Smart Manufacturing

Robot force sensors automate difficult manufacturing tasks

Seiko Epson Corporation has developed its S250 series of high-precision force sensors. The S250 series technology, which were rolled out worldwide from June, will be available as an option for the company’s six-axis and SCARA robots. Employing Epson’s proprietary piezoelectric quartz sensing technology, the new force sensors are durable and sensitive, allowing them to accurately and consistently sense minimal amounts of force in six directions1. This will allow customers to automate complex manufacturing tasks and will improve productivity. Epson also provides robot operation commands with the sensor, allowing customers to easily introduce the system. Many manufacturers are turning to robots as labor shortages and falling birth rates and aging populations hit companies in the world’s leading economies, and the trend to reshoring continues worldwide. Epson’s innovative new force sensors answer these needs and are a significant step forward in achieving the company’s mission of using robots to improve the way products are manufactured. The S250 series enables robots to feel force as limited as 0.1 N, allowing the robots to automate complex tasks such as precisely assembling delicate components. The sensors can also be used on tasks that formerly relied on human sensory perception such as polishing and deburring, freeing people from repetitive manual work. “The new force sensors are a significant development for Epson and for the manufacturing industry in general,” said Yoneharu Fukushima, COO of Epson’s Robotics Solutions Operations Division. “As a company dedicated to manufacturing innovation, the new sensors help to expand the applications for robots, and bring us a step further towards achieving our goal of creating a world in which robots support people in a wide variety of situations.” “There is strong demand for industrial robotics and their applications within the Southeast Asia region, with robotics spending looking to double in Asia Pacific by […]

The Interview: Sean Creswell, Manager – Design Office, Streetscape Limited, Tauranga , NZ

What is Streetscape? Streetscape is a New Zealand street furniture manufacturer based in Tauranga. The company is locally owned and operates with extensive knowledge and expertise in design and manufacturing, specialising in the fabrication and design of street furniture ranging from lighting, street bollards, fencing, shelters, bike racks and customised decorative features for the enhancement of urban landscapes. Streetscape aims to provide a genuine partnering approach for designers and developers to create high quality urban-design street furniture and street lighting, rather than supplying products from a catalogue, to meet the most discerning of consumer tastes. What is your role in the company? My role is as a Manager – Design Office involves all aspects of product design, development, and continuous systems improvement. Most items are initially conceived in CAD, or where a prototype machine has been constructed in the field, we need to accurately capture it back into the system. Streetscape has been using Solid Edge for some time. Would you share with us your previous experience with Solid Edge? Streetscape has been using Solid Edge for over 10 years. In fact, I introduced Solid Edge to them. Prior to Streetscape, I was using Solid Edge for years in an injection moulding company that utilised the Solid Edge software to manufacture automotive and consumer components. Currently, Streetscape has two seats of Solid Edge Classic, and a few Free2D installations pertaining to factory production. Our latest seat is subscription based. We apply 3D CAD in our day-to-day operations such as developing new designs, and making data translations throughout the day, as clients present them. The data from clients come in different formats: it could be design models from a variety of design software, or just ideas outlined on napkins. But in general, data formats are not a problem. As soon as […]

From challenges to opportunities: favourable climate for the plastics industry

The plastics industry in ASEAN remains unperturbed by global developments that are also impacting the growth path of key industries. With K 2016, the world’s largest trade fair for plastics and rubber, coming up in Düsseldorf, Germany, from 19 to 26 October, we take a closer look at this market. The new norm of economic growths and trends such as oil prices, variable supply and demand, and weakening of most Asian currencies against the US dollar, have allowed the region’s countries to rediscover their strengths to sustain growth either individually or as a part of the collective grouping of the 10-member ASEAN (Association of Southeast Asian Nation), which comprises Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, Brunei, Vietnam, Laos, Myanmar and Cambodia. ASEAN’s fertile consumer base with a combined population of over 600 million and a combined GDP of US$ 2.6 trillion, as well as presence in the global market, enables the region to tap the right opportunities, hinging on the region’s rising middle class sector. One of ASEAN’s top export sectors by value is plastics and plastic products earning US$ 39.3 billion in export revenues in 2013. The sector’s production rates have witnessed a steady average growth over the recent years, especially in the ASEAN-6: Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, and Vietnam, which account for more than 95 % of regional GDP, according to McKinsey & Company. Vietnam’s relatively nascent plastics industry had an average annual growth of 16-18 % between 2010 and 2015. Packaging accounts for 37.4 %, followed by consumer goods (27 %), construction (18 %) and technical products (15 %). Yet, the industry is still at the “low end and of low value”, according to Vietnam Plastics Association (VPA), with a majority of exports being plastic bags to Japan. It also relies heavily on imported raw materials, like […]

