The Fourth Industrial Revolution, Industry 4.0 and 4IR are terms that are becoming commonplace in manufacturing. Now that these terms are accepted, a new wave of technical turns of phrase have been born.
Smart technologies are becoming increasingly ubiquitous in our day to day lives. From smartphones to smart homes, the dramatic increase in power and sophistication of technology is opening up new technological frontiers and promising endless possibilities for the development of many different industries, particularly manufacturing.
Sandvik Coromant has announced the signing of a strategic research agreement with California-based innovation centre, PARC (a subsidiary of Xerox), to develop more intelligent, digital manufacturing capabilities.
A pioneering usage of additive manufacturing to create ‘on-demand’ pieces for repair and replacement in damaged ships has been revealed by the Port of Rotterdam’s Additive Manufacturing Field lab (RAMLAB) in collaboration with Autodesk.
The important role connected technologies play in safeguarding manufacturing resilience has been highlighted with the global predictive maintenance market set to grow exponentially over the next five years.
Jonny Williamson discusses the benefits of ‘thinking additive’ with Philip Hudson, UK managing director of additive manufacturing pioneer, Materialise.
Kaeser, a global manufacturer of compressed air and vacuum products, worked with HPE and SAP to achieve to connect operations, logistics and customers.
When thinking of start-ups, the image of tanned Ivy League dropouts developing complicated pieces of software from their unconventional Californian workspaces often springs to mind. But the reality of launching a business – big or small – from scratch can be very different, as is often the case with those starting up manufacturing in the UK. Rita Lobo examines the challenges of taking the first steps in manufacturing.
