Closing tech gaps can fortify advanced manufacturing, save $100 billion
FRAN WEBBER FOR NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF STANDARDS AND TECHNOLOGY (NIST): To spur significant innovation and growth in advanced manufacturing, as well as save over $100 billion annually, U.S. industry must rectify currently unmet needs for measurement science and "proof-of-concept" demonstrations of emerging technologies. This is the overall conclusion reached by economic studies funded by the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) of four advanced manufacturing areas used to create everything from automobile composites to zero-noise headsets.
"Gaps in the technology infrastructure--including the lack of reliable measurement and test methods, scientifically based standards, and other formal knowledge and tools--limit advanced manufacturing's further development and adoption," said NIST economist Gary Anderson, coordinator of the economic studies prepared by RTI International (link is external), an independent nonprofit research institute. Cont'd...
Hospital to get first dedicated 3D tissue-printing facility
Steve Dent for enGadget: You still can't get a 3D-printed liver transplant made from your own cells, but an Australian hospital is trying to push the tech into the mainstream. The Queensland University of Technology (QUT) in Brisbane is building a dedicated "biofabrication" space where doctors and researchers can develop tech to model and print cartilage, bone and other human tissue. "It will be the first time a biomanufacturing institute will be co-located with a high-level hospital," said Australian Minister of Health Cameron Dick.
The facility will occupy two floors of the hospital and use state of the art tissue manufacturing tech in surgery procedures. "Our vision for healthcare is that the biofabrication institute will pave the way for 3D printers to sit in operating theaters, ready to print tissue as needed, in our hospitals of the future," Dick said. Cont'd...
The Audi smart factory of the future
Jason Siu AutoGuide.com: Audi is developing a “Smart Factory” where robots will work together with humans to build cars.
The German automaker first talked about its Smart Factory last year, envisioning a plant with human-robot collaboration, 3D printed parts, drone material transport and piloted cars that drive themselves off the production lines. A new video has been released that gives us a glimpse into that factory, proving that it’s not as far-fetched as you might think. In fact, Audi appears to be making great progress with drones transporting steering wheels, although it may not seem very effective in the video. Cont'd...
Innovative Technologies In Composite Building Construction
Cutting-edge polymer science and innovative construction methodologies are being leveraged in composite building construction to solve a broad range of issues associated with water treatment processing and other application challenges.
Samsung SDS releases AI-based smart factory system
Yoon Sung-won for KoreaTimes: Samsung SDS has launched its artificial intelligence (AI)-based smart factory system service Nexplant, the company said Wednesday.
The system integration service affiliate of Samsung Group highlighted that the new service will help clients maximize production efficiency as the AI system analyzes manufacturing problems in real time.
"Before the domestic release of the service, we have already drawn high interest from manufacturing businesses in overseas countries including the United States and India," Lee Jae-cheol, smart factory business director and senior vice president of Samsung SDS, said in a statement. "We will expedite business expansion on the global stage."
In developing the Nexplant system, Samsung SDS said it has tapped into its expertise in manufacturing process optimization systems that it has accumulated during the last three decades while providing them to plants run by other Samsung affiliates. Cont'd...
High Efficiency Motors
To understand the concept of high efficiency motors, you must first know how to calculate efficiency and the losses associated with the motor components themselves.
CNC Inspection Software Reduces Time Needed to Machine Composite Parts
PowerInspect has dramatically improved our ability to locate and align parts with complex curved surfaces
Tesla is buying a German engineering company to automate factories
Matthew DeBord for Business Insider: On Tuesday, Tesla announced that it will acquire Grohmann Engineering, a German automated manufacturing company.
The terms of the deal, which is subject to German regulatory approval, weren't disclosed.
In a statement, Tesla described Grohmann as a "world-renowned engineering company in Prüm, Germany, which will become Tesla Grohmann Automation." Cont'd...
Manufacturing's Productivity Myth
Justin Fox for Bloomberg: The U.S. manufacturing sector is far from the basket case it is sometimes made out to be on the campaign trail. But it's important to realize that it isn't exactly going gangbusters, either.
The everything's-OK line about U.S. manufacturing goes something like this: Yes, lots of manufacturing jobs (7.3 million, to be precise-ish) have been lost since employment in the sector peaked in 1978, but real manufacturing output is at an all-time high. So the manufacturing sector is doing fine -- it's just that thanks to automation and other technological advances it has gotten much more productive and thus doesn't need as many workers. Cont'd...
Hall Effect Technology Reaches a New Level
For electrical motors with variable speed drives, fine current control in varying operating temperatures improves speed and torque control and can also provide energy savings of up to 30% or more.
Maintaining Precision At Varying Temperatures
High precision transducers are increasingly in demand due to high-performance industrial applications such as precision motor controllers, metering, measurement accessories and test equipment for medical equipment such as scanners and MRI machines.
From OLED Encapsulation to Plagiarism Protection
When ultra-thin transparent varnishes are applied onto transparent foil tapes, defects in the coating can now be made visible immediately during the coating process. This is possible thanks to an inline detection system that uses fluorescence dyes.
Local Motors: Driving Innovation with Micro-Manufacturing
NewCo Shift: Local Motors was founded in 2007 by John “Jay” Rogers, an Ivy league-educated ex-Marine who wanted to marry his lifelong interest in vehicles with new economic models. The result: Local Motors, a company that, after eight years in business, now produces a series of vehicles built locally in a handful of facilities, but designed by a global community of enthusiasts.
Local Motors’ business model is built around its microfactories. The four now in existence — and the dozens more that the company plans to open over the next 10 years — each focus on a few vehicle types. Each looks to source components locally to the greatest extent possible. And each features a modular factory floor that can be configured and reconfigured as needed to accommodate the demand for individual vehicles. Cont'd...
MIT's Foundry software is the 'Photoshop of 3D printing'
Andrew Dalton for enGadget: Because the materials from a 3D printer aren't the most functional, their output has largely been limited to prototyping in the past. That should change in the near future with devices like MIT's own MultiFab, which can print up to 10 different materials at a time, but it still doesn't solve the problem of how to design such complex objects. That's where the new program called Foundry, created by MIT's Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory comes in.
According to MIT CSAIL, Foundry can import objects designed with traditional CAD programs like SolidWorks and then assign specific materials or properties to different parts of the object. While creating a multi-material object in the past might have required days of work and multiple 3D printers to create (assuming it was possible with existing technology at all), CSAIL says these sorts of designs can now be created in mere minutes. Rather than manufacturing a separate piece for each material in the finished product, the entire object can now be printed in one fell swoop. Cont'd...
Special Tradeshow Coverage for FABTECH
FABTECH will be held from November 16th - 18th in Las Vegas, Nevada. This ManufacturingTomorrow.com Special Tradeshow report aims to bring you news, articles and products from this years event.
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Supply Chain - Featured Product
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Strain wave gearheads are ideal for use in applications requiring precision motion control and high torque transmission in a compact design. maxon strain wave gearheads are a specialized type of gearhead where precision and compact design are crucial. This type of gearhead is often used in applications in a confined space. With their advanced gear tooth design, maxon's strain wave gearheads provide high efficiency and good back drivability. Typical applications include:
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