COVID-19 is teaching us just what innovation is possible July 20, 2020 What a difference a month makes. In a survey by the Manufacturing Advocacy and Growth Network (MAGNET) in February, only 24 percent of Ohio manufacturers said innovation was a priority.
How ‘smart processes’ fit into Industry 4.0 July 21, 2020 If Industry 3.0 is identified by the computerization of factory floor processes to make them “smart,” then Industry 4.0 can be understood as the expansion of the idea to include all of the non-factory floor inputs required to produce a quality product and a successful enterprise.
The Connected Machine Shop August 24, 2020 Part 1 of this three-part series on the Connected Machine Shop ran in the July issue of Manufacturing Engineering.
Crossing the digital divide key to improving labor productivity May 18, 2020 Inside an electronics factory in China as late as early 2019, workers and smart machines were building circuit boards with chips in a multi-step process using a variety of machines from different vendors.
Experts: Increased Automation Critical to Meeting Aircraft Demand October 5, 2020 Before the coronavirus pandemic upended normal life and essentially shut down commercial airliners, the aviation industry had a projected need for 40,000 new aircraft—planes, helicopters, air taxis, and unmanned aerial vehicles—in the next 20 years.
Connectivity Key to Industry 4.0 October 9, 2020 Most machining operations today have a heterogenous mix of old and new machines. To achieve a future Smart Factory means connecting existing machining centers, and GROB offers solutions.
Rush job? No prob! September 24, 2020 Improvements in manufacturing management software, robotics, additive manufacturing and thermal controls are making small batch sizes more cost effective—even for smaller shops. Manufacturing plants are able to reduce inventory, improve throughput and reduce demands on human operators.
ALPLA took to data planning, and its IIoT project worked September 30, 2020 It has become far too rare for manufacturers’ visions of an IIoT-fueled utopia to survive contact with reality. A Cisco survey finds that nearly 75 percent of Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT) projects are failing.
Flanders’ digital move brings greater operational efficiency September 29, 2020 If you were to rebuild your manufacturing business today, would you build it in the same way, or would you shape it differently to address new challenges and future innovations?
Welcome to drugmaking in era of AI, synthetic biology September 22, 2020 We no longer need to accept that it takes a decade to create and make a safe and effective vaccine—thanks in part to smart manufacturing.