Consumer expectations have shifted to almost unrecognizable levels, catalyzed by innovative tech companies like Amazon, Lyft and Netflix. Previously acceptable levels of customer service are no longer good enough. Customers now expect real-time support and answers to complex questions at the ready, at a minimum.
Simulation tools are making it much easier for manufacturers to optimize their processes, visualizing the entire path of production from NC metalcutting simulations through 3D design and factory-floor imaging.
For global automakers, removing weight from their vehicles remains the top priority as they seek ways to meet a stringent federal fuel economy mandate by 2025 and other new pollution-control regulations.
German auto supplier boosts use of 3D printing
Researchers from the Georgia Institute of Technology (Atlanta) and two other institutions have developed a new 3D printing method to create objects that can permanently transform into a range of different shapes in response to heat.
“We expect to see the world machinery market grow in the next five years,” said Arun Kumar a director at AlixPartners in a discussion he and I had recently.
The nexus of cyber and physical security threats is the stuff of nightmares, and while manufacturers are waking up to it as a reality, experts worry that the awakening is happening too slowly.
Additive manufacturing firms are focused intently on speeding up the 3D printing process, radically expanding the development of printing materials, printing larger parts, wasting less material, reducing the cost of capital equipment overall and addressing issues that will lead to the move from prototyping to rapid manufacturing.
Many people want to implement IoT in their factories, and with the abundance of IoT platform technologies out there, they think it’s a breeze. But many challenges await those who don’t think things through carefully—challenges for which traditional IoT platforms do not have effective solutions.
The integration of additive and subtractive enables product designers to pursue product enhancements that could not be manufactured in any other process. At the same time, this combination is reducing the time it takes to prepare for parts production, including acquiring the necessary tooling.
