To Prepare for Blockchain, First Check These Three Things August 6, 2019 The value-add of blockchain for businesses is estimated to grow into the trillions by 2030. Experts believe product recalls alone—estimated to cost $8 million today—could be practically eliminated through improved track and traceability enabled by blockchain.
Make no mistake: Welders, engineers care about UX, too October 9, 2018 Several years ago, a global commercial vehicle maker asked my firm to develop a remote fleet management, health and performance portal that would open a new revenue stream.
Removing mental roadblocks to improving operations January 30, 2018 It’s a familiar scenario at the factory. Quality issues have reared their ugly heads, requiring rework, causing backorders, delaying shipments, and driving tense daily customer calls. Meanwhile, the team works to address production issues using a mix of day-old post-mortem reports, shop-floor observations captured on notepads, and other operational data summarized on spreadsheets and sticky notes.
What defense firms can do to ensure industrial security December 19, 2017 Defense systems are, by design, built to defend against threats. Today, however, manufacturers of these systems are focusing on an entirely new kind of threat: security breaches targeting their automation systems.
AI Enables Smarter Assembly, Superior Products April 6, 2018 The next cycle of technology disruption is upon us. Artificial Intelligence (AI) is taking hold in every industry and manufacturing is no exception. AI enables companies—from medical device and electronics manufacturers to pharmaceutical firms—to leverage their Big Data and IoT investments to see new patterns and insights and to perform tasks more efficiently and quickly than ever before.
Wanna mitigate cyber risk? Seven precautions to take April 3, 2018 Nearly a year ago, the world became aware of a new computer virus known as WannaCry. Many institutions were affected by the ransomware. It encrypted and locked a Microsoft Windows computing system and demanded payment.
And now, material freedom via additive manufacturing October 9, 2018 The low temperature intrinsic to solid-state printing processes allows manufacturers to weld layers of dissimilar metals without fear of metallurgical incompatibility issues.
Power of AM to approach zero inventory is growing October 17, 2017 What is good about inventory? Being able to find a part when you need it. What’s not so good about inventory? Where to even start…
Forget Your Troubles, Come on Get Happy February 20, 2018 Companies like ABB, Balluff and Sick would be within their rights to film a commercial with exuberant sensor product managers breaking out in a song of cheer.
How a Small, Influential Maker of Robots Sees Human Workers February 25, 2019 The human factor is sometimes just too cumbersome in manufacturing. Take the German chipmaker Infineon: By using an autonomous robot called Scout from MetraLabs for the last several years, the automotive supplier shrank to 10 from 300 the number of minutes it takes to collect the clean-room data needed to measure the presence of rare gases in the air.
