Manufacturing Matters

In this episode of Manufacturing Matters, Jason Baechler and Steve Pereira from Moritex Corporation join Winn Hardin and John Lewis to discuss lidar and its different implementations, including MEMS scanning, flash lidar, FMCW, OPA, and polygon mirror technologies. They discuss the unique challenges of designing and manufacturing optics for lidar vs machine vision, and go on to discuss the role of lidar in autonomous vehicles and industrial applications, as well as challenges like interference from other lidar systems and the need for sensor redundancy in certain systems.

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On this episode of Manufacturing Matters, Mark Messina, CEO of global robotics company Addverb joined TECH B2B Marketing’s Winn Hardin and Jimmy Carroll to talk about all things warehousing and logistics automation. Topics included autonomous mobile robots, ASRS systems, WMS software, supply chain, the state of warehousing automation, Addverb’s fit in the overall automation landscape, and a new partnership with Amazon Web Services (AWS) that will reportedly help improve the efficiency of Addverb’s solutions.

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On this episode of Manufacturing Matters, Ed Goffin, VP Product Marketing at Pleora Technologies joined Jimmy Carroll at Automate 2023 to discuss adoption of artificial intelligence (AI) technologies in the manufacturing space and Pleora’s approach to AI. Specifically, Goffin discusses the use of AI as a complementary technology to traditional machine vision, not as a replacement, and goes into some application examples, including those where the technologies could help a human operator make a decision consistently, repeatably, and in a traceable way.

He also discusses ease-of-use in AI and lowering the barrier of entry, successful real-world AI deployments from Pleora customers, the growing importance of industrial automation technologies in the world today, the latest and greatest advancements and technologies seen at Automate 2023, and more. 

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On this episode of Manufacturing Matters, Jean-Marc Vico, vice president and general manager of BizLink Robotic Solutions USA, discusses the importance of a quality technical training program for production operators and maintenance technicians. Unlike generic teaching courses, the company delivers customized, hands-on training – either at BizLink’s facility or by bringing its mobile work cells directly to a customer’s facility – that mirrors the customer’s robotics cell so that students learn how to use and troubleshoot their own equipment. 

BizLink uses a systems approach to training that includes an entire integrated automation system rather than the individual components. Vico also emphasizes that courses are taught by specific developers with years of real-world experience. Plus, get a sneak peak of the next generation of cable management systems for robots.

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In this episode of Manufacturing Matters, Manny Romero of Teledyne discusses the pivotal role of automation technologies in today’s evolving manufacturing landscape. The conversion dives into topics including artificial intelligence and deep learning, including Teledyne’s Astrocyte software, which end users can deploy without the need for AI expertise or coding, delivering an automated means for anomaly detection, classification, object detection, and segmentation. 

The discussion also covers Teledyne's extensive product lineup, which includes area scan and line cameras, 3D sensors, smart cameras, image sensors, frame grabbers, and additional software solutions, all tailored to meet the diverse needs of automation systems. Throughout the episode, Manny sheds light on various interface standards like GigE, USB3 Vision, Camera Link, and CoaXPress, elaborating on their individual benefits and use cases.

The episode concludes with a look toward the future of automation, both on and beyond the factory floor. Manny envisions the industry's growth being propelled by growth in areas including autonomous vehicles, agriculture, and electrification and environmental consciousness. 

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Workforce development and training are gaining importance in the automation and manufacturing space. Recorded live at Automate 2023, Omron’s Liz Lopez and Todd Mason-Darnell join Winn Hardin to discuss the company’s 90th anniversary and dive deep into its expanded portfolio of services, most notably training. Liz and Todd outline Omron’s portfolio of training services, which consists of 90 courses that are available in four languages across several tracks. They explore the importance of upskilling workers and creating career-development paths so that employees can grow with their companies and consider what the future looks like for in-person and virtual training that goes beyond the classroom.

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Jim Witherspoon, product manager at Zebra Technologies, shares how recent acquisitions have allowed the company to strengthen its portfolio in automation and vision solutions while opening the door for new customers — and markets. Zebra’s goal is to create the best solutions by merging product lines catering to machine vision novices and expert engineers alike. For example, Witherspoon acknowledges that while deep learning is often overhyped, the technology will allow customers to solve specific use cases, such as OCR, while building up its capabilities over time. Zebra also sees the continued growth of 3D imaging and is “creating easy tools for people to start dipping their toes into [that] world,” Witherspoon says.

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After taking more than 20 missions to map the sea floor near the Titanic, Humatics founder and MIT professor David Mindell saw the future of robotics and started the company in 2015 to create the next generation of location technology. That technology has since come to fruition and in this episode of the Manufacturing Matters podcast, TECH B2B Marketing’s Jimmy Carroll speaks with Ron Rinaldi, Humatics’ Senior Vice President of Sales, Marketing, and Business Development, to learn more about it. Rinaldi explains the next-generation RFID spatial intelligence solution, and discusses key applications, the ease of integration, how it enables human-robot collaboration, and much more!

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Markus Tarin, President and CEO of MoviTHERM, joins Jimmy Carroll on the Manufacturing Matters podcast to discuss improving awareness of thermal imaging applications in industrial applications, starting with the traditional and unexplored uses of the technology in machine vision. 

One of the most familiar uses for thermal imaging is inspecting packaging for leaks. On the nontraditional side, the company worked on a documentary to make CO2 visible, showing viewers what greenhouse gas exhaust looks like. But the main game changer for moviTHERM has been moving software functionality from the PC to the IoT. 

Now, an “intelligent gateway” communicates to all cameras and provides real-time monitoring locally, while the cloud offers notification and situational awareness capabilities. “It lets us rapidly scale and deploy any application…without passing on engineering or hardware costs to the customer,” Tarin says.

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Tim Stellmacher, Vice President Sales and Development at PBC Linear joins John Lewis from Manufacturing Matters to discuss the new mini-ball screw product line which PBC Linear will be highlighting in booth 1826 at the upcoming Automate Show in Detroit. They are joined by special guest and ball screw consultant Jeff Johnson with over 15 years of design engineering and product management experience to go over six key factors that should be considered when specifying ball screws for motion control applications. 

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