Use the super computer in your pocket for new levels of productivity

Anyone with a smartphone or tablet now can connect securely in an industrial setting to access performance metrics and data analytics. By Kyle Reissner, mobility platform leader, Rockwell Automation You can use any digital device to easily access performance metrics and data analytics from your plant floor and machines. How are you using that freedom? Your smartphone is now as powerful as your desktop. That mobility is more than viewing a webpage or report on your tablet; it’s a fundamental shift in how we live our lives. Seventy percent of us carry a smartphone or tablet into the office. We are mobile. Yet many of us still live as if the world is flat. You know the analogy. For thousands of years people lived like they would fall off the edge of the earth if they ventured too far from what they knew. Then we realized the world is a sphere, and that opened a world of possibility. Since the 1980s, we’ve used the Purdue Enterprise Reference Architecture to define clear layers between systems. Our first shot at mobility was the replicate a web browser in a Palm Treo. It was a good start, but it fell short of the ultimate user experience. Some people are using the latest devices to extend 20-year-old technology. That type of mobility is resulting in very small increases in productivity, in the range of 1 to 2 percent. I suggest a loftier goal for mobility —10 percent — and for everyone in the plant, not just one or two people. It’s possible because we now have the technology that lets people do things they couldn’t do before while reducing the cost of curiosity to literally zero. Now, anyone with a device can connect securely, expand their area of influence, deploy a system more quickly […]

Distributed design is now the norm

Why CAD must evolve to support it By Jon Hirschtick The wide-bodied Boeing 787 Dreamliner is a long-range passenger plane designed for comfort. The celebrated aircraft’s unique features include: more headroom (higher ceilings and overhead luggage bins), more legroom, a “comfier recline,” 21% more fuel efficiency, bigger windows and “infinity mood lighting.” When the first Dreamliner came off the production line on July 8, 2007 (not coincidentally “07-08-07”), there was much industry fanfare. Boeing hired former NBC News anchor Tom Brokaw to host a red carpet affair for 15,000 employees and even commissioned a Dreamliner theme song. Chief rival Airbus graciously sent a congratulatory letter to Boeing, declaring it “a great day in aviation history.” But beyond the funky mood lighting and more comfortable coach experience, the Dreamliner represented a landmark moment in distributed design. Instead of building a complete aircraft under one roof, the 787 would have its major components designed and built in many different factories spread across the globe. The cargo doors, for example, would come from Saab in Sweden; engine parts from Rolls-Royce in England; and wing sections from Mitsubishi in Japan. In total, 17 design teams in 10 countries would play a major role. See “Birthday Girl,” a Boeing 787-9, be assembled quickly in a time lapse video. (Source: Virgin Atlantic/YouTube) Embed link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rKQQHfquBa8#t=32 On a varying scale, Boeing’s distributed design and manufacturing chain shift has become the norm rather than the exception. As the lead founder of SolidWorks and now as the lead founder of Onshape, I’ve spent a tremendous amount of time visiting CAD customers and have witnessed some dramatic changes in the way product ideas become a reality. Three profound things have happened to design teams, most noticeably over the past decade: Teams have become highly fragmented. There used to be a […]

The Future of Manufacturing

-Tony Glockler, CEO of SolidProfessor, talks to Asia Manufacturing News People love to predict the future: whether they will score a 100 on a test, receive a promotion, or win the lottery. Humans make predictions because it gives them a sense of hope and feeling of control over their future. Predictions also free people from fear and prepare them for the unknown. With the rapid speed of technological advancements, many ponder how this will affect the future of manufacturing. Robots, the Internet of Things, and technological obsolescence are a few technological factors that will shape the future of manufacturing. Understanding how these will affect the manufacturing industry will allow one to properly prepare for the future. Robots The number of robots being used today for industrial work is close to one million. Robots are highly sought after by manufacturers due to their productivity, efficiency, and quality. Manufacturing robots are typically utilized for assembly line work at automotive plants, energy plants, and hospitals. They are useful for their ability to do a variety of repetitive tasks effectively and tasks that are dangerous to humans including heavy lifting, handling chemicals, and cutting and polishing objects. Because of their usefulness, robots will only become more and more common, shaping the future of manufacturing. Many may wonder if robots will replace human factory workers. While this is inevitable, it will also create new professions that work alongside these robots. Robots are still imperfect and their abilities will never be sufficient to replace humans. Though it may change with the increased use of robotics, human labor will continue to be important, regardless of how mechanised industry becomes. Internet of Things The Internet of Things, or IoT, is a network of physical objects including devices, buildings, vehicles, and other items becoming embedded with electronics, software, sensors, […]

