When a legacy automotive or aircraft part breaks and needs a replacement, manufacturers currently have no good options.
Listen to this Smart Manufacturing magazine cover story: 25 leaders transforming manufacturing.
The adoption of smart manufacturing processes reminds Bob Willig of his “lean manufacturing journey, years ago,” he said.
The aerospace industry is setting itself up for a massive conjunction of need for industrial capacity to produce parts in the near future.
NASA landed another rover on Mars in February, thanks in part to the work and leadership of Adam Steltzner. Smart Manufacturing interviewed him shortly thereafter—just as he got off the phone with U.S. President Joe Biden.
I first wrote about substitute skin in 1993. And at the time, it seemed that stand-in organs—at scale—were imminent.
Good science does not equate to workable manufacturing. This has been a longstanding truth in tissue engineering, a field that has been in limbo between academic R&D and commercialization for its entire decades-long existence.
Recycling equipment manufacturer Harris Equipment Co., Cordele, Ga., saved 50 percent per job tapping Hardox 450 steel wear plates by switching to taps from Emuge Corp., West Boylston, Mass.
On paper, it should have been smooth sailing. When Fairbanks Morse installed a robotic welding cell at its Beloit, Wis. headquarters, the goal was to increase output of the massive marine propulsion systems they manufacture.
When an automotive starter needs to be replaced, it’s very likely that the most expensive components—the armature, commutator or gears—are still functional, or can be restored economically.
