Program at Ferris State University, Big Rapids, MI, on May 9.  

ESAB also donated an additional $6,000 in equipment prizes and filler metals to the competition, including AlcoTec® aluminum filler metal, a Rogue® EMP 210 Pro multiprocess welder, a Rogue EM 140 MIG welder, a Rogue ES 201i Stick/TIG welder, a Savage A50 LUX automatic helmet and two Savage A41 automatic helmets. Part of ESAB’s “Ultimate Line-Up,”  this equipment is ideal for home, school, light fabrication, farm and maintenance applications. AlcoTec aluminum filler metals, made just 90 miles away in Traverse City, Mich., set the industry standard for quality, consistency and performance. 

The safety test was based on knowledge of the ANSI Z49.1-2021: Standard For Safety In Welding, Cutting, And Allied Processes, an internationally accepted standard from the American National Safety Institute (ANSI). Each safety test winning student personally won an ESAB Savage A41 automatic welding helmet. Clinton County RESA won a Victor® Performer EDGE 2.0 oxy-acetylene cutting/welding/heating outfit, a Victor safety audit, an equipment donation to enhance the school’s oxy-fuel resources, and a hands-on oxy-fuel safety and cutting technique training session from an ESAB/Victor expert. 

A total of 143 students, representing 33 Michigan secondary schools, participated in the competition, which included five different welding skills competitions that use weld quality judging criteria similar to the SkillsUSA national welding competition. Winners receiving equipment from ESAB included: 

• SMAW, Robert Percha, Flat Rock High School, Flat Rock, Mich. 
• Oxyfuel Welding, Braxton Esper, Cheboygan High School, Cheboygan, Mich. 
• GTAW, Landon Downs, Lenawee ISD, Adrian, Mich. 

“Thanks to continued support from equipment manufacturers like ESAB, our annual secondary school welding competition attracts Michigan’s best secondary school welders,” says Jeffrey Carney, Professor/Program Coordinator, Welding Engineering Technology (WELE) BS degree, Ferris State University. “The competition is our single best recruiting tool. A total of 181 students who participated in the program in its first 20 years have attended Ferris State, and 116 of those students achieved a BS in welding engineering technology.” Ferris State, which also offers a 2-year associate’s degree in welding technology, is one of the nation’s top schools for welding education. 

ESAB regional sales manager Jon Mench and ESAB account manager Rob Krause awarded the prizes. Mench and Krause obtained their BS in Welding Engineering Technology from Ferris State in 2002 and 1998, respectively.  

“We created the ESAB Future Fabricators Program to support and encourage the next generation of young people to pursue welding education and careers in welding,” says Krause, who is also an AWS Certified Welding Inspector. “I have had a very fun and rewarding career since graduating from Ferris. I try to attend the competition every year, and the excitement I see in the next generation is very encouraging. I’m fortunate to work for a company that supports this event.” 

For more information, visit esab.com/us/namen/landing-pages/future-fabricators/. 

Automate 2025 Celebrates Record-Breaking Success 

Automate celebrated its most successful event to date with record numbers of registrants and exhibitors. 45,000 people from around the world registered to visit the sold-out show floor that featured more than 900 exhibitors during Automate’s four-day run from May 12-15, 2025 in Detroit, Michigan. 

“The tremendous growth of Automate this year demonstrates that automation is more relevant today than ever before,” said Jeff Burnstein, president of Association for Advancing Automation (A3), the organization that hosted the show. “Robotics and automation technology is advancing at a rapid pace, and we are seeing an increase in interest from companies in every industry all over the world.” 

This year’s Automate was the largest yet, with 50% more registrants than the last time the show was in Detroit in 2023. The event occupied all available exhibit space at Huntington Place, spanning both the main floor and lower level of the convention center.  

“Automate is incredibly impactful for us and has been essential to our success as a small startup. We are at our hockey stick moment, and we couldn't be more grateful to Automate and A3,” said Kirby Witte, chief commercial officer at ESTAT Actuation. 

“I am thankful for the tremendous support we received from all of our sponsors, speakers, exhibitors and attendees who helped grow this show into our largest yet,” Burnstein said. “Attendees continue to tell us they find the show valuable both for the knowledge they gain and the connections they make.” 

