German manufacturers take aim at smart factories, mass customization
TOMOHISA TAKEI, Nikkei staff writer: It has been five years since Industry 4.0, the fourth industrial revolution, was first unveiled at the Hannover Messe industrial technology trade fair in Germany.
Industry 4.0 was more of a conceptual model at that time. This year, however, the trade show witnessed an emerging trend toward "smart factories" that can provide mass customization.
On April 25, SEW-Eurodrive's booth at Hannover Messe drew crowds of visitors. The German industrial motor maker demonstrated its automated vehicles for next-generation assembly plants, what it calls the "Lean Smart Factory."
In SEW-Eurodrive's demonstration, about 10 such "smart vehicles" moved about as five workers assembled products. One vehicle approached its target worker, displayed a procedure on its screen and instructed the worker to do the assembly work. After the worker completed the task, the vehicle received the product and moved on to another worker in charge of the next process.
These smart vehicles were connected over a network and programmed at the company factory. But it looked as if the products themselves were driving the vehicles and moved to where the tasks needed to be done. SEW-Eurodrive has already introduced the system at its factory in the southwestern German town of Graben-Neudorf, intending to make individually tailored products in the future. Cont'd...
Schunk - SWS Quick-Change System: Modular, Robust, and Flexible
The SWS is a tool changing system used to automatically change end-of-arm-tooling on robotic and gantry systems wherever changeover times between a robot and a tool are needed.
Bayshore Networks(R) Announces Its Participation at SAPPHIRE(R) NOW to Showcase the Bayshore IT/OT Gateway(TM)
Through this engagement, it has built a solution that provides customers with industry-leading cybersecurity and policy enforcement for Industrial IoT machines, applications and data.
5 Real-Time, Ethernet-Based Fieldbuses Compared
This paper seeks to determine which standard offers the best value and has the best chance of being viable in the long term.
SME Education Foundation Awards More Than $570,000 in Scholarships to Students Pursuing Manufacturing Degrees
This investment is part of the Foundation's continued efforts to inspire, prepare and support the next generation of manufacturing engineers and technologists, while filling the much needed pipeline of skilled talent.
Benda Manufacturing, Inc. Celebrates 30 Years
Benda Manufacturing is celebrating 30 years in business. The Tinley Park, Ill.-based manufacturer builds conveyor systems and controls for specialty markets, including food processing, contract and OEM packaging, and pharmaceutical.
System 4.0: the industry of the future is already here
The industrial automation industries are getting ready to enter the next generation of manufacturing
Newarkelement14 launches first all-in-one mangOH Green Open Hardware Platform for industrial IoT applications
First in the market all-in-one Hardware, Software and Cloud-based solution for Industrial IoT applications from Farnell element14 and Sierra Wireless
Hannover Messe showcases Industry 4.0 innovations
By Mike Bacidore, editor in chief for Control Design: How are you getting your share of the pie that is the $227 quadrillion Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT)? That’s a lot of money, and there’s plenty to go around, so what are you doing to cash in on this next industrial revolution? OK, to be fair, I made up that number. But, unless you’re a research analyst or someone putting together Q3 forecasts for your business unit, you didn’t even give that number a second thought.
And you probably shouldn’t. It doesn’t really matter. That number is as justifiable as it is arbitrary. Just pick an amount and then create a scenario and a timetable you can defend. “If you torture data long enough, it will confess,” Ronald Coase once said. The famed British economist also believed that the study of real-world markets was much preferred to speculating on theoretical ones.
In reality, this bold new landscape of connectivity has yielded opportunities for revenue streams steered by embankments of innovation. Nowhere was that more evident than at Hannover Messe in Germany, where Industry 4.0—the preferred European term, which includes IIoT, cyberphysical systems and more—was impossible to avoid and insistent in its resolve. Cont'd...
These Five Exponential Trends Are Accelerating Robotics
Alison E. Berman for Singularity Hub: If you've been staying on top of artificial intelligence news lately, you may know that the games of chess and Go were two of the grand challenges for AI. But do you know what the equivalent is for robotics? It's table tennis. Just think about how the game requires razor sharp perception and movement, a tall order for a machine.
As entertaining as human vs. robot games can be, what they actually demonstrate is much more important. They test the technology's readiness for practical applications in the real world—like self-driving cars that can navigate around unexpected people in a street.
Though we used to think of robots as clunky machines for repetitive factory tasks, a slew of new technologies are making robots faster, stronger, cheaper, and even perceptive, so that they can understand and engage with their surrounding environments. Consider Boston Dynamic’s Atlas Robot, which can walk through snow, move boxes, endure a hefty blow with a hockey stick by an aggressive colleague, and even regain its feet when knocked down. Not too long ago, such tasks were unthinkable for a robot.
At the Exponential Manufacturing conference, robotics expert and director of Columbia University’s Creative Machine Labs, Hod Lipson, examined five exponential trends shaping and accelerating the future of the robotics industry. Cont'd...
NEXCOM IoT Gateway Securely Connects to the Cloud with Ease
NEXCOM IoT gateway solution CPS 200 provides simple yet secure connection to the cloud for legacy industrial automation and control systems in operation. Based on Intel® IoT Gateway Technology, the CPS 200 features a unified user interface to streamline the configuration of various fieldbus protocols and cloud connection while shoring up security from the bottom to the top of data communication with layers of protection. With ease of deployment and enhanced security, the CPS 200 facilitates data acquisition and exchange between industrial control systems and between factories to the cloud, paving the way for Industrial Internet of things (IIoT) and factory automation applications.
Dorner Announces Acquisition of Geppert-Band
Dorner Holding Corp., the parent company of Dorner Mfg. Corp., has announced the acquisition of Jülich, Germany-based Geppert-Band (http://www.geppert-band.de), a leading European manufacturer of belt and modular belt conveyors.
Nordson EFD's PICO® Pµlse™ Jet Dispensing System Wins EM Asia Innovation Award and SMT China VISION Award
These awards are given to products demonstrating excellence and innovation in the surface mount and electronics industry
Datakit imports assemblies from CAD formats into Rhino, and strengthens its plugins bundle
Datakit CAD import plug-ins for Rhino are now able to maintain the assembly structure of the original model.
Datakit also announces the addition of its CATIA V6 (.3dxml) files import plug-in to its bundle of Rhino plug-ins.
Fast, Extremely Stable, Quiet: Compact Linear Positioning Stage Driven by Ultrasonic Piezo Linear Motor
Low power requirements and micro size make PIs new ultrasonic stages easy to integrate into industry and research applications.
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