Tackling the workforce skills gap issue involves dealing with not only experienced employees who have sharp subtractive manufacturing skills but have to be prodded to move into additive manufacturing (AM) but also newbies who still need to hone skills required to harness the promise of emerging technology, Atlas Stamping and Manufacturing CEO Lynda Prigodich-Reed said.
Russell Waddell, managing director at the MTConnect Institute, dives into why so many standards exist, what manufacturers can gain from a digital factory project, and how they can cut through the hype—to at least achieve shop floor monitoring. MTConnect, a standard with more than 10 years of history, frees up manufacturers to focus on value-add functions instead of normalizing data. And it has been installed on more than 50,000 devices worldwide. Today, the use case is not just what happened or what is happening “what is going to happen: looking at … anything that is forward-looking and anticipating what will happen next.” Perhaps most important, embracing standards allows for quick and easy integration of all types and brands of equipment.
William Crane, CEO of IndustryStar, an on-demand supply chain services and software technology company, dives into what manufacturers concerned about supply chain risk can do to worry less. In his estimation, “on-demand supply chain risk management resources have really been taking off.” It is possible, he said, to build a “supply chain competitive advantage.” Heard of agile supply chain? If not, he explains it.
Smart Manufacturing magazine Contributing Editor Karen Haywood Queen speaks with Sridhar Tayur about what supply chain players are learning from COVID-19. The Carnegie Mellon professor covers the roles AM and cobots are playing. He also looks at what manufacturers should consider doing to be prepared for the next hugely disruptive event.
Pivot International CEO Mark Dohnalek talks with Smart Manufacturing magazine’s Brett Brune about the China Deal First Phase, USMCA, Brexit—and ways to alleviate trade tension.
The term generative design has been popping up in the manufacturing world of late. Its promise is to create many design permutations to let engineers choose an optimum one that meets sometimes conflicting requirements.
In Feb., 2020, Marposs introduced the CNC Probing Recorder software package. It is an automatic measurement, report and process control acquisition system for statistically analyzing measurement results using Marposs’ optical and radio touch probes.
Hexagon brings structured light scanning technology to portable measuring arms with its new RS-SQUARED Area Scanner.
“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.
Today, manufacturing leaders from all corners of the world, are working with academics and government-funded organizations to tackle the challenges that come with any revolution in making.
