Jim was a senior editor of ASSEMBLY and has more than 30 years of editorial experience. Before joining ASSEMBLY, Camillo was the editor of PM Engineer, Association for Facilities Engineering Journal and Milling Journal. Jim has an English degree from DePaul University.
Every manufacturer has one want and many needs. The want is universal, to be the leader in its industry or area of specialty. The needs are individual, and may concern issues as diverse as increasing capital, upgrading technology, expanding plant size or hiring more assemblers.
In less than 15 years, cobots have come a long way. Not only have they gained acceptance in every major industry in manufacturing, but robot suppliers have significantly increased their cobot offerings.
Hasselt is a well-known city in Belgium, but not for its chocolate, waffles or beer. Instead, the city is most famous for being home to the largest Japanese garden in Europe and a 17th-century-home museum dedicated to the art of clothing.
Product designers at Switzerland-based Loop Medical know that many people fear being pricked with a needle. That's why they’re hard at work testing a prototype needle-free, blood-collection device that allows for diagnostic tests at a hospital, lab, doctor's office, workplace or home.
As the speed of innovation in the automotive industry quickens, assemblers at Rhenus SML in Genk, Belgium, do all they can to keep pace. Rhenus workers painfully learned the importance of this five years ago when Ford Motor Co. shut down its Genk plant, which sat adjacent to Rhenus's facility.
Noted horror writer Clive Barker once claimed that nothing ever truly begins or ends; rather, current things are just continuations of past things, and future things are continuations of present ones. Although interesting, this notion doesn't work well in the world of manufacturing.
Although 3D printing is a relatively quick process, creating a final prototype or a production-ready product with the technology can take months or even years.
As a leading developer of engines and drivetrain systems, Suter Industries Ltd. understands the importance and benefit of accurate, working prototypes.
