More manufacturers are using electronic work instructions, such as VKS, to improve productivity and streamline their operations. In this podcast, Alan Rooks, Editor in Chief of Manufacturing Engineering magazine, talks with Shannon Bennett, Implementation & Sales Engineer at Visual Knowledge Share Ltd., about the need for electronic work instructions in manufacturing, the development of VKS, the types of manufacturers that use it and the benefits those manufacturers see in their operations. ...
Sep 19, 2017•17 min
So, you've inherited older and/or disjointed systems and processes (and perhaps an unhelpful company culture) but you want to gain a competitive edge. What to do? Look at how systems can be integrated with a centralized tooling database, not at each individual process as a separate entity, Dan Speidel of TDM Systems says. Make sure you digitally tie and integrate the tool crib with CAM systems and machine controller. Getting control over inventory and tools in the shop is doable, he said, giving...
Sep 19, 2017•12 min
Drawing upon his firm's work with NEC, Schlindler Elevator, Exelon and Pitney Bowes, Sergey Patsko of GE Digital advises manufacturing execs looking for value to focus on compute power and ways to process and analyze data. He also suggests a couple of ways manufacturers can begin trying out the "digital transformation" approach. One approach is theoretical. Another is to start with proofs of concept on low-hanging fruit. And he goes over the major risks of the data science approach. Listen to fi...
Sep 19, 2017•14 min
Sharing findings from a survey of 300 automotive industry manufacturers, Jeannine Kunz, VP of Tooling U-SME, says the introduction of new technology is seen as the main contributor to the skills gap in manufacturing. "Essentially, technology is outpacing our people." Yes, the pipeline is still an issue. Yes, baby boomers leaving the market is still an issue. But the swift current of new technology is negatively impacting productivity, innovation, quality and safety. Tooling U-SME works to help c...
Sep 19, 2017•13 min
Pratt & Whitney's Kimberley Hagerty, whose "year of living digitally" was featured in the May issue of Smart Manufacturing magazine, quickly reviews lessons she and her team learned, outlines three main challenges they faced and how she solved them, and describes some of the organizational changes she sees Industry 4.0 demanding of manufacturers.
Sep 18, 2017•14 min
Rego-Fix Corp., a manufacturer of precision tooling, has been on a deliberate, long-term growth and expansion program. Starting a few years ago in the company’s home base of Switzerland, this year the program came to fruition in the US Vice President Sales and Marketing Bill Obras sat down with Manufacturing Engineering’s James D. Sawyer at Eastec to discuss the program and provide details on the company’s new 20,000 ft2 facility near Indianapolis.
Aug 03, 2017•18 min
Manufacturing Engineering’s James D. Sawyer interviews Chris Pollack, East Coast regional business manager for motion control , Siemens Industry, about the growing skills gap in US manufacturing and the challenges and opportunities inherent in training new users to operate the controls of machine tools.
Aug 01, 2017•20 min
As the technology has matured, the manufacturing world has seen an explosion in the number of metal parts, components and products manufactured additively. Yet despite this improvement the cost of metal 3D printing has not really become more affordable. In this sponsored podcast, Markforged Applications Engineer Peter Kootstra explains to SME’s Jim Sawyer how his company has developed a process that can cut the cost of metal 3D printing by as much as 80% compared to standard methods. Not only do...
Jul 31, 2017•20 min
As water jet technology has improved so, too, has the precision of these abrasive cutting machines. Along the way the applications for water jet cutting has expanded as well. At Eastec, Michael Ruppenthal, Omax vice president for North American sales, sat down with Manufacturing Engineering’s James D. Sawyer to detail how the MicroMax, an ultra-precise fully enclosed water jet, has carved out a place for itself in the electronics industry, where it is used to make molds, circuit boards and other...
