Empowered Employees Key to Digital Transformation July 24, 2020 Despite the troubles of 2020 caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, more manufacturing firms are digitally transforming their businesses through pragmatic investments in new technologies.
Targeting the Skills Gap in Forming and Fabricating July 24, 2020 As in other industries, U.S. forming and fabricating companies are experiencing a critical shortage of skilled labor. In this SME Media podcast, Alan Rooks, Editor in Chief of Manufacturing Engineering magazine, talks with Robert Tessier, National Director of Advanced Fabrication Technologies for Airgas about the skills gap in the forming and fabricating industry; changes needed in the education system to fill the need for skilled labor; how automation factors into efforts to reduce the skills gap; and efforts at Airgas to develop workers for manufacturing operations, including a special program for military veterans.
ERP in the Age of Industry 4.0 July 23, 2020 As with so much else in manufacturing, enterprise resource planning (ERP) software is a byproduct of the Third Industrial Revolution. Where electronics began transforming manual lathes and mills into CNC machine tools some 60 years ago, so too have computers and information technology given us CAD/CAM, ERP, PLM, and so much more.
Print, Cut, or Use the Best of Both? July 22, 2020 Manufacturing Engineering last covered the pluses and minuses of combining additive and subtractive machining in detail in July 2017.
Scaling Digital Additive Manufacturing for Medical Applications – Opportunities and Challenges July 22, 2020 The response of the 3D printing community to the specific shortages during the Covid-19 pandemic has helped to quickly raise the level of awareness of 3D printing and created a lot of buzz, but the realistic, scalable response has been somewhat different than what has been in the headlines. Matt Koons/Director of Business Development for Forecast 3D discusses this in this podcast, hosted by Bruce Morey, Senior Technical Editor for Manufacturing Engineering Magazine.
3MF Consortium Joins Linux Foundation July 21, 2020 The 3MF Consortium, the organization dedicated to advancing a universal specification for 3D printing, today announced it is becoming a Linux Foundation member.
What AM was planned for IMTS? July 20, 2020 Had IMTS 2020 taken place as scheduled, it would have been clear that making parts as quickly and cost-effectively as possible remains as the primary goal in manufacturing.
Altair Releases New Version of Knowledge Studio Machine Learning and Predictive Analytics Solution July 17, 2020 Altair, a global technology company providing solutions in product development, high performance computing (HPC), and data analytics, has released a new version of Altair Knowledge Studio that it says brings greater speed, flexibility, and transparency to data modeling and predictive analytics.
Ultimaker Launches Software to Help IT Departments Overcome AM Barriers July 15, 2020 Ultimaker has launched Ultimaker Essentials, a new software solution created to aid companies in overcoming major barriers in the adoption of additive manufacturing. Ultimaker Essentials enables companies to incorporate 3D printing in existing IT infrastructures and allows for distribution and updating of 3D printing software.
Next-Gen Metal AM: What Machine Shops Have Been Waiting For July 13, 2020 Most machine shop owners and operators know about metal additive manufacturing (AM). They know it can make shapes they can’t match by machining alone. They also know that 3D printed “builds” require other machines and in-house expertise for post-processing.