Manufacturing Engineering: VKS [Visual Knowledge Share] develops an electronic work instruction solution designed to improve quality, productivity, and efficiency; tell us more about VKS. Shannon Bennett: VKS software was made for manufacturers by manufacturers. We were born in a company calle

Kuka Robotics Corp. held a grand opening of its new Metal & Arc TechCenter at its 80,000-sq.-ft. Shelby Township, MI, headquarters, Nov. 29-30. The grand opening featured 13 live robotic automation demonstrations, tours of the new TechCenter, and presentations on new technology. The new

The International Federation of Robotics forecasts that by 2019, 1.4 million industrial robots will be installed in factories around the world. Manufacturing organizations are looking to this technology as a way to streamline operations, improve safety on the factory floor and grow their busin

Manufacturing Engineering: Machine monitoring and analytics have become more critical than ever in the digital manufacturing/Industry 4.0 era. What’s new with Sight Machine’s latest offerings? Jon Sobel: Our latest offerings are designed for a far broader range of manufac

Starting this month, TechFront has a new format that spotlights manufacturing research programs at key universities, followed by summaries of recent research in SME’s Journal of Manufacturing Systems, Journal of Manufacturing Processes and Manufacturing Letters, all published by Elsevier

Wisconsin could capitalize on its strengths in sensors and controls to drive economic growth and support over 44,000 jobs annually in the advanced energy industry. That’s the conclusion of a report from “The Wisconsin Jobs Project: A Guide to Creating Jobs in Sensors and Controls f

Meeting the needs of the evolving digital manufacturing initiative, Open Mind Technologies (Needham, MA) has recently partnered with Heidenhain TNC controls (Schaumburg, IL) to provide exclusive first use of their new NC code-based machining simulation solution hyperMILL Virtual Machin

Manufacturers must wrestle with the “Black Hats” of the cyberworld in order to keep processes secure It’s not a question of if, but when you’ll be hacked. So say cybersecurity experts, citing the recent wave of ransomware attacks, including the infamous “Wanna Cry

NOVI, MI — Manufacturing faces an even larger shortage of skilled workers as older employees retire over the next few years, the head of SME said in a speech today. “Call it the ‘Silver Tsunami,” Jeff Krause, executive director and CEO of SME (Dearborn, MI), said during

Parker Hannifin’s Marissa Tucker talks with Senior Editor Patrick Waurzyniak Marissa, what is the role of the motion controller in the Industrial Internet of Things [IIoT], and what software is involved? I would take it a step beyond the motion controller and say that the programmable

Is it the right time to automate your welding operation? Worried about how long you can keep your experienced welders? Need to increase your throughput but don’t see how with the available workforce? Challenged by tougher materials? A variety of technical advances make it relatively easy

Researchers at Penn State University (University Park, PA) have devised a novel method for sintering, a widely used manufacturing process for powdered materials. The new process, which uses much less time and energy than current approaches, could have global implications on manufacturing and e

The manufacturing industry has lost another of its giants, with the news that Dick Morley, considered the “Father of the PLC,” an SME Fellow and former SME board member, passed away on Oct. 17 in New Hampshire at the age of 84. Richard “Dick” E. Morley is credited wi

Alpha Laser, based in Puchheim, near Munich, Germany, specializes in laser-based processing technology, and Schneider Electric, headquartered in Andover, MA., is Alpha Laser’s  automation partner for its semiautomatic and fully automatic machines, including a CNC-controlled unive

With the latest software for nesting parts, fabricators and metalcutters significantly boost manufacturing productivity Smarter, faster nesting software programs with better automation and other major improvements are helping fabricators and metalcutters at job shops and other builders inject

While EDMs offer the benefits of holding tight tolerances, working on nearly any metal, and being well suited for delicate or fragile parts, knowledgeable operators for the machines are increasingly hard to find and robots can’t always fill the gap. Automated processes in the machines

Urschel Laboratories has come a long way since its founder William E. Urschel introduced the gooseberry snipper to Michigan canneries in 1910. Today, the company’s innovative machines are used by virtually every food processing manufacturer worldwide to slice, dice, trim, grate, and proc

With the growth of new sensing methods for metrology, from lasers to X-rays, one might think the venerable CMM might be fading from view. Nothing could be further from the truth. An eternal truth is that manufacturing will always push the limits on cost, performance, and especially quality. &l

Yamaha Motor to adopt Siemens’ Teamcenter and NX software for motorcycle product development processes Implements a digitally integrated environment to achieve improved design quality and rapid development planning Yamaha Motor Co., Ltd., a manufacturer of diverse motorized products in

Efficient manufacturing calls for coordinated systems of shop personnel, equipment and software. These systems increasingly include robotic technology, as manufacturers recognize the reliability, repeatability and flexibility that robots provide. According to the International Federation of R