A Closer Look at Trends in Manufacturing

Photo by Robert Scoble, via Flickr

The manufacturing industry has changed a lot throughout the years and will continue to do so at an increasingly faster pace. One of the most noticeable changes is the renewed awareness of government officials and economists, who publicly recognize manufacturing as the real driving force of a strong economy.

President Obama has commissioned and funded various manufacturing sites around the country to focus on evolving ideas and techniques. For example, the National Additive Manufacturing Innovation Institute in Youngstown, Ohio, launched in 2012. The Lightweight and Modern Metals Innovation Institute was established in Detroit, Mich., in 2014. And The Next Generation Power Electronics Manufacturing Innovation Institute opened at North Caroline University in 2014. These institutes are spread across the United States and serve as centers of research for new concepts and technology advances in the manufacturing industry.

Another promising trend on the rise is additive manufacturing, also known as 3D printing. Additive manufacturing, or 3D printing, has been getting a lot of publicity over the past few years. From appearing on TV or showcased at trade shows, 3D manufacturing has caught the attention of manufacturing pros and the general public. 3D printing is proving to be a game changer. No longer confined to printing plastic modules, 3D printing has rapidly evolved to the point where it can produce items made of metals, mixed materials and even human tissue. The result is shorter lead time, improved quality because of fewer components, reduced waste and the ability to produce complex shapes without complicated machining. This type of printing is causing engineers and designers to change the way they think of how to create products. It will also change the way we educate the next generation.

Cold spray, or 3D printing, is another trend that's becoming quite popular as well. Cold spray involves pushing metal powder through a nozzle under pressure. Cold spray can be used to create parts from scratch to apply coatings to traditionally formed items. However, one of the most interesting uses is to repair or refurbish used components by filling in worn spots using materials that meet or exceed the original material specs.

The Internet of Things, dubbed the IoT for short, is the ability for devices to communicate automatically with one another over the Internet without requiring input from people. Equipment can now monitor its own condition and notify maintenance teams when regular updates are due. However, there is a slight roadblock with this process. There are billions of dollars worth of production machines that were never intended to be connected. Since replacing every machine would be prohibitively expensive, manufacturers will need to find creative, cost-effective ways to retrofit equipment and to realize return on investment. 

Another cost-effectivce manufacturing trend on the rise is a little concept called "next-shoring." Next-shoring was named in 2014 by a team of McKinsey analysts, who describe it as a way of reinventing the ecosystem. It focuses on physical proximity to emerging markets, innovation, talent and customers. Manufacturers are not moving operations to other countries, they're keeping supply and demand close by. Collaboration technology makes next shoring possible. With the use of audio, video and content sharing tools, geographic barriers can be broken down to let research, development and customer interaction take place from anywhere. 

Many manufacturers are also trying to reduce their carbon footprint and energy use as well. Forward thinking manufacturers are working continuously to educate the industry on sustainability, advanced technology and new practices that produce high-quality cost-effective products with less damage to the earth's ecosystem. Lower energy costs, driven by the drop in oil prices, will provide an additional advantage to manufacturers. 

Lastly, success in the manufacturing market depends on recruiting the right talent. As the baby boomer generation retires and companies look to a diminishing pool of young people interested in manufacturing, hiring and retraining diverse talent must remain a priority. Since technology is ever-changing, younger generations will be able to keep up with trends and apply their knowledge and skills to the manufacturing industry. It will be interesting to see which trends will catch the attention of the creative minds in the manufacturing industry during the next few months. 

DualVee Vacuum Wheels Nominated for Golden Mousetrap Award

The Golden Mousetrap Awards recognizes technologies driving progress in the design and manufacturing field. The program, hosted by UBM Canon, awards companies contributing to the renaissance of American manufacturing and promotes engineering and manufacturing as viable career paths for the next generation.

That's why we're proud to announce that Bishop-Wisecarver was named a finalist in the annual Golden Moustrap Awards, for our DualVee Vacuum Wheels.

These vee wheels were designed specifically for vacuum environments and processing equipment where it's tough to use other guided motion products.

DualVee Vacuum Wheels are linear guide bearings with precision-ground 90-degree surfaces for applications in testing chambers and ultra-high vacuum environments.

It's a product suited for applications in research and development, package sealing, materials science, space testing and simulation and many other fields.

We put together a handy FAQ page about these new bearings here.

Here's a link to the Design News feature about the nomination.Winners of the Golden Mousetrap Awards will be announced Feb. 10 at the Anaheim Convention Center as part of ATX West. We look forward to being part of the action!

Influencing STEM Education in Africa

A once in a lifetime experience of Bishop-Wisecarver sponsored candidate Janelle Jolley

Bishop-Wisecarver Group (BWG), a woman-owned family of WBENC certified companies that strive to support students, women, and programs related to Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) education, recently has sponsored Janelle Jolley on a 2 week tour to influence STEM in Africa.  Take a look at Janelle’s journey to promote women empowerment and STEM education.

