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New technologies can create huge numbers of meaningful jobs

Augmented reality can play a pivotal role in removing labour inefficiencies. In the US, recent jobs reports have generally been met with enthusiasm and positivity. Unemployment continues to drop to 10-year lows and most economists believe America is approaching “full employment.” Wage growth remains in positive territory. And yet, people are angry. Blue-collar manufacturing jobs have disappeared. Income inequality is increasing, and the once-steadfast middle class is being hollowed out. Their anger arises from a sense of economic insecurity and it is the idea that weaves together Brexit, Trump’s takeover of the Republican party, and Le Pen’s National Front. The acute disconnect is alarming. How can the US be at full employment and yet harbour such profound socioeconomic discontent? The Dignity of Work A reporter for the New York Times recently rode with a number of truck drivers to learn about their job. Truck drivers spoke at length about the low pay and health issues the job entailed. The title of the article was “Alone on the Open Road: Truckers feel like ‘Throwaway People.’” Much has been made of the looming devastation that self-driving technology will have on the 3.5 million truck drivers in the US, as well as how these millions of newly unemployed individuals will add fuel to the populist flames. The concern is misdirected. Digging deeper into the data clarifies this disconnect further. Many are in part-time jobs or are underemployed for their experience and skillset. Only 62% of Americans are even participating in the labour market, and a growing number of people in their prime working years have given up on trying to find a job. The populist language of modern politicians confirms this thesis. Americans are being “left behind.” Workers in the Rust Belt have become a “forgotten people.” People may have jobs, but they’re not the jobs they want. […]

Bringing automation barriers down with end-of-arm tooling

Historically, one of the biggest barriers to automation has been cost and time constraints associated with the production setup. The procedure is usually performed by a team of robotics experts adept in programming languages and advanced engineering, subjects unfamiliar to most. Demand for automation is flourishing from various manufacturing sectors leading to greater innovations in industrial robotics. With this trend, companies are prompted to adapt more and more intelligent tools that can help the production workforce with faster deployment and installation, saving their precious time on planning and strategy. But not many businesses have been able to do so quickly because most are not ready to address collaborative applications with newer technologies. This is due to limited knowledge or resistance to adopting modern end-of-arm tooling (EOAT) with collaborative robots (cobots). Continuous technology transformation and the rise of collaborative applications in industrial automation have made robots easily deployable. Intelligent EOAT devices come with in-built features that can be programmed easily, enabling faster set-up. With EOAT, automation becomes more inclusive, delivering collaborative applications to meet modern automation needs. Automation Adoption Rises in ASEAN The ASEAN region’s combined GDP hit almost USD2.7 trillion in 2017, four times the value in 2000, clocking an average 5.3 percent yearly growth. ASEAN could become the world’s fourth largest economy by 2030 if this growth maintains.[1] To achieve this, the region needs to leverage the opportunities presented by Industry 4.0 technologies. Adoption of these technologies remains slow in most countries however, with many manufacturers still relying on outdated processes[2]. Singapore is spearheading the adoption of automation and robotics, recording the second highest industrial robot density globally at 658 robots per 10,000 employees.[3] Malaysia and Thailand have also increased their focus on automation, encouraging greater use of robotics through the National Policy on Industry 4.0 (Industry4WRD) and the […]

How to have a good Fourth Industrial Revolution

Trees, please: Take a break from technology. To encourage people to examine the impact of technology on our lives, the artist Lauren McCarthy decided to try to become a human version of amazon.com’s smart home intelligence device Alexa. McCarthy installed a network of remote-controlled smart devices, from cameras and microphones to light switches and appliances, and invited volunteers to stay in her home. Then she tried to anticipate and respond to their needs – like making a bowl of popcorn when she guessed they were hungry—instead of just responding to commands like Alexa does. Get-Lauren touches on common anxieties, starting with the questions of what humans can offer that machines cannot, and what control each of us has over our future and even who we are. “By allowing these devices in, we outsource the formation of our identity to a virtual assistant whose values are programmed by a small, homogenous group of developers,” McCarthy wrote. The Fourth Industrial Revolution has ushered in new technologies that are changing where and how many of us work, what we buy and how we buy it, what we learn and what we delegate to our devices, and how we connect with each other. It’s easy for even tech-savvy individuals to feel that we are helpless in face of these tectonic shifts. What can a single person do? What power does anyone have amid massive social and economic changes? What is within our control and how do we adapt to what is out of our hands? Simply asking those questions is a good start toward managing technology instead of letting it control us. Seeking to understand the changes underway helps us to feel that we are doing something instead of facing complete uncertainty. Assessing how we use technology in the workplace, home, and community helps identify where we are doing well and where we […]

