The North American auto industry slammed on the brakes in March because of the novel coronavirus (COVID-19). The sector already had been forecast to slow down in 2020, with lower light-vehicle demand. That turned into a sudden stop as the coronavirus spread.

Tesla and the march to all-electric cars and trucks may get most of the press. But the reality is that most U.S. automakers need to tackle the twin challenges of building both new components unique to electric vehicles while also building internal combustion engines (ICEs) that are ever-more fuel efficient.

COVID-19 has taught manufacturers a valuable lesson: when humans fall ill, machine tools and equipment sit idle. Granted, they already knew it, just as they knew that employees take lunch breaks and vacations, arrive late because their car won’t start, and go work at the shop down the street for fifty cents more an hour.

The makers of coordinate measuring machines (CMMs) spent a long time in competition to reach the highest levels of repeatable measurement accuracy.

Complex molds containing cores and cavities with fine details and demanding surface finish requirements for injection molding, blow molding, glass molding or blow molding parts require high accuracy for use in automotive, medical, aerospace, or consumer products.

Part 1 of this three-part series on the Connected Machine Shop ran in the July issue of Manufacturing Engineering.