Smart Manufacturing Today

Manufacturing is in decline in much of the Western world. However, New Zealand-owned start-up PGE Injection Moulding is bucking this trend. The company is already exporting its expertise with its first products being used in marine safety applications by a US-based company. Established three years ago, PGE specialises in titanium injection moulding – a complex method with few competitors in the global market. Titanium is very light but also very strong, making titanium alloys ideal metals for many manufacturing projects. However, titanium alloys are also very expensive. Rather than using solid titanium, PGE uses titanium powder for easy transportation and far less waste. “Titanium is expensive but has such strength and versatility that if you can nail titanium injection moulding you can lead the market in high-value industries such as aeronautical, health and marine,” said Brian Breading, co-founder and Chief Operating Officer for PGE. “While our competitors typically make parts up to 20 grams in weight we can build parts up to 120 grams creating more opportunities in larger scale manufacturing.” PGE took two-and-a-half years to perfect its process. The company uses 3D design software SOLIDWORKS to handle the design of the parts and moulds. PGE is working with Intercad, the largest reseller of SOLIDWORKS solutions in New Zealand and Australia, for specialist technical support and to provide flow simulation services. One of the critical parts of the process in injection moulding is the creation of a mould which will maintain the integrity of the titanium part during the sintering process. During sintering, the moulded titanium part – which is actually a mixture of titanium powder, wax and other elements – is removed from the mould and heated to a point where those other elements melt away leaving the pure titanium part. If the mould is not designed correctly it […]

The latest release of Siemens’ Solid Edge software (Solid Edge ST9) for mainstream computer-aided design (CAD) provides flexible and easy access to the full capabilities of Solid Edge with cloud-based licensing, user preferences, and collaboration tools. In addition, the new built-in data management capabilities, with zero IT support requirements, enable users to easily index their CAD models, while the new migration tools enable rapid conversion of legacy design data from virtually any CAD system. For more comprehensive data management capabilities, Solid Edge ST9 facilitates an easy upgrade to Siemens’ Teamcenter portfolio, the world’s most widely used digital lifecycle management software. Solid Edge ST9 also offers significantly enhanced integration with Teamcenter to help simplify completion of critical data management tasks. New cloud capabilities provide faster and more flexible deployment options, improved user access and collaboration across remote designs teams. Licenses and user preferences can be stored on the cloud enabling users to access their personal environment anytime and anywhere. Solid Edge ST9 also adds data storage options via cloud-enabled vaulting so users can store and share design data in a controlled manner with external suppliers and customers, using popular software like Dropbox, OneDrive® software, Google Drive™ online storage service and Box. While this allows users to efficiently work online, the option to work locally, i.e. offline, is always available. “In my business I need the flexibility to quickly access my design projects wherever I am located,” said Craig Hall, Owner, Hall Designs. “Cloud based access to both my CAD software license and my user preferences for Solid Edge will save me a lot of time as I move from workstation to working remotely on my tablet.” Implementing Solid Edge has never been faster or easier. Solid Edge ST9 provides the industry’s most flexible licensing options. This combined with new cloud-enabled options […]

Rockwell Automation has rebuilt Motion Analyzer software as a Web tool. The tool offers new user-friendly features and a vastly expanded product catalog to help engineers more easily specify, design and validate complete motion control systems. The Motion Analyzer Web tool is cloud-based, allowing users to access, update and collaborate on projects stored in a single location, reducing version control issues and the need to share project files back and forth. A cloud-based platform also means users are no longer limited by the processing speed of their computers when designing systems for more complex applications. The tool’s new browser-style format allows users to filter, review and compare products and general pricing, similar to search capabilities on popular e-commerce sites. “Incorrectly sizing a motion system not only generates unnecessary costs in wasted engineering time and re-stocking fees, but it can greatly slow a machine’s time-to-market,” said Gavin Black, product manager CompactLogix, SLC, Kinetix Motion, Rockwell Automation. “The latest Motion Analyzer release is an evolution of the platform that is more collaborative, expansive and easy to use. When engineers can quickly create and examine complete motion control systems within a single platform, they can spend more time innovating and improving their machines.” The Motion Analyzer Web tool provides machine builders access to a wider range of motion control products than ever before. It now incorporates products from nine Rockwell Automation PartnerNetwork Encompass product partners, including STOBER Drives, NIDEC-SHIMPO, item North America, Tolomatic, Nook Industries, WITTENSTEIN, Exlar Corporation, Bonitron and Elwood Corporation. “Collaboration between various disciplines among machine builders and automation solution providers is critical to lower the Total Cost to Design, Develop and Deliver equipment,” said Clayton Webber, STOBER Drives. “Having mechatronic solutions up-to-date in the cloud establishes Motion Analyzer as a differentiator in machine design. STOBER and Rockwell Automation are striving […]

