Manufacturers are accelerating use of Internet of Things (IoT) technology, according to a survey of 66 companies.
Condition monitoring is exploding. All manufacturers of any type of equipment are putting sensors in their machines,” said Michael Fry, a director with CIMdata.
Unplanned downtime and production loss due to equipment failure is one of the leading losses for manufacturers. Most shops perform maintenance on a fixed schedule or on failure. This means a machine will be maintained regardless of how often it is used and unexpected breakdowns will stop production.
With additive manufacturing (AM) as an established part of many companies’ product development and manufacturing processes, there has been a greater understanding of the technology’s technical and business advantages. With that, more users are benefitting from lighter and more durable parts, increased design freedom and on-demand part production.
5ME (Warren, MI) and Doosan Machine Tools America (DMTA: Pine Brook, NJ) have joined forces to showcase the advantages of cryogenic machining.
Mazak Corp. (Florence, KY) continues its steady advance toward the complete factory digitization of all its manufacturing operations with the recent transformation of its Oguchi, Japan, facility into yet another Mazak iSMART Factory.
To address the growing opportunities in urbanization and in Asia, Siemens will be setting up a Digitalization Hub in Singapore. At this Hub, Siemens will develop innovations for the Internet of Things (IoT) and Industrie 4.0 in collaboration with its customers in Southeast Asia.
After years of hype, the digital factory—the comprehensive integration of data from development, production and suppliers via new hardware and software meant to increase efficiency—is gradually becoming a reality.
All the hand-wringing around robotics and jobs in the US really needs to stop. It’s astounding that manufacturers here are still fighting this battle.
Data management and the maintenance of clean, usable data for asset performance metrics pose great challenges for manufacturers today.