Manufacturers have begun using sensors and actuators to monitor their cutting processes and adjust parameters to optimize tool life and workpiece quality. However, traditional monitoring systems have some drawbacks.
The warning about the vulnerability of the aerospace and defense industry’s supply chain came buried in the pages of a report issued by the consulting firm EY two years before the COVID-19 outbreak became a full-blown global crisis.
Improvements in manufacturing management software, robotics, additive manufacturing and thermal controls are making small batch sizes more cost effective—even for smaller shops. Manufacturing plants are able to reduce inventory, improve throughput and reduce demands on human operators.
We no longer need to accept that it takes a decade to create and make a safe and effective vaccine—thanks in part to smart manufacturing.
Held on August 11, 2020 and streamed live from Mazak’s Midwest Technology Center, the All Axes LIVE digital event drew large crowds from across North America and worldwide, according to Mazak.
COVID-19 revealed some deep-rooted shortcomings in our approach to manufacturing and to supply chain design in the U.S. Well beyond the immediate and urgent need for PPE, we saw dramatic swings in both supply and demand for almost everything bought and sold here.
Listen to this Smart Manufacturing magazine cover story: In the thick of the ‘herculean’ vaccine push. Moderna is among the companies able to tackle the most urgent of matters precisely because of their digital strength.
Until 2017, Schneider Electric faced a factory bottleneck at its breaker box plant in Lexington, Kentucky. When the automation cell that welded the boxes went down, all production could be forced to stop.
To grow in today’s manufacturing world, shops need to consolidate operations, automate, increase efficiency, capture and analyze data and more, in order to fully leverage opportunities in thriving industries, such as aerospace.
To speed production and increase worker safety in the aerospace industry, major manufacturers are willing to pay a higher price for quality equipment.
