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.
Gutenberg-Style Innovation for Manufacturing December 16, 2020 Imagine you wrote a masterpiece of literary fiction or a detailed plan for financial success. You can’t wait to share your work with the world. But there’s a problem. In this universe, in this reality, computers have no way to share documents with each other.
Friendlier, Faster Information Collection June 25, 2020 Manufacturers are featuring some of the latest equipment and software for metrology, quality assurance, and collecting information for process control.
CAD/CAM Software For Fast, Efficient Prototyping June 24, 2020 Innovative products call for creative developers equipped with prototyping technology that implements their ideas efficiently. That is true for Kärcher, a global manufacturer of cleaning equipment. Located near Stuttgart, Germany, Kärcher, is part of Alfred Kärcher SE & Co. KG Group, which has more than 13,000 employees in over 127 companies across 72 countries.
How the riches of Industry 4.0 are helping small medical device makers go beyond expectations July 14, 2020 Today, it’s tremendously difficult to get products made. To turn an idea into a tangible object requires a list of difficult-to-obtain resources, including expensive machinery and capital, and a lot of time to program and configure machines.
COVID-19 is teaching us just what innovation is possible July 20, 2020 What a difference a month makes. In a survey by the Manufacturing Advocacy and Growth Network (MAGNET) in February, only 24 percent of Ohio manufacturers said innovation was a priority.
How ‘smart processes’ fit into Industry 4.0 July 21, 2020 If Industry 3.0 is identified by the computerization of factory floor processes to make them “smart,” then Industry 4.0 can be understood as the expansion of the idea to include all of the non-factory floor inputs required to produce a quality product and a successful enterprise.