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The Sweet Spot of Research & Development

Mar 22, 2013 | Digital manufacturing covers a broad range of technologies and trying to predict their evolution and course can be an uncertain process. As a company, you can forgo the latest technologies as a passing fad and really miss out as your competitors embrace the cutting edge and advance. So how do companies decide when to embrace technology and when to take the wait and see approach?
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NVIDIA CEO Jen-Hsun Huang Takes Design to the Grid at GTC

Mar 20, 2013 | Whether companies use big data for quality testing, product tracking or price optimization, data volumes are growing to unprecedented levels for major organizations and small to medium-sized manufacturers (SMMs) alike. Hoping to address this issue is NVIDIA CEO Jen-Hsun Huang, who addressed solutions for organizations of all sizes in opening keynote at the GPU Technology Conference in San Jose, Calif., on Tuesday.
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Cloud Computing Tames Big Data to Extract Value

Mar 18, 2013 | Cloud computing is much more than just a bunch of third-party servers running at a remote location so businesses can stop spending money on computer hardware. Cloud computing, or more specifically high performance computing in the cloud (HPC cloud), is an opportunity for a single enterprise or an entire industry to fundamentally transform their business model.
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Superhuman Machines Emerge from DARPA Robotics Challenge

Mar 15, 2013 | Only a few months have passed since the teams for the DARPA Robotics Challenge (DRC) were announced, but already many of the competitors are beginning to take shape (and action). The U.S. Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency announced the competition last October, aiming to advance robotics technology for disaster response, and are offering a $2 million prize to the winning team.
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Altair Takes HyperWorks to the Cloud

Mar 14, 2013 | Manufacturers rely on CAE software providers to solve increasingly complex problems to deliver more competitive products through a streamlined product life cycle. As the availability of HPC innovations increases the pressure is put on CAE providers to keep up, as can be seen in Altair's recent release of HyperWorks 12.0.
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Going "Lean" with Robots

Mar 11, 2013 | When you take into account wages, overtime and benefits that human employees require, it's no wonder that robots are quickly becoming the go-to technology for manufacturers across multiple industries. But lean manufacturing – a type of manufacturing that predates the advent of robotics – still hasn't jumped on the automation bandwagon.
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Bringing Price Optimization to Manufacturing

Mar 07, 2013 | While PLM platforms often dominate manufacturing-specific software news, analytics for digital manufactures is steadily gaining momentum. But you don't have to be a manufacturing giant to take advantage of big data, as Horizon Milling demonstrated through its successful implementation of the price-optimization platform, MarginMax.
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Can HPC Cloud Technology Help the Building Industry Go Digital?

Mar 04, 2013 | Is there an opportunity for digital manufacturing to expand into the design and construction of skyscrapers, condominiums and residential homes? Greg Howes, a founding member of the Digital Fabrication Alliance (DFA) thinks so. What’s more, Howes believes that high performance computing in the cloud (HPC Cloud) just might serve fabrication the same way it is catching on in manufacturing.
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4D Printing: Manufacturing Intelligent Machines

Mar 01, 2013 | Each week, 3D printing seems to be behind yet another breaking news headline. In light of recent breakthroughs in stem cell and live-tissue printing, it feels like we've only just now realized the depth of additive manufacturing's potential. But a new idea from MIT may have given us a glimpse of the shape of things to come: not 3D, but 4D printing.
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Siemens Boosts PLM with D-Cubed Update

Feb 28, 2013 | Digital manufacturing offers clear advantages over traditional methods, particularly in the area of prototyping. There, product lifecycle management (PLM) software can act as an extension of a designer's and engineer's imagination to create a product that reflects its inspiration down to the pixel. At the core of many PLM offerings are Siemens' 3D D-Cubed software components, which have recently been updated to version 46.0.
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Reshoring Into American Eco-Industrial Clusters

Feb 22, 2013 | As the reshoring trend is gaining strength, it is important to evaluate innovative, alternative solutions to the past industrial models. Otherwise, it might be difficult to ensure that the return of manufacturing in the US will be resilient in response to any future attempts of delocalization in serving the domestic market.
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Fitting PLM Into The Digital Manufacturing Puzzle

Feb 20, 2013 | Regardless of market circumstance, be it bust or boom, business leadership has to focus on managing the product lifecycle as efficiently as possible at every stage. In difficult market conditions, the challenge is to maintain market presence in the face of low demand, disproportionate costs and the introduction of new products despite tight cash flows.
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GE's Vision for the Industrial Internet

