The Covid-19 pandemic brought considerable attention to the 3D printing/additive manufacturing industry. Much of it focused on systems that work with polymer and resin materials. But what about metal additive manufacturing? How has the pandemic affected the metal side of additive manufacturing? Kevin Brigden, additive manufacturing applications engineer at Renishaw, addressed this and other developments […]

Recent events show the need for agility to meet market demands. Dr. Joe DeSimone, executive chairman of Carbon, discussed the unique levels of agility offered by additive manufacturing. Design World · Additive manufacturing meets the need for agility   Here are highlights from the interview. MPF: Will the recent focus on the additive industry’s abilities […]

In today’s episode of Technology Forward, we explore trends in additive manufacturing. I’m speaking with Arjun Aggarwal, VP of business development at Desktop Metal. Desktop Metal uses carbon fiber to make metal 3D printing with a desktop system accessible to all engineers, designers, and manufacturers. Design World · Trends in metal additive manufacturing Here are […]

The additive manufacturing (AM) industry is continuously changing. We asked Justin McCurnin, Vice President of Marketing at Stratasys what trends and developments he sees today. (Stratasys was one of the founders of this industry, and not only have the engineers witnessed a number of developments, they have created many of them as well.) One of […]

The use of 3D printing technology to build devices with embedded electronics has evolved. In the early days, special 3D printers injected dielectric inks onto a layer of a build, creating electronic traces, to build electronic parts. Nano Dimension was the first company to develop such a system, and it continues to evolve the technology. […]

In a recent interview with Jonah Myerberg, co-founder and CTO of Desktop Metal, we explored how metal additive manufacturing, including desktop printers, will affect automotive design and production.   Desktop Metal printers are used in a number of industries, with automotive one of the major ones. Ford and BMW were early adopters of Desktop Metal’s […]

In this edition of the Bearing Tips podcast, Design World editor Mike Santora speaks with CCTY Bearing Company’s Director of North America, Evan Poulakidas. Poulakidas talks about creativity in the design process, inclusivity within the design team, and predictions for the bearing industry in 2020 and beyond. CCTY Bearing Company cctybearing.com

In our latest Executive Edition series, Mary Gannon of Design World chats with Festo Didactic’s CEO Thomas Lichtenberger, about the organizations successful programs to change the manufacturing landscape in the United States. Festo Didactic provides equipment and solutions for technical education for all areas of technology in factory and process automation, such as pneumatics, hydraulics,…

In our latest Technology Tuesdays podcast, Design World’s Mary Gannon speaks with ITT Enidine’s Dan Kowalik, about the company’s entrance into the IoT world with its intelligent shock absorber, the Sentinel 1. A lightly edited transcript of this conversation follows below: Mary Gannon: I’m Mary Gannon and today I’m joined by Dan Kowalik, director of…

Say an engineering team wants to switch their design’s PLC from one model to another — a relatively infrequent but ordinary specification decision. How well do XML files really work for importing and exporting? How much are component manufacturers really motivated to make that work … and not lock engineers onto one specific hardware? Engineers […]

According to some, today’s most demanding motion designs either incorporate a PAC or industrial PC — and these are engineers’ two leading options for machine control right now. Recall that until recently, industrial automation (including motion control) was extremely segmented. So supervisory control and data acquisition (SCADA) systems were at the system top layer … […]

No one IEC 61131-3 language leads for all uses. In fact, the best way to program with IEC 61131-3 languages is by using multiple languages together. That accommodates (among other things) the way every engineer has a different methodology for programming. Sequential function chart (SFC): Recall that SFC is the highest-level code standard in IEC […]

A lightly edited transcript follows: Mary: Welcome to Design World’s Executive Edition where we speak with leaders of manufacturers, OEMs and other engineering companies. I’m Mary Gannon. Today I’m joined by Tom Kelly, Executive Director and CEO of Automation Alley. Thanks for being here today, Tom. Tom: Thanks for having me, Mary. Mary: Over the…

