Cobots, like other robot equipment, started in material handling applications. However, this year, Universal Robots is introducing welding applications and other heavy duty metal fabrication. This podcast interviewed onsite at FABTECH Universal Robots' senior manager of application development, Joe Campbell. Universal Robots was one of the first companies to offer collaborative robots and built a business around partnering with third party developers of end-effectors and end-use. Joe will explain how cobot technology has evolved to the point of safely offering a cost-effective solution for welding, working with end-effectors offered by third party developers

Keeping stamping equipment operating at peak efficiency is vital for fabricating shops. In this podcast, Alan Rooks, Editor in Chief of Manufacturing Engineering magazine, talks with Joe Bortolameolli, product manager for Marposs, about why the use of monitoring systems on stamping equipment is useful and necessary, how the Brankamp monitoring system from Marposs works, its availability on OEM equipment and as a retrofit solution, and the key production issues monitoring equipment is able to identify.

Industry 4.0, Automation and 3D printing are three of the hottest topics in manufacturing, and this podcast targets all three! Listen in as Alan Rooks, Editor in Chief of Manufacturing Engineering magazine, talks with Steve Fruehe, pre-sales solutions consultant, and Zach Gray, strategic business developer for Siemens about the basics of digitalization; approaches to gathering and storing the required data; and how app development figures into the equation. We also discuss new products and services for the fabrication and additive markets; how robotics has changed the landscape of fabrication and additive manufacturing; and what's happening at the Siemens Additive Manufacturing Experience Center in Germany.

Can you imagine laser tube and sheet cutters that you can wheel around and plug into a wall outlet? 3D Fab Light makes such machines. In this podcast, Alan Rooks, Editor in Chief of Manufacturing Engineering magazine, talks with Joel Rosenberg, CEO of 3D Fab Light Inc., about where the startup idea for FabLight Tube & Sheet came from, how the company is able to manufacture in the high-cost San Francisco Bay Area, how its sheet and tube cutting machines operate on 110V 20A wall outlet power, and their capabilities in terms of thicknesses, cutting beds, and tube sizes.

Kevin Smith, senior commercial application engineer at Markforged, explains how the Markforged Metal X 3D printing process works, for starters. He also gets into how FFF metal printing differs from DMLS and other processes. And he goes over materials that can be printed on the Metal X, as well as the applications that are best suited for metal 3D printing.

Lubrication has always been a key issue on manufacturing plant, but new technology has advanced the science of lubrication in remarkable ways. In this podcast, Alan Rooks, Editor in Chief of Manufacturing Engineering magazine, talks with Jerry Robinson, division manager for Castrol LubeCon about lubrication issues and trends that manufacturers are dealing with; common lubrication challenges they face; and new services and products that Castrol LubeCon is focusing on.

Everyone knows that companies like Amazon have turned the business of purchasing consumer products upside down. But how is online purchasing changing the business-to-business purchasing world? Alan Rooks, Editor in Chief of Manufacturing Engineering magazine, sat down with Kevin Weadick, President of Zoro.com, to find out. In this podcast, they discuss how B2B purchasing has traditionally been handled and how online purchasing is changing that equation; how online consumer shopping is setting expectations for B2B online purchasing; how manufacturers can navigate a "mixed market" of purchasing some of their products offline, and some online; and the services that Zoro has rolled out as well as the services it will be introducing in the future.

Time is money and reliability is what a company's reputation is built on. Chris Mahar, Associate Editor of Manufacturing Engineering, speaks with Mike Marr, Applications Technician at Hoffmann Group USA, about their Parabolic Performance Cutting (PPC) series and Garant Master Tap line. Discussing how manufacturers can reduce costs, provide process reliability and reduce machining times in both machining threads and 5-axis copy milling.

When it comes to being successful, manufacturers today have more tools than ever to succeed. Chris Mahar, Associate Editor of Manufacturing Engineering, talks with Jeff Lage, President, Advanced Manufacturing Technologies at Ellison Technologies, about how Industry 4.0 is helping manufacturers improve operations through data collection and insights. Providing tips on how businesses can get the most capacity out of their machines, remove waste and enable their machines do more.

Manufacturing is changing and so is factory automation and robotics. Chris Mahar, Associate Editor of Manufacturing Engineering, sits down with Amber Fulmer, Eastern Sales Manager for North America at OnRobot US, about collaborative robots and the future of automation in manufacturing. Highlighting the importance and variety in end-of-arm tooling that is available for collaborative robots and how it impacts the work that gets done.