Features

2011 | 2012 | 2013 | Recent

« Older Articles Recent Articles »

What's the Latest on NDEMC? A Conversation with the Council on Competitiveness

Oct 03, 2011 | The Council on Competitiveness is working towards creating a public-private partnership (PPP) to connect small- and medium-sized manufacturers with advanced digital manufacturing techniques such as modeling and simulation. The tools will allow them to be more efficient, cut costs, shorten time to market, be more responsive to the needs of their supply chain partners, and, in general, be more competitive in the global marketplace.
Read more...

Urbee 3D Printed Car Unveiled in Canada

Sep 28, 2011 | Stratasys 3D printers built Urbee, the first prototype car to have its entire body created with an additive process. The environmentally-friendly car was unveiled last week for the first time in Canada. The Urbee's hybrid design relies mainly on electric motors, with a backup ethanol-powered engine, to achieve a remarkable 200 mpg.
Read more...

Is PLM Only for the Big Guys or Can Mid-Market Manufacturers Share in the Fun?

Sep 27, 2011 | Depending on who you talk to, PLM can seem pretty complicated, like you'll need a phalanx of people with tablets, flow charts and stop watches to put all the pieces together and watch over this vast, interconnected process that can make or break your business. In response to such criticisms, vendors have developed new solutions that are easier-to-use and more suitable for smaller outfits.
Read more...

It’s the Economy, Stupid!

Sep 21, 2011 | With fears mounting amidst speculation about a looming "double dip" recession, the economy is the elephant in the room, but with a twist: typically people go out of their way to avoid remarking on the presence of an elephant in a room. "Don't encourage it," they think. But this elephant is all anyone's talking about.
Read more...

Digital Manufacturing Report Card: Who's Finding the Missing Middle?

Sep 15, 2011 | Numerous initiatives from government and industry have been created to address the "Missing Middle" — small manufacturers who have not adopted the digital manufacturing techniques of computer-aided modeling and simulation. In this watchdog report, Addison Snell of Intersect 360 Research grades the endeavors based on what they've accomplished so far and their prospects for future success.
Read more...

High-Risk, Big Payoffs from DOE's ASCR Leadership Computing Research Program

Sep 14, 2011 | Through its ASCR Leadership Computing Challenge (ALCC), the DOE's Advanced Scientific Computing Research program offers up to 30 percent of its computational resources at NERSC (National Energy Research Scientific Computing Center) and the Leadership Computing Facilities at Argonne and Oak Ridge national labs to scientists and engineers who are investigating cutting-edge technologies that support DOE's energy mission.
Read more...

The New 'King of Cool' in Manufacturing

Sep 12, 2011 | Recognizing their competitive value, "Big Industry" has always pioneered the development and use of analytical tools. The key word, though, is "big." Unfortunately, the advantages of analysis tools such as finite element methods have been sorely missed by the small- and medium-sized manufacturers (SMMs) in the United States.
Read more...

SGI Expands CFD Capability with OpenCFD Acquisition

Sep 09, 2011 | After acquiring OpenCFD last month, SGI said it would continue to offer the company's flagship open-source CFD software, OpenFOAM, free to the business, government and academic communities under the GNU General Public License. The price alone promises to make CFD more available to small- to medium-sized manufacturers (SMMs), but there are software complexity and hardware challenges that must first be addressed before this can become a reality.
Read more...

Case Study: Engineering ISV Uses Cloud Computing to Increase Productivity in Mining Operations

Sep 07, 2011 | DEM Solutions designs software that helps mining companies optimize ore-handling equipment. To help customers more quickly calibrate models with physical ore-flow tests, it created an offering that uses Windows HPC Server 2008 R2 SP1 and "burst to Windows Azure" functionality for scalable compute power. DEM Solutions expects customers to get more accurate simulation results, leading to greater adoption of its software in the mining industry.
Read more...

High Performance Embedded Computing: It's What's Under the Hood that Counts

Sep 06, 2011 | In 2000, Orbotech Ltd. went in search of a better image processing system for their Automated Optical Inspection (AOI) machines. They quickly realized that the existing solutions addressed both "classic" HPC workloads and embedded applications, but did not suit their specific embedded HPC needs. So the company set out to create their own solution, and began the project that would eventually be called GRAPE (Graph Processing Environment).

Read more...

Ten Conferences You Don’t Want to Miss

Aug 31, 2011 | With the end of summer the conference season kicks into high gear again. Here are some selected events you might want to consider attending to advance yourself personally and professionally. The fact that some of them are being held in sunny locations like Arizona and San Diego during the middle of winter only adds to their appeal.
Read more...

Make or Buy: Addressing the Digital Manufacturing Labor Shortage

Aug 31, 2011 | There is no magic bullet for a hot job market such as HPC. Companies need to think holistically about what can make their company an attractive employer, and they need to pull every lever they can.
Read more...

Portland's Green Machine

Aug 24, 2011 | It's not a car. It's not a motorcycle. It's something entirely new — a green machine that combines the best features of both. Green Lite Motors, located in one of the country's greenest cities, Portland, Ore., is a four-year-old startup in the process of creating a unique hybrid drive, two passenger, three-wheeled vehicle for use in and around large cities.
Read more...

