Automation
The Lead
The New Paradigm: Lean, Automate, Differentiate
October 10, 2012 4:22 pm | by Joel Hans, Managing Editor, Manufacturing.net | Articles | Comments
Fresh out of college with a manufacturing engineering degree, Dallas, Texas-based Bob Duncan believed that he could revolutionize the furniture industry by eschewing old-line manufacturing processes and focusing on Lean, automation and burgeoning technology. He incorporated American Leather in 1990 with a simple-but-bold premise: He would make custom leather furniture and get it out the door in less than 30 days.
Connecting The Back Office To The Plant Floor
May 23, 2013 3:11 pm | by Karie Daudt, Director of Marketing, TURCK | Articles | CommentsThough industrial Ethernet has been evolving for many years, it is quickly becoming the foundation for many manufacturing applications. Industrial Ethernet provides the connectivity and communication that today’s applications demand for productivity and efficiency improvement.
Manufacturing Gangnam Style
May 21, 2013 2:08 pm | by Stacey Wagner, Manager, Workforce Systems Development, NIST MEP | Blogs | CommentsRethink Robotics, the firm that designed and manufactured Baxter the famous industrial robot, has met its match. Robotis’ Bioloid, an educational DIY robotics set, has developed a new, hipper cousin to Baxter that dances – Gangnam Style. And no wonder. Baxter is a “serious robot” who has a job at Vanguard Plastics.
GM Investing $44.5 Million In Mich. Plant, Hiring 200
May 21, 2013 10:55 am | by Joel Hans, Managing Editor, Manufacturing.net | News | CommentsLansing, Mich.-based General Motors today announced a $44.5 million investment for its Lansing Grand River Assembly plant, which currently manufactures the Cadillac ATS and CTS. With the investment, the company will build a 400,000 square-foot Logistics Optimization Center and hire 200 additional employees.
Does Your Storeroom Database Do This?
May 20, 2013 10:36 am | by Mike Dyson and James Rogers, Storeroom Solutions, Inc. | Articles | CommentsQuite simply, if you can’t be sure about finding the right parts at the right time, you are putting planned maintenance compliance, if not the performance of the whole plant, at risk. Many maintenance technicians address this risk by keeping their own unofficial and potentially unauthorized stores; the practice is so common that many plants have an “amnesty day” when technicians can safely reveal those “private” stashes of parts.
Engineering Newswire 37: Boeing Makes Hypersonic History
May 9, 2013 2:45 pm | Videos | CommentsToday on Engineering Newswire, brought to you by Pivot Point, the leading designer and manufacturer of non-threaded fastener solutions, we’re improving Artificial Intelligence with sensors, flying robotic bees, making hypersonic history, and getting ready to launch GOES-R.
Jenoptik To Introduce New Laser Technology And Optics At LASER 2013
May 7, 2013 12:28 pm | Products | CommentsJenoptik has announced that it will show a variety of new and enhanced laser technology products and optical systems at the LASER 2013 trade show, which will be held in Munich, Germany, from May 13 to 16. These products include new semiconductor lasers with better efficiency and new UV lenses for laser direct imaging.
BMW Recalls 3 Series For Faulty Air Bags
May 7, 2013 7:51 am | News | CommentsBMW is recalling 45,500 3 Series sedans in the U.S. and Canada because their passenger air bags may not inflate properly. The recall affects 3 Series from the 2002 and 2003 model years. The defective air bags have an inflator housing that can rupture during deployment and send shrapnel flying into the vehicle.
Assess Your Technology Ladder When Addressing Burn Risk
May 3, 2013 1:45 pm | by Scott Brooksby, Olson Brooksby PC | Articles | CommentsThere are few more sophisticated and complex high-heat metallurgy manufacturing processes — and few with less tolerance for error — than the processes involved in manufacturing components of the hot-section of an aviation gas turbine engine. This precision minimizes the risk of catastrophic aviation disasters such as uncontrolled engine failure.
GM Profit Falls 14 Percent In 1Q
May 3, 2013 7:57 am | by Dee-Ann Durbin, AP Auto Writer | News | CommentsGeneral Motors' net income fell 14 percent in the first quarter, as it earned less money in North America while preparing to launch a redesigned version of its best-selling vehicle, the Silverado pickup. GM earned $865 million, or 58 cents per share, down from $1 billion, or 60 cents per share, in the January-March period a year ago.
Open Innovation Spurs Ultimate American Success
May 2, 2013 2:25 pm | by Louise Rainone, Vice President of Marketing, PCDworks | Articles | CommentsAfter attending the Marcus Evans Group’s 7th Annual OI Summit, I was delighted to see the evolution currently happening in the OI stratosphere. I was privy to a few surprises in the lineup from non-traditional players in the OI space, making this dynamic open innovations platform technologically enticing.
UN Report Wants Moratorium On Killer Robots
May 2, 2013 1:47 pm | by Peter James Spielmann, Associated Press | News | CommentsReport author Christof Heyns, a U.N. human rights lawyer, calls for a worldwide moratorium on the "testing, production, assembly, transfer, acquisition, deployment and use" of killer robots until an international conference can develop rules for their use.