SkyDrive launches test flights of first-ever cargo drone

SkyDrive Inc., a leading flying-car developer, has successfully launched test flights of a cargo drone which could revolutionise the way heavy goods are transported and speed up the movement of equipment in remote locations. The first operational testing took place Toyota. It was carried out to test the technology by moving heavy equipment in remote locations. This new technology has been tested with a load capacity of 30kg–utilizing SkyDrive’s world-leading aircraft development technology to achieve high safety standards. There is the potential to develop this further and achieve greater capacity loads of up to 50kg and 80kg, according to demand. The cargo drone also has the potential to change the way products are moved from manufacturers to warehouses and onto depots. SkyDrive is developing the cargo drone for use in industries that carry heavy materials on complex terrain such as slopes, mountain valleys, overpasses, power transmission towers, civil engineering/construction sites, agricultural fields, etc. Usage of cargo drones will help avoid dangerous works, save personnel and shorten the term of works. SkyDrive can contribute to responding to labour shortages and improving labour productivity sagging. Cargo drone can be used by companies for transporting materials to hard-to-reach places such as slopes, mountain valleys, overpasses and sites of steel tower maintenance. The total length is 1.3m x total width 1.7m x total height 1.0m -Recommended payload: 30kg -Flight speed: 40km/h -Flight time: 15min. Winch mechanism to move up and down without landing.

Very smart Australian manufacturing

Solar-powered furniture offers off-grid connection South Australian outdoor furniture brand Sedi has developed bespoke benches and shelter options for smart cities and regional areas. Bronte Modra, the director of Adelaide-based modular engineering company Specialised Solutions, created the Sedi range of park benches, parklets and bus stops in February this year. The smart shelters are built from sustainable timber and steel and have solar-powered lighting, integrated charging ports, WIFI and informational screens that all run off a battery. Modra said he created Sedi to fill a large hole in the Australian manufacturing market created by the burgeoning smart city movement. “People want to be connected to the furniture and to the web, and the greater society,” said Modra. “Everyone talks about smart cities but no one is really delivering a piece of smart furniture here. “We just saw a real need and something that we could make out of our existing facility.” The Sedi office is located at the Tonsley innovation district alongside technology companies such as SAGE Automation, which, together with JPE Design Studio, helped develop the furniture. Modra decided to make the units “off-grid” to attract buyers who couldn’t connect to a power source. “It being solar-powered gives us a lot more flexibility to where the Sedi is placed,” he said. “With Sedi we can go to regional, remote locations and open up connectivity there. “It’s also cost-saving measure for councils to install in the park [as] service connections are fairly expensive.” Modra said they weren’t “reinventing the wheel” with the furniture’s individual technological features, however these add-ons were compounded to develop a new brand of smart furniture fit for a multitude of environments. “We would like to see them absolutely everywhere: the typical bus stops on your streets, your typical parks, council parks and reserves,” he said. “But we’re really trying to tap […]

Digital transformation is driving real change in key industries

Digital transformation (DX) is permeating every vertical market, and industries are looking to evolve to better align with their customers’ changing requirements. The result is the development and integration of cutting edge technologies and a change of methodology to improve processes, according to Y Soft. Adam O’Neill, managing director, Y Soft, Australia and New Zealand, said, “DX is radically changing how organisations operate and is shaking up industries at speed. Organisations are increasingly launching initiatives to expand or build digital capabilities to deliver business efficiency or increase top-line revenue growth.” According to the 15 industries surveyed as part of the Gartner 2018 CIO Agenda Industry Insights report, 47 per cent of CEOs are being challenged to make progress in digital business, and 56 per cent of respondents reported that digital improvements have already improved their overall profits. The 2018 edition of The Hackett Group’s annual key issues study, The CIO Agenda: Driving Value from Transformation, found that the use of virtual assistants, chatbots and other cognitive technologies is anticipated to grow at least five-fold in overall adoption rates over the next few years. Unsurprisingly, 74 per cent of companies are expecting DX to disrupt their industry and 82 per cent expect it to fundamentally change the operating model of their business. Adam O’Neill said, “These findings show that every industry is either already participating in or ready to join in with digital transformation. This seismic impact prediction calls for immediate action, and many companies have already begun their DX journeys and are automating and streamlining business processes by investing in artificial intelligence (AI), specifically machine learning.” Digital transformation is already having a significant impact on four vertical industries: Legal. Traditionally, the pace of digital change within the legal industry has been slow, with the legal profession resisting many of […]

Is 5G ready for manufacturing?

High profile scandals aren’t typically good for the technology sector. Whether it’s diesel emissions, large data breaches or cyber-attacks on mission-critical infrastructure, scandal has the power to cripple a technology even before it’s gotten off the ground. Despite what recent headlines may have you thinking, 5G has the potential to be a hugely positive force in the world of manufacturing, heralding in a new era of technological innovation. While 3G and 4G offered incremental improvements in speed and bandwidth, 5G will be the first cellular, wireless platform to truly offer reliable integration with machine-to-machine and industrial IoT systems. It will do this in three ways. The first is enhanced mobile broadband (eMBB); 5G offers peak data rates of 10 Gbps and can handle 10,000 times more traffic than its predecessors. Secondly, it offers Ultra Reliable Low Latency Communications (URLLC). This means it has a radio latency of less than 1 ms and an availability of over 99.9 per cent, making it ideal for industrial use where uptime is critical. Thirdly, it offers Massive Machine-type Communication (eMTC), allowing it to handle a density of one million devices per square kilometre. It can also deliver ultra low-cost machine-to-machine communications and can last up to 10 years on battery, great for battery operated low power devices. So, what does this mean for industry? Well, not only will 5G open the door for real-time wireless sensor networks and location and asset tracking, it will also enable plant managers in smart factories to rely on seamless communication with a fleet of autonomous guided vehicles (AGVs) without worrying about network dropouts. What’s more, manufacturers that may have been sceptical of adopting the likes of augmented and virtual reality technologies will be able to take full advantage of them for real-time simulation and predictive maintenance. In industrial […]

How viable is additive manufacturing?

