Trends Influencing Manufacturing Technology

Manufacturing is often seen as producing physical things, transferring them to another and so forth. However, the scenario is no more the same. Ever-changing demand for quick delivery, customized products, market engagement; along with increase in economic production as well as the shift in supply chain have brought change in the way manufacturing businesses operate. Therefore, organizations are required to incorporate cost-effective techniques while doing business in order to become productive. Increased efficiency, enhanced awareness, decrease in the requirement of breaks and downtime, improvement in the quality of products, etc. are a reflection of some recent developments in manufacturing technology.

  • Increased efficiency is the end goal of manufacturers as it helps in energy consumption, where technology plays a major role in saving power.
  • Improvement in product quality can help in eliminating the errors in the making of same products when the ultimate aim is consistency. Quality concerns, securing the reputation of the business as well as the ability to meet the ever-changing demands, can deal with enhancing product quality.
  • A decrease in the requirement of breaks and downtime can constantly help with production delays.
  • Greater awareness can be explained in terms of monitoring the working state of every delicate part of the business, starting from order number to product statistics.

Some other areas of trends having an influence on the manufacturing technology are highlighted below.

Artificial Intelligence

The future is all good with AI integrated technology in the manufacturing world. The AI market is estimated to grow from $8billion to $72 billion between 2016 and 2021. AI helps manufacturers to optimize the use of equipment, enhance workflow efficiency, improve recruitment process, and optimize predictive analytics.

The branches of AI in the manufacturing sector involves:

  • Computer vision
  • Robotics
  • Automated planning and scheduling
  • Natural language processing
  • Speech recognition

3D Printing Making its Way

“The line between supply chain and manufacturing are becoming difficult to distinguish,” says Lou Rassey, CEO of Fast Radius (an additive manufacturer based in Chicago). He further adds that the things we produce have the power to change the ways we live, making it simple. Additive manufacturing helps in getting new and powerful tools that bring picture into reality, which was once a mere imagination.

It has been predicted that printing of aerospace, defence parts as well as automotive designs will be the biggest manufacturing sectors to employ 3D printing.

The fastest-growing sectors involve:

  • Prototype printing  
  • Medical implant or device printing
  • Dental printing
  • Product creation

The Future of Manufacturing Technology and Processes

Looking forward to the growing opportunities which the manufacturers must grab, it is important to pay attention to the technology essential for their current and future needs. It has to be a priority to profit from emerging technologies such as AI, as well as 3D printing, along with listening to customer demand and capitalizing on R&D.

Why Should Every Engineer Learn Machining?

Engineers and machinists often work together on a single project across the manufacturing industries. An open communication and awareness about their respective work methods can do wonders. On the other hand, a breakdown in their communication can be disastrous for a project. These two groups are dependent on each other as they work together. Therefore, it can be highly beneficial for the engineers to learn some machining basics:

  • Learning about machining helps them to look at the world from both perspectives.
  • There will be a better understanding among both groups about the technical details.
  • Knowing the design details about the machine will enhance the engineer’s imagination towards its operation.
  • It will help to adopt better design principles.

From a designer’s point of view, it is essential to push their limits beyond imagination. Being an engineer and a machinist will help in knowing what can be done and how will it be done. As a result, it will increase the overall efficiency.

Aeromobil’s Latest Electric Flying Car Concept Hopes To Take Off In 10 Years

One of the leading engineering company, AeroMobil dreamt of launching the flying car but the idea got crashed before three years. Nevertheless, the company realms with the same concept and better way of implementation. The company invented an entirely new electric four-seater vertical take-off, namely AeroMobil 5.0.

Some of the special features of car AeroMobil 5.0 are:                           

  • This all-in-one vehicle can fly up to 200 miles
  • One can drive this as a standard car on roads
  • It does not require individual for landings
  • It has improved suspension for a smooth landing
  • The car has a motor on the wing tips
  • It will have airbags and a parachute within the vehicle

 

The previous concept AeroMobil 4.0 is quite different with this VTOL. It is a short take-off and landing vehicle, which means that it requires a short runway. The car 4.0 is still going testing and can travel up to 400 miles as it is energy efficient that AeroMobil 5.0.

