Experts’ Blog on Manufacturing

According to Desmond Savage, medical device manufacturing operations management consultant at ATS Global, “it is crucial to define and follow the smart manufacturing transformation strategy in order to achieve tangible business benefits. ATS plays a significant role in implementations, while being supported by the consultancy and educational capabilities of the Manufacturing Operations Management Institute (MOMi). [...]

Introducing a new series of four articles on the matter of Industry 4.0 and its potential – now and in the future.This article was first published in the the Spring 2017 issue of The Record Magazine. The initial report issued in 2013, which laid out the vision for Industry 4.0, clearly stated that it would [...]

As we launch in to 2017, I am sure that we all hope that the business environment in Australia will steadily improve and that with improvements in commodity prices and some growth in consumer confidence we will see some positive outcomes for our local manufacturing industry. Government support for advanced manufacturing, continued growth in the [...]

Manufacturers need to ensure buy in from across their organization in order to achieve success with their digital manufacturing efforts.This article was first published in the Summer 2016 issue of The Record Magazine. I hope the title of this piece got your attention. D of course stands for ‘digital’ and IIoT for the ‘Industrial Internet [...]

In the second of a new series of articles, Mike James from ATS highlights how smart advisors are the perfect starting point for the journey into smart manufacturing and Industry 4.0.This article was first published in OnWindows. I first read about ‘smart advisors’ in a report published by industry analyst Gartner. The idea aligns well [...]

In April 2013 at Hannover Messe, a consortium of universities, research institutions and industrial companies in Germany presented a report which called for investment, awareness, ideas and further research to help realise ­Industry 4.0 – a term used to describe a wide variety of innovations in IT, manufacturing technology and materials that will lead to [...]

"Manufacturing companies can take some simple steps to help prepare their business for change and the fourth industrial revolution". Image: DaveBleasdale, Learning Zone; flickr.com (CC BY 2.0) This article was first published in the Spring 2015 issue of OnWindows. In the last issue of OnWindows I outlined the technologies and thinking behind the fourth industrial [...]

In the third of this series of articles, discover the steps required to make the fourth industrial revolution a reality. Image: Chillicom, FANUC_R-2000iB_series_robot_127; flickr.com (CC BY 2.0) This article was first published in the Summer 2015 issue of OnWindows. Technology hypes are often followed by the trough of disillusionment. But it is sometimes only during [...]

There is much talk about the internet of things. However, ‘things’ are just part of the plumbing. We connect devices, giving them, no more than, nominal intelligence. The real innovation is the internet of services. Manufacturers need to think through their business model: how can a product become a service with the long term related [...]

This article explores the success story at Landes. A business, which has thrived since 2010. How have they done it I wondered? Landes produces any shape in almost any material including complex free formed surfaces in metals such as high alloy steels or “Hastelloy”. The comprehensive production facilities include various robotised 5 axis machining centres and [...]