A3 is confident that Automate will continue to grow over the coming years. Exhibitors are quickly reserving spots for next year - companies have already committed to 33% more square footage for the 2026 show than they did at the same time last year for the 2025 show.  

Key Highlights from Automate 2025: 

• Notable Keynotes From:  
• Brad Holmes, executive vice president and general manager of the Detroit Lions, joined by Dan Miller, sports director at Fox 2 Detroit and voice of the Lions 
• Deepu Talla, vice president of robotics and edge AI at NVIDIA 
• Aamir Paul, president of North America operations at Schneider Electric 
• Ujjwal Kumar, group president at Teradyne Robotics 
• The Automate Startup Challenge: Early-stage companies in robotics and automation went head-to-head, pitching their technologies to a panel of industry-expert judges. Kinisi, a company developing autonomous humanoid robots, won the $10,000 prize.  
• Engelberger Awards Ceremony: Recipients of the 2025 Engelberger Awards, the world's most prestigious robotics honor, were celebrated at the Joseph F. Engelberger Awards Dinner and Ceremony on May 14. Stuart “Stu” Shepherd of Shepherd Solutions Inc. was recognized for his industry leadership, and Dr. Peter Corke of the Queensland University of Technology was this year’s winner in the education category.  
• Student Opportunities: Automate inspired the next generation of automation professionals through a variety of initiatives. The first-ever Automate Student Challenge offered attendees the opportunity to watch student teams complete in various robotics competitions throughout the week. Students were also able to explore career paths in automation at the Education Pavilion and had access to free tours of the show floor.  
• Educator Focus: Educator Day offered those supporting young minds with the opportunity to learn about the latest in automation curriculum and earn continuing education credits. Dr. Jeritt Williams from Illinois State University won the 2025 Educator of the Year Award for his work with his students.  
• Second Annual Automate Innovation Awards: This competition offered exhibitors an opportunity to showcase cutting-edge solutions they’ve introduced to the market in the last year to a global audience. A panel of judges looked for innovation and uniqueness in industrial automation and chose SiLC Technologies, a LiDAR company, as this year’s winner.  
• Women’s Empowerment Forum: A3 hosted a networking breakfast and keynote panel designed to bring women in the automation industry together, build connections and leadership skills and drive progress in the industry.  
• Robust Industry Conference: The comprehensive educational conference attracted more than 900 attendees and offered in-depth courses led by more than 200 industry experts. Topics ranged from introductory courses on robotics, artificial intelligence, and machine vision to deep dives into smart automation, cybersecurity, digital transformation, and mobile and collaborative robot applications. Cutting edge technologies, like digital twins, humanoid robotics, and AI agents, were also discussed. Attendees praised the event’s unique blend of practical applications, thought-provoking discussions, and previews of emerging tech, along with invaluable networking opportunities that energized the conference throughout the week.  

Next year, Automate will be held from June 22-25 at McCormick Place in Chicago. In 2027, the show will move to Las Vegas for the first time, running May 10-13.  

For more details on Automate, visit www.AutomateShow.com.  

CADENAS Becomes Part of KEYENCE Group 

On May 20, 2025, CADENAS is now part of the KEYENCE Group, an international developer and manufacturer of industrial automation and inspection equipment. 

According to the company, this decision has been made with great conviction, with the aim of joining forces to take the engineering platform, 3Dfindit to the next level. 

KEYENCE Group is a global market leader in the development and manufacturing of industrial automation and inspection equipment. For the past 25 years, the company has achieved an average annual growth rate of 10%. It is one of the top 5 companies in Japan based on market capitalization as of March 2024 and serves 350,000 customers in 46 countries. 

Founded in 1992 in Augsburg, Germany, CADENAS GmbH has been growing continuously to become a globally operating company. Today it operates a platform business that connects approximately 10 million users with numerous parts suppliers in the essential field of 3D CAD for future manufacturing. 

The company added that after more than 30 years, the time was right to open the next chapter with a strong partner and customers will not experience any changes in our cooperation, the team will remain the same, and usual contacts will continue to be available.  

For more information, visit https://www.3dfindit.com/en/. 

