On June 22-23, SME hosted a Smart Manufacturing Working Group meeting at Texas A&M University (College Station, TX) followed by an international workshop on Smart Manufacturing for the Factory of the Future.
I just returned from IMTS in Chicago and my first thought was, “where will I be able to rack up all those bonus steps I got last week?” On the easiest day, I walked 7.9 miles, and I topped 10 miles on two other days. It’s easy to understand why.
In a perfect CNC world, the first part is always a good one. There’s no need for extra blanks or barstock. Setup times are only as long as is needed to swap out a few tools and load a new program. There’s never a crash, never the need to reprogram an inefficient bit of code. The operator just pushes the green button and out pops a finished workpiece minutes or hours later.
SME is publishing a series of Smart Manufacturing Industry Reports, with the third being released at IMTS this month. The reports, available at sme.org/reports, detail the advantages of smart manufacturing, the challenges to implementing digital solutions, and, finally, keys to implementing the technologies and tools.
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FANUC America, a leading supplier of CNCs, robotics and ROBOMACHINEs, announced a West Campus expansion that will push its operational space in Oakland County, Michigan to nearly two million square feet.
In this podcast, Bruce Morey, Senior Technical Editor for Manufacturing Engineering Magazine discusses collaborative robots, or cobots, with Steve Apel. He is a Regional Automation Manager for Acieta. In this role, he helps solve customer challenges through the adoption of new robotic automation technologies.
IIoT expert Steve Jones who will speak Oct. 29 at “The Best of SMX” (smxevent.com),
describes in detail the Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT), as well as AI/machine learning
and other promising technology for manufacturing’s future. Like with many things in life,
it is important to set goals first, the Steelcase executive says. Not sure where to begin
with IIoT? Never fear: Jones has the answer.
Craig Zoberis and Davin Erickson detail how Fusion OEM discovered and implemented collaborative robots, or cobots. The company is now investing in future expert machinists by using cobots—and making headway in closing the manufacturing industry skills gap. They explain the phases of training for cobots, as well as how cobots “talk” with other machines—and how machines perform “handshakes” (and are therefore envied by humans who today are struggling with social distancing).
Diego Tamburini, principal industry lead for manufacturing in the cloud + AI division of Microsoft, reviews the impact of the COVID-19 crisis in manufacturing. He shares his thoughts about how the industry should respond—and lists the attributes of manufacturers best positioned to survive the crisis. Finally, he outlines new opportunities for developers of smart manufacturing software solutions under the “new normal.”
