Manufacturing Matters

Collaborative robots, autonomous mobile robots, humanoid robots, and AI were technologies that stood out at Automate 2024 in terms of the number of demonstrations and presentations on the topic at this year’s show. For NEURA Robotics, who made waves at the event with its cognitive robots, this is the company’s wheelhouse.  TECH B2B Marketing’s Winn Hardin and Jimmy Carroll had the opportunity to speak with the company’s founder and CEO David Reger Automate to discuss his company’s first appearance at Automate 2024, along with the product offerings that NEURA Robotics brings to the market.  
 
Reger also explains his vision for smarter, cognitive robots with built-in sensing paired with a robust software platform for safe robots that serve humans. He explains the added benefits cognitive robots bring to the shop floor when compared with traditional robotic counterparts. Additionally, they discuss the potential and limitations of humanoid robots and what it's like to enter the robotics market as a startup today.

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In this episode, TECH B2B Marketing’s Jimmy Carroll and John Lewis sit down with Alexandre Fong of TechnoTeam Vision to discuss imaging photometers and colorimeters. The highly specialized technology is designed and calibrated to accurately measure brightness or luminescence and color, allowing manufacturers to precisely measure whether requirements are met in lighting applications. They discuss use cases including augmented and virtual reality in manufacturing for training, maintenance, and design. Additionally, Fong shares details about the Florida photonics cluster, which aims to foster growth and provide support for small photonics companies and startups in Florida.

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In this episode of Manufacturing Matters, TECH B2B Marketing’s Jimmy Carroll and Winn Hardin are joined by Matt Wicks, Vice President and General Manager of Robotics Automation at Zebra, to discuss some of the advancements that are helping drive growth in autonomous mobile robots (AMRs). They’ll discuss the impact the labor market is having on the need for these technologies in warehouses across the country, and how Zebra is helping warehouses connect their existing handheld systems to AMRs for increased productivity, flexibility, ease of use, and collaboration with human workers. They’ll also discuss Zebra’s investments into other areas within automation, including machine vision.

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Laser triangulation is a great 3D scanning technique for high-speed applications. But what happens when the CMOS chip in your 3D sensor can’t keep pace? In this episode of the Manufacturing Matters podcast, Gretchen Alper of Automation Technology (AT) GmbH joins TECH B2B Marketing’s Jimmy Carroll and Amanda Del Buono to discuss how this challenge led to the development of a CMOS chip with on-sensor intelligence. The technology now enables processing rates as fast as 30 gigapixels per second and is changing the game for applications from logistics to road inspection. Alper also discusses her journey as a woman navigating the automation and manufacturing space, starting from her early career as an applications engineer to her current role as AT’s Business Director for North America. 

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Last week’s Automate 2024 event hosted its first ever Women’s Empower Hour, which highlighted the growing number of women working in the automation space. In this episode of Manufacturing Matters, TECH B2B Marketing’s Amanda Del Buono and Morgan Chang, US Business Development Manager at LexxPluss, continue this essential workforce development conversation. They discuss navigating the automation industry as a female and touch on some of the latest news and insights from LexxPluss.

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For applications where imaging needs to go beyond the visible spectrum, hyperspectral imaging offers a power means for capturing and analyzing data from a large number of narrow, contiguous bands across the electromagnetic spectrum. On this episode of Manufacturing Matters, Jeff Oleske, Business Area Manager at Specim, joins Jimmy Carroll and John Lewis to discuss how this technology that used to be confined to lab environments is now solving the problems we thought were unsolvable. Oleske explains how hyperspectral imaging cameras are assisting manufacturers in a growing number of applications, from sorting black plastics to foreign-object detection in foods, mining and more. He also highlights the innovations that are pushing hyperspectral imaging technology forward, like unified calibration, as well as the role of software in hyperspectral imaging.

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Employee training programs have been proven to improve performance, lower turnover, and increase engagement. In this episode, GD&T Basics - Engineer Essentials LLC Founder and Lead Course Developer Tom Geiss joins TECH B2B Marketing’s Winn Hardin and John Lewis to dive further into the benefits that employee training offers manufacturing and automation organizations of all types. They also discuss where, how, and why simplifying the complex language of Geometric Dimensioning and Tolerancing (GD&T) can help engineers communicate their project objectives more effectively, and why that benefits their employers. 

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Many jobs within the manufacturing industry today fall under the “three D’s”- dull, dirty, and dangerous. Within manufacturing, companies have struggled to attract and retain workers for more than a decade, with COVID-19 and the Great Resignation further complicating the issue. In this episode of Manufacturing Matters, TECH B2B Marketing’s Winn Hardin is joined by Gary Miller, owner of Miller Resource Group, to talk about the manufacturing labor market. Miller highlights the opportunity for reskilling workers for today’s manufacturing positions and emphasizes the importance of changing the perception of the industry in the public eye, so young people see manufacturing as an exciting opportunity to work with automation and robotics technologies in a fulfilling job.

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As industrial cameras evolve and gain processing power, more complex applications are possible. Doug Erlemann, business development manager of cameras at Baumer, joined TECH B2B Marketing’s Jimmy Carroll and John Lewis to share how advancements in camera technology, when combined with artificial intelligence–enabled software, leads to more efficient and accurate quality control, especially for facilities processing naturally derived raw materials or executing edge computing. Erlemann and our hosts also discuss the trend toward more user-friendly automation technologies and more. 

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A solid safety program requires many factors to align, such as people, practices, and infrastructure. Complicating matters is that manufacturing environments must increasingly call for quick changeovers to accommodate the growing number of SKUs produced. In this episode of Manufacturing Matters, TECH B2B Marketing's Daniel McCarthy and Amanda Del Buono join Matthew Clark, industry manager of intralogistics and packaging at EUCHNER USA, Inc. , to discuss proper safety equipment. They cover how Euchner is building flexibility into its automation safety components, like with the MGB2 modular door safety system; how communication protocols and networking capabilities enhance safety components for manufacturing operations; and more.

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