Jul 28, 2017•13 min
Hermle Machine Co., a manufacturer of high-end machine tools, annually employs 100 to 120 apprentices in its German operations. The apprentices make up about 13% of that workforce. Manuel Merkt, executive vice president of operations at Hermle’s US operations (Franklin, WI), is working with the German American Chamber of Commerce to establish a similar program in Wisconsin which would provide graduates with the same skills and certifications that the program in Germany offers. Merkt, himself a p...
Jul 21, 2017•15 min
Charlie Slagle, president and CEO of Hoffmann Group USA, talks with Editor in Chief Alan Rooks about the history of The Hoffmann Group as a tooling manufacturer and distributor in Europe, and its 2016 entry into the US market. The company markets its Garant and Holex brand portfolios and distributes a wide variety of products from other tooling manufacturers.
Jul 17, 2017•14 min
In an interview with Jim Sawyer of Manufacturing Engineering, Jan Andersson, global director of Greenleaf Corp.’s Tech Team and marketing explores the four pillars of metalcutting are and why it is crucial to pay attention to each of them to achieve the best results.
Jul 11, 2017•19 min
Additive manufacturing has come a long way from being a prototyping technology. In many instances, it is now a viable method of production. Not every manufacturer, however, has the expertise and resources to put 3D manufacturing into practice. In this sponsored podcast, Manufacturing Engineering’s Jim Sawyer interviews Shane Fox, founder and CEO of Link3D, to learn how the company’s proprietary technology provides engineers with a secure, fully automated request-for-quote process to identify vet...
Jul 10, 2017•21 min
A manufacturing concern can get the greatest return on its investment by optimizing its overall equipment effectiveness, or OEE. In this sponsored podcast, Memex CEO David McPhail details the relationship between OEE and the Industrial Internet of Things. Data, he explains, is what drives this relationship. Data-driven manufacturing consists of keeping track of everything that happens on the shop floor, and software, including Memex’s Merlin Tempus solution, helps monitor and manage that data.
Jul 10, 2017•18 min
Ken Baeszler, a market segment manager and product manager at GF Machining Solutions, sat down at SME’s Eastec show with Manufacturing Engineering's Jim Sawyer to discuss GFMS’s new offerings of machine tools. Baeszler begins by describing the new Mill P 900, a high-precision machine tool for the mold and die industry.
Jul 07, 2017•13 min
SME this year gave the Dick Aubin Distinguished Paper Award to the authors of “Liquid Metal 3D Printing: A Magnetohydrodynamic Approach." One of the authors, Swati Chandran Thirumangalath, explains what the paper says about the work she did as a design and simulation engineer at Vader Systems in Buffalo, NY.
Jun 26, 2017•4 min
SME’s Additive Manufacturing Community this year gave Dieter Schwarze, PhD, of SLM Solutions GmbH the 2017 Industry Achievement Award. The award recognizes of his significant and continued impact on additive manufacturing through development of processes and technology applied in industry. In 1989, Schwarze began his R&D work on additive manufacturing and its commercialization. He is one of the primary inventors of selective laser melting. Schwarze holds several patents and previously studie...
Jun 26, 2017•10 min
Brian Bittner, national sales manager of Beamer Laser Systems, talks to Senior Editor Bill Koenig at the Eastec Show, held in May in West Springfield, MA. Bittner describes the company's operations.
Jun 16, 2017•4 min
Jill Young of Exsys (San Antonio, FL) describes the company’s products and markets in an interview with Bill Koenig, senior editor at Advanced Manufacturing Media. They spoke at SME’s Eastec Show in May.
Jun 16, 2017•8 min
Rod Leek of Vektek LLC talks about his company’s line of clamps and workholding products with Senior Editor Bill Koenig. They talked at the Eastec show in West Springfield, MA, held in May.
Jun 16, 2017•8 min
Dyan Finkhousen, director of open innovation & advanced manufacturing at GE Global Operations, discusses Fuse LLC, an 8-month-old service offering of GeniusLink that involves small batch mfg. Key takeaways: The benefits GE businesses, customers and sponsors find by using Fuse to solve tough technology challenges; the types of problems that are a good fit for Fuse; and how to learn about and participate in a product or technology innovation contest sponsored by Fuse. (GeniusLink is GE Global ...
