What’s Going on With Automation?
Date:
This week: Port automation and robotaxi cancellation draw ire. Ironmaking in a flash. Finding the money to drill into the Earth. Virtual PLCs and AI on the shopfloor. Robot intelligence with GenAI.
Manufacturing Technology News
Recent Posts
Keep the Assembly Line Moving
Date:
This week: C-Suite changes; AI transforms parts manufacturing, eliminates downtime, and manages industrial code; Capturing energy deep inside the earth; Light-speed computers; New chemical catalysts.
Moon Concrete and Drunk-Free Tanks at Holiday Dinner
Date:
Waterless concrete heads to the moon. New fermentation tech delivers full flavor in 48 hours. HENN validates assembly quality data in minutes. Capabilities to build a modern industrial data system.
Mixed Screw Assembly Floor Plan
Date:
The best floor plan is the one where there’s a bed for the CEO. Advanced screws and fasteners hold together some of the world’s most sophisticated manufactured products, to the surprise of X laymen.
Inside the Industrial Technology Revival
Date:
IT/OT Convergence enables remote operations offerings and industrial AI apps for machine health and chip testing. Building the first internet-scale repository of robot actions.
Spot a Cost Reduction for Operations
Date:
This week’s digest includes autonomous mobile robots, megacasting, friction stir welding, drill bit optimization, metal 3D printers, ghost teaching robots, and FPGA process control.
Production Sub-Bottleneck is Concrete
Date:
This week’s digest includes green concrete, deepwater drilling achievements, controller for humanoids, warehouse automation, sub-bottleneck detection methods, and GenAI for industrial applications.
Laser in on Real Time Quality
Date:
In this week’s digest printers build the largest carbon composite rocket structures, autonomous forklifts, ramp-up of battery production, and biologically inspired machine vision.
24/7 Unmanned Operations as a Service
Date:
Feats of engineering enable autonomous production, space factories, and Machinery-as-a-Service business models. New data is required for the foundation for autonomy algorithms.
Industrial Technology Conundrum
Date:
Additive manufacturing, Chinese automotive market, humanoid robots, and global supply chains face vexing questions. ‘We Robot’ highlights and battery analysis.
Back to Work For Now, Automate Later
Date:
The ports shutdown by the strike account for about 90% of the waterborne chemical shipments that move in and out of the U.S. Automation improves working conditions and wins plant of the year.
Reclaim Control of Material Recovery
Date:
Sustainable chemical and construction waste material recovery to achieve a circular economy. USA’s longshoremen may disrupt global supply chains without a new labor deal.
Save Industrial Process Heat for a Later Day
Date:
Use raw sensor data and to evaluate robotics policies across millions of scenarios. Real-time, in-process monitoring of forming forces. The restart of Three Mile Island nuclear plant.
Show the Prices Upfront for Industrial Technology
Date:
IMTS 2024 wrap-up, data center simulator-based reinforcement learning, autonomous distribution yards, and how vaporizing plastic bags and bottles creates the building blocks for recycled plastics.
Big Press for Technology Investment at IMTS
Date:
IMTS 2024 kicks off in Chicago! Find the latest technology solutions and necessary investment in equipment and factory reorganization to achieve transformation.
Boosting Margins to 3D Print the Summer Home
Date:
Wood, metal, and advanced composites are finding new ways to bond in 3D printing applications. Industrials are looking to build digital solutions to boost revenues and margins.
Breaking Disruption with Robot Agents
Date:
LLMs provide plain language explanations to instruction manuals and complex system faults. GenAI makes it easy to instruct robots after collecting a bit more data. Building the language of the yard.
Lowering the Bill on Manufacturers
Date:
Smart electrolyzers and real-time control can help manufacturers respond to fluctuating energy costs. 24% of AI initiatives are focused on cost or efficiencies. Bezos gives a tour.
Place, Cast, Lay Large Parts
Date:
Megacasting an entire underbody is an incredible manufacturing feat. So is continuously laying 300 feet of carbon fiber composite. But, the Raptor engine redesign may be the most valuable work of art.
Domestic Manufacturing Olympic Debut
Date:
The MSTIC autonomous semiconductor manufacturing platform returns to Earth in time for the Olympics. AES debuts Maximo, the solar installation robot. Sneak peek inside Tesla’s German gigafactory.