The jury may still be out on whether robots will take our jobs, but one kind of job is growing as automation increases: robot wrangling. Why do robots need wrangling? The truth is, robots are good at doing certain kinds of tasks under certain circumstances, but when it comes to flexibility and adaptation, they are… Read more »
As factories reopen, along with other businesses, companies are struggling to find a way forward. If you reconfigured your lines to keep your workers six feet apart, do you have to keep them that way, or can you reconfigure to increase production? If you staggered shifts to reduce the number of worker, can you go… Read more »
Before the pandemic, sustainability was one of the biggest issues in manufacturing. Consumers and brands alike were emotional about environmentally responsible packaging, materials scientists were getting excited about new kinds of recyclable packaging, and machine designers vied for the greatest energy efficiency. The pandemic might have changed that. Safety, from pristine packaging to secure supply… Read more »
We’re specialists in Rexroth electric industrial motion control. We provide phone support, field support, and factory repair and reman. Normally, your motor comes back from the factory in like-new condition, or even better, with a new warranty. Sometimes it doesn’t work out that way. The most common reason? Third party repairs. A bad report When… Read more »
The manufacturing sector saw growth in jobs in February and March, but April saw a net loss of 18,000 jobs. Most of the loss came from motor vehicles and parts, though jobs in durable goods in general also fell. Manufacturing of wood products fell, perhaps in part because wood prices have nearly tripled during the… Read more »
We get calls about once a week from third party repair houses trying to get parts or technical information. We have to explain to them that Rexroth’s internal components are not available for sale and schematics are proprietary. Since the answer has been the same for the past 25 years, it would appear that the… Read more »
Rexroth third party repair shops don’t really exist. But third party repair shops that claim they can repair your Rexroth industrial motion control are legion. We know, because we get calls from them all the time. They want parts and manuals, most of the time, but sometimes they just want our expert advice. Today I… Read more »
A new task for robots — brushing people’s hair — gives us a good example of automation decision-making. Automation increases productivity, keeps people safe from toxic environments and dangerous tasks, and does some things better than people can. But not all tasks are really suited to automation. So let’s figure it out — down really… Read more »
May is mental health awareness month, and new research shows that the pandemic has interfered with our mental health quite a bit. One of the mental health issues that has increased severely is touch hunger, or affection starvation, a type of stress that comes from a lack of physical contact. This type of stress has… Read more »
It’s important to wash fighter jets regularly. Grease, oil, hydraulic fluids, and things like insects that the jets meet up with in the sky can all lead to corrosion and eventually to structural weakness if they aren’t removed from the jets. So a crew of Air Force workers uses brushes, hoses, and buckets of soapy… Read more »
