Overall equipment effectiveness (OEE) is a crucial metric for any manufacturer using automated machinery. And for shops with CNC lathes, machining centers and electrical-discharge machines (not to mention press brakes and other types of sheet metal fabrication equipment), one of…
From flipping hamburgers to helping Grandma around the house, it’s no secret that robots are getting good at tasks that have long been considered off-limits. Nowhere is this truer than in the manufacturing industry, where a chronic labour shortage is…
Jimmy was a crusty old machinist and part-time farmer from Belle Plaine, Minn. He knew more about cutting metal than anyone I’ve ever met. He was also my friend. I was 17 years old and starting a new job as…
Got a great idea? The local university might be the place to give it legs. Such was the case with insulin in 1921, when Dr. Frederick Banting and medical student Charles Best of the University of Toronto experimented with secretions…
Gabe Lipscomb didn’t plan a career in education. He once told his high school geometry teacher that the class was stupid and that he would never use any of what he learned there. “Then I went and became a machinist,…
First, the facts: Electric vehicles require only a fraction of the roughly 1,400 machined components used in internal combustion vehicles. And the 200 components that are needed are smaller, lighter and must therefore withstand higher levels of torque. Together, those developments have led to…
From midwives to cardiologists, ER physicians to family care practitioners, Butterfly says it offers a cost-effective portable alternative to traditional ultrasound devices. Image courtesy of Butterfly. Sanchez has nothing but good things to say about Cadence and its suite of…
Additively manufactured casts offer numerous advantages over ‘smelly, itchy’ plaster ones ActivArmor’s 3D printing process allows production of a wide range of custom-fit casts and splints for people of all shapes, sizes, and ages. Images: ActivArmor Fans of the NFL’s Jacksonville…
CMMs and other multifunctional metrology devices are becoming faster and more sophisticated, but top-quality gages and measuring tools still have an important place As coordinate measuring machines (CMMs), vision systems, and ultra-fast probing heads gain market share, it might seem…
The Dewey Decimal system allows librarians to find and categorize books quickly. The SWIFT and IBAN codes enable bankers to safely conduct electronic transactions with financial institutions in other countries. Hypertext Markup Language (HTML) is what makes the internet navigable…