Manufacturing Technology

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Tech trends that WON’T happen in 2022

As 2022 kicks off, predictions abound on the technology advancements and innovations expected in the year ahead. However, several highly anticipated advancements, including the metaverse, mainstream companion robots, a boom in edge computing, and a bounce back in new vehicle sales will NOT happen in 2022, states global technology intelligence firm, ABI Research. In its new whitepaper, 70 Technology Trends That Will—and Will Not—Shape 2022, ABI Research analysts identify 35 trends that will shape the technology market and 35 others that, although attracting huge amounts of speculation and commentary, are less likely to move the needle over the next twelve months. “The fallout from Covid-19 prevention measures, the process of transitioning from pandemic to endemic disease, and global political tensions weigh heavily on the coming year’s fortunes. “This whitepaper is a tool for readers to help shape their understanding of the key critical trends that look set to materialise in 2022 as the world begins to emerge from the shadow of Covid-19. It also highlights those much-vaunted trends that are less likely to have meaningful impact in 2022,” says Stuart Carlaw, Chief Research Officer at ABI Research. What won’t happen in 2022? The metaverse will not arrive fully formed Despite all the headlines and investments, the metaverse will not arrive in 2022 or, for that matter, within the typical 5-year forecast window. The metaverse is still more of a buzzword and vision than a fully-fledged end goal with a defined arrival date. What we have today is a number of tech companies building their version of a “metaverse,” but this multiverse is not fully interconnected, does not yet widely employ open standards, and certainly has not fully embraced Extended Reality (XR)—all tenets of the metaverse vision (some would also add the crypto economy to the list, which is also not in place). The exponential boom […]

Siemens extends mechanical performance with Simcenter 3D

Siemens’ Simcenter 3D software, part of Siemens’ Xcelerator portfolio of software and services, enables engineers to tackle the complexity of product development and innovation with advanced simulation. Among the new capabilities, Simcenter 3D offers increased support for turbomachinery modeling, a dedicated drop test application for handheld devices, tightly integrated topology optimisation with the NX Design environment, and a new acoustic solution method that is up to 10 times faster than standard methods. Simcenter 3D brings together combined expertise and experience across a wide range of industry sectors, capabilities and physics. Customers are finding bold new ways to make use of complex physics simulation to drive innovation across industries. Siemens’ Simcenter 3D 2022.1 release focuses on helping engineers overcome challenges in four key areas: Model the complexity: The ability to model and understand complex physical phenomena is at the forefront of this Simcenter 3D release. Simcenter 3D’s industry-leading solution for the turbomachinery industry has been extended with additional thermal multiphysics, rotordynamics and thermal fatigue capabilities to more accurately capture the complex physics happening within these machines. A new dedicated set of tools to simulate spiral bevel gears, as often found in automotive differentials, enables accurate, system-level NVH analysis on these mechanisms to reduce gear whine. Additionally, a new dedicated application simplifies and streamlines the drop-test simulation process for electronic and other handheld devices for engineers who are not simulation experts. Explore the possibilities: Acoustics auralisation capabilities allow engineers to not only simulate but also listen to the acoustics/sound within the context of the end-user’s experience. Engineers can now mix all contributing sounds and listen to the combined acoustics results to answer questions such as “What will a loudspeaker sound like when you put it in a car and combine it with background noise from the engine, HVAC, wind and road?” In […]

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ToolBox suite gives laser job shops a boost for industry 4.0

