How do you singulate and orient a conical washer made of soft metal only 0.005 inch thick and almost 1 inch in diameter?

A high-speed, multistation automated assembly system can produce tens of thousands of products per day.

Just as the Rose Bowl is the "granddaddy" of college football bowl games, torque and angle might well be the granddaddies of manufacturing data collection. Assemblers have been monitoring their fastening processes for decades, but those efforts have reached a new level in the era of Industry 4.0.

Let's not sugarcoat this. The world's manufacturing base is at war with COVID-19 and its destructive, disruptive effects on everything from supply chains to daily production levels and, ultimately, the health of everyone. Getting ahead of this curve will require a much more aggressive approach to using data.

On May 12, 2017, hackers launched a "ransomware" cyberattack that would eventually infect 300,000 machines in 150 countries over a three-day period.

Technology innovations for products and services are advancing rapidly. But manufacturers increasingly find their product development systems are unable to support what it takes to bring these innovations to market.

Like the rest of the world, the factory is rapidly becoming more interconnected. In the factory of the future, data sharing occurs across a complex network of machines, parts, products and value chain participants, including machinery providers and logistics companies. As a result, today, more than ever, manufacturers face the challenge of securely sharing data within and outside the factory walls.

Those of us who have been long-time football fans recall years ago seeing coaching staff treading the sidelines holding clipboards with sheets of paper flapping in the breeze. As players came back to the bench, the coaches would scribble out plays or flip through play sheets to diagnose what just happened out on the field.

The Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT) and Industry 4.0 are transforming the world of manufacturing. The two terms are relatively interchangeable and basically mean the same thing: Manufacturers using internet-enabled technologies to improve their business strategies and outcomes.