Industry News

Researchers from MIT and Stanford developed Rovables, miniature wearable robots that can drive around your body while hanging onto your clothes. The little rovers use their magnetic gripping wheels to cling to fabric. A set of sensors and AI tools allow them to be autonomous, and they have a battery life of 45 minutes. The engineers believe the Rovables could be of pract...

The far infrared heater can stock electricity in the battery during off-peak hours for use during peak hours, usually between 6 and 8 pm. The system has a self-monitoring feature, and the user can even control the thermostat via a smartphone. The company says that implementing this technology could reduce a household’s electric heating bill by 60%.

While it may have been over-hyped as a potential consumer product, 3D printing—better known in industry as additive manufacturing—was all the rage at Düsseldorf’s K Fair 2016. Many different 3D printing powders were launched, alongside some world firsts. Beyond Prototypes Until now, 3D printing has been viewed primarily as a way to develop prototypes quickly and affo...

“As we launch the new Santa Fe, [we will] take pride in every step of the production process – build each SUV as if it were your own,” stated Dong Choi, president and CEO of HMMA. “We must challenge ourselves to achieve the highest quality levels while producing the Santa Fe, Sonata and Elantra.” As well as making the new Santa Fe, HMMA will continue to build the So...

Production of 16 Suzuki models is currently carried out at three plants across India. It’s Gujarat plant is located two hours north west of Ahmedabad, and is 100% owned by Suzuki. The Gurgaon and Manesar plants are operated by Maruti Suzuki – a company that is mainly owned by Suzuki, but with smaller shares held by various Indian public and financial services. The G...

“We have always had the confidence in Thailand’s potential for domestic market growth,” he commented. “Its long-term policies to grow the automotive industry are also a positive sign for our business.” The OEM first started making cars in Thailand during 1961, and currently operates three plants in Laem Chabang. These have a combined annual output of 424,000 units a...

“Ford has a long heritage and global reputation for building high quality, technologically-advanced SUVs that our customers want to own,” commented Steven Armstrong, president, Ford of Europe, Middle East and Africa. “The Ford SUVs we manufacture and sell in Russia build on this vast experience and are tailor-made to meet the specific requirements of our Russian customer...

These vehicle allocations demonstrate that economic performance plays a key role in ensuring high capacity utilisation over the long term,” explained Yann Vincent, executive vice president, manufacturing & supply chain at Groupe PSA. “Our agile production base, which has been broadened by the Opel acquisition, is enabling us to meet growing customer demand for SUVs.” ...

“Mahindra has grown significantly since the launch of its first models in South Africa,” observed Rajesh Gupta, CEO of Mahindra South Africa. “In the last five years alone, it has grown its market share by a compound annual growth rate of over 4.6% a year, which puts us in a league of the five fastest growing companies in the same period. Much of this growth was achieved...

“Today, we break ground for the next stage of our electric model offensive,” commented Oliver Zipse, member of the Board of Management of BMW, responsible for production. “In this regard, we further increase the capacity of our local battery production. This enables us to follow the increasing demand for electro mobility in China.” The OEM has not revealed how many ba...

“As a technology, fuel cells are mature and ready to scale up,” said the company. “Toyota took the lead in bringing to market the mass-produced fuel cell sedan, the Mirai, in December 2014. Annual production and sales have increased yearly, going from about 700 units in 2015, to around 2,000 units in 2016, and, most recently, approximately 3,000 units in 2017.” The ...

Located in Faisalabad, the third most populous city in Pakistan, the plant will be strategically placed as it is around three hours west of Lahore and four hours south of Islamabad. “Renault is renowned for the safety and quality of its cars, and we want to develop exactly the same technology and know-how in Pakistan,” explained Yasser Alvi, CEO of the Al-Futtaim Rena...

“This new investment will add to our evolving line-up of exciting new models manufactured in Europe and continues the transformation of our Craiova facility,” remarked Steven Armstrong, president and CEO, Ford of Europe, Middle East & Africa. “The addition of this second vehicle is a testament to the operational flexibility of our Craiova plant and reflects the strong pa...

One of the most striking demos at this year’s San Francisco meeting was a Siri-like voice interface which makes it possible to have very realistic remote conversations with a machine. During an interview with FastCompany, a GE representative contacted a Southern California turbine. Its virtual “twin” has an online life, continuously fed with data from sensors placed on t...

Classes will start in September 2018 in the place where Alan Turing once unraveled the workings of the Enigma machine. Only 100 “British geniuses” between 16 and 19 years old will have the chance to enter the school for free.

Agriculture used to be guesswork. Once crops were sown, fertilizer was spread and fingers were crossed for a good harvest. Cue the smart farm. By enlisting new technology, including sensors, the cloud and big data analytics, the agriculture sector is trying to increase efficiency and yields. For now, it’s mostly experimental. But one standout test project from Japan is s...

Cloud ERP has become one of the most radical, sweeping upgrades in manufacturing technology. For Pat Garrehy, CEO of US-based Rootstock Software, companies that implement a cloud ERP solution are seeing cost reductions in both IT staff and hardware infrastructure. Cloud ERP deploys faster, it’s easier to use and access to information is from anywhere, at any time and ...

What does your company do with personal data? The age of networks, the internet, the cloud and industrial digitization have seen a huge rise in the collection, storage and transfer of data. Data privacy laws are also evolving, including a major new EU-wide change. For multinationals that share data between the EU and the US, the regulatory red tape just got much more com...

