FANUC has made real one of the promises of Industry 4.0, that of predictive maintenance for factory equipment, with its Zero Down Time IoT solution. ZDT can be applied to any of FANUC’s robotic arms and their peripherals.
We all know the buzzwords circulating around digital data and the factory. You have heard them—Industry 4.0, smart factories, data analytics, and artificial intelligence (AI). The question we all have is how will this impact workers in the long term? What do these terms really mean? Nevertheless, both traditional software suppliers and makers of advanced manufacturing equipment are offering digital solutions.
As additive manufacturing (AM) moves from prototypes to mass production, manufacturers are setting their sights on the holy grails—the products and processes that will be game-changers. Many game-changers are already in play.
Marshall Aerospace and Defence Group is now using 3D printing from Stratasys to manufacture flight-ready parts for several of its military, civil and business aircraft—while producing specific ground-running equipment at a lower cost than aluminum alternatives.
As with any digital transformation process, the devil is in the details, and there are many potential pitfalls that can derail projects.
The bane of modern engineering is complexity. One promise of artificial intelligence and machine learning is helping engineers to use complex tools and harness vast data sets effectively.
Until just a few years ago, if a vehicle maker wanted to test the process for making a newly designed composite part at full scale, the company’s R&D engineers would call one of its Tier Ones and ask to schedule a trial run on the composites fabricator’s machines during off hours.
Fostering human-centered innovation by developing powerful, easy-to-use tools is at the heart of the new products, enhancements and services showcased during the Siemens Digital Industries Software 2020 Media & Analyst Conference, a two-day virtual event hosted by the Plano, Texas-based company on June 16 and 17.
When designers at Siemens started using virtual reality (VR) to quickly evaluate early-stage ideas, the usually slow and costly design-and-iteration process went from days and hours to minutes.
The institutes that make up Manufacturing USA need to move at the speed of business, considering that the endeavor represents the U.S. government’s biggest investment in the digitization of manufacturing to date.
