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.
Kevin Smith, senior commercial application engineer at Markforged, explains how the Markforged Metal X 3D printing process works, for starters. He also gets into how FFF metal printing differs from DMLS and other processes. And he goes over materials that can be printed on the Metal X, as well as the applications that are best suited for metal 3D printing.
With today’s focus on lightweighting, hollow parts made from composite materials—such as ducting, fuel tanks, mandrels, and rocket shrouds—are in higher demand than ever before.
Boeing Co., which had wanted to return the 737 Max to service this month, threw up the surrender flag on Dec. 16. The company said it will suspend 737 Max production in January.
Engineering information is both pervasive and essential within manufacturing plants. And, it changes constantly as a result of maintenance-related adjustments, alterations in plant processes, or the swap-out of components.
Manufacturers who have deployed the digital or smart factory have put down their pencils, found new uses for their clipboards and closed their spreadsheet programs in favor of using real-time data gleaned from condition monitoring of their machinery.
Information technology and operations technology are unlikely candidates for a successful marriage. But to ensure that manufacturers thrive in the digital age, OT and IT must find ways to work together—or to at least, as on Tinder, swipe right to indicate interest.
In my capacity as the Chair of the Council of the Manufacturing USA institute directors, I often get asked about trends in U.S. advanced manufacturing.
Vertical machining centers with advanced features and functions are earning their stripes as more productive members of machine shops’ CNC equipment arsenal.
For machine shops in a competitive global marketplace, keeping spindles running and making product is the only way to stay in business. Still, adding a new piece of equipment, even with the promise of improving the efficiency of your existing ones, may be a difficult sell to management.