Manufacturing Engineering asked thought leaders at five companies for their views on challenges and trends facing the metalworking industry.
More shops than ever are embracing waterjet cutting systems. And for the most part, the reason is that a number of customer-driven improvements/innovations to waterjet technology make it even more user friendly, productive and appealing to an ever-broadening array of manufacturers.
There have been many process improvement trends in manufacturing over the decades, and none have had more significant ROI than machine monitoring. The increase in machine monitoring is owed in large part to the rise in popularity of the open and royalty-free interconnectivity standard MTConnect.
Today, laser technology in manufacturing touches all of our lives on a daily basis; lasers cut air bag material and weld air bag detonators for our in-car safety; lasers weld the batteries in many of our mobile devices; lasers drill aero-engine components for planes; lasers cut the glass for our smart phones and tablets screens; lasers weld the drivetrains in our cars and trucks; lasers cut medical stents that increase and enhance our lives, just to name a few.
With the rapid pace of digitalization, operations are becoming faster and leaner than ever.
Closed-loop manufacturing (CLM) is emerging as a viable approach to address tighter delivery timelines and supply chain challenges.
Additive will provide a simpler, more responsive supply chain for high-value parts, according to Velo3D CEO Benny Buller.
An engine manufacturer discovers there is a way to reduce 50 billion data points to 2 billion—a reasonable number from which the foundation for machine learning can be built.
Artificial intelligence will go long way to imbue data management with trust.
A decade removed from the Great Recession, the U.S. job market is thriving. Because employers are struggling to fill empty positions, they must explore other ways to increase production needs.