Innovations in smart mobility help Ford Motor Co. go further than ever before

Assembly line avatars help Ford Motor Co. reduce worker injury and improve vehicle quality

Taking risks and not being afraid to fail has helped Ford Motor Co. prepare as it embarks on its next century

Ford Motor Co. implements Google Earth-like technology for enhanced visibility of the factory floor

SecturaSoft’s Pierre Slabber provides insights on the direction fabrication software is taking today and in the near future

Discovering how small fabrication shops can see improvements in their operations with real-time data

Big data presents big opportunities along with big challenges

Transformational measurement and inspection for the fabrication shop floor and beyond

Now we’re starting to see the promise of cloud computing for fabricators: the goal of this software company is to take the burdens of coordinating ERP out of the hands of the users.

Design innovation for user displays in next-generation products is made possible by laser micromachining technology

Remote monitoring allows fabricator to reach new heights in productivity and efficiency

Monitoring software puts your finger on your shop’s pulse. Knowing when a machine is running or not is a good start. Knowing why is much better. And knowing it now, in real time, lets you fix it now, rather than later.

The relationship forged by Cincinnati Inc. and Metamation shows how powerful a partnership can be

Adobe’s Acrobat solves many problems with format compatibility in the 2D world. What many don’t know is how well it can do the same for you in 3D. It’s spawning a growing number of solutions for fabricators.

Standard strong-acid treatments are dangerous and messy. A new solution promises to make it much safer and trouble-free.

Getting parts to lay out efficiently on a sheet is one thing. Producing an optimized layout that will also cut efficiently, while making the maximum use of every square inch, is a more difficult thing. And the difference can mean 10% to 20% savings in materials costs and total processing time.

AL-Cut AG’s two Managing Directors. His company supplies customers throughout Switzerland. Recently, he got this phone call: A customer needs...

Manufacturers profit from preventing laser head crashes before they occur – instead of responding after they happen

Integrate CAD/CAM nesting software with an ERP system for improved efficiency

When fabricators leverage cloud-based technology, costs per part can be significantly reduced

Open source. It’s a technology movement in which the source code of computer software is made freely available and modifiable...

By leveraging a technique called stitch cutting, fabricators can get more speed out of their fiber lasers

ERP can boil days of work down to minutes. Getting from start to finish in implementing a system, however, requires asking a lot of questions from different sources. This ERP company has been through the process with many customers, and wants to help us put our arms around the entire issue.

This fab-focused software ‘sits on top’ of the company’s CAM program to manage workflow and to broadly impose order on the manufacturing process.

By making your data actionable, dashboard software can help you increase your bottom line.

Dashboards, of which this is a close-cropped view, are the entry point of navigation for modern ERP solutions, cloud or otherwise. This modular, easily customized example gives you quick access to all functions.

Drag-and-drop part models to nesting, laser, punch press, and press brake modules, and even to a sheet-metal ERP system, with this software built on a 3D CAD kernel. This is the press-brake section.

Evaluating Enterprise Resource Planning software for your shop or plant starts either with testimonials from users, or with a front-to-back tutorial about how it works and what it can do for you. We recommend starting with testimonials. They’re like sneaking a peek at the end of a novel before deciding if it’s worth reading. But in this case, it’s not cheating; it’s looking ahead to see where it all leads you. Here’s one example.

May 2013

January 2013

May/June, 2011