Reducing Complexity in Assembly Equipment May 25, 2022 In this podcast, John Derry, senior application engineer at Promess, talks to SME Media contributing editor Michael Anderson about reducing complexity in assembly equipment. Derry discusses how assembly systems may become unnecessarily complex--and how that complexity can reduce quality and increase costs. Derry goes on to describe effective ways of addressing these issues and to reduce and even eliminate unnecessary complexity.
Proactive OT Security—Protecting Before The Attack January 27, 2021 Cybersecurity is growing more critical every year. Much of the focus has been on protecting information technology (IT) assets, and operational technology security can be been overlooked. In this episode, Alan Rooks, Editor in Chief of Manufacturing Engineering magazine, talks with Michael Rothschild, Senior Director of Marketing for Tenable about what has changed to cause operational technology security to gain a high profile; how OT environments are different from, and similar to IT; what types of attacks are impacting OT environments; what can happen if an OT attack is successful; common methods for detecting OT based attacks; and how proactive security is a powerful strategy for OT security.
Tackling Downtime and Inefficiencies with Software November 20, 2019 Turning to software over paper reports does more than just save trees. Chris Mahar, Associate Editor of Manufacturing Engineering, talks with David McPhail, President and CEO of Memex Inc., about how manufacturers can utilize technology to improve efficiency, reduce downtime and boost productivity and profits across their business.
Lean Manufacturing and Industry 4.0 October 18, 2017 At UGN, one of our core operating principles is sustainability. That means minimizing waste to improve efficiency, add value, and refine the manufacturing process for our automotive products when and where we can.
Bill Ford’s Third Act: Fighting for Automaker’s Future, His Own Legacy August 11, 2017 Bill Ford, executive chairman of Ford Motor Co., is now in Act III in his career at the automaker. The outcome will determine Ford Motor’s future and his legacy.
Fast, Flexible Fixturing May 2, 2017 Secure, accurate workholding sets the stage for consistent machining productivity. Depending on the parts and processes involved, workholding can be as simple and temporary as a plain vise or clamp or as complex and permanent as a machined and fabricated fixture that is custom-designed to hold a unique part.
Faurecia Goes All In on Industry 4.0 October 18, 2016 Automotive supplier Faurecia (Nanterre, France) decided it needed to get serious about Industry 4.0 fast.
How A Vendor Managed Inventory System (VMI) Benefits Business April 12, 2016 When a manufacturer has excess inventory not adding value to the process, the inventory is hurting the company’s balance sheet, and is by definition wasteful.
Creating New Value at Toyota February 25, 2016 I traveled to Toyota headquarters in Japan with Jeff Liker for a research project. We wanted to learn more about the engineering and collaboration that created the Toyota New Global Architecture (TNGA), the strategy and innovation behind hydrogen vehicles, and how they had adapted and improved their development system to meet the increasing demands of the ultra-competitive global auto industry.
Shop-Floor Monitoring Critical to Improving Factory Processes July 1, 2013 Process improvement encompasses a wide range of tools, techniques and strategies. When properly deployed, shop-floor data collection and monitoring systems can help factory-floor managers leverage key data metrics including overall equipment effectiveness (OEE) and total effective equipment performance (TEEP) that measure machine uptime and pinpoint bottlenecks or other problems in order to improve machining performance.
