Software

Look Ahead: Remotely interesting monitoring

03/16/2017

Author:

One roadblock for parts makers to begin implementing Industrial Internet of Things technology is psychological: Implementation sounds like a big, time-consuming undertaking. It can be, of course. But a good way to start might be to take about 20 minutes and fire up Smart Attend, an all-in-one manufacturing-facility communication system from Smart Attend Inc.

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Get With The Program: Maximizing spindle time

03/02/2017

Author:

Jim Walsh and Marc Holthuizen

CNC machine tools only generate revenue when they are producing good parts. The more good parts they make, the quicker the return on investment for machine tools. To maximize output, the total per-part machining time, including preparation, must be minimized.

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MERLIC 3 Machine Vision Software

MVTec Software GmbH will issue the new MERLIC 3 software release on April 3. Along with the proven range of functions, the latest version also contains a number of new and improved features. These improvements make it even easier and more convenient to create machine vision applications.

Design-software leader (and good talker) resigns as CEO of Autodesk

02/17/2017

Author:

Don Nelson

Forward-looking, funny, Cornell University mathematics major Carl Bass resigned his Autodesk post as CEO on Feb. 7, but he remains on the company’s board.

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AI to guide cutting tool selection in the future

02/13/2017

Author:

Don Nelson

Engineers who currently ask humans for advice about cutting tool selection will one day direct their questions to advisers derived from artificial intelligence. So says MachiningCloud Inc. (www.machiningcloud.com), a single-source provider of digitized product data gathered from manufacturers of cutting tools and workholding devices.

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Kitagawa names new VP of sales, marketing

Kitagawa NorthTech Inc., Schaumburg, Ill., recently announced the promotion of Kevin Bennett to vice president of sales and marketing. In addition to directing the company's North American sales and marketing efforts, Bennett will be involved with the operational aspects associated with how the company brings new workholding products and services to the market.

Epicor VP on ERP software trends

Epicor Software VP of Portfolio Marketing - Manufacturing Terri Hiskey shared insights on how she believes ERP software will evolve in response to manufacturing trends such as the Internet of Things and increased use of robotics and automation. Artificial intelligence and advanced analytics will transform ERP, she writes at ETCIO.com's Tech Talk blog: "The smart factory and Industry 4.0 will give ERP systems a new lease of life, making the ERP systems of yesterday unrecognizable."

Hexagon to acquire MSC Software for $834 million

Sweden-based information technologies provider Hexagon AB has announced an agreement to acquire MSC Software Corp., the Newport Beach, Calif. based provider of computer-aided engineering solutions such as simulation software. The agreed-upon purchase price is $834 million. The acquisition is subject to clearance and standard regulatory filings and is expected to be complete in April of 2017.

PC-DMIS 2017 RI Measurement Software

Hexagon Manufacturing Intelligence launched PC-DMIS 2017 RI measurement software. ‘R1’ is short for ‘Release 1’ as there are two major releases scheduled for PC-DMIS in 2017, with continued service pack updates to ensure maximum reliability of the platform.

In-Context Design Software

Onshape updated its functionality again, introducing a new capability to edit parts within the context of assemblies. Onshape says its speeds up the design process by being full-cloud, but the company is also continuing to redefine how CAD is done.