March 2025 US Cutting Tool Orders Total $207.1M, Up 4.3% From February 

Shipments of cutting tools, measured by the Cutting Tool Market Report compiled in a collaboration between AMT – The Association For Manufacturing Technology and the U.S. Cutting Tool Institute (USCTI), totaled $207.1 million in March 2025. Orders increased 4.3% from February 2025 but were down 4.2% from March 2024. Year-to-date shipments totaled $605.6 million, a drop of 5.9% from the same period in 2024. 

“Despite the uncertainty from Washington, it was still business as usual for most companies,” said Jack Burley, chairman of AMT’s Cutting Tool Product Group. “However, most tooling manufacturers are either dealing with increased tariffs for products sourced abroad or increased costs for raw materials like tungsten carbide, or both. These increased costs for perishable tools are already getting passed on, resulting in a hit to the operating margins for manufacturers.” 

Bret Tayne, president of Everede Tool Co., said, “March cutting tool sales improved over February and were at the highest level we have seen since October 2024. Despite the improvement, year-over-year sales remained below 2024 levels for the third consecutive month. Although this data precedes the ‘Liberation Day’ tariff announcements, I’ve anecdotally heard optimism that the current volatility will be short-lived, and modest growth will return in the second half of the year.” 

The Cutting Tool Market Report is jointly compiled by AMT and USCTI, two trade associations representing the development, production, and distribution of cutting tool technology and products. It provides a monthly statement on U.S. manufacturers’ consumption of the primary consumable in the manufacturing process, the cutting tool. Analysis of cutting tool consumption is a leading indicator of both upturns and downturns in U.S. manufacturing activity, as it is a true measure of actual production levels. 

For more information, visit amtonline.org. 

Dr. Potamias Wins EMVA Young Professional Award 2025 

The EMVA Young Professional Award 2025 goes to Dr. Rolandos Alexandros Potamias for his work “High-fidelity 3D Hand Modelling, Detection and Reconstruction in world-coordinates”. The awardee was announced on May 23 during the 23rd EMVA Business Conference in Rome, where he also had the opportunity to present his work as part of the regular conference program. Rolandos Alexandros Potamias is a postdoctoral researcher in 3D Computer Vision at the Department of Computing of Imperial College London in United Kingdom, focusing on perceiving and modelling humans. Rolandos holds a MEng from the School of Electrical and Computer Engineering in National Technical University of Athens. He obtained his PhD degree from Imperial College London under the supervision of Stefanos Zafeiriou with the thesis entitled “Advances of graph neural networks for 3D shape learning and analysis”. Rolandos’ current research efforts focus on building foundational embodied AI for open-world robots. 

The awarded work was High-fidelity 3D Hand Modelling, Detection and Reconstruction in World-coordinates--Given their power to express human behavior and interact with objects, hands present a very important, but still challenging to model component of the human body. The significance of hand modelling can be further amplified considering its social benefit amongst deaf and hard-of-hearing communities. Currently, most of the hand modelling methods rely on low polygon hand models that fail to capture the intricate details of the hands, making real-world AR/VR applications extremely challenging. Apart from its low polygon count, current hand models are trained using limited subjects, which not only prohibits their expressive power but also imposes unnecessary shape reconstruction constraints on 3D hand pose estimation methods. Moreover, hand appearance remains almost unexplored and neglected from the majority of hand reconstruction methods. 

The awarded research can be divided in three main components: i) hand shape modelling, ii) hand detection and iii) 3D hand reconstruction. To achieve highly detailed 3D hand reconstruction, Potamias’ developed a large-scale model of the human hand, called Handy, modelling both shape and appearance, composed of over 1200 subjects with large diversity in age, gender, and ethnicity, enabling accurate reconstruction of out-of-distribution samples. Following this work, Potamias’ introduced WiLoR, a data-driven transformer-based pipeline for efficient and real-time multi-hand detection and 3D reconstruction from in-the-wild images. The developed model can efficiently detect and estimate the hand shapes and poses from images containing multiple hands. To enable motion modelling of the hands in the world-space, especially from egocentric wearable camera settings where hands and camera are continuously in motion, Potamias’ developed HaWoR, a SLAM-based hand motion reconstruction model. HaWoR decouples the task of 3D world-coordination hand motion reconstruction in two steps; reconstructing the hand motion in the camera space, and estimating the camera trajectory in the world coordinate system. 

