We all know the buzzwords circulating around digital data and the factory. You have heard them—Industry 4.0, smart factories, data analytics, and artificial intelligence (AI). The question we all have is how will this impact workers in the long term? What do these terms really mean? Nevertheless, both traditional software suppliers and makers of advanced manufacturing equipment are offering digital solutions.
Manufacturers who have deployed the digital or smart factory have put down their pencils, found new uses for their clipboards and closed their spreadsheet programs in favor of using real-time data gleaned from condition monitoring of their machinery.
Before harmonizing new technology onto the manufacturing floor, critical steps include determining the business problems to be solved and securing buy-in from all stakeholders, industry leaders said recently during an AeroDef conference panel talk on manufacturing production harmonization.
FANUC has made real one of the promises of Industry 4.0, that of predictive maintenance for factory equipment, with its Zero Down Time IoT solution. ZDT can be applied to any of FANUC’s robotic arms and their peripherals.
Industrial computed tomography is a cost-effective, reliable way to meet intensifying
requirements for qualifying both the design of aerospace parts and the materials needed for their construction.
Vollmer of America completed its move into a new 30,000-square-foot facility near Pittsburgh International Airport in June of 2020 and participated in the Las Vegas AWFS Fair in July this year.
Big things are happening in the aviation maintenance, repair and operations (MRO) market: the first industry-wide material allowables for metal additive manufacturing (AM) parts are anticipated to be released this autumn.
In the AI world, fear is driven by unfamiliarity with the process, the professional impact of failure and the daunting tasks of pulling together all of the people and perspectives required just to get started. Here are three key lessons learned from our work with Rolls-Royce and Gulfstream that will clear your AI project for takeoff.
Michael Schuisky, AM Business Unit Manager, Sandvik Additive Manufacturing, talked to Manufacturing Engineering about metal 3D printing.
While precision, part programs and productivity have improved markedly, the basic process is still the same.