In an act of camaraderie and collaboration, a group of female change-makers across technology and the social impact space embarked on a two week innovation excursion across Africa. The uplifting journey promoting women’s empowerment and global entrepreneurship granted the women and other distinguished guests the opportunity to meet with fellow entrepreneurs, attend pitch parties and government meetings, enjoy cultural excursions, and connect with innovators across Ghana, Nigeria, South Africa and Kenya. Bishop-Wisecarver was involved by being a sponsor of Janelle Jolley, a trip nominee and attendee.
 

Janelle Jolley is the CEO and Founder of Sidewalk District, a social enterprise connecting local independent retailers with their consumers through an eCommerce marketplace in order to increase their impact on hyper local economic development. She has a background in journalism and public policy, but eventually found her way to technology. Her passion for local independent retailers and their ability to spur economic development in communities across America is what led her to pursue the Sidewalk District platform.

One of Jolley’s biggest takeaways from her experience in Africa was the opportunities for technology/IT solutions across all sectors that are endless throughout the continent. Africa is ripe for disruptive technological solutions as well as technological solutions which make entire business sectors more efficient and modern.

Jolley also discovered that just as in the more modern West, the pipeline for STEM & technologists needs to be diversified throughout Africa. More women and people of color in Africa need to be made aware of and trained in STEM so that they are the driving forces of the change and wealth creation happening throughout the continent.

Lastly, iHub, Nariobi’s innovation hub for the technology community, has built the most impressive startup ecosystem she has have ever seen anywhere in the world. Jolley has never seen as comprehensive an approach to an end to end, integrated organization for startups ever in her life. There is literally anything that anyone would ever need to build and grow a successful company at iHub.

Jolley’s overall experience was a wonderful and educational experience. With her efforts and the efforts of all STEM influencers, there are hopes to increase the awareness of STEM education for women, minorities and youth across all continents.

Check out some of the photos below captured from her trip:

  

The group's first full day in Lagos, Nigeria. This morning, group attendees Claire and Yasmin are outside of the hotel waiting on transportation recapping some of the opportunities for business which they identified in Accra, Ghana which was the first stop on the expedition.

Hassan and Caleb at the headquarters of one of Nigeria's biggest tilapia farms. Saheed Olakunle is the owner of the headquarters and founder of the Nigerian Tilapia Association. He is a STEM success story and applied his knowledge and training in aquaculture to make Nigeria one of the biggest players on the global scene for farm raised tilapia.

DeShawn Jenkins of the Africa to Atlanta initiative at Georgia Tech and Sandra Hirschberg of GirlTank sitting and discussing the ecosystem being developed at Co-Creation Hub in Lagos with Femi Longe, their Director of Programs.

 

Manufacturing IS Technology



 

Gears, levers and other trappings of a steampunk contraption? Maybe you think of cartoon inventors like Maurice, Belle's father in Disney's Beauty and the Beast, with his coke-bottle goggles and bumbling attempts at various rudimentary forms of mechanical tinkering.
 
As manufacturers of linear slides and rotary guides, we know the importance of basic components, the bearings, gears and tracks that move things from one point to another. But these are only the building blocks for more advanced systems, which are poised to shape the future of the industry as well as the rest of the world.

3D printing technology is a manufacturing process
(photo credit: The Verge 2013)

 

It is likely that you have encountered or overheard some of the newer "buzzwords" that have been introduced to many laypersons, many of which were created in order to parboil complex cutting-edge innovations or indicate advancements beyond the cursory realm of simply "manufacturing". Today, you're more likely to hear words and phrases like "mechatronics", "advanced manufacturing", and "additive manufacturing", than simply, "manufacturing."



Maybe manufacturing has become a "dirty word," associated more with "dirty, dumb, boring [and] cheap" labor, as Bishop-Wisecarver Group CEO Pamela Kan poses in a post she wrote recently for GE's Ideas Laboratory. Perhaps the word "manufacturing" has become semantically outdated, which indeed justifies the industry's attempts to come up with contemporary lingo to more accurately describe the field in a way that makes sense.

When taken in accurate context, modern manufacturing is comprised of the latest and greatest innovations of our time. Surpassing the low-tech and common connotations of antiquity, modern manufacturing, both present and future, is high-tech: manufacturing is technology.

The Wall Street Journal published a piece last month that highlights this important definition. The article highlights the 11 areas of technology identified by the Advanced Manufacturing Partnership that will push manufacturing into the future. These emerging technological fields should be the focus of research and development in the U.S., the group says. So what are they?

• Sensing, measurement, process control

  

  Manual processes: our past,
  but not our future?

• Materials design, synthesis and processing
• Digital manufacturing
• Sustainable manufacturing
• Nanomanufacturing
• Flexible electronics manufacturing
• Biomanufacturing
• Additive manufacturing (better known as 3D printing)
• Industrial robotics
• Advanced forming and joining technologies

Kan mentioned before that it is a shame manufacturing has become a dirty word. However, with the exponential advancement of modern technologies (aka manufacturing), it's no problem to start making our language more specific to dispel whatever outdated notions the public still has about manufacturing being a thing of the early Industrial Revolution.

Changing the language can influence the national conversation in a way that encourages the next generation to choose careers in manufacturing and influences public policy to favor conditions that promote manufacturing innovation.



A number of emergent technologies
that apply to manufacturing

What do you think about the language we use to describe manufacturing? Tell us in the comments!