The manufacturing industry is changing at an unprecedented rate. With this in mind, the upcoming Smart Manufacturing Experience Showcase at IMTS will address the latest challenges, opportunities and how emerging technologies are shaping the future. In this episode, Jamie Goettler, chief revenue officer at BTX Precision, shares his thoughts and vision for "Unscripted Manufacturing: Real-Time Problem Solving Across the Industrial Ecosystem." Potential topics include scaling production, ROI, resolving the skills gap and managing CMMC compliance.

Cara Walton shares the latest benchmarking results about efficiency, ROI, automation, workforce trends, IMTS and more from the consulting company's annual survey. Spoiler: material costs and volatility were the top concern.

Rachael Thomas, editor at SME Media, hosts welding instructors Makayla Baker and Darrell Buchanan from the Accelerated Training in Defense Manufacturing (ATDM) program in Danville, Va.

In today's rapidly evolving manufacturing landscape, workforce challenges aren't just about filling roles—they're about building a sustainable, skilled talent pipeline that can adapt to change. From accelerating retirements to advancing technologies, manufacturers must rethink how they attract, engage, and retain talent.

In this webinar, Tooling U-SME Workforce Development Specialist Denise Cowburn shares practical, proven strategies to help organizations strengthen their workforce for 2026 and beyond. Attendees will gain insights into creating a repeatable talent cycle that supports long-term growth, resilience, and competitiveness.

PRESENTER:

Denise Cowburn, Workforce Development Specialist, Tooling U-SME

Presented by Tooling U-SME

Visit https://toolingu.com/webinars for more webinars and an interactive experience with visuals.

Atomic-6 CEO Trevor Smith makes a case for putting data centers in space, the OCD marketplace and other outer-limit advances. Plus the latest news on tariffs (your check could be in the mail), cutting tungsten carbide-cobalt waste with 3D printing and ISM's expanding July PMI survey results.

This episode is a recording of the latest episode of Advanced Manufacturing Live. Previous episodes of Advanced Manufacturing Live are available on advancedmanufacturing.org/live. Follow SME Media on Facebook, LinkedIn, X and YouTube to join us live every other Thursday at 1 p.m. Eastern Time.

Trevor Smith wants to put data centers in space. He's the founder and CEO of Atomic-6, an advanced manufacturing firm. He's developing Hot Wing, a reusable high-efficiency radiator designed for the thermal demands of computing in space. And his company recently launched ODC.space, the first marketplace for orbital data centers.

This episode is a recording of the latest episode of Advanced Manufacturing Live. Previous episodes of Advanced Manufacturing Live are available on advancedmanufacturing.org/live. Follow SME Media on Facebook, LinkedIn, X and YouTube to join us live every other Thursday at 1 p.m. Eastern Time.

The manufacturing sector has expanded for the seventh consecutive month, according to the July 2026 Institute for Supply Management (ISM) Manufacturing PMI Report. Susan Spence, chair of the ISM Manufacturing Business Survey Committee discusses the factors driving industry expansion.

What can manufacturers expect from the Smart Manufacturing Experience at IMTS 2026? In this episode of Advanced Manufacturing Now, Steve Plumb is joined by Carl Mitroff, SME's conference manager, to preview one of IMTS's premier educational destinations.

Carl shares what attendees can expect from more than 30 presentations designed to help manufacturers turn emerging technologies into practical business results.

FAI creation is an essential element of quality control programs but can consume a significant amount of time. In this webinar, we will discuss a tool that consolidates all requirements into an accountability checklist, keeping drawing and inspection sheets in sync. Automatically capture sheet and zone and identify Bill of Materials (BOM) and specifications for a complete and accurate report. This software exports a professional ballooned print as a PDF and can output to your customized Excel spreadsheet.

In this session, we'll go over how to reduce quality escapes that occur from overlooking requirements. Failing results are flagged in real-time and any missing required FAIR AS9102 data is also flagged for compliance to the standard. Easily renumber balloon sequencing and change between Imperial and Metric units as required by your customers. Learn how to seamlessly import your CMM data to validate each result and easily flag non-conformances. Use any CMM in your shop to create result data and automatically populate the Designed Tooling.

The tool we discuss will assist you in keeping up with the growing prevalence of 3D modeling in manufacturing. Using the Product Manufacturing Information (PMI) of the model, this software extracts the geometry and notes from the model to create views with ballooned data and exports to the inspection sheet.

In this webinar, you will learn how to:

• Error-proof each FAI for accuracy and customer approval.
• Eliminate the need for manual data entry.
• Use your CMM output to populate FAI actuals.
• Address your customer's requirement for MBD.

PRESENTER:

Jeffrey C. Davis Account Manager DISCUS Software

Presented by DISCUS

Visit https://advancedmanufacturing.org/webinars for more webinars and an interactive experience with visuals.

Teacher. TV host. Digital content creator. Ian Johnson has done all that and more. On the latest Advanced Manufacturing Live, Johnson traces his manufacturing career journey and the role social media has played in it. He also explains why social media is a must for manufacturers that don't want to get left behind.

This episode is a recording of the latest episode of Advanced Manufacturing Live. Previous episodes of Advanced Manufacturing Live are available on advancedmanufacturing.org/live. Follow SME Media on Facebook, LinkedIn, X and YouTube to join us live every other Thursday at 1 p.m. Eastern Time.