By Jon Hirschtick The wide-bodied Boeing 787 Dreamliner is a long-range passenger plane designed for comfort. The celebrated aircraft’s unique features include: more headroom (higher ceilings and overhead luggage bins), more legroom, a “comfier recline,” 21% more fuel efficiency, bigger windows and “infinity mood lighting.” When the first Dreamliner came off the production line on July 8, 2007 (not coincidentally “07-08-07”), there was much industry fanfare. Boeing hired former NBC News anchor Tom Brokaw to host a red carpet affair for 15,000 employees and even commissioned a Dreamliner theme song. Chief rival Airbus graciously sent a congratulatory letter to Boeing, declaring it “a great day in aviation history.” But beyond the funky mood lighting and more comfortable coach experience, the Dreamliner represented a landmark moment in distributed design. Instead of building a complete aircraft under one roof, the 787 would have its major components designed and built in many different factories spread across the globe. The cargo doors, for example, would come from Saab in Sweden; engine parts from Rolls-Royce in England; and wing sections from Mitsubishi in Japan. In total, 17 design teams in 10 countries would play a major role. On a varying scale, Boeing’s distributed design and manufacturing chain shift has become the norm rather than the exception. As the lead founder of SolidWorks and now as the lead founder of Onshape, I’ve spent a tremendous amount of time visiting CAD customers and have witnessed some dramatic changes in the way product ideas become a reality. Three profound things have happened to design teams, most noticeably over the past decade: Teams have become highly fragmented. There used to be a team in one location for design and another location for manufacturing. That same product might now be built by 20 different fragments of teams. Teams have become […]

Industry 4.0 has imposed a great demand on in-situ and/or inprocess production measurement in manufacturing environments. This portable multisensor apparatus provides a novel solution which makes use of a wide range of motion axes of machine tools and a motion sensor to assist the position estimation of laser scanners to perform holistic surface scanning and reconstruction without the need to interface with and assess the coordinate information of the motion axes of machine tools. This innovative concept makes the apparatus portable for different types of machine tools which provide a wide range of potential industrial applications. Special Features and Advantages • This portable multisensory apparatus consists of a motion sensor and a laser scanner to perform holistic surface scanning • In-situ HDR 3D measurement with a large measurement range and a high resolution becomes feasible without the need to interface with the motion control system of machine tools Applications • Portable apparatus for in-situ 3D measurement on various machine tools, e.g. CNC machine tools, 3D printers, etc. • In-process metrology for workpieces not amenable for offline measurement • Robotic arms for production automation • Automatic inspection on production lines • Multi-sensor measurement probes for Coordinate Measurement Machines (CMM)  

-Dr. Hai Wang, Senior Vice President, Technology & Operations, NXP Semiconductors. At NXP, we believe that we are entering a new era of computing technology that many are calling the Internet of Things (IoT). We see the IoT as billions of smart, connected “things” (a sort of “universal global neural network” in the cloud) that will encompass every aspect of our lives, and its foundation is the intelligence that embedded processing provides. IoT is made up of smart machines interacting and communicating with other machines, objects, environments and infrastructures. As a result, huge volumes of data are being generated, and that data is being processed into useful actions that can “command and control” things to make our lives much easier and safer—and to reduce humanity’s impact on the environment. How would IoT affect people and businesses now and in the future? IoT affects individuals, businesses large and small as well as industries. Today there are an estimated 2.9 billion people online, or 40% of the world’s population. Analysts expect that as nations and technology develop, 50% of the world’s population could be online by 2017. We could see up to 30 billion connected devices in coming years, three times more than today’s 10 billion connected devices. The major impact of IoT will be in consumer and business sectors, security and safety, education and healthcare, as well as in governments and policy shaping. What benefits do NXP Smart Solutions bring to businesses? A critical value that NXP brings is secure connectivity solutions. In fact, NXP is currently the world’s leader in secure connectivity solutions for embedded applications, enabling secure connections and infrastructure for a smarter world. Our solutions work behind the scenes, helping partners in the global ecosystem as they work to are create and deliver complete hardware and software solutions […]