 

As per the backdate news in 2015, AeroMobil was aggressive about launching Ferrari with Wings in 2017. However, the plan didn’t turn out to be a reality. As per the insiders of the company, the 4.0 version will be made available “in a limited series to private owners” from the year 2020.

 

After the 4.0 version enters the market, the AeroMobil 5.0 will also float in the market in the next seven to ten years. The company realms to bring the best experience of a ride as well as a flight with this newly invented vehicle.

Introducing AutoCAD 2018

The CAD technology is consistently updating its features to offer you supreme quality designs. The technology will help you to develop aerodynamic bikes, high-speed railways, or energy efficient building. The technology is adding value to the designed products improving the designer’s day to day efficiency. The year 2018 has brought about a lot of features in AutoCAD and AutoCAD LT technology. These added features will help designers to create and share precise drawings using the innovative productivity tools. This tool will also save a lot of time and minimize frustration making things simpler. Below are some of the enhanced features the 2018 version will bring about.

PDF Import Enhancements

The PDF import features, as indicated by the design professionals will help them save a lot of money. The AutoCAD 2018 let you use the SHX text recognition tool to quickly convert the imported PDF geometry to text and Mtext objects. The improvised text and Mtext tools, in turn, lets you convert a combination of single and multi-line text objects into a single multi-line text object automatically predicting the formatting.

Object Selection

The AutoCAD 2018 lets you begin with a selection window in one part of your drawing. You can then pan the zoom to another part while maintaining a selection of the off-screen objects.

External Reference Path Enhancements

The broken reference issue is resolved in the enhanced AutoCAD 2018 version. The new version helps to reduce this issue by saving time and minimizing the frustration. The new integrated tools help you to easily replace the paths of one or more missing references with a new path.

High Resolution (4K) Monitor Support

The 2018 version is enhanced to support high-resolution monitors to ensure the best possible viewing experience. The enhancement will make it possible to view objects and figures on a 4K display or higher versions. To make this possible, the new AutoCAD 2018 has a possibly scaled up user surface elements such as the Start tab, Palettes, Command line, Toolbars, Dialogue boxes, ViewCube, Grips and Pick pox. These elements are appropriately scaled and displayed as per the Windows settings.

 

The AutoCAD 2018 has some promising features to help you develop your designs in the way never imagined before. The new version brings a new set of capabilities to improve the graphics and performance while ensuring the Trusted DWG technology you always have been relying upon. The DWG format is updated to improve the efficiency of open and save operations.

5 Awesome Things Scientists Do With Lasers

Lasers are the cool and amazing light beams that make us excited. You can see them in a meeting room pointing to an object, or you can even play with them in your home. Lasers may seem pretty recent inventions, but they are with us for over half a century. The laser technology is not only cool but also, they are really useful in the field of science and technology. Below are five awesome things that the scientists can do with the lasers.

Optical Levitation: Lasers are powerful enough to levitate stuff. Photons that make up the light exert a force which is known as the radiation pressure. This pressure is so powerful that it can overcome the gravitational force to make an object levitate.

Optical Tweezers: The radiation pressure, as discussed above can be used to make optical tweezers to manipulate objects. The technology can affect objects as small as an atom.

Laser Cooling: Lasers can work as coolants too. Lasers are capable of cooling things down by reducing the momentum of atoms or molecules.

Fusion: The laser technology can recreate the environmental conditions which are found in the core of the Sun in the laboratory. Lasers can heat materials up to extremely high temperatures – about a million degrees. Atoms at these temperatures break down to form a soup of ions and electrons. Such a phenomenon causes fusion releasing a high amount of energy. This method can lead to clean power generation in huge amounts.

Image Biological Reactions: You can make little science movies with an x-ray laser. Having a very short wavelength, they can capture images of stuff as small as an individual atom. Lasers can take snapshot images of even molecular reactions very quickly. Such a method helps researchers learn biological reactions in detail.

Therefore, lasers have different uses and strengths, applicable for industrial purposes to medical profession bringing a broad scope of this technology.