The technologies developed from Potamias’ research have received commercial attention and can further advance the various industrial applications ranging from augmented and virtual reality (AR/VR) and virtual try-on to embodied AI and robot-learning. 

The EMVA Young Professional Award is an annual award to honor the outstanding and innovative work of a student or a young professional in the field of machine vision or image processing. It is the goal of the European Machine Vision Association EMVA to further support innovation in the machine vision industry, to contribute to the important aspect of dedicated machine vision education and to provide a bridge between research and industry. With the annual Young Professional Award the EMVA intends to specifically encourage students to focus on challenges in the field of machine vision and to apply latest research results and findings in computer vision to the practical needs of the industry. The Award winner is presented during the EMVA Business Conference. 

For more information, visit www.emva.org. 

ABB Could Sell Robotics Segment in Alternative to Spinoff 

Back on May 13, Bloomberg reported ABB Ltd. “is exploring a potential sale of the robotics unit.” The sale was described as an alternative to a plan for a main spinoff and estimated to be worth $3.5 billion. Others close to the situation estimated as much as $5 billion. 

The company said in an email statement to Bloomberg, “Should ABB be approached, it is the duty of the executive committee and board to thoroughly evaluate all proposals,” however, “we believe that a spinoff is the best option to optimize the respective companies’ abilities to create customer value.” 

The Bloomberg report also mentioned that back in April, “ABB said it plans to spin off and list the robotics unit in the second quarter of 2026,” and deemed it “one of the first major strategic moves by the firm’s new Chief Executive Officer Morten Wierod.” Wierod began his duties as CEO in August last year. 

ABB’s robotics unit is said to comprise two-thirds of ABB’s robotics and discrete automation division and employs 7,000 people with manufacturing hubs in China, the U.S. and Sweden, where its robotics business began, and in 2024, posted double-digit margins standalone. 

For more information, visit https://global.abb/. 

Hypertherm Associates Takes Active Role in Workforce Development at SkillsUSA 

Hypertherm Associates was an in-kind sponsor for the welding competition at this year’s SkillsUSA National Leadership & Skills Conference June 23-27 at the Georgia World Conference Center in Atlanta, GA. Hypertherm Associates donated nine Powermax45 SYNC® units and 100 SYNC drag cut cartridges to be used for the SkillsUSA student welding competition. In addition, Hypertherm plasma subject matter experts and professionals will serve as volunteer judges to score and mentor participants.  

The annual week-long National Leadership & Skills Conference is the nation’s largest gathering of America’s future skilled workforce and celebration of skilled trades. Since its inception in 1965, SkillsUSA has championed the skilled trades and works in middle and high schools, colleges and technical institutions nationwide to teach students hands-on skills in more than 130 occupational areas as a solution to the ongoing skills gap. 

“Advancing technology through a student-mentor connection is core to Hypertherm Associates’ origin story,” says Aaron Brandt, Hypertherm President and CEO. “We take an active role in SkillsUSA each year to honor our history while also investing in the future.” 

Hypertherm Associates also participated in the conference’s TECHSPO, the largest technical education trade show in the nation that allows students of all ages to engage directly with industry partners and experience the latest advances in skilled trades technology.

For more information, visit www.HyperthermAssociates.com. 

MVTec Expands Program for Universities, Students 

MVTec Software GmbH supports education and training in the field of machine vision. The MVTec on Campus program, which offers universities and students free access to MVTec software products for academic purposes, will celebrate its fifth anniversary in 2025. To mark the anniversary, the program will be enhanced with numerous new features and improvements. "Machine vision is an important area of automation. With the increasing shortage of skilled workers and competitiveness in manufacturing, the importance of this technology is growing. This is where we come in with the MVTec on Campus program by supporting future specialists already during their studies," explains Franziska Hartl, who is responsible for the "on Campus” program at MVTec. 

