Software & Digital Solutions

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.

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.

Well-intentioned conservatism can actually be very bad for tool life, according to the second episode of The CNC Chef, a new monthly video series from Cutting Tool Engineering and Bob Warfield from CNCCookbook.

Mastercam 2018 Public Beta is now open to all currently maintained Mastercam customers. Shops all over the world, from small job shops to Fortune 100, get a chance to test-drive Mastercam 2018 before it is released and provide valuable feedback to help shape the final product.

Cerasis, a transportation-management company that works with the manufacturing industry, recently shared a list of manufacturing-technology trends that it says are growing in importance. Among them are green manufacturing, IIoT and computer analytics.

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.

In the debut episode of The CNC Chef, Bob Warfield from CNCCookbook.com cautions against slowing down your feed rate to avoid tool rubbing. A new monthly video series from Cutting Tool Engineering, The CNC Chef will address a variety of machining challenges in the coming months.

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.

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.

BIG KAISER offers a mobile app to support boring operations. Leveraging the precision of BIG KAISER tooling through remote real-time information access further improves productivity and control on the factory floor.

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 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.