Since 1922, Otto Martin Maschinenbau GmbH & Co. KG has been manufacturing best-in-class woodworking machinery at its production facility in Ottobeuren, located in the idyllic alpine Allgaeu region of southern Germany.

In spite of advancing digitalization, manual workstations are still indispensable because automation is not always profitable with small batch quantities or complex processes.

Since 1996, the Plant 15 machining operations at Mercury Marine have included a reliance on automated machining cells. Over the years, the Fond du Lac, Wis.-based manufacturer and distributor of marine engines, parts, accessories and integrated systems has phased out some traditional manufacturing methods in favor of modern cells.

We are at war with cybercriminals. With bad actors ranging from organized crime to hostile foreign governments to individual hackers, security defenses are continuously probed and breached. Like any battle, this one requires broad strategies as well as millions of individual efforts.

Think bigger and think broader. I want to expand what you may think it takes to successfully transition new technology onto the manufacturing floor.

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.

Today’s job shops can distinguish themselves from competitors by adding deep hole drilling/gundrilling to their offerings. But complex, custom-built machines require more floor space and a bigger investment.

Precision grinding operations cover all applications that require dimensions with tight tolerances and low Ra surface finish requirements, including cylindrical external grinding (OD), internal grinding (ID), surface grinding and creepfeed grinding.

While the manufacturing sector generates large amounts of data, relatively few companies have fully harnessed that data to improve operational efficiencies.

Peter Drucker, known as the father of modern management, was quoted in a 2006 article in Forbes as saying, “Because the purpose of business is to create a customer, the business enterprise has two—and only two—basic functions: marketing and innovation. Marketing and innovation produce results; all the rest are costs.”

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.

Today’s job shops can distinguish themselves from competitors by adding deep hole drilling/gundrilling to their offerings. But complex, custom-built machines require more floor space and a bigger investment.

Precision grinding operations cover all applications that require dimensions with tight tolerances and low Ra surface finish requirements, including cylindrical external grinding (OD), internal grinding (ID), surface grinding and creepfeed grinding.

This article is based on the Workforce Leadership Exchange held at FABTECH 2019 in Chicago. It is the continuation of coverage that began with the Up Front column in Manufacturing Engineering, January 2020, page 6, and continued with “Workforce Pipeline” on page 102-103 of the April issue.

Like just about every other manufacturing operation, welding has made the leap into the 21st century with automation, agile manufacturing processes, and offline programming.