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October 2020

The October 2020 edition of Smart Manufacturing is now available as a digital magazine. Links to individual articles are below.
David Suica, president of Fastems LLC, speaks about smart manufacturing at a 2019 National Tooling & Machining Association conference in Texas.

Rush job? No prob!

September 24, 2020
Improvements in manufacturing management software, robotics, additive manufacturing and thermal controls are making small batch sizes more cost effective—even for smaller shops. Manufacturing plants are able to reduce inventory, improve throughput and reduce demands on human operators.
By Karen Haywood Queen Contributing Editor, SME Media
Boeing and machine tool manufacturer Cincinnati teamed up with Oak Ridge National Laboratory to make a wing-trim tool that set a Guinness World Record for “largest solid 3D-printed item.”

Air Force researchers, industry finesse AM tools for large aerospace parts

September 28, 2020
After three years of work, military researchers are near the end of a project to find a faster, cheaper way to make tools for large aerospace parts like skins for wings and fuselages.
Ilene Wolff
By Ilene Wolff Contributing Editor, SME Media
Marcello Damiani, Moderna’s chief digital and operational excellence officer.

In the thick of the ‘herculean’ vaccine push

September 21, 2020
In January, as the new coronavirus was rapidly spreading around the world, scientists at Moderna teamed up with the National Institutes of Health to pursue a potential vaccine based on an experimental genetic technology involving messenger RNA (mRNA), a molecule in every cell that helps translate DNA into biological functions.
By Anastasia Ustinova Contributing Editor, SME Media
Advanced barcode reading systems are common in the life sciences and pharmaceutical industries, which depend on robust traceability systems to ensure consumer safety.

Get ready for deep learning technology

September 28, 2020
To a discrete manufacturer, process manufacturing is odd territory indeed. It’s a world in which textiles, pharmaceuticals, chemicals, plastics, and food and beverage are produced en masse.
Kip Hanson
By Kip Hanson Contributing Editor, SME Media
Waypoint Robotics CEO Jason Walker said  he has spoken with potential partners who make ultraviolet light sources and aerosol disinfectant sprayers about equipping one model of his autonomous, omnidirectional robots with a disinfection source to deep clean factories overnight.

Pandemic makes case for more automation, robotics

September 21, 2020
CEO Jason Walker and part of his team at Waypoint Robotics had just returned from the Modex 2020 show in Atlanta when the governor of his company’s home state imposed a stay-at-home order because of COVID-19.
Ilene Wolff
By Ilene Wolff Contributing Editor, SME Media

Upfront

  • NEWS DESK

    Machinery Orders Surge in October

    Cary Gitter December 10, 2025
    Orders of metalworking machinery came in at $538.9 million in October—up 9% from September and 40.3% from October 2024.
  • PRESS RELEASES

    OGP Names Panos Angelopoulos President of Global Sales

    PRESS RELEASE: Optical Gaging Products December 10, 2025
    Optical Gaging Products (OGP), a division of Quality Vision International Inc., a world-leading manufacturer of optical and precision multisensor metrology systems for industrial quality control, has appointed Panos T. Angelopoulos as president, global sales, succeeding R. Stephen Flynn, who is retiring after 31 years with the company.
  • CES

    Terragrit

    Staff Writer December 10, 2025
    Terragrit is a VC-backed startup founded by serial entrepreneurs with multiple successful acquisitions, including a $480M exit. Their Adaptive Ops platform enables users to run virtual pilots of complex physical operations - accelerating time-to-model, forecasting outcomes with high accuracy, and making it easier for teams to collaborate across domains. The foundation of their business model is to perform all modeling for free and only charge at the end of first year based on model value.

Manufacturing USA Update

  • NEWS DESK

    Machinery Orders Surge in October

    Cary Gitter December 10, 2025
    Orders of metalworking machinery came in at $538.9 million in October—up 9% from September and 40.3% from October 2024.
  • PRESS RELEASES

    OGP Names Panos Angelopoulos President of Global Sales

    PRESS RELEASE: Optical Gaging Products December 10, 2025
    Optical Gaging Products (OGP), a division of Quality Vision International Inc., a world-leading manufacturer of optical and precision multisensor metrology systems for industrial quality control, has appointed Panos T. Angelopoulos as president, global sales, succeeding R. Stephen Flynn, who is retiring after 31 years with the company.
  • CES

    Terragrit

    Staff Writer December 10, 2025
    Terragrit is a VC-backed startup founded by serial entrepreneurs with multiple successful acquisitions, including a $480M exit. Their Adaptive Ops platform enables users to run virtual pilots of complex physical operations - accelerating time-to-model, forecasting outcomes with high accuracy, and making it easier for teams to collaborate across domains. The foundation of their business model is to perform all modeling for free and only charge at the end of first year based on model value.

Passport to Innovation

  • NEWS DESK

    Machinery Orders Surge in October

    Cary Gitter December 10, 2025
    Orders of metalworking machinery came in at $538.9 million in October—up 9% from September and 40.3% from October 2024.
  • PRESS RELEASES

    OGP Names Panos Angelopoulos President of Global Sales

    PRESS RELEASE: Optical Gaging Products December 10, 2025
    Optical Gaging Products (OGP), a division of Quality Vision International Inc., a world-leading manufacturer of optical and precision multisensor metrology systems for industrial quality control, has appointed Panos T. Angelopoulos as president, global sales, succeeding R. Stephen Flynn, who is retiring after 31 years with the company.
  • CES

    Terragrit

    Staff Writer December 10, 2025
    Terragrit is a VC-backed startup founded by serial entrepreneurs with multiple successful acquisitions, including a $480M exit. Their Adaptive Ops platform enables users to run virtual pilots of complex physical operations - accelerating time-to-model, forecasting outcomes with high accuracy, and making it easier for teams to collaborate across domains. The foundation of their business model is to perform all modeling for free and only charge at the end of first year based on model value.

Field Intelligence

  • NEWS DESK

    Machinery Orders Surge in October

    Cary Gitter December 10, 2025
    Orders of metalworking machinery came in at $538.9 million in October—up 9% from September and 40.3% from October 2024.
  • PRESS RELEASES

    OGP Names Panos Angelopoulos President of Global Sales

    PRESS RELEASE: Optical Gaging Products December 10, 2025
    Optical Gaging Products (OGP), a division of Quality Vision International Inc., a world-leading manufacturer of optical and precision multisensor metrology systems for industrial quality control, has appointed Panos T. Angelopoulos as president, global sales, succeeding R. Stephen Flynn, who is retiring after 31 years with the company.
  • CES

    Terragrit

    Staff Writer December 10, 2025
    Terragrit is a VC-backed startup founded by serial entrepreneurs with multiple successful acquisitions, including a $480M exit. Their Adaptive Ops platform enables users to run virtual pilots of complex physical operations - accelerating time-to-model, forecasting outcomes with high accuracy, and making it easier for teams to collaborate across domains. The foundation of their business model is to perform all modeling for free and only charge at the end of first year based on model value.