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SME
Media
Smart Manufacturing Magazine
December 2020
December 2020
The December 2020 edition of Smart Manufacturing is now available as a digital magazine. Links to individual articles are below.
View Digital Magazine
SMX panelists witness focus on innovation caused by pandemic
December 2, 2020
Manufacturers are increasingly analyzing their supply chains to mitigate cybersecurity and environmental risks with the goal of building more secure, resilient, agile organizations, keynote panelists at the Best of SMX virtual event said in October.
By
Karen Haywood Queen
Contributing Editor,
SME Media
COVID-19
Smart Manufacturing
‘Rebalancing’ expands LIFT’s focus to include materials, processes and systems
December 3, 2020
LIFT recently expanded the focus of its desire to “create innovations faster, better and cheaper” to the materials, processes and systems involved in moving innovations from concept to commercialization.
By
Brett Brune
Editor in Chief,
Smart Manufacturing
Manufacturing Management
Smart Manufacturing
Program a part once, machine it many times over
December 4, 2020
Until 2018, a West Coast manufacturer of gaming headsets and peripherals used approximated mesh CAD/CAM to size parts, tightening tolerance parameters up to 10 times smaller than the standard setting.
By
Karen Haywood Queen
Contributing Editor,
SME Media
Smart Manufacturing
Software
Automation champions battling show-stopping integration issue in U.S.
December 7, 2020
Like the United Nations’ international delegates who use interpreters to understand each other, robots, machines and other industrial components from various vendors speak different computer languages and need translators to help them communicate.
By
Ilene Wolff
Contributing Editor,
SME Media
Automation
Smart Manufacturing
AMRs strut their stuff during pandemic, beyond
December 8, 2020
In August, Rob Sullivan had an installation scheduled for two of his autonomous mobile robots at the Deutsche Post DHL Group’s Innovation Center in Troisdorf, Germany.
By
Ilene Wolff
Contributing Editor,
SME Media
Automation
Smart Manufacturing
As process optimization grows up, it leads some big rescue missions
October 22, 2020
Until 2017, Schneider Electric faced a factory bottleneck at its breaker box plant in Lexington, Kentucky. When the automation cell that welded the boxes went down, all production could be forced to stop.
By
Karen Haywood Queen
Contributing Editor,
SME Media
Smart Manufacturing
Upfront
INDUSTRIES
China Amplifies Taiwan President’s Opponents
Michael McConnell
April 17, 2026
China is turning to social media to undermine the independent island’s current ruling party, Reuters said.
NEWS DESK
Schneider Electric Unveils Next-Generation Agentic Manufacturing
PRESS RELEASE: Schneider Electric
April 17, 2026
Schneider Electric, a global energy technology leader, will spotlight new milestones in its strategic collaboration with Microsoft at Hannover Messe, demonstrating how their combined technologies are enabling manufacturers to modernize operations, accelerate engineering, and strengthen resiliency.
MANUFACTURING ENGINEERING
The Hidden Friction in Automation Integration
Meaghan Ziemba, Contributing Editor
April 16, 2026
Manufacturers continue to invest in shop-floor automation, but the hardest part of the work rarely starts with choosing a robot, selecting end-of-arm tooling or approving a software platform. Trouble starts when a concept that makes perfect sense in planning is forced to live inside a real factory, where aging equipment, inconsistent inputs, disconnected data, undocumented workarounds and relentless production pressure all shape the outcome. Automation often enters a facility as the answer to a problem, yet implementation has a way of exposing everything that slowed down operations for years.
AM Update
INDUSTRIES
China Amplifies Taiwan President’s Opponents
Michael McConnell
April 17, 2026
China is turning to social media to undermine the independent island’s current ruling party, Reuters said.
NEWS DESK
Schneider Electric Unveils Next-Generation Agentic Manufacturing
PRESS RELEASE: Schneider Electric
April 17, 2026
Schneider Electric, a global energy technology leader, will spotlight new milestones in its strategic collaboration with Microsoft at Hannover Messe, demonstrating how their combined technologies are enabling manufacturers to modernize operations, accelerate engineering, and strengthen resiliency.
MANUFACTURING ENGINEERING
The Hidden Friction in Automation Integration
Meaghan Ziemba, Contributing Editor
April 16, 2026
Manufacturers continue to invest in shop-floor automation, but the hardest part of the work rarely starts with choosing a robot, selecting end-of-arm tooling or approving a software platform. Trouble starts when a concept that makes perfect sense in planning is forced to live inside a real factory, where aging equipment, inconsistent inputs, disconnected data, undocumented workarounds and relentless production pressure all shape the outcome. Automation often enters a facility as the answer to a problem, yet implementation has a way of exposing everything that slowed down operations for years.
Field Intelligence
INDUSTRIES
China Amplifies Taiwan President’s Opponents
Michael McConnell
April 17, 2026
China is turning to social media to undermine the independent island’s current ruling party, Reuters said.
NEWS DESK
Schneider Electric Unveils Next-Generation Agentic Manufacturing
PRESS RELEASE: Schneider Electric
April 17, 2026
Schneider Electric, a global energy technology leader, will spotlight new milestones in its strategic collaboration with Microsoft at Hannover Messe, demonstrating how their combined technologies are enabling manufacturers to modernize operations, accelerate engineering, and strengthen resiliency.
MANUFACTURING ENGINEERING
The Hidden Friction in Automation Integration
Meaghan Ziemba, Contributing Editor
April 16, 2026
Manufacturers continue to invest in shop-floor automation, but the hardest part of the work rarely starts with choosing a robot, selecting end-of-arm tooling or approving a software platform. Trouble starts when a concept that makes perfect sense in planning is forced to live inside a real factory, where aging equipment, inconsistent inputs, disconnected data, undocumented workarounds and relentless production pressure all shape the outcome. Automation often enters a facility as the answer to a problem, yet implementation has a way of exposing everything that slowed down operations for years.