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Hermle Machine Co., a manufacturer of high-end machine tools, annually employs 100 to 120 apprentices in its German operations. The apprentices make up about 13% of that workforce. Manuel Merkt, executive vice president of operations at Hermle’s US operations (Franklin, WI), is working with the German American Chamber of Commerce to establish a similar program in Wisconsin which would provide graduates with the same skills and certifications that the program in Germany offers. Merkt, himself a product of the apprenticeship program, explains to Manufacturing Engineering’s James D. Sawyer how the effort is proceeding.

The co-author of “The Smartest Places on Earth: Why Rustbelts Are the Emerging Hotspots of Global Innovation” discusses not only all he discovered in writing the book but also what he has learned since it was published. Example of the latter: “The movement from a focus on cheap to a focus on smart is … a real competitive advantage, but it’s not permanent. I discovered that China now very well understands that this is an issue. China is now the biggest buyer of robots in the world.”

Dyan Finkhousen, director of open innovation & advanced manufacturing at GE Global Operations, discusses Fuse LLC, an 8-month-old service offering of GeniusLink that involves small batch mfg. Key takeaways: The benefits GE businesses, customers and sponsors find by using Fuse to solve tough technology challenges; the types of problems that are a good fit for Fuse; and how to learn about and participate in a product or technology innovation contest sponsored by Fuse. (GeniusLink is GE Global Operations’ crowd-sourcing division.)

Sandra Rios, ‎Head of Product Management & Marketing, AXOOM GmbH, explores the development of the platform market for the Internet of Things, the company’s vision for the IoT platform market, and its plans in North America.

At the Aerodef conference in Texas, Conrad Leiva, VP for product strategy and alliance at iBASEt and chair of the smart manufacturing working group at MESA, says companies should first evaluate their business model today to get ready for a smart manufacturing future.

Drawing upon his firm’s work with NEC, Schlindler Elevator, Exelon and Pitney Bowes, Sergey Patsko of GE Digital advises manufacturing execs looking for value to focus on compute power and ways to process and analyze data.

Tom O’Reilly, VP, Global Business Development at Rockwell Automation, details how his company’s five-year plan to restructure its facility and supplier networks has led to a four- to five-percent annual improvement in productivity.

Brian Ayers, vice president of sales and marketing at Arch Global Precision, talks with Candace Roulo, managing editor of Manufacturing Engineering magazine, about the company’s entrepreneurial values and philosophy about manufacturing in the US.

Bill Obras, Vice President Sales and Marketing for Rego-Fix Corp., sat down with Manufacturing Engineering’s James D. Sawyer at Eastec to discuss the program and provide details on the company’s new 20,000 ft2 facility near Indianapolis.

In this podcast, Senior Editor Jim Lorincz talks with Simon Whitton, regional division manager, Kuka Robotics Corp., about how Kuka Ready-to-Use preconfigured robotic product solutions can integrated into existing shop operations, ensuring that sustainable and high-performance levels of manufacturing efficiency can be achieved.