In IIoT-based smart factory setups, AI-enabled digital assistants are linked into all assets and
all data. It is this intelligence that takes the IIoT beyond data collection to predictions and decisions.
With vaccinations on the rise, the in-person collaboration that is still essential to doing business, including trade shows, is growing. But challenges to recovery from the pandemic remain. Global supply chains are struggling with multiple disruptions. Shipping rates are historically high. Computer chip shortages are curbing output.
Automakers during this decade face a big challenge. They are having to invest in electric vehicles. But EVs, at least for now, won’t generate the profits of conventional vehicles, according to an annual report by consulting firm AlixPartners.
Claudia Jarrett, U.S. country manager at automation parts supplier EU Automation, delves into the pros and cons of both gigafactories and microfactories.
It’s time to redefine AM and DfAM by what is possible from advanced LPBF systems—and to look ahead with the same determination the semiconductor industry used to better our lives.
A widening skills gap threatens U.S. manufacturing competitiveness and consequently our economy. A talent pipeline with a sufficient supply of properly aligned skills is imperative to meet U.S. manufacturers’ needs for capacity, productivity and innovation.
The increased use of CT scanning for metal powder bed fusion parts is usually associated with high-value parts and elevated quality requirements. There are increased requests for CT scanning on parts made of engineering-grade polymers like PEEK, PEKK or ULTEM and for fiber-reinforced composites like Nylon 12 CF.