Austin has been senior editor for ASSEMBLY Magazine since September 1999. He has more than 25 years of b-to-b publishing experience and has written about a wide variety of manufacturing and engineering topics. Austin is a native of Chicago and a graduate of the University of Michigan.
Sometimes, it's hard to beat tried and true classics. That's why many people quarantined at home during the Great Lockdown turned to old pastimes such as jigsaw puzzles and paint-by-number sets for entertainment.
Automotive and aerospace manufacturers have been at the forefront of the lightweighting trend for some time now. But, they're not the only ones. The railway industry could also benefit from the use of new, lightweight structural materials.
Robots are an important piece of the Industry 4.0 puzzle. Tomorrow's smart factories will depend on new types of machines, such as collaborative and mobile devices that are interconnected. Artificial intelligence (AI), cloud computing and data analytics will also make industrial robots more reliable than ever.
The fifth generation of wireless technology is quickly emerging. It will greatly expand the broadband capabilities of mobile networks and provide advanced wireless service for a wide variety of applications ranging from cell phones to assembly lines.
Automakers are scrambling to build a new generation of vehicles that are intelligent, connected and electrified. That’s forcing engineers to rethink how traditional assembly lines and production processes function.
THE CITY OF ROCKFORD, IL, is located 90 miles northwest of Chicago. It has a long, proud history of making machine tools and metal parts, such as nuts and bolts.
Nobody's perfect. Even the best trained, most experienced assemblers can make mistakes on the line, especially in high-mix production environments. Fortunately, a variety of software products are available to help prevent assembly errors.