Artificial Intelligence combined with endless cloud computing resources means more machine involvement and a faster progression to end-to-end automation for manufacturing plants. Best practices are to create an environment where the natural attributes of people and technology are balanced t

Siemens announced that its SINUMERIK ONE CNC platform has been selected by TRAK Machine Tools (Southwestern Industries, Inc.) as the control of choice for their new VMC-series milling and TC-series turning machines.  These new machine tools are intended to work in the high-volume, price-s

Ford Motor is increasing the variety of sensors in its assembly lines to turn Big Data into Even Bigger Data while democratizing access to the information that’s collected. “We’re enriching the data the equipment generates by adding sensors like infrared monitoring and vibrat

Global A&D industry revenue is expected to begin to recover this year following a challenging 2020, according to Deloitte. Though the commercial sector has been disproportionately more impacted than the defense sector, strengthening and preserving innovation across the entire industry d

Prior to 2020, many of us who supply manufacturing systems were riding the coattails of the aerospace industry’s 14-year boom. Our company was engaged in increased jet engine and structural parts production, as our machine tools are well-suited to hard metal machining. The robust sect

Engineers are on a never-ending quest to design and build products that are more fuel-efficient, stronger yet lighter, able to fly faster and travel greater distances than their predecessors. The mission parameters are essentially no different than those of the first hot-air balloons or win

Olympic diving moves are scored on factors like execution and degree of difficulty. When the trained athlete unfurls in the air and executes a rip entry into the water, there is virtually no splash and no other sound but a rip. It is pure diving nirvana. Likewise, manufacturers are seeking

To Michael Garner and the people at Phillips Corp., American manufacturing starts with the people, not the machine tools. A quick look at the Phillips website reveals some impressive figures. The Hanover, Md.-based supplier of manufacturing technology products and services boasts 19,080 mac

Digitized and automated manufacturing is making strides in the world of medical manufacturing, evidenced by recent systems put into production lines during the COVID-19 pandemic. Given the rigorous standards regulating medical device manufacture, the data-centric Industry 4.0 environment is

Global pandemic notwithstanding, Vollmer of America completed its move into a new 30,000-square-foot facility near Pittsburgh International Airport in June of 2020. The company also participated in the Las Vegas AWFS Fair in July this year. Much of the equipment and software displayed at ea

SPECIAL REPORT: Innovation in Argentina Holidays and weekends are sacrosanct in Argentina. So asking people to labor when they had plans to barbecue with amigos is seriously bad form. Nobody knows this better than Martin Muller, production planning and distribution manager for Sinteplast. &

If manufacturing was a series of blockbuster movies, the latest theater marquee might read, “Coming soon to a supply chain near you: The Digital Thread.” And John Vickers would be one of the first in line to buy tickets. The principal technologist for the Space Technology Mission D

SPECIAL REPORT: Innovation in Argentina A band of “brothers” here is easing the path to badly needed renewable energy systems in the vast remote lands of Argentina and neighboring Uruguay: Juan Pedro Córica founded QMAX Renewable Energies 15 years ago—along with his un

SPECIAL REPORT: Innovation in Argentina The vicissitudes of the Argentine economy make it difficult for small and medium-sized companies like Conextube to plan long term. And that’s exactly why Conextube feels the urgent need to add “intelligent production technology” and inc

Digital Transformation is a hot buzzword in today’s manufacturing and supply chain industries, but what does it really mean for small-and-medium enterprises (SMEs)? Large OEMs and corporations can afford to create a “factory of the future” technology center showcasing digi

The Internet of Things (IoT) is growing up. But keeping up with it can be a challenge, especially for small and medium-size enterprises. And that’s what motivated ITPort to develop a complexity-busting app called Weeot. ITPort first tested Weeot as a theory at the Argentine Treasury d

When my SME Media colleagues and I started this magazine in 2016, I committed to guiding Smart Manufacturing as a borderless publication because manufacturing is a global industry. Ahead of the pandemic, we traveled to all corners of the United States, as well as to Austria, China, France a

The COVID-19 pandemic shows no sign of ending anytime soon, due to less-than-stellar vaccination rates and other factors. That means we will be coping with the consequences of the pandemic for the foreseeable future. So what have manufacturers learned from dealing with COVID-19? A semiannual s

Sudbury, Mass. - Methods Machine Tools Inc. has signed an agreement with an intent to acquire Koch Machine Tool, a machine tool dealer and Methods’ avenue into the Texas machining market since 2010. Methods anticipates a definitive agreement by January 1, 2022. Both companies are prepari

On April 20, the ISO/IEC 26580 on “Methods and tools for the feature-based approach to software and systems product line engineering” was released as a full global standard. What does this mean for aerospace and defense? It means a powerful engineering approach created to delive