Software

By using software to automatically optimize NC program feed rates, parts manufacturers can achieve the benefits of high-efficiency machining. So says David Sutkey, sales engineers at Irvine, Calif.-headquartered CGTech, who presented a technical session about it on May 18 at BIG KAISER Precision Tooling Inc.’s Breakfast & Learn 2017. The May 16-18 event took place at the toolmaker’s headquarters in Hoffman Estates, Ill.

ABB and IBM have announced a strategic collaboration that brings together ABB’s industry-leading digital offering, ABB Ability, with IBM Watson Internet of Things cognitive capabilities to unlock new value for customers in industry, utilities and transport & infrastructure.

The National Center for Manufacturing Sciences (NCMS) sees cyber security awareness and prevention in manufacturing as an emerging challenge and competitiveness issues that manufacturers are facing. In response, NCMS has released a new whitepaper, written by Senior Vice President Rebecca Taylor, “Balancing Productivity and Security: The New Cybersecurity Challenge for Manufacturers.”

In the 1987 movie "Wall Street," the archetypal corporate villain Gordon Gekko memorably argues that “greed is good”—and that the bottom line is the only good a dutiful company need pursue. Thirty years on, Ethisphere Institute has announced 124 companies spanning five continents, 19 countries and 52 industry sectors as the 2017 World’s Most Ethical Companies honorees. Of these, four are in the category of Industrial Manufacturing: 3M Co., Deere & Co., Milliken & Co. and Timken Co. Kennametal Inc., Latrobe, Pa., is the only honored company in the category of Machine Tools and Accessories.

Sources tell Reuters that Plex Systems Inc, a privately held U.S. maker of software used to run manufacturing plants, is exploring a potential sale that it hopes will value it at more than $1 billion, including debt. The move comes as the world's largest industrial companies, from General Electric Co. to Siemens AG, seek to snap up software assets to modernize their manufacturing processes, improve their supply chains and cut costs.

The U.S. manufacturing industry is rushing to embrace technology as a critical part of its processes and plans to make new technological investments in 2017, but barriers to Industry 4.0 adoption still exist, according to Automation Alley’s 2017 Technology Industry Report. According to the report, 85% of national manufacturing executives said their company plans to increase budgets for technological advancements; nearly a third of them plan to increase their budgets by 10% to 15%.