All Features
Hexagon Manufacturing Intelligence
Welcome to a sneak peek at the 2024 edition of Engineering Reality, a magazine published by Hexagon’s Manufacturing Intelligence division and dedicated to accelerating smart manufacturing. This edition highlights human ingenuity, showcasing how engineering teams from different organizations harness…
Melissa Burant, Marc Schneider
As a manufacturer, you understand that supply chain disruptions happen all the time. What you don’t know is when or how they will affect your operation and business. But assessing your supply chain risks and implementing good supply chain management practices can be daunting. This is especially…
Jennifer Chu
An intricate, honeycomb-like structure of struts and beams could withstand a supersonic impact better than a solid slab of the same material. What’s more, the specific structure matters, with some being more resilient to impacts than others.
That’s what MIT engineers find in experiments with…
Michael King
In the ever-evolving life-sciences industry, market share is fiercely contested and companies must continuously optimize their operations to maintain their competitive edge.
Modern technologies and intelligence-driven solutions are revolutionizing how organizations work, empowering them to elevate…
Rich Nobliski
Ask anyone higher up in manufacturing today—like Brian Coglianese, the quality manager and management representative of Helander Metal Spinning Co.—and they’ll tell you a similar story: Recruiting top talent, especially younger post-high school students, is increasingly difficult.
It’s known…
NIST
In research, sometimes the bumpy path proves to be the best one. By creating tiny, periodic bumps in a miniature racetrack for light, researchers at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) and their colleagues at the Joint Quantum Institute (JQI), a research partnership between…
Kristi McDermott
Technology has reshaped the healthcare industry, empowering clinicians, technicians, and executives to better serve patients and achieve their goals. However, technology doesn’t eliminate the need for human oversight and management. Healthcare technology will continue to advance at a rapid pace in…
Phanish Puranam, Asher Lawson, Miguel Sousa Lobo
Just two months after its launch in late 2022, ChatGPT reached 100 million monthly active users. Along with other advanced language models, it quickly began encroaching on territory traditionally exempt from automation, such as tasks requiring creativity, intuition, and decision-making.
So, what…
Miron Shtiglitz
The main benefit of deploying artificial intelligence (AI) for quality inspection is a significant improvement in defect detection. However, the data generated and stored by inspection systems have the potential to deliver additional benefits, including major improvements in yield.
Anyone working…
Del Williams
An experienced conveyor supplier can advise food processors on the ideal options for resolving common challenges associated with conveying powdered food products, such as caking, packing, and hazardous dust emissions.
Almost every industry has a powdered version of products or ingredients that…
Anjana Susarla, Casey Fiesler, Kentaro Toyama
The year 2023 was one of AI hype. Regardless of whether the narrative was that AI was going to save the world or destroy it, it often felt as if visions of what AI might be someday overwhelmed the current reality. And though anticipating future harms is a critical component of overcoming ethical…
Mike Figliuolo
If you have a new business idea, I’m excited for you. If you ever want to get it off the ground, however, be sure you have a problem. A real problem. I know that sounds cryptic. Allow me to explain.
When I hear a new pitch, the first question I ask is, “What’s the problem?”
You would be surprised…
Silke von Gemmingen
Smart waste management is one of the core tasks within smart cities, i.e., those urban areas in which innovative technologies and data-driven solutions are used. They aim to improve residents’ quality of life, minimize environmental impact, and use resources more efficiently. Conserving resources…
Katia Savchuk
Since generative AI went mainstream in 2023, it has inspired an equal measure of hype and fear. Boosters of tools such as ChatGPT and DALL-E predict that they will transform our economy, while skeptics worry about their potential to produce inaccurate or harmful results and ultimately replace…
Creaform
End-to-end manufacturers are companies that lead products through the entire manufacturing process, from design to customer delivery. Unlike businesses that manufacture their products with a segmented manufacturing process, end-to-end manufacturers have complete control over the different parts of…
Harry Hertz
Let me introduce the five “Al” siblings: informational, aspirational, foundational, directional, and decisional. Also, meet their young cousin, survival.
In my years of learning about organizations and teaching graduate students about strategy and organizational analysis, I have seen several key…
Akhilesh Gulati
The first day of the conference was over, and most of us congregated for happy hour, relaxing, networking, and furthering our connections. We reminisced about the day, commenting about the good, the bad, and the ugly: events at work, travel, organizational policies, you name it.
Interestingly, the…
Gleb Tsipursky
Have you ever felt like you’re speaking into a void in a hybrid meeting? You’re not alone. The shift to hybrid workplaces has introduced a unique set of challenges in communication and collaboration. The goals? To make the office worth the commute, and the virtual connection minimally distant from…
Eric Whitley
High-precision manufacturing is critical in industries where even the slightest deviation can lead to significant consequences. It encompasses processes that demand the utmost accuracy, often in sectors like aerospace, medical devices, and electronics. Precision is important due to its direct…
Andrew Novick
While people around the country are preparing champagne and getting ready to watch the ball drop on New Year’s Eve, I’m closely monitoring our clocks at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST).
We actually monitor them every nanosecond of every day, not just on New Year’s Eve.…
Jason Walker
As the manufacturing industry continues to grapple with labor shortages, potential shifts in government policies could further intensify these challenges in 2025. This heightens the urgency for manufacturers to meet demand while navigating an unpredictable future.
One area where this is…
Industrial Inspection and Analysis
Unlike the traditional engineering process of designing a part, product, or component from the ground up, many times in life we need to start with an existing item and work backward to solve a problem. It’s a process known as reverse engineering, and it begins by obtaining accurate data about the…
Chris Caldwell
The quest to optimize equipment efficiency, ensure consistent quality, and lower operational costs while empowering a stronger workforce continues to permeate the industrial landscape. While challenges persist, the transformative potential that high-performance robotic automation is bringing to…
Kari Miller
Traditionally, quality management in the pharmaceutical industry has strayed away from artificial intelligence (AI) for fear of setting it loose with such sensitive information. They have been cautious of implementing an additional element of intelligence into their process. But will organizations…
Greg MacDonald
As we launch into Industry 4.0, the need for advanced automation and high-performance connectivity solutions intensifies, requiring protocols like Industrial Ethernet for maximum efficiency and productivity. Products like ix Industrial and Single Pair Ethernet are ideal new interconnects, offering…
