Catalytic CEO Sean Chou explains the difference between process automation and robotic automation, as well as what it looks like to use automation to augment existing workflows. Importantly, he describes how manufacturers can use automation to do more with less—to lessen supply chain pressures that have grown because of globalization and the Covid-19 crisis. And he details which processes manufacturers can automate to optimize resources and productivity.
As more original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) and job shops “warm up” to the idea of laser welding, many have turned their attention to four specific technologies.
What doesn’t happen in Vegas stays in our magazine. So, we bring you some highlights of the exciting advances in cutting you would have seen at FABTECH 2020 this year in Las Vegas, which has been canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
An Eaton executive describes the automotive supplier's plans to utilize Industry 4.0.
Part 1 of this three-part series on the Connected Machine Shop ran in the July issue of Manufacturing Engineering.
Controls help make modern manufacturing go. Controls help shop floor employees monitor Industry 4.0 technology. Controls also boost productivity on the shop floor. Technology companies are highlighting improvements designed to maintain the forward momentum of advanced technology.
Manufacturing is moving towards high-mix production different products in very small lots. Advanced robotics may be needed to get there.
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.
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.
Today, it’s tremendously difficult to get products made. To turn an idea into a tangible object requires a list of difficult-to-obtain resources, including expensive machinery and capital, and a lot of time to program and configure machines.
