I experienced the end of the Third Industrial Revolution as I began my career in manufacturing. Closed government and private networks gave way to an open network called the Internet.
The institutes that make up Manufacturing USA need to move at the speed of business, considering that the endeavor represents the U.S. government’s biggest investment in the digitization of manufacturing to date.
Methods Machine Tools Inc., a supplier of precision machine tools and automation, has announced that effective October 1, 2019 it is representing OKK Corp. in North America. OKK is a builder of horizontal, vertical, and five-axis machine tools.
SHANGHAI—The $150 million “factory of the future” that the Swiss innovator ABB announced nearly a year ago is becoming reality in this enormous city’s Pudong New Area.
At the DISCOVER 2019 manufacturing education and technology event, Mazak Corp. will demonstrate more than 30 manufacturing systems ranging from cost-efficient turning and milling solutions to hybrid technologies that the company says will allow manufacturers to re-imagine part-production operations altogether.
We all know the buzzwords circulating around digital data and the factory. You have heard them—Industry 4.0, smart factories, data analytics, and artificial intelligence (AI). The question we all have is how will this impact workers in the long term? What do these terms really mean? Nevertheless, both traditional software suppliers and makers of advanced manufacturing equipment are offering digital solutions.
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.
The bane of modern engineering is complexity. One promise of artificial intelligence and machine learning is helping engineers to use complex tools and harness vast data sets effectively.
As additive manufacturing (AM) moves from prototypes to mass production, manufacturers are setting their sights on the holy grails—the products and processes that will be game-changers. Many game-changers are already in play.
As with any digital transformation process, the devil is in the details, and there are many potential pitfalls that can derail projects.