Although the share of industrial jobs has shrunken from 10.5 percent of all nonfarm employment in 2005 to 8.5 perfect today, manufacturing continues to have an outsized influence on regional economies, as is spelled out in the latest paper from the Center for Opportunity Urbanism. This stems in large part from the industrial sector’s productivity gains since 2001 — almost twice as much as the economy-wide average,  according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics — and it has a far higher multiplier effect (the boost it provides to local job and wealth creation) than virtually any other sector. Manufacturing generates $1.40 in economic activity for every dollar put in, according to the U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis, far greater than the multiplier generated by business services, information, retail trade or finance. 

This presentation seeks to educate attendees about the various IT and Physical Security risks that affect their businesses. In addition, it provides preliminary exposure to business interruption considerations and how they affect a business. The first section of the presentation involves the risks to a company’s IT system. These include USB devices, portable storage, Bluetooth connectivity and Cloud storage. Other issues such as employee access protocols and operating procedures are also discussed. Pre-registration is required.

Honda said Thursday that it will have highly automated personal cars on the road by 2025. The automaker said its system will use computers and cameras, radar and laser sensors to handle almost all driving situations except bad weather or some unusual occurrences. Then a human driver would have to take control. The company also repeated its pledge to have highly automated freeway driving by 2020.

After a busy few weeks of data, there was a bit of a breather on new economic indicators out last week. Of the reports that were released, one of the standouts was nonfarm job openings, which exceeded 6 million for the first time ever. This was yet another sign that the labor market has improved significantly in recent months. Not surprisingly, with the U.S. economy approaching "full employment," many businesses cite challenges with attracting new talent as one of their top concerns. Postings in the manufacturing sector have also been elevated in recent months, including March’s all-time high of 404,000. However, in April, the pace of job openings decelerated to 359,000, and net hiring weakened. Nonetheless, I would continue to expect stronger job openings and hiring data moving forward, especially given recent improvements in the economic outlook for the sector. 

Bevel Gear System Design – Sept. 6-8, San Diego, CA

Steels for Gear Applications – Oct. 4-6, Alexandria, VA

Detailed Gear Design – Nov. 14-16, Dallas, TX

Gear Failure Analysis – Dec. 6-8, San Francisco, CA

Researchers at Los Alamos National Laboratory are combining extensive data mining and analysis of 20,000 shale gas wells with new technologies — including better fracturing techniques and innovative working fluids such as supercritical carbon dioxide — to transform oil and gas wells that would’ve been considered at the end of their productive lives a few years ago into high-performers.

Industrial robots are ubiquitous in automotive body shops and have enabled significant productivity gains over the past five decades. But the truth is, robotic technology is only as efficient as the conveyance systems transferring the car chassis. And in many automotive plants today, inefficient transfer systems are the major obstacle to improving performance. 

Finland-based cleantech company, Altum Technologies, is the first organisation to use ultrasound in the removal of dirt and waste from industrial equipment without the need to interrupt production. The company's Power Ultrasound technology will cut production costs, increase employee safety, and diminish the various negative influences of industry on peoples’ lives.

Disruptive technologies and megatrends are shaping the future of manufacturing. The fourth industrial revolution — Industry 4.0 — has been gathering momentum in recent years and is set to be transformative in 2017. Industry 4.0 is the digitization of the manufacturing industry and a realization of the potential of the Internet of Things (IoT) combined with artificial intelligence and data science. Done right, Industry 4.0 will enable manufacturers to improve efficiencies whilst reducing costs.

Corsa Coal’s Acosta mine will create up to 100 new jobs.

Over the past decade, governments in North and South America, Europe and Asia have enacted stricter fuel economy and emissions requirements. To comply with these regulations, the automotive industry has focused research and development efforts on improving the efficiency of the internal combustion engine, implementing new powertrain technologies, lowering the costs of vehicle electrification, and reducing vehicle mass—also known as light weighting. Mass reduction is complementary to all other efficiency efforts; simply stated, lower weights require less energy to move. Estimates of the efficiency gains from mass reduction vary, but frequently state that a 10% reduction in vehicle mass, when coupled with powertrain downsizing, improves the fuel economy of a gasoline vehicle by 6–7 percent (Ricardo-AEA, 2015).

Artificial Intelligence, the technology Hollywood predicts might be the death of us all — has been around for ages. From fictional Skynet to Apple’s Siri, we’ve all been gaping at AI’s unstoppable rise. Recently, although the hype around AI has continued to build, it hasn’t been matched by real-world rollouts. The same happened after the initial buzz caused by the Internet of Things (IoT), the yawns of once excited investors grew ever more audible as pundits across the web started considering that the fad was coming to an end.

Here are some case studies of how companies are saving anywhere from $300,000 to $20 million through the application of industrial IoT and predictive analytics.

Over the next five years, the demand for IT workers will get a big boost from an unlikely source: manufacturers looking for networking pros who can help them run the Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT). Manufacturers in the US, Germany, Japan and China are on the cutting edge of something called Industry 4.0, which is digital transformation applied to manufacturing —bringing with it all the change, opportunities and challenges that represents. And it includes IoT devices that contribute to the manufacturing process.

After Independence LED returned its manufacturing operations back to the U.S. from China, the company’s chairman and CEO described the move as "the best decision my company has ever made." And in 2016, companies returned more manufacturing jobs to the U.S. than sent them offshore for the first time in decades.

Ahead of RAPID+TCT 2017, an exciting startup known as Desktop Metal finally came out of stealth mode after almost two years to reveal not one, but two new additive manufacturing (AM) technologies. Even before the big unveil, the startup’s technology received a hefty vote of confidence in the form of $97 million in funding raised from GV (formerly Google Ventures), the BMW Group, Lowe’s, GE, Saudi Aramco, Lux Capital, Stratasys, NEA and Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers.

Converting a plant to advanced automation works best if it is deployed incrementally, with a targeted ROI in each stage.