~ The manufacturing and legal issues surrounding additive manufacturing ~ In 1984, Charles Hull invented the first 3D printer, which used stereolithography to build up a plastic product layer by layer. Over 35 years later, additive manufacturing (AM) is drastically altering a range of industries, from manufacturing to the medical sector. But what are the limitations of the technology? In some applications, component manufacturing is shifting away from traditional subtractive machining methods and towards additive manufacturing techniques. The broadening of the applications of AM is causing manufacturers to assess the viability of using it in their own facilities. To do this, there are a few considerations to make before turning to 3D technology. Quality not quantity When moving from one manufacturing method to another, quality is a huge factor, particularly in highly regulated industries like aerospace and medical devices. In fact, quality has been one of the major hurdles to the widespread adoption of AM. One critical consideration is that quality and consistency must be the same machine to machine, regardless of location. Powder bed fusion is one of the most frequently used additive manufacturing methods and there is a possibility that it may introduce defects. However, if the process has a constant thermal gradient, it can prevent warping of the product, avoiding the introduction of defects due to incorrect temperatures. Another concern is that unsintered powder will degrade as a result of heat exposure and that this could impact quality, although regular changing of the powder can prevent this from becoming an issue. When investing in an AM system, manufacturers can overcome quality concerns by working with an experienced partner, who provides training and support on best practice. Those looking to invest in AM parts produced elsewhere should be […]

Factories no longer the sure route to prosperity

Countries once grew rich through manufacturing – but today there is more than one way to effect structural transformation. Think about countries growing out of poverty and you probably picture something like this: underemployed workers leaving inefficient farms for factories that make textiles and clothing for domestic and export markets. Over time, this shift raises productivity and wages across the economy, while countries’ production and export baskets diversify into more sophisticated goods and services. For the past several decades, this image would have been broadly on the mark. South Korea is a prime example: through the 1950s, a large share of its population still worked in the agricultural sector. Its manufactured exports a decade later were mostly textiles, clothing, footwear and wigs. Two generations on, in 2017, Korea was the world’s fifth-largest merchandise exporter and its ninth-largest importer. Even if your mobile phone and household electronics weren’t made by a Korean company, they almost certainly contain integrated circuits that were. In varied ways, and to differing extents, countries from Bangladesh to Colombia to China have trodden this path. Since the dawn of the Industrial Revolution in late 18th century England, ‘structural transformation’– a term economists use for the process of shifting people and resources out of subsistence work into more productive activities – has begun with labour-intensive manufacturing. And starting in the 1950s, trade has been a key accelerator of structural transformation in developing countries, enabling much faster growth and poverty reduction than would otherwise be possible. Good enough to compete Trade matters in this story because in most developing countries, internationally tradable sectors are typically much more productive than the rest of the economy. Pulling more people and capital out of non-tradable activities and into firms dealing in tradable goods and services therefore makes for better jobs and a […]

ABB powers with manufacturing management technology

The Manufacturing Operations Management (MOM) software suite powers production for increased productivity and profitability, enabling seamless plant orchestration. The new version will offer an extended range of capabilities and new digital applications. This flexible and secure software platform with a broad suite of industrial applications gives operators, supervisors and plant managers the visibility and insights to take the right actions for increased productivity, quality and compliance. Features in the enhanced manufacturing operations management platform include: Enhanced user experience based on new HTML 5 web client; A new smart interactive dashboard application that provides greater visibility and collaboration; A new statistical process control (SPC) application, to determine if each process is in a state of control; A new Batch Compare application – for advanced batch analysis Manufacturing Operations Management is a comprehensive, scalable and modular software suite that optimises visibility, knowledge and control throughout the operations domain. This release provides a range of rich new functionality and a new enhanced user experience that enables operations to become more productive and responsive.” Manufacturing Operations Management is designed to simplify production management by enabling performance monitoring, downtime management and maintenance support, as well as providing statistical production analysis tools. It provides solutions and tools to facilitate the collection, consolidation and distribution of production, quality and energy information via the plant’s web-based reports, trends, and graphs. A new, self-service dashboard application promotes increased collaboration, providing visibility from shop floor to top floor and spanning IT and OT environments. It increases data connectivity to all apps and modules within the MOM suite, combining historic and manufacturing data and providing the user with improved customization capabilities. Dashboards can be shared amongst users, further promoting collaboration between teams. Trends and events are displayed together, which enables customers to identify issues and opportunities enabling informed and timely decisions. The new common services platform […]

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