For the fifth anniversary of the program, students now have access to the low-code image processing software MVTec MERLIC in addition to MVTec HALCON. The software is known for its ease of use and comprehensive functionalities, such as state-of-the-art deep learning methods. Another new benefit is the access to the MVTec Academy as part of the "on Campus Program". The MVTec Academy is a digital learning platform that offers interactive online courses on MVTec products. In addition to basic training courses, the platform also offers in-depth content for several areas of machine vision. The anniversary is rounded off with an anniversary campaign that includes webinars for students to learn more about the use of MVTec software products. 

Students benefit from the program by being able to attach a certificate from the on-campus program to their application documents for future employers. This enables them to demonstrate their qualifications in the field of automation. Since 2019, MVTec has been supporting students, lecturers, and universities through the "on Campus Program" by making its technologically leading and hardware-independent software available for academic purposes with free and discounted offers. The company has already distributed approximately 15,000 licenses to educators and students in over 40 countries. In other words, more than 120 faculties from a wide range of disciplines worldwide are actively using MVTec software products. 

 For more information, visit www.mvtec.com. 

Ascential Technologies Promotes Rosi to Director of Ascential Care  

Ascential Technologies has promoted Alessandro Rosi to director of Ascential Care, the company’s globally responsive and agile customer service platform. Rosi will also maintain his role as regional director of the company’s Galileo brand and lead Ascential Technologies’ leak-testing technical center of excellence in Italy.   

In his new role, Rosi will leverage Ascential Care to better align with the needs of Ascential Technologies’ customers worldwide and ensure that they always experience best-in-class service and maintenance. Additionally, he will support Ascentialytics, a connected asset performance management solution that allows customers new opportunities to collect, mine and measure data with an aim to enhance reliability and availability of assets while reducing risks and costs. 

“Alessandro is an effective team leader who is adept in project management and brings a positive, entrepreneurial mindset to the team,” said Erin Dillard, CCO of Ascential Technologies’ Test & Measurement Systems division. "His tremendous focus on the customer and commitment to their success has been instrumental during his time with our product brand, Galileo. We anticipate that his strategic planning capabilities and proven track record of driving organizational achievements will help elevate our customer support to new heights." 

Rosi has a decade’s worth of experience in leading technical teams and streamlining processes to achieve operational excellence and nearly 20 years in the manufacturing industry. He first joined Galileo in June 2020 as a technical director. He was promoted to chief operating officer a year later, then to chief executive officer before the role transitioned to regional director. Before joining Galileo, Rosi worked for Cassioli Srl in Siena, Italy, for nearly 14 years, holding various roles, including mechanical designer, R&D engineer, and technical manager.  

He received a Bachelor of Science in Mechanical Engineering and a Master of Science in Automation & Robotics Engineering from the University of Pisa.   

For more information, visit www.ascentialtech.com. 

ZOLLER Celebrates 80 Years at Ann Arbor Open House & Technology Days 

ZOLLER celebrated its 80th anniversary at its North American headquarters located in Ann Arbor, MI, with a three-day Open House & Technology Days event. The celebration brought together manufacturers, partners, industry leaders, as well as members of the media, to explore the future of smart manufacturing while honoring the company’s legacy of innovation, precision, and customer-driven solutions. 

Following the unveiling of its newly expanded ZOLLER Pacific facility in April, the celebration moved east under the theme “ELEVATE. EFFICIENCY.” The event featured immersive technology demonstrations, expert-led presentations, and customer success stories that illustrated the benefits of ZOLLER Solutions, from CAM to part. 

The first day was dedicated to the press and partners, offering a look at ZOLLER’s journey over the past eight decades and its evolving vision for smart manufacturing. Mr. Alexander Zoller, President of ZOLLER Inc., delivered an executive briefing, offering insights into industry trends. With ZOLLER at the forefront, the company continues to drive efficiency, precision, and automation for operations of all sizes, in every industry vertical.  

Day two focused on maximizing efficiency from CAM to part, with presentations from Jonathan Meeker of Milacron and Chiara Schildendorfer of Pankl Aerospace, who detailed how ZOLLER Solutions have maximized the efficiency of their toolroom and machining operations. ZOLLER experts provided interactive demonstrations of ZOLLER Solutions, from automation with the coraMeasureLG and roboBox to TMS Tool Management Solutions. Day two also featured the launch of the 2026 Toolroom of the Year competition, reinforcing ZOLLER’s commitment to elevating efficiency and recognizing customer success. Guests marked the special occasion with a dedicated anniversary cake cutting and celebratory toast, honoring the achievements and dedication of ZOLLER employees worldwide over the last 80 years and in the years to come, as they continue to drive forward into the future.  