A new laser cutting and fabrication quoting tool suite is being introduced to Australasia and Asia-Pacific to save job shops time, and keep quotes accurate and consistent, no matter who is preparing them. The ToolBox digital tool kit from Tempus Tools Inc turns a CAD drawing into an accurate quote in seconds, and the time saved can be used to allow laser job shop staff and resources to be reallocated into areas such as business growth. Toolbox can also provide an innovative 3D unfolding service, whereby it can be fed full 3D schematics of a product and it will select precisely all the 2D sheet metal surfaces required to be cut by a laser workshop. It’s also possible to create the drawing without using any CAD software, using Toolbox’s Quick Part parametric parts library. Quick Part has a broad range of customisable parts, including brackets, flanges, gussets, and plates that can be adjusted to the specific needs of the user. “ToolBox is designed to put the tools in the hands of small laser cutting and fabrication workshops that are looking to grow their business. It helps with cleaning drawings, part creation or extraction, and laser cutting calculations, so the business can quote more jobs and expand its operations,” says Mr Felipe Lechuga, President, Tempus Tools. “With the shift to Industry 4.0, slow quoting processes just aren’t competitive anymore, so job shops need new tools to get the job done faster, more accurately, and with total consistency,” says Mr Lechuga. The laser cutting market is growing due to its importance to vital industries such as automotive, aviation, architectural and construction products, defense, engineering electrical, manufacturing, metals, mining and energy, shipbuilding and textiles. “Customers in these demanding industries need fast quotes. ToolBox empowers job shops, particularly smaller ones, to win more projects […]

Fiercely competitive new normal driving technology adoption for manufacturers

By Jarrod Kinchington, Infor ANZ managing director Manufacturers worldwide are eager for signs of recovery and are also bracing for the next wave of change it will bring. While some manufacturers spent the past year in a holding pattern, others accelerated their adoption of digital technologies. Those early adopters have kindled new market expectations for speed, value, and customer engagement. It’s a new era, new rules, new ways to achieve success. Improving visibility in the supply chain, accommodating digital commerce, adopting safe distancing within plants, and enacting new safety protocols for employees were among the typical “adapt-to-survive” tactics completed in 2020. Pragmatic manufacturers focused on the long-term opportunities. They accelerated digital initiatives and fast-tracked deployment of cloud-based solutions to take advantage of emerging micro-markets, shifts in consumer attitudes, and a move to regional sourcing. The ability to stand up new business models quickly proved valuable for the entrepreneurial minded. Many manufacturers used the time to direct energies toward R&D, building partnerships at regional levels, testing new pricing models, and migrating solutions from on-premises to the cloud. Use of ecosystems and partnerships also escalated, proving to be effective in co-innovation and problem-solving. “When the pandemic impacted businesses a year ago, most brands and enterprises scrambled to accelerate digital transformation efforts,” writes R Ray Wang of Constellation Research in a blog post. He reports that efforts have ranged from rekindling digital channel projects to forging new digital revenue streams. “These accomplishments accelerated five years of digital transformation in less than one year’s time.” A survey by Deloitte found that 62% of manufacturers are committed to continuing or accelerating their factories’ digital transformation. On average, manufacturers expect to apply 36% of their factory investments toward smart manufacturing, an impressive 20% increase over last year’s figure. “The disruption and economic hardship caused by the […]

Additive Manufacturing Network platform connects community of design engineers

By Schaeffler, a global automotive and industrial supplier, to connect its community of design engineers with its AM Fab Shop for additive manufacturing to facilitate collaboration, speed time to production and to foster greater application of the benefits of additive manufacturing (AM) within its value-chain. Siemens’ AM Network digitalises the additive manufacturing workflows (order-to-delivery process chain) of customers and partners, as well as applying additive manufacturing on an industrial-grade to scale their business. With the AM Network, customers and partners are enabled to build up their own additive manufacturing ecosystem (company-internally as well as with their trusted external suppliers/partners), and to join the existing ecosystem already established over the past years on the AM Network platform. With demand for additively manufactured parts growing exponentially among its R&D designers and engineers, Schaeffler has adopted Siemens’ AM Network as the single platform for all engineering/ technical collaboration throughout the entire AM order-to-delivery process. This cloud-native platform enables it to take advantage of the benefits of additive manufacturing more quickly, efficiently and at greater rate of scale by digitalising and streamlining additive manufacturing workflows. R&D designers and engineers are guided through the AM part qualification process, as defined by the AM Fab Shop, while shop floor operations and machine utilisation have been streamlined to increase efficiency. Time and effort are saved with increased throughput while fostering a wider understanding of the benefits of additive, better formalisation of best practice and ultimately, more efficient execution and more timely delivery of the successfully 3D printed parts. Siemens‘ Additive Manufacturing Network platform was selected not only to assist orchestrating the end-to-end order-to-delivery process for industrial additive manufacturing, but was perceived as a long-term partner to grow with and to explore further opportunities to create a fully digitised end-to-end AM workflow and value chain. The Additive Manufacturing […]