Autodesk Inventor 2017 unveiled

Autodesk has unveiled Inventor 2017, one of the most advanced 3D modelling solutions for manufacturing industry professionals. The latest version in innovative software for designers and engineers, Inventor 2017 delivers new professional-grade design, interoperability and communication tools aimed at supporting customers ever-expanding needs. “The manufacturing industry is witnessing an evolution of the role of the mechanical engineer. They are no longer solely responsible for the design of complex mechanical systems, but are often also tasked with complete product definition, design and delivery,” said Derrek Cooper, director of the Inventor product line. “With this latest version of Inventor, Autodesk is delivering new capabilities aimed at supporting all aspects of this expanding role.” Based on the requests of Inventor’s more than 11,000 alpha and beta testers and IdeaStation community, the company built Inventor 2017 to serve the expanding role of the modern professional engineer and provide customers with features aimed at simplifying the new aspects of their jobs: Professional-grade Design Tools help users design faster and optimize performance from the outset and include:  Enhanced sketching, part modelling, assembly management, surfacing and sheet metal capabilities so users can capture and develop design ideas quickly and easily. Additional Shape Generator capabilities such as symmetry and member size controls that help users explore lightweight designs and improve product performance. New Interoperability Tools help to pull disparate aspects of a project together, regardless of the discipline or software that was originally used and include: Expanded AnyCAD tools allow users to easily integrate non-native mechanical design data into Inventor models without translation, now including associative connections with the industry standard STEP format. Inventor’s latest update includes hundreds of enhancements including several customer-requested modelling tools. Shape Generator, an integrated design optimisation tool powered by Autodesk’s Nastran technology, guides users in the design of structurally efficient parts. Other […]

The Internet of Drones has landed

H3 Dynamics has unveiled DRONEBOX,a revolutionary system that converges professional drone-enabled service activities with the Industrial Internet of Things. Welcome to the Internet of Drones. DRONEBOX is an all-inclusive, self-powered system that can be deployed anywhere, including in remote areas where industrial assets, borders, or sensitive installations require constant monitoring. Designed as an evolution over today’s many unattended sensors and CCTV cameras installed in cities, borders, or large industrial estates, DRONEBOX innovates by giving sensors freedom of movement using drones as their vehicles. End-users can now deploy flying sensor systems at different locations, and measure just about anything, anywhere, anytime. They offer 24/7 reactivity, providing critical information to operators – even to those located thousands of miles away. Besides innovating in the world of unattended sensors, DRONEBOX eases the scalability challenges for drone service operators. Such service providers use professional drones to provide their customers with detailed aerial land surveys in mining or agriculture, perform infrastructure inspections, or monitor the progress of construction sites. However, some remote locations need regular or prolonged visits, which increase travel costs and risks to drone service providers. From an end-user perspective, despite providing powerful new insights within an industrial context, the mass-adoption of professional UAVs is slowed by the special skills required to operate them. Conversely, by pre-deploying DRONEBOX systems at the right locations, travel to remote areas is no longer required, charging or handling drone batteries is eliminated, and sensor data is simply sent through a network for easy access and processing. DRONEBOXES can be installed anywhere so that drones can perform pre-programmed scheduled routines, deploy on demand, or be woken up by other drones or sensors as part of a much wider network of “things”. As a network, DRONEBOXES can increase their effectiveness and mission times using collaborative technologies. Such deployments could […]

Internet of Things Asia 2016 underway

Dr. Vivian Balakrishnan, Minister for Foreign Affairs and Minister-in-Charge of the Smart Nation Initiative, Singapore, speaking at the opening ceremony for Internet of Things Asia 2016 (IoT Asia 2016).

IoT Asia 2016 delivers solutions for a sustainable IoT Ecosystem in Asia

SINGAPORE – 30 March 2016 – Today, IoT Asia 2016, the region’s leading platform in the Internet of Things (IoT) returns with its third and largest edition from 30-31 March 2016 at the Singapore EXPO Convention and Exhibition Centre. Themed Closing the gap: From vision to reality, this edition will reveal new insights on emerging trends, new key technologies and directions for IoT’s proliferation in the region. It will also stimulate in-depth discussions to drive business collaborations in the region and undertake the real nuts and bolts of IoT implementation to make it a reality. Jointly organised by the Singapore Industrial Automation Association (SIAA) and SingEx Exhibitions (SingEx), the event was officially opened by Dr. Vivian Balakrishnan, Singapore’s Minister for Foreign Affairs and Minister-in-Charge of the country’s Smart Nation Initiative. Aloysius Arlando, Chief Executive Officer of SingEx Holdings, emphasised the significance of the event to the region, “We are entering an era dominated by smart and connected devices, and IoT is fast becoming a reality in our everyday lives. Not only is this causing a paradigm shift in how we go about our daily activities, it’s also changing and challenging traditional business models. “IoT Asia 2016 provides a rich and diverse knowledge-sharing platform for industry players and stakeholders – from the private and public sectors – to share their challenges and solutions. It continues to be the principal event for governments, businesses and communities in the IoT ecosystem to convene and discuss real outcomes, and enhance the design of effective business solutions that could impact the wider communities across the region.” Smarter technologies for Smarter Cities and Communities Asia’s urban population is growing on an average of 44 million every year[1]. As a result, there is growing pressure on the infrastructure of Asia’s cities, from transportation to communications and […]

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