Automation

Motion Industries Inc., Birmingham, Ala., a wholly owned subsidiary of Genuine Parts Co., Atlanta, has agreed to acquire Numatic Engineering Inc., Sun Valley, Calif.

Lincolnshire, Ill.-based GF Machining Solutions LLC's System 3R, which supplies modular workholding/tooling systems, automation and software, is celebrating its 50-year anniversary.

Boeing and Georgia Tech formally opened a new advanced development research center designed to solve some of the toughest technical challenges in manufacturing. In the Boeing Manufacturing Development Center, company researchers and Georgia Tech engineering students will work together to implement automation in industrial applications. The center is located in Georgia’s Tech new 19,000-sq.-ft. Delta Advanced Manufacturing Pilot Facility.

Capgemini’s Digital Transformation Institute reports that manufacturers expect investments in smart factories will drive a 27 percent increase in their operation efficiency over the next five years. This would add $500 billion in annual added value to the global economy. Fifty-six percent of surveyed manufacturing executives said their companies have invested $100 million or more in smart factory initiatives over the past five years, while 20 percent claim to have invested $500 million or more.

Creditsafe USA has released the findings of an in-depth analysis of the US manufacturing industry. Despite recent overall consistent performance, the study highlights several areas of concern across the entire sector in particular the rate of bankruptcy signaling the possibility of an industry slowdown. With the manufacturing industry being the largest area of employment in the US, any decline could have a catastrophic effect on the overall US economy.

In 2007 the KUKA Titan entered the Guinness Book of World Records as the largest and strongest robot in the world. A decade later a modified version of the behemoth has been given accuracy unprecedented for its size—better than 100µm (0.0039").