With today’s focus on lightweighting, hollow parts made from composite materials, such as ducting, fuel tanks, mandrels, and rocket shrouds, are in higher demand than ever before. The composite ducting market in the aerospace and defense sector alone is expected to reach $864.7 million by 2024, according to a recent report from Stratview Research.
If NASA’s Journey to Mars project succeeds, the astronauts who make the 140 million-mile (225 million-km) trip to the Red Planet in the 2030s will need someplace to stay. The space agency is looking at 3D printing, using on-site materials, to manufacture humanity’s first deep space home.
Back in the early days of the Internet, when new sites were popping up selling everything from office supplies to dog food, I told a friend that I would never shop on the Internet. Too sketchy and unsafe. Well, some of it is still sketchy and unsafe, but I shop online—like billions of other people.
When we talk about the skills gap, it sounds like one monolithic issue. In reality, it’s thousands of individual issues; every U.S. manufacturing company, each with unique needs and issues, must solve the riddle of attracting and retaining new talent.
Autodesk University in Las Vegas is like a party. But I’ve never left a party so inspired. Often, parties leave you exhausted and looking forward to a bit of rest—the same way an industry conference might leave you feeling after you return home.
In recent decades, lean management and Six Sigma have revolutionized global productivity efficiency and quality. And new waves of automation, artificial intelligence (AI), augmented reality, 3D printing, cloud manufacturing, and robotic will no doubt take productivity and efficiency to unprecedented levels.
When Desktop Metal introduced its “office-friendly” Studio metal prototype printer earlier this year, the company renewed attention on the issue of safer materials for binder jetting, an additive manufacturing method.
In my October Up front column, I wrote about an email I had received from Steve Wenning, who was retiring and told me about how much he used Manufacturing Engineering throughout his career. I enjoyed corresponding with Steve, particularly since I don’t often receive direct feedback from readers.
Steve Pollack had just about reached early retirement age when longtime friend and colleague Joe DeSimone asked him to join Carbon, his startup 3D printing company.
Our interviews with the 30 leaders profiled in this issue should give you a taste of what you can learn about at SME’s Smart Manufacturing Experience event June 2-4 in Pennsylvania.