February 2020
The February 2020 edition of Smart Manufacturing is now available as a digital magazine. Links to individual articles are below.

20 women making their mark in aerospace and defense
February 13, 2020
Because of governments’ undying devotion to research and development investments that bolster military capabilities, aerospace & defense represents the leading-edge market segment in smart manufacturing.

CESMII seeks to raise competitive standing of U.S. manufacturing
January 6, 2020
The institutes that make up Manufacturing USA need to move at the speed of business, considering that the endeavor represents the U.S. government’s biggest investment in the digitization of manufacturing to date.

Enabling a more flexible, less expensive, faster supply chain
January 20, 2020
As manufacturers aim to become increasingly nimble in the marketplace,distributed manufacturing—making parts or finished products at or near the location where they will be used instead of at a central factory—is emerging as a way to advance a faster, more flexible and cheaper supply chain.

Experts at FABTECH talk VR, AM and, yes, ROI
January 24, 2020
Foundry 45 is helping Delta Air Lines strategize on ways to keep maintenance workers safe in the “ingestion zone”—the dangerous environment underneath the airplane where people and equipment are moving around in close proximity to engines.

In China, and world over, it will soon be all about adroitly adjusting on the fly
October 17, 2019
The concepts Industry 4.0 in Europe, Made in China 2025 and smart manufacturing in the U.S. “all share a common goal—to create cyber-physical systems to innovate in manufacturing,” IDC's Bob Parker said at Dassault Systèmes’ recent Manufacturing in the Age of Experience event. “And it’s really dependent on a set of new technologies like IoT (the Internet of Things) and artificial intelligence (AI).”

Big savings, quick ROI materialize with the use of AR
January 30, 2020
Using augmented reality, a Scope AR customer building titanium panels for the Orion space capsule in 2018 saved $1 million the first day.

A showcase for lasers’ versatility in aerospace
January 31, 2020
A couple of years back, Scott Blake was at a trade show in Baltimore when two researchers from the National Aeronautics and Space Administration Goddard Space Flight Center stopped at his company’s booth.
Upfront
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Expert Opinion
Determined to pull U.S. out of state of ‘pilot purgatory’
January 13, 2020John Dyck, the CEO of CESMII (the Clean Energy Smart Manufacturing Innovation Institute), doesn’t mince words, and for that manufacturers in the U.S. owe him a debt of gratitude.
AM Update
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Additive Manufacturing & 3D Printing
Just another CNC: Renishaw tackles production printing
January 6, 2020The primary driver was the need for a metal 3D printer suitable for higher production levels. That means getting the build rates as high as possible while bringing the cost per part down.
Field Intelligence
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Smart Manufacturing
Brothers in arms make real progress on data standards
January 15, 2020As manufacturing marches forward into the digital era, a growing ecosystem of standards is laying the foundation for a new generation of data management. -
Smart Manufacturing
Sistema 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. -
Smart Manufacturing
Ready for new frontiers in energy storage, computing?
January 21, 2020To understand where the field of ceramics in electronics is headed, you have to think small—really small, as in thicknesses that measure only a few hundred nanometers. -
Smart Manufacturing
A&D companies would do well to pay attention to 5G
January 23, 2020Much has been written about potential applications for 5G. But a less well known application exists in the aerospace and defense industry—that pertains to manufacturing processes. -
Smart Manufacturing
4 questions to ask as you decide on an IIoT solution
January 27, 2020You’ve done it: Everyone is on board with a digital transformation. So where do you go from here? The next major decision in the process is determining whether you build an IIoT (Industrial Internet of Things) solution or hire a solutions provider to complete the project on your behalf. -
Smart Manufacturing
Japanese firm embraces edge computing after experiment
January 28, 2020The Internet of Things (IoT) market is estimated to reach 75 billion devices worldwide by 2025. With the big increase in connected devices, it’s becoming more critical than ever for manufacturers to leverage new technologies, such as edge computing, to gather, process and manage IoT data. -
Smart Manufacturing
5 things to do to stay sane, achieve industrial efficiency
January 29, 2020Manufacturers face challenging times. After more than a decade of booming economic growth, some are pointing to a potential recession.