Manufacturers face a difficult task juggling the current “innovation agenda.” Today, the Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT), robotic automation and artificial intelligence (AI) are all poised to be the next big thing.
The trials and tribulations of 2020 have given manufacturers a moment of clarity, a vice president of IFS says in a commentary.
The pace of technology today is rapid, with the potential to transform manufacturing. Digitization, automation, and connectivity are opening many new doors on the production floor.
Modern manufacturing is rapidly adopting model-based definition (MBD). When employing an MBD strategy, the CAD model becomes more than the nominal to which all parts are measured and inspected against. MBD keeps the all-important digital thread intact—from design to manufacturing to inspection and quality reporting.
Shops today must track or measure their manufacturing operations to improve them. This need drives the growing use of MTConnect—an open, royalty-free protocol for extracting data from practically any piece of equipment, including machine tools and other manufacturing systems. The integration of MTConnect is a major undertaking, and can be a bit challenging unless certain preparations are made ahead of time.
Specifications alone don’t tell the full story of a machine’s value – discover three key areas to explore when making a machine tool purchase.
Why manufacturing hiring managers need to take a page from the "gig" economy to fill hourly job openings.
With U.S. unemployment spiking in 2020, the skills gap in manufacturing continues to worsen.
Regionalization is becoming a powerful strategy to overcome risks to business continuity arising from tariffs, geopolitical tensions, supply chain disruptions and other challenges. But using it purely as a defensive de-risking maneuver misses the overall narrative.
SME's mission encompasses enhancing manufacturing competitiveness, workforce development, and national security, showcased in the Annual Report and highlighted in the October Manufacturing Engineering issue, while they also participate in Manufacturing Day with engaging programs.
