This week, May 11th through the 15th, is Infrastructure Week. Now in its 3rd year, the aim is to raise awareness of the critical importance of infrastructure to America’s economic well-being. Events during the week aim to bring together business, labor, and public officials, centered on Washington DC but including the rest of the country, […]
Editor Blogs
Motion trend: Automation expands in off-highway industry
by Michael Jermann, Contributing Editor— Efficiency is key when trying to keep operating costs to a minimum, especially in the off-highway industry. When dealing with mobile machinery that could be remotely located or operating in harsh environments, finding, diagnosing and managing equipment wastes time and money. To cut costs and increase efficiency, there is growing […]
Sercos: 25 years and no slowing down
2015 is an anniversary year for Sercos the industrial automation bus, celebrating 25 years since the founding of Sercos and 10 years since the launch of the first Sercos III devices. The first generation of Sercos supported 2 and 4 Mbit/sec transmission rates and initially was used mainly in demanding machine tool applications. About a […]
Dual-armed robots help humans with assembly tasks
Earlier this week at the big industrial technology show Hannover Fair in Hannover, Germany, ABB Robotics officially launched YuMi, the dual-armed robot designed to work side-by-side with human workers. (I wrote about this robot’s development last year during ABB’s Technology Days in Michigan.) YuMi joins a growing number of robots designed to work alongside human […]
Motor drives play key role in global energy savings
The month of April features Earth Day, the one day each year that focuses attention on the varying and interconnected challenges and solutions to problem’s impacting the Earth’s ability to sustain life. These include pollution, energy demands, climate change, and a host of other issues. For some time now, motor and drive manufacturers have been […]
More money for manufacturing, but is it enough?
During a visit to Cleveland earlier this week, President Obama announced nearly $500 million in new manufacturing initiatives. The plan is to use the $500 million in a number of ways, including $150 million ($75 million of which would be federal funds, with the other $75 million coming from private investment) for creating a competition […]
Technology Tuesdays Podcast: Peter Dettmer on manufacturing and education
For this week’s Design World Technology Tuesdays Podcast, I spoke with Peter Dettmer, Co-program Director for Automated Manufacturing Systems Technology at Madison Area Technical College in Madison, WI. We spoke about one of the biggest challenges to recruiting young people into the manufacturing industry; reshaping the image of manufacturing from a dirty, greasy job in […]
Wisconsin technical college develops automated manufacturing program
Rick Jacobs Co-program Director for Automated Manufacturing Systems Technology Madison Area Technical College Madison, Wisconsin For many people, the word “manufacturing” conjures up images of monotonous manual labor in dingy factories. Part of Peter Dettmer’s job is correcting that misperception. Dettmer co-chairs the Automated Manufacturing Program at Madison Area Technical College (Madison College). Madison College […]
Getting girls interested in STEM part of National Engineers Week program
This year National Engineers Week runs from February 22nd through the 28th. The annual event, which seeks to promote understanding of and interest in engineering to the wider public, features events throughout the week. And one day, February 26th, is Girl Day, devoted to educating young girls on the possibilities of engineering. One group promoting this […]
Technology Tuesdays Podcast: Don Labriola on stepper motors
For this week’s Design World Technology Tuesdays Podcast, I spoke with Don Labriola, P.E., President of QuickSilver Controls, Inc., about hybrid stepper motors and the concept of microstepping error, including the role stiction plays in stepper motor performance. Click below to listen to this week’s podcast.