The final day showcased advancements in tool inspection technology, with Nathan Cranker, owner and operations manager of Gorilla Mill, sharing how ZOLLER helped elevate both quality and efficiency in their tool manufacturing. One of the event’s key moments was the unveiling of the »titan«, ZOLLER’s newest innovation for fully automatic measuring and inspection of precision cutting tools and edge-prep. 

With technologies like the titan, expanding facilities across North America, and a continued focus on smart, connected solutions, ZOLLER remains committed to empowering its customers to drive efficiency, reduce downtime, and elevate quality. As the company looks toward its ninth decade, ZOLLER will continue setting the standard for precision and innovation. 

For more information, visit zoller.info/us.  

Machinery Demand Keeps Momentum Ahead of Rising Economic Uncertainty 

New orders of metalworking machinery, measured by the U.S. Manufacturing Technology Orders Report published by AMT – The Association For Manufacturing Technology, totaled $515.8 million in March 2025, the highest monthly value since March 2023. March 2025 orders increased 33.8% from February 2025 and were up 20.5% from March 2024. Through the first quarter of the year, orders totaled $1.26 billion, a 12.4% increase over the first quarter of 2024. 

Even with a massive increase of private investment in equipment in the first quarter of 2025, orders of manufacturing technology fell by 5.7% from the previous quarter. However, the decline was not significant enough to derail the upward momentum of the industry that began with IMTS – The International Manufacturing Technology Show in September 2024. 

• After driving growth in the machinery market over the past several months, orders from contract machine shops underperformed the overall market movements in March 2025. When demand increases for goods and equipment that require machined parts, contract machine shops generally experience capacity constraints as OEMs shift more work toward them and weigh how to handle changing demand over longer time horizons. Meeting this immediate need by the smaller shops requires additional investment in machinery. 
• Aerospace manufacturers increased their orders in March 2025 to the highest monthly value on record and the most units ordered since December 2023. In February 2025, the capacity utilization rate of aerospace manufacturers surpassed the level observed before the Boeing machinists strike for the first time since the end of the strike in November 2024. While the industry is positioned to continue its upward trajectory, the current strike of machinists could be another short-term drag on growth. 

The first quarter of 2025 showed strong signs that demand for manufacturing technology was beginning to recover after two years of mild decline. Increasing uncertainty and downside risks to the economy could upend the positive path of manufacturing technology orders. After forecasting robust growth in 2025, Oxford Economics recently revised its outlook to a high single-digit decline, as economic conditions could push the recovery in machinery demand to the latter half of 2026. 

For more information, visit amtonline.org. 

Universal Instruments Appoints Nunes COO 

Universal Instruments announced the appointment of Shane Nunes as Chief Operating Officer. Nunes joined Universal in 2023 and was previously Vice President of Global Products and Solutions. In this new position, he oversees and directs operations, quality, product development, product management, the supply chain, and the Advanced Process Lab. He will be responsible for driving continued improvements in operational excellence while collaborating closely with the president to effectively execute the company’s strategic business goals. 

“I am excited about the possibilities that are ahead of us. The technology targets are fast-moving, and we have so much to offer for precision automation and advanced packaging where the opportunities are exploding,” said Nunes. “Our expanded portfolio features innovative solutions for these applications, and our decades of experience in both arenas gives us the expertise to help our customers succeed. We’re also preparing to launch our next-generation Surface Mount platform this fall, continuing our lineage of benchmark platform performance. The first iteration will expand our capabilities and presence in the Consumer space predominantly and the full lineup will enable us to offer this leading-edge solution across a full range of markets.”  

Universal Instruments’ President, Brad Bennett, said, “We're building a team that thrives on vision, integrity, and results, and Shane has the mindset and drive that fits perfectly with that. I’m confident that he will bring valuable strategic leadership to Universal and play a critical role in shaping our future and accelerating our momentum." 

For more information, visit www.uic.com.