Manufacturing and Automation White Papers

Compressed air safety is a concern for all. Compressed air is commonly referred to as the “fourth utility” because it is very common as a resource within manufacturing, mining and processing environments. Employees or contractors in every industrial company or setting are exposed to compressed air’s effects regularly and it should be handled with responsibility and care. The primary dangers from compressed air come from high pressure and noise exposure. Personnel being exposed to compressed air which exits an open line or non-safety nozzle at a higher pressure than 30 PSI risk the air entering the bloodstream and causing air embolism, a serious health risk. Improper use of compressed air commonly exceeds OSHA’s noise exposure standards and causes noise induced hearing loss (NIHL). The CDC reports NIHL is one of the most common occupational diseases and the second most self-reported occupational illness or injury. And because compressed air can be loud and result in hearing loss when it is used through poor nozzles, open tubes and pipe, or home-made blowoffs, their noise exposure standard is important. Limiting pressure and noise is effectively done by using products which are purposefully designed to meet these strict OSHA safety standards. EXAIR's White Paper "Understanding Compressed Air Safety and Savings" is designed to help readers learn more about compressed air, how to be sure you are OSHA compliant and how EXAIR’s Intelligent Compressed Air products can help.

CNC machining is a powerful tool for generating custom parts using subtractive manufacturing. This guide outlines CNC machining, its basics, some pros and cons, and the top commercial CNC machining processes and materials used today.

From parameter storage to detailed diagnostics, IO-Link’s advanced features and functionality have generated plenty of excitement. However, this intensive focus has created the common misconception that advanced capabilities are the only reasons to implement this technology.

Since the 1960s, programmable logic controllers (PLCs) have been the device of choice for automating and controlling machine operation, making them the head of automated processes. In recent years, engineers have started asking why they need to invest in a PLC. The devices can be expensive, require dedicated software and often mean additional panel and wiring expenses. Is a PLC and its cost really the best option for an application that may only need to control dozens rather than hundreds of I/O points?

Manufacturers are faced with the constant demand to increase productivity and reduce operating costs. A powerful industrial tool being implemented today to streamline production is reliable, enterprise-wide connectivity, providing the highest level of visibility, control and flexibility. To accommodate evolving networking requirements, such as decentralization of control, integrated diagnostics and simplified maintenance, network protocols integrate with industrial equipment and control systems to communicate crucial status updates and production data.

Extremely fast, compact, robust and secure: The TBEN-L managed Ethernet switch combines these features, thus enabling the creation of decentralized Ethernet connections directly at the machine. With two GBit high-speed backbone ports, the switch offers enough bandwidth for a high-performance data flow of the eight standard ports (100 MBit/s). Supported by the fastest linkup times and cut-through forwarding, the switch ensures high cycle rates even in tool changing applications. In many applications it therefore saves wiring effort and supports modular machine concepts without the need for a control cabinet.

Gocious recently held a webinar to discuss the results and insights of a recent industry market research study that we conducted. The webinar, available to watch on-demand, presented some of the key insights that we uncovered. We ultimately discussed the ways manufacturers can optimize their product launch cycle times.

Gocious and JATO Dynamics North America recently held a webinar for manufacturing product planners, designers, and engineers to discuss customer behavior trends in manufactured products. The webinar, available to watch on-demand, hosted experts from the two companies who evaluated the situation manufacturers face in designing product lines with complex customizations.

This white paper will describe how global organizations are utilizing MQTT and the Inductive Automation Ignition platform to implement an open standard architecture to achieve these goals. By easing access to information, coupled with being able to use best in class AI applications, companies will be empowered to achieve their goals to change the culture in their business by extracting value from process data previously unavailable.”

Sometimes the most difficult thing about AI is simply knowing where to start. Identifying potentially impactful use cases is one of the most cited roadblocks for organizations seeking to leverage AI in their business. To complicate things further, best practices dictate that you should have a portfolio of use cases ready to experiment with. If finding one is a challenge, developing a whole portfolio of use cases may prove to be very difficult. Luckily, RapidMiner has you covered. We’ve compiled 50 high-impact use cases from our customers that you can choose from. This library cuts across all industries, and even explains how you can draw inspiration from use cases that are outside of your industry or domain.

Manufacturing Operations Transformation is a journey taken in steps and aligned with shifting business transformation needs. This whitepaper discusses the drivers of digital transformation in manufacturing, and how multi-site enterprises can ensure consistent processes, reporting and analysis that ultimately unlock the true value of their business.

After analyzing 100+ 3D printing use cases, it’s clear there’s a strong movement towards additive. Read the report to meet the manufacturers capitalizing on 3D printing today, and find out how they are transforming their design and production workflows.

Unitronics’ innovative approach to reliable automation is driven by in-depth knowledge of the needs of the automation control industry. This knowledge is gained through the company’s decades of experience with diverse projects in automated parking systems, packaging and palletizing, energy production, agriculture, HVAC, food, dairy, chemical, wastewater, boiler industries, plastic extrusion, and other industrial channels. Newly added webinars will be listed here.

Case Study from ivalua - Ivalua has enabled our transformation journey effectively, making Procurement more agile and digital. It really began with a focus on suppliers and clean supplier master data to make better decisions. Resolving this empowered efficiency, visibility and much more value creation for the business.

The white paper covers what types of parts can be measured with a Q-Span system, considering part mass and size, features and tolerances, and manufacturing process. The discussion includes: • A detailed description of how the Q-Span System takes measurements, incorporating robotic pick-and-place • How to validate measurements. • How to demonstrate correlation with existing measurement methods.

In a new paper, Shackelford examines the cyber risk in the Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT), including security implications in the smart factory revolution and associated policy implications. Although there has been progress in some areas (e.g., making attacks on civilian critical infrastructure, like smart factories, off limits), there is still much to be done. There are several options to consider for IIoT: self-regulation/cyber due diligence, insurance and/or proposed federal policies, like the IoT Cybersecurity Act of 2017, Consumer Privacy Bill of Rights and the Active Cyber Defense Certainty Act.