WebLytics solution for collaborative applications

OnRobot makes its software debut with the launch of WebLytics, a unique production monitoring, device diagnostics, and data analytics solution designed to enhance productivity and minimise downtime. Capable of monitoring the performance of multiple collaborative applications simultaneously and in real-time, WebLytics gathers equipment data from both robots and tools and transforms it into easy-to-understand, visualised device and application-level intelligence. WebLytics provides real-time, application-focused data for collaborative applications across major robot brands. WebLytics marks the beginning of OnRobot’s journey into robot software and completes their vision of providing a One Stop Shop for collaborative applications on both the hardware and software side. For end users and integrators, WebLytics not only eliminates manual data collection — it provides actionable insights into how well a collaborative application is performing, offering live device diagnostics, alerts and preventive maintenance measures to keep costly robot cell downtime to a minimum. Integrating the globally recognised overall equipment effectiveness (OEE) industry standard, WebLytics identifies trends in real-time in the robot cell, including patterns, peaks, and disturbances in application productivity. OEE measures the percentage of manufacturing time that is truly productive – a score of 100% indicates that the collaborative application is producing only good parts, as fast as possible, and with no downtime. Leveraging these OEE measures, WebLytics can determine whether the manufacturing process is running at optimal speed and can monitor and analyse the quality of application cycles –key insights for manufacturers of all sizes. WebLytics can report on utilisation of the robot arm and OnRobot tools such as grippers, vision cameras, and sensors, as well as the number of safety stops initiated, and the number of grip cycles performed while an application is running. When changes are made to a robot cell, such as adjusting the speed of a robot or the settings on a gripper, […]

Australian manufacturer develops cutting edge tool for underwater recovery

The custom recovery jaws will assist HEART with underwater recovery missions. Blueprint Lab, an Australian robotics manufacturer, has developed custom jaws for their Alpha robotic arm which will allow for greater grip on fabric when resurfacing underwater drowning victims. This tool was developed for the Hutterian Emergency Aquatic Rescue Team (HEART). HEART are a volunteer group of certified divers from Manitoba, Canada who specialise in emergency water search, rescue and recovery. Using a combination of highly-skilled human divers and specialised technology, they are able to recover victims of tragic drowning accidents from the waterways of their region, including arctic underwater environments. The HEART operators have been using Blueprint Lab’s Reach Alpha subsea robotic grabber to assist them in recovery missions but were having trouble with the intense grip stability required to resurface deceased victims. They got creative and temporarily installed a makeshift DIY nail modification to their grabber in the short term, and then approached Blueprint Lab for an engineered solution. Blueprint Lab’s engineering team began developing and testing a grabber upgrade that would fulfil these specific task requirements, resulting in a new tool specialised for Search and Recovery – the Reach Alpha Special Recovery Tool. As well as looking the part, the Special Recovery Tool is strong, sturdy, and sharp making it an effective solution for HEART’s requirements. The Blueprint Lab team are thrilled to have worked with HEART to ensure their continued mission success. Always keen to rise to the operational challenges faced by partners and customers no matter how unique or challenging. “Here at HEART Team we use the Blueprint Lab manipulator on our VideoRay Pro 5 ROV for body recoveries. We had an opportunity to speak with the folks from Blueprint Lab about our work and the need for a grabber that is more suitable for […]

