All Features
(Critical Manufacturing: Porto, Portugal) -- At this year’s SEMICON Europa, Critical Manufacturing will be highlighting its advanced semiconductor MES capabilities. Designed specifically to manage complex processes within a semiconductor manufacturing environment, this advanced solution fully…
James Gaines, Knowable Magazine
In 2004, the United States’ Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) dangled a $1 million prize for any group that could design an autonomous car that could drive itself through 142 miles of rough terrain from Barstow, California, to Primm, Nevada. Thirteen years later, the U.S. Department…
Shelly Fan
I admit, if I see a beehive, I back away. But part of me is also fascinated. Beehives are a remarkable feat of engineering. Swarms of bees deposit materials ranging from tree buds to chewed-up wax into densely packed honeycombs—each a geometric masterpiece—while flying in the air.
In stark…
(ProShop: Bellingham, WA) -- The ProShop Secure Access File Ecosystem (SAFE) from ProShop ERP will be a secure, innovative, cloud-based ERP file-management system that enables companies to achieve multidimensional, roll- and user-based data security compliance to multiple standards such as NIST 800…
(Teledyne DALSA: Waterloo, ON, Canada) -- Teledyne DALSA, a division of Teledyne Imaging, has announced AxCIS, a new family of high-speed and high-resolution, fully integrated line-scan imaging modules. These easy-to-use contact image sensors (CIS) combine sensors, lenses, and lights to offer a…
Tom Taormina
We live in a rural area, and many of our nonconsumables are purchased online. We’re deceivingly spoiled living near an Amazon fulfillment center because we can order an item on Saturday, and it arrives on Sunday. To me, this is a masterful logistical feat of filling an order, getting it into the…
Ben P. Stein
Right after the pandemic hit, I bought a new vacuum cleaner. I wanted to step up my housecleaning skills since I knew I’d be home a lot more. I was able to buy mine right away, but friends who wanted new appliances weren’t so lucky. My relatives had to wait months for their new refrigerator to…
Optical Gaging Products (OGP), a world-leading manufacturer of optical and precision multisensor metrology systems for industrial quality control, has added the FlexPoint 12-Series to its family of large-format multisensor coordinate measuring machines.
Made for large, heavy parts with complex…
(ANCA Motion: Melbourne, Victoria, Australia) -- A leader in quality CNC grinding machines, ANCA Motion has introduced two additions to its FX Linear and MX Linear machines.
Observing linear motor technology for many years, Simon Richardson, MX platform product manager, says, “We were aware of the…
Jeetu Patel
In recent years, pretty much every assumption about how, where, and when we work has been upended. But I believe we’re still at just the beginning of a revolution in hybrid work.
Today, there’s a clear opportunity for organizations to step into the next wave of working, supported by even better…
Michael Okrent
Want a new car? You may have to wait as long as six months, depending on the model you order. Looking for a spicy condiment? Supplies of sriracha hot sauce have been running dangerously low. And if you feed your cat or dog dry pet food, expect empty shelves or elevated prices.
These aren’t…
(Helmee Imaging: Tampere, Finland) -- Helmee Imaging Oy, a developer, manufacturer, and marketer of unique CSD imaging technology for challenging surface inspection applications, has launched Helmee Imaging Inc., a wholly owned U.S. subsidiary based in Cumming, Georgia. The new company will provide…
Mark Rosenthal
Once again I’m going through old files. Looking back at my notes from 2005, I believe I was thinking about nailing these points to a church door somewhere in the company. That actually isn’t a bad analogy because I was advocating a pretty dramatic shift in the role of the kaizen workshop leaders.…
Mara Strenger, Svenja Kloss, Markus Schmid
When looking in the fridge, you notice a package of minced meat sitting at the back of one of the shelves, totally forgotten. A check of the best-before date reveals it had expired two days earlier. Like so many consumers, you feel an internal struggle emerging: risk food poisoning or discard a…
Adam Grant
Even before the pandemic, burnout was labeled as an epidemic. It’s the persistent work-related stress that’s exhausting and impairing. In the U.S., more than half of employees feel burned out at least some of the time, and it can lead to what has recently been termed “quiet quitting”—reduced…
NIST
(U.S. Dept. of Commerce: Washington, D.C.) -- The U.S. Dept. of Commerce has appointed 24 members to the Industrial Advisory Committee (IAC), an advisory body that will provide guidance to the Secretary of Commerce on a range of issues related to domestic semiconductor research and development in…
(Soprana Personnel International: Vilnius, Lithuania) -- Interview assignments have hit hot water recently, with candidates frustrated about the time wasted on them and the noncompensation. As far as interview processes go, it is still considered a custom practice. However, HR specialists suggest…
Kevin Kanimyar
Amidst the rise of conscious consumerism, corporate social responsibility (CSR) programs are fast becoming an essential part of any business. With about $20 billion spent every year by Fortune 500 companies alone, businesses around the world are working to integrate CSR programs into their business…
Drones, the aerial eye of the job site, have become a versatile tool for earthmoving operations. Among their benefits are increased efficiency, productivity, and accuracy on job sites. In addition, drones help reduce unplanned costs and rework throughout a project by providing a steady stream of…
(AIM3D: Rostock, Germany) -- Every 3D printing process competes with classic manufacturing strategies such as casting or milling in terms of mechanical properties, time factors, and cost-effectiveness. It is also in competition with alternative 3D printing technologies. The technological challenge…
jeffdewar
In this third installment of our five-part series, we talk with Jim Templin, CEO of ASQE.
Yes, you read that right, ASQE. As in ASQ Excellence. It’s an entirely new legal entity connected at the hip to the ASQ we all know and love. It’s a trade organization that other organizations can belong to,…
Isaac Maw
Automation provides opportunities for new, more efficient workflows and better resource use in manufacturing. Despite a long history of fears concerning job losses brought on by automation, these anxieties aren’t typically reflected in reality.
To learn more about the best ways to upskill workers…
Rachel Gordon
(MIT CSAIL: Cambridge, MA) -- Tool use has long been a hallmark of human intelligence, as well as a practical problem to solve for a vast array of robotic applications. But machines are still wonky at exerting just the right amount of force to control tools not rigidly attached to their hands.
To…
Jon Speer
Medical device product development and risk management are often treated as entirely separate processes. Sure, there is usually acknowledgement and understanding that these two processes are related. But it is important to realize that product development and risk management share more than that.…
Mark Hembree
Many trade shows have disappeared or diminished in recent decades—but not the International Manufacturing Technology Show, a biannual event held every even-numbered year in Chicago, this year from Sept. 12–17. In its 33rd year, IMTS was of sufficient scope to take up nearly half of McCormick Place—…
