April 2020
The April 2020 edition of Smart Manufacturing is now available as a digital magazine. Links to individual articles are below.
America Makes reaches significant milestone
March 18, 2020
America Makes, the public-private partnership that the Obama administration set up to foster research and innovation in additive manufacturing, achieved a significant milestone late last year: an online portal to track gaps in additive manufacturing (AM) standards.
Manufacturers in medical space cottoning to the idea of flexible sensors
March 18, 2020
There’s a bit of Rob Podoloff in every Dr. Scholl’s Custom Fit Kiosk for foot orthotics: The chief technology officer at Tekscan Inc. is a pioneer in flexible force-sensing resistors (FSRs).
By Ilene Wolff
Contributing Editor,
SME Media
CESMII briefs U.S. leaders
March 24, 2020
U.S. manufacturing in general, and small- and medium-sized manufacturers in particular, are in danger of being left behind as Europe and Asia move faster toward Industry 4.0, John Dyck, CEO of the Clean Energy Smart Manufacturing Innovation Institute (CESMII), told congressional staff, federal agency staff in a February briefing.
Measuring the right data, and context, to ditch costly unplanned maintenance
March 17, 2020
Until 2014, Delta Airlines often had little warning before an airplane airframe experienced a maintenance issue requiring additional ground time, resulting in delayed or canceled flights.
At Automate show, blockchain described as ‘World Wide Ledger’
March 18, 2020
Blockchain, the distributed, encrypted, tamper-evident ledger platform that gave rise to Bitcoin, has birthed a new, foundational market concept to execute business transactions, Karim Lakhani, professor of business administration at Harvard Business School, said as he led a panel talk on blockchain tech for supply chains at Automate 2019.
By Brett Brune
Editor in Chief,
Smart Manufacturing
30 leaders transforming manufacturing
March 25, 2020
As manufacturing undergoes the revolutionary changes of the Digital Age, the people with the keenest leadership skills have taken up the charge to modernize the industry so that it leverages the cloud and Big Data and is connected and smart.
By Ilene Wolff
Contributing Editor,
SME Media
Upfront
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Expert OpinionCome meet fellow change agents, in the Windy City
March 23, 2020Our interviews with the 30 leaders profiled in this issue should give you a taste of what you can learn about at SME’s Smart Manufacturing Experience event June 2-4 in Pennsylvania.
AM Update
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Additive Manufacturing & 3D PrintingUltimate makers: Why FFF might just be your gateway to 3D printing
March 20, 2020Ultimaker offers a full suite of 3D printing solutions, from award-winning hardware to software to materials, that seamlessly integrate together and within existing workflows due to the open nature of the system.
Passports to Innovation
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Additive Manufacturing & 3D PrintingExamining the impact of AM in supply chains around the world
December 11, 2019Our mission to revolution manufacturing supply chains. As we all know, industrial supply chains today are quite linear, so they are not easily adaptable—and they will need to go through a transformation. -
Smart ManufacturingThe beauty of MRPeasy, Cosmetri, Asana and Hubspot
March 17, 2020We use an MRP (material requirements planning) system to track all components of a product ranging from packaging to batch specific ingredients.
Field Intelligence
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Smart ManufacturingSistema shows how to avoid wasting oh-so-precious data
January 16, 2020Everyone knows that today a ton of data captured on the manufacturing floor goes unused due to the lack of a data scientist on staff or other resources to comb through all the information. -
AutomationKeep the human element in mind when choosing robots
March 19, 2020As advanced automation and digitization permeate the industrial landscape, tech-savvy companies are striving to create value-added products that foster growth for customers. -
Smart ManufacturingDoughnut maker sprinkles traceability over operations
March 19, 2020Smart technology can turn a food and beverage producer into a predictor rather than a reactor. When it comes to safety, today’s connected metal detectors allow immediate and remote access while enabling suppliers to review and compare operational data. -
Smart ManufacturingDeliberate and multi-layered security strategy is essential
March 23, 2020Systems engineering is managing the risk inherent in integrating pieces into a predictable whole. In order to make the whole system as predictable as possible, engineers rely upon standards and operational use cases. -
Smart ManufacturingHow Amber Beverage Group put a lid on its inefficiencies
March 23, 2020As we enter Industry 4.0, the lines continue to blur between the digital and the physical. With this, the workplace is rapidly changing at every level in every industry.