Wyoming Completion had a shock when it began machining parts in an automated machining cell. It was a good shock: While the company hoped for a 25-35% boost in production, it experienced 400% improvement.

Blockchain can help power the process to monetize Big Data and will play a role in the FDA’s regulations to limit pharmaceutical counterfeiting by increasing security of the drug supply chain, said experts Smart Manufacturing gathered at Westec 2019 for an exclusive blockchain-tech roundtable

Cloud technology presents manufacturers with opportunities to improve the flexibility, scalability and efficiency of their operations. Realizing these benefits will require more than simply doing a one-to-one transfer of current technology to cloud-based servers.

I experienced the end of the Third Industrial Revolution as I began my career in manufacturing. Closed government and private networks gave way to an open network called the Internet.

The second level of machining automation is here. It may not be at every shop or factory yet, but it’s coming.

With an influx of investment in digital factories, the playing field is changing and the ROI for digitizing production is becoming ever more apparent. However, restraints, such as company size and a disconnect between IT and OT, means the road to a successful digital transformation is one very few will be able to do alone.

For years, companies have struggled to understand how additive manufacturing (AM) can add value to their businesses. This makes sense because for a long time, additive tech didn’t meet the threshold for producing industrial-grade parts.

As I walked the floor this spring at North America’s largest trade show for automation technologies, Industry 4.0 was on everybody’s lips. One of the more complex of our industrial revolutions, Industry 4.0 has been about the Internet of Things: digitizing and connecting things.