Feb 15, 2013 | General Electric recently announced the launch of its latest plank of the Proficy software platform, Proficy Vision – a big data management tool with a manufacturing slant. To find out more about GE's roadmap for the industrial Internet and how Proficy Vision fits into this plan, we spoke with Don Busiek, general manager for manufacturing software at GE.
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Mapping Manufacturing's Changing Landscape

Feb 13, 2013 | It seems that every week we read about yet another revolutionary use case for additive manufacturing – whether it be organs, stem cells, rocket engines or even food. As the industry explodes, however, it becomes increasingly difficult to map out its trajectory.
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Michigan Paves Road Toward Autonomous Vehicle Licensing

Feb 11, 2013 | During his recent State of the State address, Michigan Governor Rick Snyder announced his support for legislation to ensure that Michigan remains at the forefront of autonomous vehicle research. This new legislation would establish guidelines and open the market for small and medium sized companies to begin creating new autonomous vehicle technology.
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What is Servitization and Why Should You Care?

Feb 07, 2013 | There are some words that should have never seen the light of day. “Servitization” is one of them. Despite the fact that it does not fall trippingly from the tongue – actually it’s downright ugly – the term keeps showing up like a stray cat looking for a handout.
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The Printed House is Only the Beginning

Feb 06, 2013 |

Last week we ran one of those “oh, come on now!” stories – the idea that a whole house may one day spring from the feedstock of a 3D printer. Strange but true. You can’t help but follow up on a story about a printed house, so here we go: are we at the beginning of an additive future?

The Cloud Settles Over Manufacturing

Feb 04, 2013 | Expensive investments in industrial equipment aside, the cost of IT alone has been a barrier to entry for small organizations looking to enter the manufacturing sector. But now, with the proliferation of widely available cloud-based applications and servers on demand, many industries are exploring new possibilities in how they implement their IT infrastructure.
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University of Illinois Spearheading Drive to Create Research Center Modeled on Bell Labs

Feb 01, 2013 | Proposed UI Labs will bring together academia, industry and government to explore innovations that will transform business and society. National Center for Supercomputing Applications to play significant role.
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Cloud Computing, HPC and Manufacturing: A Conversation with Bill Feiereisen

Jan 30, 2013 |

"It’s not just that people are beginning to do more work with commercial cloud providers like Amazon or Google; they are physically changing the way they access applications and responding to new ways that applications are being presented.”

Manufacturing Rebound Benefits Not Shared Equally

Jan 28, 2013 |

While the continuing resurgence of the manufacturing sector is creating new jobs and injecting new life into the U.S.’s GDP, some states are benefitting more than others. As might be expected, the Midwest and the South lead the way. But it’s more complicated than that as this report from the U.S. Department of Commerce, Economics and Statistics Administration shows.

Technology Clusters: The Ultimate Collaboration

Jan 24, 2013 |

NCMS' Rebecca Taylor recently moderated a panel discussion at an Administration sponsored workshop to explore what it takes to build technology clusters that will bring digital manufacturing technology and tools to small to medium sized manufacturers. Entitled "Blueprint for Action: Design of the National Network for Manufacturing Innovation (NNMI)," the workshop was held at the Davidson Center for Space Exploration in Huntsville, Alabama.

Ten Minutes with Jon Riley: Michigan Manufacturing to Get a Boost

Jan 22, 2013 |

This first of a series of conversations with Jon Riley, Vice President, Digital Manufacturing at the National Center for Manufacturing Sciences, focuses on a major initiative to bring the advantages of advanced digital manufacturing to small- and mid-sized manufacturers across Michigan.

Capturing the Unicorn: The Lure of Affordable High Tech Bike Racing Wheels

Jan 18, 2013 |

Last week we wrote a feature story about the use of computational fluid dynamics (CFD) in the design of bicycle racing wheels. Here’s a companion piece, this time featuring FLO Cycling, one of those small- to medium-sized manufacturers (SMMs) that have been dubbed the “missing middle.” FLO has been found.

Huge Loss of U.S. Manufacturing Jobs Triggered by China Trade Decision

Jan 16, 2013 |

A National Bureau of Economic Research working paper issued in December claims the sharp drop in U.S. manufacturing jobs from 2000 to 2007 was caused by Washington’s decision to normalize trade relations with China.

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