A fused filament 3D printer has saved a custom outdoor lighting manufacturer tens of thousands of dollars a year, improving operations and winning more business. The purchase also helped retain customers who would previously have gone elsewhere for specialized parts.
AS A TEAM OF FOUR MANUFACTURING engineering undergraduate students from Western Washington University (Bellingham, WA), we had our minds blown within seconds of walking onto the RAPID + TCT show floor when we attended the event, April 23-26, in Fort Worth, TX.
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.
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.
AM is used in everything from aerospace and automotive to consumer products. But some of the earliest and most significant applications are in healthcare. To this end, the theme of this month’s Manufacturing Engineering is medical machining.
With Lantek MES, the entire manufacturing process can be tracked from planning through execution, allowing operators to group parts according to various criteria, such as machines, materials, thicknesses, customer and delivery date.
There could be a better way for manufacturing. One that teams additive manufacturing (AM) with green materials, while promising to erect structures much faster and cheaper.
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.
A Department of Defense cybersecurity mandate will affect suppliers. The founder of ProShop ERP explains how.
The word “reconditioned” can ignite visions of worn, overworked products inferior to new ones. The reality is as long as you purchase from a reputable supplier, reconditioned cutting tools will deliver the same consistent results as they did upon initial purchase.
