A new survey has determined that Americans have negative misconceptions of manufacturing. 1. They think that manufacturing is in decline. In fact, manufacturing jobs are on the rise, and manufacturers have trouble filling those jobs. 2. They think that factory jobs don’t pay well. In fact, manufacturing jobs average more than $20.00 per hour, with… Read more »
Hedge fund managers were early adopters of AI and financial advisors are on just about everyone’s list of jobs soon to be taken over by robots. But it was still a first when a cobot rang the closing bell at the New York Stock Exchange. The robot was the UR5e robot arm from Universal Robots,… Read more »
Ah, technical manuals. It’s hard to imagine a less thrilling topic, but when you need them, you really need them. I remember one company we worked with. This firm’s unofficial motto was “RTFM – Read The Fantastic Manual.” The phone support staff had standing orders to ask every customer if they had their manual handy,… Read more »
Bosch Rexroth and Tulip have gotten together to create a Smart Workstation. Company representatives say that this will completely redefine the manufacturing workstation. First off, you can customize the design online and have the perfect-for-you workbench delivered to your facility. The demand for customization by consumers has been in the “challenges” column for manufacturers for… Read more »
It’s National Boss’s Day, when we naturally start thinking about … our robot overlords. It sometimes seems as though there are so many things that can go wrong with machinery that we don’t really need to worry about having to answer to robot bosses. They’d have heatsink over temperature faults and shut themselves off before… Read more »
It’s National Farmers Day, and you can be sure that farmers aren’t worrying about losing their jobs to robots. Robots are currently not very good at many farm tasks. They can’t plant seedlings. They have trouble distinguishing ripe fruit or even recognizing leaves. They don’t have the delicacy to work on one particular plant out… Read more »
Additive manufacturing, or 3-D printing, is one of the most appealing new technologies. The idea of printing out a new body part, a rapid prototype airplane part, or a lunchtime pizza captures the imagination. But there have been obstacles to integration of additive manufacturing into the manufacturing process in the average factory. Every subsequent piece… Read more »
