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Modern manufacturing is a data-driven endeavor. The sheer volume of data available to be collected and analyzed is staggering—and something that couldn’t have been envisioned even 20 years ago.

Using Blockly to make robots easier to install and operate without specialized training.

In the 1955 short story “Autofac,” Philip K. Dick envisioned a world dominated by self-replicating robots that work incessantly, eventually depleting the planet’s resources.

Like most of the digital architecture of manufacturing, computer numerical controllers (CNCs) have advanced rapidly in recent years, producing far more processing speed and implementing advanced algorithms, while at the same time offering simpler, more intuitive user interfaces.

Edge. Cloud. Digital twin. AI. AR. VR. Cobots. Once they were buzzwords. Now, they are becoming technical realities in mid- to large-scale manufacturing plants in North America.

Robots and job shops have not typically been talked about together. After all, everyone knows that automation is only suitable for high-volume production, and the typical mom-and-pop operation is anything but—its schedule filled with orders for high-mix, low-volume, and often highly complex work.

In this podcast, Bruce Morey, Senior Technical Editor for Manufacturing Engineering Magazine discusses with Robert Ravensbergen Marketing Director-Omnirobotics how today’s automation technology can make your manufacturing operation autonomous and its benefits to companies with a high mix of products.

Vecna Robotics’ David Clear and SVT Robotics’ TJ Fanning go into reasons manufacturers might want to consider automation and AI. They also look at how to test assumptions and scale with so many variables changing moment by moment. The adage “change is the only constant” has never been more apropos. So, it’s a great time to hear what separates a complex system from a complex adaptive system.

As automation technology becomes more effective, cost effective, and easier to implement, job shops are automating more and more of their processes. In this episode, Alan Rooks, editor in chief of Manufacturing Engineering magazine, talks with Michael Gaunce, group manager, stationary workholding for Schunk Inc., about what a small to medium size job shop should consider when starting and exploration into automation; the particular machines or jobs that are easier to automate over others; why high part quantities are not needed in order to automate a job; what types of skills a shop should look for in employees working with automation; and how to define categories for the different styles of automation used in machine tool tending.

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.