Apprenticeships are a powerful tool for addressing the workforce challenges manufacturers face, particularly in talent acquisition, employee engagement, and retention. In a tight labor market where skilled workers are in high demand, apprenticeships provide a structured pathway for developing empl

For many Illinois manufacturers, quoting is one of the most time-consuming and inconsistent processes in daily operations. Teams often rely on Excel, Word, email threads, and manual calculations to respond to RFQs. While Excel is a powerful tool, it can also be unorganized. Disconnected spreadshee

Job Shops Face a Unique Set of Challenges Job shops don’t struggle because they lack work. They struggle because variability is built into everything they do. Constantly changing orders, shifting priorities, and unpredictable demand make it difficult to deliver on time and protect margins. The ter

Continuous improvement doesn’t happen by accident. It happens when people at every level of an organization are equipped to see opportunities, think critically about the work in front of them, and take action using a clear, structured approach. In a recent IMEC webinar, Mastering Job Methods: Unlo

By Amy Murphy, IMEC Technical Specialist, and Angelika Stratulat, IMEC Project Manager Today’s manufacturing workforce is more generationally diverse than ever before. In many organizations, seasoned employees with decades of experience work side by side with early-career professionals and new ent

Maintenance work lives at the crossroads of productivity and risk. From servicing energized equipment to troubleshooting breakdowns under pressure, maintenance teams routinely face hazards that production teams may never encounter. That reality was at the heart of a recent IMEC webinar I hosted, S

1. History of SMED, Single Minute Exchange of Dies Origins The concept of Single-Minute Exchange of Die (SMED) originated in the late 1950s–early 1960s by Japanese industrial engineer Shigeo Shingo, a key figure in Toyota’s Production System. His goal was to drastically reduce lengthy press die cha

Insights from a webinar presented by Technical Specialist Jeremy Smith, Illinois Manufacturing Excellence Center Automation is everywhere in modern manufacturing conversations. Collaborative robots. Smart sensors. AI-driven systems. Integrated cells that look flawless on the trade show floor. They

If you’re like many small and mid-sized manufacturers (SMMs), you’re likely running leaner than ever, but still have open positions to fill. And every gap hurts. Overtime increases, staff get stretched thin, and training quality is inconsistent. Not to mention the costs of onboarding new employees a

For small and mid-sized manufacturers (SMMs) in the Defense Industrial Base (DIB), Cybersecurity Maturity Model Certification (CMMC) is no longer a future requirement, it is now the standard. In December, the U.S. Department of Defense finalized CMMC 2.0, formally embedding it into DoD contracts.

Many manufacturers know the excitement of launching a new improvement initiative: early wins, energized teams, and hopeful results. Yet too often, that momentum fades, leaving organizations frustrated and wondering why continuous improvement (CI) efforts fail to stick. During a recent IMEC webinar,

By Pavel Soral || October 23, 2025 Modern infrastructure demands continuous monitoring to ensure safety and optimize maintenance. Traditional road inspection methods are slow, disruptive, and often subjective. The future lies in automated, high-speed 3D scanning systems that can

Typically, the farther you scan, the blurrier it gets. Industrial 3D scanning has been hitting a wall: you can either scan accurately or scan far. The PhoXi 3D Scanner Gen3, though, breaks through this limitation thanks to a plethora of improvements like blue laser technology or extended dynamic

In November 2025, we released the latest versions of our Bin Picking Studio and Locator Studio. This update is focused on one thing: delivering more power and precision to your fingertips.  We’ve fundamentally enhanced the functionality of our localization engines, unlocked next-generation scanni

By Pavel Soral || November 25, 2025 Join us December 11th for an exclusive look at what happens when industry-leading 3D vision meets seamless robotic control. The traditional walls between advanced vision systems and robotic cells are crumbling—and we’re leading the charge. We’re excited to a

By Pavel Soral || January 20, 2026 How do you teach a robot to see not just a stack of boxes, but the thin slip sheet between the layers and the stretch band holding them together?  For the expert team at EEP-Robotics GmbH, their answer to this complex challenge didn’t just solve a customer’s

For years, manufacturers have faced integration bottlenecks – the complex, time-consuming gap between advanced 3D vision and robotic control. But this has to change.  On December 11th, we hosted an exclusive webinar with experts from Photoneo and ABB Robotics to present how we merged Locator Stud

Building a pallet with a random mix of products may sound simple. But for robots, palletizing has been one of the hardest jobs to master. As online shopping keeps growing and stores want more customized, shelf-ready deliveries, warehouses are under pressure to move faster and smarter. While robot

On December 11, 2025, we joined forces with ABB Robotics for an exclusive webinar, “Mastering Complex Automation with 3D Vision-Guided Robotics.”  The goal was to demonstrate a major leap forward in industrial automation: the crumbling of traditional walls between advanced 3D vision systems and r

By Pavel Soral || February 27, 2026 Client: A global retail customer via Rebl Industries AB  Industry: Retail, Logistics & Warehousing Application: Vision Guided Robotics, Intelligent Palletizing  Photoneo Technology: MotionCam-3D   Summary  A global retail customer in Swede