The World Economic Forum recently named the best factories in the world. Five facilities are in Europe and three are in China. Only one is in the United States, UPS Fast Radius in Chicago.
ASSEMBLY was born in October 1958 with the name Assembly & Fastener Engineering. Although its name was later shortened to Assembly Engineering, and subsequently to ASSEMBLY, it was then, and is today, a magazine of ideas and methods.
Nexen Group, a supplier of precision motion-control components, is embracing Industry 4.0 technology throughout its product line, providing capability for remote monitoring and control, human-machine collaboration, real-time yield optimization, smart energy consumption and predictive monitoring.
Catheters, pacemakers, ventilators and dialysis filters are vastly different products. But, they all have one thing in common: they must be checked for leaks, whether into, or out of, an assembly.
The Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT) is more than just the latest manufacturing fad. It promises to transform the way that many types of products are designed, assembled and serviced.
Capturing and controlling reliable production line data is the great mystery underlying the fulfillment of the promise of the Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT). Beyond storage solutions, the data that’s available on machines hasn’t been communicated correctly with business systems. Accepted solutions for data exchange create organizational conflicts and security issues that raise difficult barriers.
The "father" of the programmable logic controller (PLC), Richard Morley, recently passed away at age 84. After he invented the device 50 years ago, it revolutionized plant floors around the world. The PLC eliminated the need for hard wiring and spurred the development of flexible manufacturing.
Manufacturing execution systems (MES) are critical elements of Industry 4.0. When all production processes are linked and synchronized with the overall operation, manufacturers have a strategic tool that enables them to improve productivity, streamline costs, boost quality and reduce time to market.