KUKA Systems Acquires Utica Companies’ Plant Engineering Arm
May 2, 2013 10:55 am | News | CommentsSterling Heights, Mich.-based KUKA Systems Group, has finalized its acquisition of the plant engineering business of privately-owned Utica Companies, which is headquartered in Shelby Township, Mich. As the transaction was completed, KUKA Systems became the No. 1 manufacturing systems supplier in the North American automotive sector.
Verizon Report: State-Affiliated Espionage Dominates Security Landscape
May 2, 2013 10:00 am | News | CommentsTaking the top spot for all breaches in the 2013 report is financially-motived cybercrime (75 percent), with state-affiliated espionage campaigns claiming the No. 2 spot (20 percent). Breaches in the No. 2 spot include cyberthreats aimed at stealing intellectual property — such as classified information, trade secrets and technical resources — to further national and economic interests.
Judge Gives Major Break In GM Theft Case
May 2, 2013 7:42 am | by Ed White, Associated Press | News | CommentsA former General Motors engineer convicted of stealing thousands of pages of hybrid technology was sentenced Wednesday to just a year and a day in prison, far below the punishment sought by the government in a case that involved her husband and an alleged scheme to take the trade secrets to China.
HELUKABEL Launches High-Flex Cleanroom Cables
April 23, 2013 4:33 pm | Products | CommentsHELUKABEL has expanded its cleanroom-approved power and daa cable product portfolio with the launch of it CLEANFLEX series, which are UL/CS-approved. According to the company, they come in both shielded and unshielded power and data cables, and are suitable for continuously-flexing, cable track machinery in cleanroom applications.
MPA Magnetic Positioning Sensor With Exact Positioning
April 2, 2013 11:17 am | Products | CommentsSICK has launched its MPA magnetic positioning sensor with analog outputs. These sensors feature an analog current from 4 to 20 mA and a voltage between 0 and 10V, which, according to the company, offers between positioning performance.
Ultra-compact Intelligent Drives With CAN Interfaces
April 1, 2013 2:57 pm | Products | CommentsTechnosoft has announced the new iPOS3602 BX-CAN and iPOS3604 BX-CAN drives, which are equipped with a CAN interface to create a compact solution for the control of rotary or linear brushless, DC brush or step motors of powers up to 144 W. These servo drives offer single- or multiple-axis control functions.
American Built, Building America
March 28, 2013 1:42 pm | by Michelle Avila | Articles | CommentsMore and more companies from Apple to General Electric, Ford and Caterpillar, are deciding to make their products here. But what is behind this manufacturing renaissance? Why are companies bringing back jobs and what makes those companies think they can succeed?
Risk And Project Sunk Cost
March 4, 2013 2:06 pm | by Kim H. Pries & Jon M. Quigley, PMP | Articles | CommentsA project is going through a gate review. During this review we find that the objectives are not met by this phase and further action has little likelihood of subsequent success.That seems like the end of the discussion, doesn’t it? Not necessarily.
Optimizing Real-Time Application Software For Small Cells
February 13, 2013 2:19 pm | by Sridhar K V, Radisys | Articles | CommentsBy following some of the basic rules of software implementation, designers can optimize their real-time software. However,in the software development business, development of end-to-end real-time application software on any platform poses a great challenge in terms of quality and timing.
Engineering Newswire 23: I Am Iron Woman
February 5, 2013 9:57 am | by Eric Sorensen, Coordinator of Multimedia Development | Videos | CommentsToday on Engineering Newswire, we’re crafting magic arms, building Tony Stark’s cyber-weapon, and 3D printing for the BioCurious. 2-year-old Emma Lavelle was born with a congenital disorder called arthrogryposis. Emma’s parents turned to researchers at the Alfred I. DuPont Hospital for Children who had been hard at work on the Wilmington Robotic Exoskeleton, or WREX.
Allen-Bradley SMC-50 Smart Motor Controller Offers Advanced Soft-Starter Functions
February 4, 2013 12:07 pm | Products | CommentsDesigned for customer flexibility, the SMC-50 controller combines advanced monitoring and protection features, multiple start and stop options, and expandable control inputs and outputs. These features help users increase efficiency, reduce downtime and improve control.
Obsolete Industries Won’t Drive Economic Growth
January 29, 2013 1:55 pm | by Jason Lomberg, Technical Editor, ECN | Articles | CommentsUltimately, this mentality serves no one, impedes economic growth, and ignores the explosive potential of new industries to create jobs (see: the Internet) ... and I don’t mean the dubious “green jobs” that were a central tenet of our president’s economic platform. I mean the industries which rise up to make “travel agent” a relic of a bygone era.
Scalable Functional Safety Architecture Addresses Needs of CNC Builders
January 28, 2013 4:16 pm | Products | CommentsNUM has released a sophisticated system-wide functional safety architecture for its CNC system, providing an exceptionally scalable solution that can be applied very easily to almost any type of machine tool — regardless of complexity or number of axes. Known as NUMSafe, it includes a dedicated safety PLC.
PC VUE Monitors U.S. Wind Farms
January 25, 2013 12:54 pm | by PC VUE SCADA | Articles | CommentsIn a room that looks a like NASA Mission Control, systems analysts oversee every turbine at every wind farm throughout the U.S. They monitor the performance and efficiency of every turbine, and they keep an eye on approaching storms to warn technicians of the danger in the field.
