Connecting the Digital World with the Factory Floor April 1, 2014 The classic manufacturing conundrum is how to make products quicker, cheaper, and better.
Lean at NUMMI September 1, 2005 To remain competitive in the fiercely contested North American automotive industry, the New United Motor Manufacturing Inc. (NUMMI, Fremont, CA) assembly plant, a joint venture between Toyota Motor Corp. (Aichi Prefecture, Japan) and General Motors Corp. (Detroit), has rededicated its efforts in lean manufacturing during the past few years by applying key tenets of the Toyota Production System (TPS).
Metal Parts Follow Tough Plastics Act April 1, 2010 When you walk into the Redeye On Demand facility in Eden Prairie, MN, you enter into one version of the factory of the future. There you will see a bank of 100 high-end Fortus fused-deposition modeling (FDM) machines from Stratasys that provide the capacity to build real, functional parts with production-grade thermoplastics directly from CAD data.
Micro Manufacturing Keeps Shrinking the Envelope January 1, 2013 Micro components continue to shrink in size, demanding ever-greater precision and improved handling of parts with sub-micron-sized features. New approaches in micro machining technology include higher-precision systems from traditional micro machining developers, as well as techniques using additive manufacturing processes and semiconductor wafer-scale technology on the smallest of micro parts.
Creating New Value at Toyota February 25, 2016 I traveled to Toyota headquarters in Japan with Jeff Liker for a research project. We wanted to learn more about the engineering and collaboration that created the Toyota New Global Architecture (TNGA), the strategy and innovation behind hydrogen vehicles, and how they had adapted and improved their development system to meet the increasing demands of the ultra-competitive global auto industry.
Grinding Roots August 22, 2013 Until the middle of 2010, first-tier subcontract machinist, JJ Churchill, could produce turbine blades only if they had their fir-tree root-forms preground elsewhere, or if they were subsequently added by another subcontractor. No longer is this the case.
Quality Inspection and the CAD Connection January 6, 2016 Modern manufacturing is rapidly adopting model-based definition (MBD). When employing an MBD strategy, the CAD model becomes more than the nominal to which all parts are measured and inspected against. MBD keeps the all-important digital thread intact—from design to manufacturing to inspection and quality reporting.
Automation Elevates 3D Printing to Production Floor March 17, 2023 In a sign that 3D printing continues to march toward the production floor and isn’t just for small batches and prototypes, Boston-based Formlabs Inc. recently unveiled an automation system for its stereolithography resin printers.
Georgia High School Students to Receive Manufacturing and Engineering Education Through SME Education Foundation’s SME PRIME Program February 16, 2023 The Georgia Department of Education (GaDOE) and Georgia Association of Manufacturers (GAM) have partnered with the SME Education Foundation to provide a unique industry-informed, hands-on manufacturing program to select high school students across the state, through the Foundation’s SME PRIME program.
TRX Event, Agenda Announced February 8, 2023 America Makes, in partnership with the University of Texas at El Paso (UTEP), will host the 2023 Spring Technical Review & Exchange (TRX) on March 7-8 in El Paso.