[A lightly edited transcript follows …] DW: Welcome to Design World’s executive idea where we speak with leaders of manufacturers, OEMs and other engineering companies. I’m Mary Gannon, senior editor. Today, I’m joined by Nitin Mathur. TE Connectivity’s chief digital and e-business officer. Thanks for being here today, Nitin. With its official launch in September,…

[A lightly edited transcript follows …] DW: I originally met Adam at the Fluid Power Distributor Association’s conference in Lake Tahoe earlier this year, and I thought the company gave some really interesting value propositions from the IoT for companies in the industrial space. Adam, for our audience, can you please describe for us a…

[A lightly edited transcript follows …] DW: I’m Mary Gannon, senior editor with Design World. Welcome to Design World Executive Edition, where we speak with the leaders of manufacturers, OEMs and other engineering companies. Today I’m joined by Steve Gosk, president and CEO of Fischer Connectors. Thanks for being here today, Steve. SG: Thank you,…

        [A lightly edited transcript follows …] DW: Welcome to Design World’s executive edition. I’m Paul Heney, VP and Editorial Director. Today I’m pleased to have Mike Rennie, the General Manager for Adaptall, in Mississauga, Ontario on the podcast with me. Welcome, Mike. MR: Thanks for having me, Paul. DW: Certainly. Well,…

When evaluating Direct Digital Manufacturing for production, take a methodical analysis of cost, design, assembly, materials, and process to fully understand its benefits. Here are suggested tips. Contributors Include Industrial Designers and Mechanical Engineers on the FATHOM Engineering & Design Team While additive manufacturing (AM) has mostly been used as a prototyping tool, in the […]

  [A lightly edited transcript follows …] DW: Tell us about how Orange Seal came to be. GK: Orange Seal is a subsidiary of Alaja Hydrolic, a full service supplier down in Trinidad, that’s actually run by my Dad. The name of that company is Hydraulic Components Ltd., and they’ve been in operation for more…

Brad Goldense is Founder and CEO of Goldense Group, Inc. [GGI], a thirty-one-year-old Needham, Mass. consulting and education corporation concentrating in advanced business and technology management practices for product strategy, management, development, and commercialization. Mr. Goldense has consulted to over 200 of the Fortune 1000 and has worked on productivity improvement and automation projects in…

Gordon Styles, president and CEO of Star Rapid, a service provider in China takes a look at some of the changes he sees coming to additive manufacturing. Styles looks at plastic and metal 3D printing, and how metal desktop 3D printers may affect the manufacturing landscape. For those who prefer to read the transcript: Hello,…

Design World’s editorial staff is pleased to debut our newest podcast series, Executive Edition. In this series, our editors will be talking trends in engineering with top manufacturing and OEM leaders—across multiple disciplines, including motion control, fluid power, 3D printing, bearings, connectors, mechanical power transmission, and more. Our inaugural episode, featuring Ryan Schroeder, President of…

In the latest episode of Design World’s Technology Tuesdays Podcast, Editorial Director Paul J. Heney speaks with Ray Szparagowski, Engineering Fellow with Freudenberg NOK Sealing Technologies about the latest in high performance engineering plastics. These materials are increasingly being used for bearing/bushing applications. They offer design flexibility and reduced weight. However, performance is often limited […]

In a recent Technology Tuesdays podcast, Brian Scott, application engineer at Nippon Pulse America, talked to me a little bit about linear motors such as iron core, U-channel, and tubular linear motors … and the benefits and drawbacks of each. I asked him about some of the major design objectives OEMs cite when migrating axes to linear […]

You have several choices when building a 3D printed part. If you choose an in-house approach, you can purchase either a desktop 3D printer or a 3D printing machine and print the part yourself. Or you can outsource the part, virtually uploading the .STL file to a service provider. When you outsource a part, you […]

Make Parts Fast