MBS, a Rite of Summer, Shows How Auto Industry Is Changing July 30, 2018 The Center for Automotive Research’s Management Briefing Seminars (MBS) is an annual rite of summer for the auto industry. Representatives of automakers and suppliers head to northern Michigan near the resort town of Traverse City for lectures and presentations about the industry.
Digitalization Boosts Auto Parts Cell Production By 20% September 5, 2018 Increases in size and quantity of its orders led Wisconsin-based auto parts manufacturer Felss Rotaform LLC (New Berlin, WI) to expand operations through a new dual-robot machine-tending cell. The company is a supplier of precision parts using its rotary swaging, axial forming and tube end-forming processes.
Newest mobile robots require no factory overhaul August 28, 2018 The latest mobile robots are designed to accomplish tasks in manufacturing plants without requiring major factory modifications. This emerging robot generation also meets workers where they are, functioning more like independent team members as opposed to complicated, difficult-to-use hardware.
Advances in CAD/CAM enable faster, efficient cutting, longer tool life August 28, 2018 Advances in CAD/CAM algorithms have improved tool paths, resulting in more speed and efficiency and less stress on both the tool and the objects being cut. Because these new algorithms help tools cut more efficiently and faster, operators save time and the tools last longer.
Hybrid Machine Tools Offer One-Two Punch August 17, 2018 When additive manufacturing first hit the market, some said it would eventually be the death of traditional, or subtractive, CNC machining. More than 30 years later, new machines are showing additive manufacturing as it really is—a complementary technology.
Skills gap solutions, straight from those on the front lines August 28, 2018 With the September issue, Smart Manufacturing introduces Collective Intelligence, a new initiative under which we gather experts in one room to go deep on one important topic. We focused this first roundtable on the intractable problem of the workforce skills gap.
Collaborative Robots: Hype or Hope? August 29, 2018 Ask the owner of any machine shop or sheet-metal house to name the biggest obstacle to company growth and you’re likely to receive the same answer—it’s not a lack of working capital that’s slowing them down, nor a shortage of advanced technology, but something far more basic: the need for someone to push a green button or pack boxes. “We can’t find enough people,” you’ll hear.
Ooh-la-la! These French firms are focused on people and what drives them August 21, 2018 What’s sexy? Try 3D printing, cobots, Yammer, VR, AR, blockchain technology
Seco Tool’s Mold & Die Special Event Features Tips and Tricks for Metalworking Professionals August 14, 2018 Seco Tools LLC (Troy, MI) hosted a Mold and Die Manufacturers Seminar for metalworking professionals at its headquarters on July 26 in collaboration with hyperMILL (Open Mind Technologies, Needham, MA) and Heidenhain Corp. (Schaumburg, IL).
Hybrid Industrial Cloud Adoption by Manufacturers to Double by 2023 August 2, 2018 The virtualization of business-critical infrastructure is transforming the production and distribution of goods and services throughout the supply chain as industrial organizations shift focus from private to public and, ultimately, hybrid cloud deployments that connect and integrate on-premise resources with cloud resources.