Caterpillar Inc. today reported higher fourth-quarter profit as expense controls made up for lower revenue. The Deerfield, Illinois-based maker of earthmoving machines and heavy equipment also warned of “continued global economic uncertainty” in 2020.
Industrial merger and acquisition activity fell in 2019 because of slowing economies and trade uncertainty, consulting firm PwC said in a report.
Robotics have come a long way since the first industrial robot was installed at General Motors. Denise Ebenhoech, Regional Head of Advanced Robotics Applications at KUKA Robotics, sits down with Chris Mahar, Associate Editor, to discuss recent developments within mobile robots. From cleans rooms to job shops to moving entire airplane assemblies, autonomous mobile robots are helping manufacturers succeed in today’s advanced manufacturing landscape.
While the manufacturing industry learns to deal with COVID-19, it is also undergoing seismic change from other critical issues. Four industry leaders take on these issues in a panel discussion titled, “How Smart Manufacturing is Disrupting the Supply Chain - Are You Prepared?”
The CEO of an artificial intelligence company discusses how AI affects workers and how AI can be deployed well.
While the manufacturing sector generates large amounts of data, relatively few companies have fully harnessed that data to improve operational efficiencies.
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.
The National Safety Council says it is highly alarmed to see that the mortality numbers for COVID-19 already have surpassed the total annual number of preventable, accidental deaths in 2018, the most recent year of final data—and it is only August. At this pace, COVID-19 likely will be the third leading cause of death in 2020, behind only heart disease and cancer.
The distribution agreement between Nikon Metrology, Inc. – Americas and WENZEL America sees two of the biggest global players for metrology create a new partnership in North America. This distribution partnership provides customers with a combination of CMMs and Nikon Metrology’s laser scanning technology.
There’s more to machining than machine tools and cutters. Shops also need an assortment of machine components to keep their CNC lathes and machining centers humming.