Experts: Increased Automation Critical to Meeting Aircraft Demand October 5, 2020 Before the coronavirus pandemic upended normal life and essentially shut down commercial airliners, the aviation industry had a projected need for 40,000 new aircraft—planes, helicopters, air taxis, and unmanned aerial vehicles—in the next 20 years.
ERP in the Age of Industry 4.0 July 23, 2020 As with so much else in manufacturing, enterprise resource planning (ERP) software is a byproduct of the Third Industrial Revolution. Where electronics began transforming manual lathes and mills into CNC machine tools some 60 years ago, so too have computers and information technology given us CAD/CAM, ERP, PLM, and so much more.
The Connected Machine Shop August 24, 2020 Part 1 of this three-part series on the Connected Machine Shop ran in the July issue of Manufacturing Engineering.
Flanders’ digital move brings greater operational efficiency September 29, 2020 If you were to rebuild your manufacturing business today, would you build it in the same way, or would you shape it differently to address new challenges and future innovations?
Okuma America Debuts Virtual Showroom September 17, 2020 Okuma America Corp., a maker of CNC machine tools, announced the debut of a virtual showroom.
The 20 most influential professors in smart manufacturing May 13, 2020 Innovation in smart manufacturing can come in a flash from a lightbulb moment, but those instances are few. More often than not, breakthroughs in technology, such as bioprinting, blockchain, cloud-based manufacturing and real-time production control, happen after years of careful study accompanied by painstaking, methodical work done sometimes in academic settings.
Crossing the digital divide key to improving labor productivity May 18, 2020 Inside an electronics factory in China as late as early 2019, workers and smart machines were building circuit boards with chips in a multi-step process using a variety of machines from different vendors.
For manufacturers and 5G, it’s still ‘early days’ May 14, 2020 Although the first iteration of 5G technology has offered limited use cases in manufacturing, the next two generations, now expected to be available in the fall of this year and then the fall of next year because of COVID-19-related delays, will help factory owners achieve greater digital transformation of their factories.
Heavy-duty robotic welding cells can be a great first step May 21, 2020 Like many technologies in manufacturing and fabrication today, welding operations have evolved to be more automated, flexible, adaptive, and “smarter” for improved throughput, safety and deposition accuracy.
Lowest Lifecycle Costs vs. Lowest Price June 5, 2020 For manufacturers overseeing major capital investments, understanding the true cost of a product or service can be difficult.
