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Volkswagen opens up its ‘Industrial Cloud’ to other manufacturing and technology companies

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Volkswagen, together with Amazon Web Services and integration partner Siemens, is opening up its Industrial Cloud to other manufacturing and technology companies.

New partner companies will be able to connect with Volkswagen plants and to contribute their own software applications for optimizing production processes to the Industrial Cloud.

VW says the opening up of the platform will help create “a rapidly growing range of industrial software applications for Volkswagen’s plants”. [Read more…] about Volkswagen opens up its ‘Industrial Cloud’ to other manufacturing and technology companies

Reshoring from China to US not a short-term solution

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Reshoring industrial operations from China to the US has not been as straightforward as it may have sounded at first, and companies looking to do so “face significant problems”, according to a report by the South China Morning Post.

American companies, encouraged by the administration of President Donald Trump to relocate to the US, have found that there are numerous problems with reshoring.

One of the main issues relates to recruitment. The industrial sector – whether you’re talking about manufacturing, logistics, or other segments – has long had to contend with deep, structural problems in attracting workers. [Read more…] about Reshoring from China to US not a short-term solution

Siasun installs robotic system for inspection and categorization of rails

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Siasun has installed a robotic system for the inspection and categorization of rail and beam material manufactured at an Anshan Iron and Steel facility.

The trial robotic system integrates eight industrial robotic arms which are equipped with sensing technology, mechanical control, artificial intelligence, and bionics.

Siasun says the robots have high accuracy, reliability and consistency, and “can fully cope with the harsh and dangerous in the steel production process”. [Read more…] about Siasun installs robotic system for inspection and categorization of rails

Techman Robot targets smart manufacturing market with TÜV professional training for its employees

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Techman Robot is targeting growth in the smart manufacturing market, and the company believes the best starting point is TÜV professional training for its employees.

Smart manufacturing is a hot topic in the industrial sector. Many countries now believe that smart robots will play an increasingly central role in future technological development.

However, during the production process, potential hazards still exist between mechanical equipment and humans. [Read more…] about Techman Robot targets smart manufacturing market with TÜV professional training for its employees

Automation and digitalization ‘competitive edge in volatile market’, says Siemens

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Automation and digitalization “offer a significant competitive edge in a volatile market environment”, according to Siemens.

Europe’s largest engineering company says the current situation creates major challenges for industrial companies worldwide – and shows that digitalized and highly automated production is more important than ever when it comes to gaining a competitive edge.

This is the only way that companies can react to current and future challenges with the required degree of flexibility, says Siemens. [Read more…] about Automation and digitalization ‘competitive edge in volatile market’, says Siemens

ifm and CloudRail agree strategic partnership to provide IIoT solutions

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Sensor and automation specialist ifm and the IIoT expert CloudRail have agreed a strategic partnership to pool their skills to improve their positions on the strongly growing market for professional IIoT and cloud solutions. (See video below.)

Industry 4.0, the Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT) or digitisation – there are many terms to describe the inexorable trend of networking machines, processes and people. What they all have in common is that they refer to interdisciplinary processes.

Felix Kollmar, CEO of CloudRail, says: “The IIoT has long ago ceased to be an exclusive topic of operation technology (OT).” [Read more…] about ifm and CloudRail agree strategic partnership to provide IIoT solutions

Top 20 programmable logic controller manufacturers

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Sometimes described as “the workhorse of industrial automation”, a programmable logic controller, or PLC, is a computing device that is specially designed for use in an industrial operation.

A PLC can take many shapes and sizes, but in most instances it does not look like a conventional desktop computer like the ones you find in offices or in homes – a PLC has no display screen, no hard drive, and no keyboard.

PLCs started out in the automotive manufacturing trade, although they can now be found in almost all sectors, where they tend to replace relays.

Relays are devices that essentially turn machines on and off, and are said to be time-consuming and complex to use compared to PLCs. Relays also require more operational downtime when they need to be reconfigured. PLCs are estimated by one research company to reduce downtime from 20 percent to about 4 percent. [Read more…] about Top 20 programmable logic controller manufacturers

Industrial Automation Market: Rapid Advances Result in ‘Countless Applications’

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The rapid advances in technology since the turn of the 21st century, have yielded countless applications; especially in the industrial and manufacturing sector.

Industrial automation involves the use of control systems such as computers or automated systems such as robots to simplify different processes in an industrial manufacturing sector.

In earlier days, the purpose of automation was improving the overall productivity, be it manufacturing of labor management. [Read more…] about Industrial Automation Market: Rapid Advances Result in ‘Countless Applications’

Sarcos Robotics chooses MFE Rentals as resale partner for its snake-like robot

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Sarcos Robotics and MFE Rentals have agreed a partnership giving MFE Rentals customers premier access to the snake-like Guardian S robotic crawler system (main picture).

The Guardian S is a compact, multi-purpose remote visual inspection tool designed to traverse challenging terrain while maintaining real-time two-way video, voice and data communication.

Sarcos says the Guardian S robot, created and built in the United States, is designed to navigate unstructured and unpredictable environments that previously no other crawler had the capabilities to access. [Read more…] about Sarcos Robotics chooses MFE Rentals as resale partner for its snake-like robot

Intelligent image processing supports production workers in Industry 4.0 applications

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Automation plays a major role in Industry 4.0. Cost reduction, increased productivity and zero-defect quality are factors that are increasingly prompting companies to digitise their processes.

But often full automation also means high investments. At the same time, the focus will continue to be on the human being in the interaction between man and machine.

Given the prevailing shortage of skilled workers and high standards of industrial safety, this is no easy task for companies. [Read more…] about Intelligent image processing supports production workers in Industry 4.0 applications