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December 2020

The December 2020 edition of Smart Manufacturing is now available as a digital magazine. Links to individual articles are below.
Protolabs CEO Vicki Holt: “You’ve got to train all your employees about cybersecurity and cyber risks. With the pandemic, the bad guys are coming out in force.”

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
LIFT CEO Nigel Francis, right, speaks with former Michigan Lt. Gov. Brian Calley in Washington, D.C. in October 2018. Calley was preparing to speak at a Manufacturing USA congressional briefing about what LIFT has brought to Michigan’s manufacturing sector.

‘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.
Brett Brune
By Brett Brune Editor in Chief, Smart Manufacturing
Generative design has advanced significantly since its introduction in 2018, Autodesk’s Kimberly Losey said. Above, she tests a Veemo at the opening of Autodesk’s Toronto Technology Centre. VeloMetro Mobility used Fusion 360 to design and prototype the enclosed, electric-assisted bicycle.

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
“The engineering takes so long and is so costly a lot of companies won’t go the automation route,” said Juan Aparicio of Siemens Technology. “It doesn’t make sense for them because they don’t have a big budget that can justify automation.”

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.
Ilene Wolff
By Ilene Wolff Contributing Editor, SME Media
AutoGuide robots include a mobile robot platform with custom trail frames, including a unit-load flat deck, custom conveyor deck and pallet stacker units.

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.
Ilene Wolff
By Ilene Wolff Contributing Editor, SME Media
In recent years, manufacturers have achieved important advances in Cloud and data management, characterization of production systems with real production-data feedback, as well as smarter simulation of production systems, assets and logistics for material flow, said Jay Gorajia of Siemens Digital Industries Software.

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

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.