Robotic solution to nuclear waste

An innovative robotic solution to mapping and segmenting different levels of nuclear waste without the need to put humans into a hazardous radioactive environment has been proven by a pioneering company. Createc is behind some of the world’s most advanced technologies in robotics and computer imaging and is well-known for finding solutions to some of the world’s most complex industrial challenges. Createc’s Automated Nuclear Detection Cell (AND-C) innovation responds to the challenge of removing nuclear workers from hazardous environments by providing a system that can remotely scan items for radioactive contamination and then automatically remove the contamination. Createc’s technology involves an AND-C sensor pack being deployed on a robotic arm. The sensor scans the contaminated item and the 3D radiation contamination map is transferred directly to the robotic system to guide the arm to the precise location and remove the contamination. The AND-C system allows remote radioactive decontamination without requiring operators to work inside a hazardous nuclear environment. In many nuclear decommissioning facilities, a decontamination cell is used to process transport containers on site so that they can be sentenced to low level waste. This is labour intensive work which needs to be carried out using complex PPE and sometimes air-fed suits and involves multiple operational teams as well as support staff and radiation protection staff. Combining Createc’s proven technology for radiation mapping with nuclear robotic arms means the precise location of the contamination can be identified and removed without having to put nuclear workers into this hazardous environment. It means operations can be carried out more safely, sooner and also at less financial cost. Identifying different levels of nuclear waste in this way will result in significant financial savings as it will mean low level waste will not be sent to intermediate level waste facilities unnecessarily. Createc’s tried and tested N-Visage […]

Marcelo Tarkieltaub Digital transformation PIC

Digital transformation paving the way to recovery in a post-pandemic world

By Marcelo Tarkieltaub, Regional Director, Southeast Asia at Rockwell Automation The pandemic presented new challenges for many industries, including manufacturing. With digitalisation on everybody’s lips, the question is, how can manufacturers best leverage technology, automation and IoT to rebound and future proof their organisations should a similar crisis occur? One of the biggest challenges to impact manufacturers was the restrictions Covid-19 placed on workplace access. With many employees encouraged to work offsite, it resulted in lean engineering and service teams on the factory floor, enterprise risk and limited availability of assets and operations. It left companies tacking a few questions. First, how to ensure an efficient workforce and operations, while protecting employees’ health and safety and conducting training. Second, how to keep their business running efficiently and profitably, maintaining business continuity in the mid to long term in the face of logistics challenges. Last, how to reduce downtime of assets and the need for maintenance while continuing to operate with lean onsite staff. To alleviate these challenges, manufacturers should follow three guiding principles to keep their workforce safe, while preparing for ongoing uncertainty and long-lasting changes to the work environment. Protect the workforce. Standardise operating procedures and tools that keep staff safe, such as implementing regimented social distancing and protective garments on the factory floor, and building workforce confidence through effective, two-way communication that responds to concerns. Manage risks to help to ensure business continuity. Anticipate and be ready to respond to potential changes with speed and agility, as exemplified in the sudden demand for PPEs and masks at the height of the pandemic. Coupled with export limitations from supplier countries, manufacturers had to quickly transition from their regular portfolio and pivot into PPE manufacturing. A flexible factory floor and scenario planning well ahead of the fluctuations enabled manufacturers to […]

Manufacturers can use ‘assets-as-a service’ approach to build better products

By Kevin Dherman, Chief Innovation Officer at SYSPRO Innovations and the evolution of technology has seen a positive shift in how businesses are able to capture data to help them make informed business decisions. In the span of a decade or two, businesses have progressed from the time intensive process of manually gathering data across the business to try to draw a meaningful conclusion from any further examination. The challenge was that a good data conversion seldomly made an impact across the value chain but thankfully, the rise of digitalisation and automation in manufacturing is resulting in the generation of a colossal volume of data. Today, new technologies are connecting the manufacturer directly to their operations and their customers like never before. With historical data as a foundation, manufacturers can fulfill a promise to end customers. They can track inventory anywhere in the supply chain as well as track and forecast delivery dates of raw materials as well as accurately forecast manufacture dates. One way in which manufacturers are collating data at the edge is through the Internet of Things or a network of interconnected sensors, instruments and other devices. Businesses are then able to access a single source of truth through their ERP system and use data insights to facilitate the improvement of productivity and efficiency. While data insights are clearly the route to improved operational efficiencies, the industry is also asking whether there is an opportunity to generate new revenue streams through data monetisation and the re-exploration of business models. Defining data monetisation Gartner defines data monetisation as the process of using data to obtain quantifiable economic benefit. Internal or indirect methods include using data to make measurable business performance improvements and inform decisions. External or direct methods include data sharing to gain beneficial terms or conditions from […]

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