TMC News Manufacturers are optimistic about their industry and the U.S. economy but concerned about the ongoing struggle to find qualified workers, according to the 2017 Manufacturing Report from professional services firm Skich LLP. In the firm's third annual report on the manufacturing industry, nearly 80 percent of respondents said they are more optimistic about the U.S. economy compared to last year while 66 percent said the same about the manufacturing industry. And 69 percent expect headcount to increase. Even so, respondents identified addressing workforce challenges as a top priority for their companies, and nearly 60 percent pointed to a lack of qualified workers as a barrier to business growth.
Visit http://www.tmcnet.com/usubmit/2017/07/27/8585833.htm to view the full article online.
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Harvard Business Review For more than 250 years, the fundamental drivers of economic growth have been technological innovations. The most important of these are what economists call general-purpose technologies — a category that includes the steam engine, electricity and the internal combustion engine. Each one catalyzed waves of complementary innovations and opportunities. The internal combustion engine, for example, gave rise to cars, trucks, airplanes, chain saws, and lawnmowers, along with big-box retailers, shopping centers, cross-docking warehouses, new supply chains, and when you think about it, suburbs.
Visit https://hbr.org/cover-story/2017/07/the-business-of-artificial-intelligence to view the full article online.
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National Association of Manufacturers The U.S. economy grew by an annualized 2.6 percent in the second quarter, according to preliminary data, with real GDP up 1.9 percent at the annual rate in the first half of 2017. Looking at the underlying data, consumer and business spending were the bright spots, with net exports also making a positive contribution for the second straight quarter. Personal consumption expenditures rose by 2.8 percent in the second quarter, boosted by increased spending for both durable and nondurable goods products. In addition, nonresidential fixed investment increased by 5.2 percent in the second quarter. Most promisingly, equipment spending soared in the latest data to its fastest pace since the third quarter of 2015, up 8.2 percent, with 4.9 percent growth in structures spending. Nonetheless, other components of gross private domestic investment were weaker than desired, including residential investment and inventories.
Visit http://www.nam.org/Newsroom/eNewsletters/Monday-Economic-Report/2017/Monday-Economic-Report---July-31--2017/ to view the full article online.
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NEW! Steels for Gear Applications , October 4-6 | Alexandria, VA Learn to make use of steel properties in a system solution and understand the potential that different steel options can offer for their various applications. Explore how performance of the material and thus the component and system depends on how the steel is produced.
Visit https://www.agma.org/education/advanced-courses/2017-steels-for-gear-applications/ to view the full article online.
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ABS press release ABS, a leading provider of classification and technical services to the offshore and marine industries, joined the Unmanned Cargo Ship Development Alliance to work with industry partners, including class organizations, shipyards, equipment manufacturers and designers to advance autonomous shipping. The design will integrate features of independent decision-making, autonomous navigation, environmental perception and remote control.
Visit http://absinfo.eagle.org/acton/rif/16130/s-0326-1707/-/l-0061:4dae/q-008d/showPreparedMessage?sid=TV2:4OrQmhLFU to view the full article online.
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Shelby Star A $5 million earmark from the state will help Cleveland Community College (in North Carolina) build a state-of-the-art manufacturing building. The Center for Advanced Manufacturing will house programs for CCC students and courses for the Advanced Manufacturing Academy, a collaboration between the college and Cleveland County Schools. Organizers hope the project will push the college to the forefront of industry.
Visit http://www.shelbystar.com/news/20170730/5-million-will-help-create-manufacturing-center to view the full article online.
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Manufacturing Global Zebra Technologies Corporation, market leader in mobile computers, scanners and barcode printers enhanced with software and services to enable real-time enterprise visibility solutions, has revealed the results of its 2017 Manufacturing Vision Study. The study reveals results research into trends shaping industrial manufacturing, and this year, the stand-out trends are the adoption of IIoT and wearables. Half of manufacturers will adopt wearable tech by 2022, but half also say that the complexity of this technology is a barrier to achieving a fully-connected factory.
Visit http://www.manufacturingglobal.com/technology/wearable-tech-become-mainstream-manufacturing-facilities-2022-says-zebra-survey to view the full article online.
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Engineering.com As on-demand manufacturing becomes more popular, engineers are faced with a double-edged sword. On the one hand, on-demand manufacturing offers fast turnarounds and options for easy prototyping and short runs in the early stages of product development. On the other hand, some engineers may be hesitant to trust the production of crucial components or prototypes to an external service, especially given the risk of design errors going unnoticed.
Visit http://www.engineering.com/AdvancedManufacturing/ArticleID/15356/Get-Better-Parts-Faster-with-On-Demand-Manufacturing.aspx to view the full article online.
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Manufacturing Business Technology Manufacturing is currently going through a transformative period brought on by technological innovation, economic and regulatory uncertainty, automation and workforce concerns and globalization and trade disruptions. To come out the other side of this movement intact, risks need to be identified and evaluated so that businesses can build strategies to address these concerns. To help identify these risks, BDO has released the 2017 BDO Manufacturing RiskFactor Report which identifies supply chain disruption as the No. 1 risk in the industry. The report examines the risk factors in the most recent 10-K filings of the largest 100 publicly traded U.S. manufacturers. The risks are analyzed and ranked by order of frequency cited and include U.S. manufacturers in the food manufacturing, transportation, fabricated metals, machinery, plastics and rubber segments.
Visit https://www.mbtmag.com/news/2017/07/manufacturers-list-risks-concern-them-most to view the full article online.
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The Fall Technical Meeting (FTM) is the best opportunity to learn from and share with some of the foremost experts in the gear industry. This event showcases 25 papers and three special presentations that have undergone a double-blind peer review from three industry topic experts. Speaking on design, analysis, manufacturing, application and gear drives, you will be able to hear from and discuss with the researchers directly. All papers presented at FTM will be indexed in Scopus, the international database of peer-reviewed literature. Come check it out!
Visit https://www.agma.org/events/2017-fall-technical-meeting/ to view the full article online.
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