Classical digital computers use transistors to process information in various sequences of zeros and ones, but have a limited ability to carry out calculations. Quantum computers use the laws of quantum mechanics. Because particles such as electrons and photons can be in multiple states—one, zero, or both at the same time—they offer many more calculation possibilities th...

At the present time, AM/3-D printing is marginal for most industrial applications, but highly used in medical, and growing in aerospace and automotive. However, its industrial use has gained significance, and this year was the first time that AM has its own pavilion at IMTS. Many more industries are now turning to the technology for prototyping and tooling application...

There has been an explosion in the production of 3D data in recent years. Whether from product designs and layouts created using computer-aided design (CAD), simulations, depth scanners, geographical data or medical scans, generating 3D content has become commonplace. However, there’s a missing link when it comes to viewing 3D content. Although many movies are still film...

Beyond gaming, AR can help architects, engineers and other professionals. But such applications require a great headset. DirectIndustry e-magazine offers some tips on making the best choice. AR may be a bit more promising than virtual reality for industrial applications, given its fundamental difference—it allows you to layer virtual information right on top of the re...

When it comes to immersive technology, virtual reality (VR) takes a back seat to augmented reality (AR). The main difference between VR and AR is that in VR, the person wearing a headset that blocks out the world is suddenly transported to a new, artificial environment. In AR, computer-created objects are placed into the existing, real-world environment. AR is arguably s...

The cloud has been making raw computing power available in virtual environments for some years, but how about on-tap artificial intelligence? It’s currently an expensive, custom-built option for embedded systems, but Google, Microsoft, IBM and others are now making available their AI application programming interfaces (API). Now all a programmer, developer or data scient...

Virtual-reality glasses are everywhere, with the likes of Oculus Rift, HTC Vive and Playstation VR grabbing headlines as the future of video gaming. While the expense of headsets and lack of VR content is hampering their popularity among consumers, industry is realizing the potential of VR for training simulation. VR adds 360-degree video, but also a real-life, hands-on ...

Nanomaterials possess specific properties at the nanometer length scale, roughly 1 to 100 nm, explains Mark T. Swihart, executive director of New York State Center of Excellence in Materials Informatics. These could be colloids or powders of individual particles in that size range, but could also be larger materials with pores or other key property-determining feature...

Malfunctions due to deficient lubrication cause $240 billion in damage in the U.S. every year, and the resource waste resulting from excess friction exceeds 6% of GDP. High-performance lubricants are now being produced. But best practices also include reducing lubrication or even eliminating the need for it altogether. Oil-Free Air Atlas Copco has pioneered the devel...

It’s super thin, super sensitive and super strong, but does the super-conductive material called graphene have a so-called killer app? Graphene is created by isolating an atom-thick layer of graphite. After years in the labs, materials scientists are now creating prototypes for real-world products. Graphene could prove the miracle behind some of the 21st century’s most i...

The Lifeblood of the Airplane Dave Nickson co-founded U.K.-based Sil-Mid, which stocks a wide range of lubricants from manufacturers including Shell Aviation and Henkel Bonderite. He explains that the safe operation of the aircraft depends on lubricants that respond to the higher standards. An example of this is the aircraft’s wheel bearing grease. For several hours ...

Moisture content has been established as an important indicator of shelf life for foods. Moisture can determine the aesthetics of food, giving estimates to product shelf life regardless of sample properties in a wet or dry state. Ash content also is essential to a food’s nutrition and longevity. Moisture content is one of the most important characteristics in consumer...

Thomson Industries, Inc., manufacturer of mechanical motion control solutions, is hosting a series of technical webinars that will keep design engineers informed about new advancements in smart electromechanical linear actuators and Industry 4.0-related trends. The first webinar in a series of seven details the latest trends in electric linear actuators. As the industri...

Our pipe laser cutting machine P2060A in Our customer site Automatic Bundle Loader Fiber Laser Pipe Cutting Machine P2060A is suitable for 0.5-12mm stainless steel tube,0.5-22mm carbon steel tube,0.5-10mm aluminum pipes,0.5-5mm brass pipes,0.5-4mm copper tubes and 0.5-4mm galvanized steel. P2060A Machine Operation Process 1.Automatic loading bundles of tubes 2.Automa...

Total Organic Carbon analysers are commonly used to measure the level of organic contamination in water. Online TOC analysers installed in refineries and petrochemical plants are located right in the middle of the process facilities. Here explosive gasses, vapours or mist can be present. It is a high risk situation, as any spark or any heat source may cause an explosion....

It not only received great attention, but also the Bauma innovation award in the Design category. DirectIndustry e-magazine talked to Johannes-Jörg Rüger, president of Bosch’s newly established Commercial Vehicle & Off-Road Unit. DirectIndustry e-magazine: The Genius Cab is an innovative operator’s cab for construction machinery. What are its unique features? ...

With a year on year increase of 2.6 per cent, the railway industry is enjoying sustainable growth and expected to be worth more than 180billion EUROS by 2020. An increasing demand for passenger and freight rail services is seeing a rapid growth in infrastructure investment around the world. Global tooling manufacturer Dormer Pramet has, for many years, supported the ...

The procedure involves melting together different materials (powdered titanium and aluminum, for example) on a substrate to form a single part. It is when the part cools down that this innovation gets interesting. Differential cooling of the layers causes the part to bend or curve in a particular way. These introduced internal stresses result in parts that are stronge...