US Manufacturing Reaches Strategic Inflection Point

Aug 18, 2011 | Although it's hardly time to break out the champagne and strike up the band, the fact that the manufacturing sector in the US is showing a mild resurgence is certainly an occasion for modest celebration. According to a poll of the nation's supply executives, economic activity has expanded for the 24th consecutive month.
Read more...

Bringing Powerful HPC Software to Small- and Medium-Sized Manufacturers

Aug 15, 2011 | The Department of Energy's Office of Advanced Scientific Computing Research (ASCR) has joined the ranks of agencies, institutions and individuals determined to help small- to medium-sized manufacturers (SMMs) benefit from the use of advanced digital manufacturing technology.
Read more...

Cloud Computing and the Resurgence of Small- to Medium-Sized Manufacturers

Aug 12, 2011 | Cloud computing has many of the same goals as time-sharing, and has the added benefit of four decades of technological advances to support its mission of bringing affordable computing within reach of just about everyone. The drive to provide cloud computing services to the manufacturing sector was underscored by Fujitsu's announcement this week of its new cloud service.
Read more...

Milk and Cookies To Go: A New Packaging Concept Is Born

Aug 10, 2011 | Extensive research into consumer eating habits — from rising obesity rates and the latest dietary guidelines to on-the-go food consumption — provided the impetus for Emergent Technologies to create a two compartment container for compatible food products. The company then turned to packaging experts, Plastic Technologies, Inc., for help with some challenging design problems.
Read more...

Innovation in the Digital Age

Aug 10, 2011 | Not long ago the subject of innovation in manufacturing was considered a bit of an oxymoron to many leaders in business and government as they chose not to invest in our manufacturing base. If anything good is to come from the economic events in recent years, it's that many in America once again discovered the value of a manufacturing economy that can compete in today's global economy.
Read more...

From Detonation to Diapers at Los Alamos National Laboratory

Aug 03, 2011 | When you think of Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL) what comes to mind? Perhaps the first atomic test on July 16, 1945? Or scientists today busily tending the US stockpile of nuclear weapons deterrent? Maybe in your mind's eye you can envision a sprawling, complex of buildings located in the stark beauty of the northern New Mexico desert where highly-classified government programs are conducted. You probably don't think of diapers. But you should.
Read more...

Reshoring US Manufacturing: the Tools Are Here, the Time Is Now

Aug 03, 2011 | There are many who decry the sad state of US manufacturing, especially in the face of seemingly invincible Chinese competition. But in reality, there are excellent reasons why both foreign and American firms should be investing in US-based factories that produce products for the domestic market.
Read more...

Lost in Space: RedEye Brings Direct Digital Manufacturing Down to Earth

Jul 27, 2011 | RedEye, a specialist in direct digital manufacturing techniques, helped NASA develop a prototype for the dexterous humanoid robot known as Robonaut 2, or R2 to his friends. R2 was created to help humans work and explore in space, but before NASA and partner Wyle could launch R2 out to the space station, they required a full-scale mock-up to test potential missions.
Read more...

Case Study: AAI Corporation Builds Competitiveness with HPC and the 'Black Art' of Computational Fluid Dynamics

Jul 25, 2011 | A few years ago, AAI Corporation hired Dr. Michael Guterres to lead its Aircraft Engineering Department. The company knew it had to elevate its design capabilities to be more competitive in the unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) marketplace. However, it had no specific plan to improve its computational abilities. Guterres recognized the need for expanded computational fluid dynamics (CFD) capabilities that could only run on a powerful high performance computing (HPC) cluster.
Read more...

Vision with Action – A Peek into the NCMS DM SIG Meeting

Jul 20, 2011 | A Strategic Interest Group, or SIG, is a group of like-minded individuals and organizations with a common goal. Recently the Digital Manufacturing Strategic Interest Group (DM SIG) formed with a mission "to foster the growth and competitiveness of all US manufacturers by promoting, improving and integrating the use of smart digital manufacturing technology." The collaborative effort, which operates under the guidance of the National Center for Manufacturing Sciences (NCMS), just held its first meeting.
Read more...

Designing Bicycle Wheels in the Cloud

Jul 19, 2011 | While riding a bike may be easy, the aerodynamics involved in wheel design are complex, requiring powerful CFD software running on high-performance computer systems. The simulations generate so much data that smaller manufacturers who could benefit from the technology get overwhelmed or go without. In response, several companies, including Intelligent Light and R-Systems, are offering a combination of solutions aimed at making CFD more accessible.
Read more...

Seamless Computing: A Conversation with John Hengeveld

Jul 13, 2011 | Intel's John Hengeveld likes automotive analogies. "If you haven't got a car, you don't need an on-ramp," he says, a statement that makes perfect sense in the context of his vision of seamless computing and the efforts to bring high performance computing (HPC) to the "missing middle."
Read more...

« Older Articles Recent Articles »

2011 | 2012 | 2013 | Recent

RSS Feeds