Blog
Advantages of CNC Automation
One of the most popular applications for collaborative robots on the market today is machine tending. As long as the robot is constantly receiving raw materials, a robotic machine-tending operation can be repeated indefinitely. Currently, humans handle the majority of machine-tending applications. CNC machines are widely used in modern machine shops (such as lathes and milling machines). These machines need to be maintained by employees, who feed the raw material (often referred to as the r
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Aug 4th 2022
Made In America: Coming Home with Onshoring
American manufacturing is making a massive comeback, according to Bloomberg. A UBS poll of C-suite executives conducted in January provided insight into the size of this shift. About 80% stated that they were thinking about bringing part or all of it back to the US. With the loss of 8 million manufacturing jobs, and subsequently workers, over the last few decades, who will be employed at these new plants? US factories now need a significantly smaller group of workers due to the rise of automatio
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Jul 28th 2022
Flexible Automation: Short-Term Relief or Long-Term Solution
At Automate 2022, robots were performing various pick-and-place jobs, playing chess, welding, painting, and other activities. Despite the fact that the robots were programmed to do one thing for the purposes of the event, they can be deployed in a variety of ways with reprogramming that’s as easy to operate as a smartphone, complete with GUI interface and manual manipulation options for ease of use. It's a far cry from the time when robot design and function were set in stone. This flexible
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Jul 14th 2022
Utilizing IIoT to Improve and Modernize Processes
In the manufacturing sector, uptime is crucial. When a single piece of equipment malfunctions or breaks down, it can have an adverse impact on customer service, product delivery, and time to market. As a result, they are paying more on equipment maintenance and losing out on potential income. The ability to predict and detect declining asset health and process performance is being impacted by factors including the availability of skilled people and growingly complicated production processes. Mod
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Jul 7th 2022
Return Frequency & Costs Prompt Retailers to Drop Brands
Some of the largest and most recognizable retailers are telling customers to keep defective items and issuing a refund rather than requiring the item be returned. Is this the latest strategy to build goodwill with customers? Not necessarily. The fact is that, in some cases, it’s just cheaper. As a trickle down effect of supply chain issues and misguided forecasting from pandemic-induced shopping behaviors, many retailers are finding themselves stuck with too much inventory and the costs associat
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Jun 28th 2022