Jun 15, 2017•13 min
Matt Sand, president of 3DEO, and Matt Petros, the company's CEO, discuss 3DEO's additive manufacturing technology and the markets it serves. 3DEO produces low-cost metal parts for customers. 3DEO says its process is "fundamentally different than anything else in additive manufacturing." "We started the company with the idea there has to be a better way to make metal parts with additive manufacturing," Matt Sand says. To learn more about 3DEO listen to the podcast or check out the company's webs...
Jun 12, 2017•13 min
Gene Granata, Vericut product manager at CGTech, describes Vericut's new additive module. Set to be available publicly at the end of September, it can be used in a hybrid simulation along with subtractive technologies. With this and other technology, CGTech works with customers and tech partners to solve AM challenges, such as accurate laser cladding and material deposition, detecting collisions between the machine and additive part, and finding errors, voids and misplaced material. Mr. Granata ...
May 23, 2017•5 min
At RAPID + TCT in Pittsburgh, Roger Kelesoglu, director of sales enablement at Stratasys, previews the company's new Continuous-Build 3D Demonstrator. (It's not yet clear when it will be commercially available.) It allows for continuous production of plastic parts--with a cloud-enabled software management control system that enables automation on the front end all the way through the manufacturing process. Last year, the company's big announcement at the show was about size: the Infinite-Build 3...
May 23, 2017•19 min
Duann Scott, head of business development and strategy for digital manufacturing at Autodesk, details the solutions his firm offers. He also weighs in on which manufacturing industry segments he believes will use AM the most heavily. Mr. Scott outlines the most compelling recent advances in the technology, and he addresses the barriers to more widespread industrial adoption.
May 22, 2017•10 min
Benjamin Fisk, general manager of 3D additive manufacturing for Methods Machine Tools Inc., discusses his company's 3D printing strategy. Fisk talks about the speed in which 3D printing is being adapted among manufacturers as well as his company's partnership with 3D Systems. He was interviewed by Senior Editor Bill Koenig during the RAPID + TCT show in Pittsburgh in May.
May 19, 2017•10 min
Tom O’Reilly, VP, Global Business Development at Rockwell Automation, details how his company's five-year plan to restructure its facility and supplier networks has led to a four- to five-percent annual improvement in productivity: "If you look at how we did/do it, here are some examples: inventory days dropped from 120 to 82. We reduced our CAPEX ... by 30 percent per year. Our delivery within our supply chain went from 80 percent to 96 percent. Our lead times were actually reduced by 50 percen...
May 17, 2017•19 min
SLM Solutions Software out of Austria is set to this year begin selling a new package to improve workflow in AM, SLM Solutions' Richard Grylls said At RAPID + TCT in Pittsburgh. "It will help to streamline the entire workflow--from the initial idea from the designer to geting it into the machine in one piece." He also talks about how OEMs can help a customer quality and certify metal parts. Grylls also discusses how selective laser melting is helping to speed up metal AM. And he gives an overvie...
May 11, 2017•16 min
John Graham, senior product marketing manager for Ansys Spaceclaim, Ansys Inc., talks with Manufacturing Engineering Senior Editor Patrick Waurzyniak about how 3D modeling software can help manufacturers streamline designs and boost manufacturing productivity. With today’s 3D modeling software, manufacturers are able to efficiently repair incomplete models, reverse engineer files, and incorporate powerful computer-aided engineering (CAE) software into manufacturers’ toolbox to more efficiently c...
May 01, 2017•19 min
Jeannine Kunz, vice president of Tooling U-SME, details how awareness of AM's capabilities is clearly on the rise: Some big manufacturers are focusing on what AM means to their human capital, and AM is often being incorporated into existing roles. Kunz also discusses how Tooling U-SME can help customers increase their use of additive technologies while the world waits for standards. Her division at SME leverages the knowledge of SME members to help companies work through challenges, including "m...
Apr 19, 2017•13 min
