Home > Resources > Articles > Manufacturing Day Perspective: Attracting a Management Force, Not Just A Work Force By Frances Brunelle

Manufacturing Day Perspective: Attracting a Management Force, Not Just A Work Force By Frances Brunelle

MFG Day was established in 2012 to address both the skills gap and misconceptions about modern manufacturing. There is universal agreement this is a valuable and important effort. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, more than 500,000 manufacturing jobs remain unfilled month over month, year over year. The projections are this situation will only get worse. Research by Deloitte and the Manufacturing Institute predicts that over the next ten years, manufacturers will lack 2.4 million of the 4.6 million workers needed. 

The Bigger Problem: Manufacturing Owner Founders are Retiring

Despite the legitimate repackaging of manufacturing work as interesting, honorable, and lucrative, there is an even bigger problem brewing for U.S. manufacturing. About 66 percent of business owners are expected to retire in the next decade.  Attracting young people to the manufacturing sector through MFG Day advocacy each October is a terrific start, however these new entrants to the manufacturing workforce simply will not be ready to take the helm and manage these companies in time to fill the shoes of retiring manufacturing owners. The skills gap is far more than a shortage of CNC, lathe, and mold making machine operators and programmers.  An entire generation of manufacturing management is lacking; rather than talking about 2.4 million unfilled manufacturing jobs, the urgency will shift to the $454 billion of Manufacturing GDP at risk. 

Young Baby-Boomers Saving Manufacturing 2020 and Beyond

For several years there has been a developing phenomenon in Manufacturing Mergers & Acquisitions (M&A). Young baby-boomers are leaving corporate America in favor of buying manufacturing companies. The Market Pulse Report tracks the M&A industry quarterly; the report has shown that manufacturing companies are the most sought-after acquisition in the U.S. (with few quarterly exceptions).
Manufacturing Day Perspective: Attracting a Management Force, Not Just A Work Force By Frances Brunelle
First time baby-boomer buyers have led the charge in purchasing manufacturing companies, winning the acquisition over private equity and strategic competition. Interestingly, many times these new manufacturing acquirers are from non-manufacturing sectors.

Rationale for Young Baby-Boomers Buying Manufacturing Companies

Professional and educated, the young baby-boomer may have been a victim to corporate downsizing or outsourced by large corporations. There are other specific characteristics which have been identified by Accelerated Manufacturing Brokers including:

• Baby-boomers want to control their destiny
• Baby-boomers in acquiring a manufacturing company are buying a job that will nicely fund their retirement in 10-15 years when they sell the company
• Baby-boomers are tired of current work scenarios which require constant travel or frequent relocation; baby-boomers want to establish roots
• Baby-boomers’ children have graduated from college and they are turning to focus on what THEY want
• Baby-boomers often held executive positions in very large, sometimes publicly traded global companies; they have substantial savings and yet feel too young to retire.

Younger Baby-Boomers Are Qualified to Run a Manufacturing Company

Often younger boomers are not coming out of large manufacturing companies. Management experience is a skill set ideal for running a manufacturing company. The function most often missing in founder-led manufacturing companies is a sales and marketing function. For this reason, young boomers are uniquely qualified.

Common traits of executives buying manufacturing companies in today’s market: Many of these buyers are coming out of organizations that they helped grow from a few million to a few hundred million in sales. They are highly skilled in the areas of sales, marketing, and business development. Only in very small manufacturing companies, where the business is dependent on the owner for the machining and engineering function, would this skill set not be a suitable match. For most mid-size organizations, a young baby-boomer can take the helm, as well as grow the company beyond the founder’s ability. An additional benefit of having worked for large corporations is the people capital and relationship connections often lacking with the manufacturing founder.

Manufacturers Can Attract the Young Baby-Boomer Buyer

To attract this type of buyer, a manufacturing business owner needs to make sure that the manufacturing side of the business can function without strict oversight. Ensuring that someone other than the owner is customer-facing and can perform quoting (RFQs) and job costing, assuages the concerns of many potential buyers. MFG Day 2020 and Beyond Can be Instrumental in Attracting a New Management Force
• When creating shop tours, make sure that events are not merely geared to young future plant floor positions
• MFG Day must interface and connect with M&A professionals who bring buyers considering manufacturing acquisitions into the process
• Connect with life coaches who are dealing with those in career transitions
• MFG DAY promotional material must focus on those with the ability to buy manufacturing companies

Because manufacturing is where the concept of continuous process improvement (lean manufacturing) started, it is critical that the role and function of MFG Day grows and changes with the conditions of the sector. While a future workforce is critical and must be considered by impressing the culture and opportunities of the sector, attracting the best and brightest to this important sector, must include recruiting and advocating for the future owners of manufacturing firms to take the enterprises to the next level.
About The Author
Frances Brunelle is the founder of Accelerated Manufacturing Brokers, Inc., which specializes in the sale of lower middle market manufacturing companies nationally. Fran and her team help to ensure the continuity of U.S. Manufacturing by transitioning ownership to the next generation of entrepreneur. Fran writes on topics that help manufacturing business owners prepare their companies for sale and navigate the sale process to ensure a positive financial result in support of their retirement.

SPOTLIGHT

Accelerated Manufacturing Brokers, Inc.

Accelerated Manufacturing Brokers, Inc., specializes in the sale of manufacturing companies nationwide, with generally $2 - $20 million in revenue. We help manufacturing business owners transition into retirement, and help manufacturers partner for growth. Our mission is to ensure the continuity of U.S. Manufacturing & jobs by transitioning ownership to a new generation of entrepreneurs. If your seeking to purchase a manufacturing company, whether you're an individual leaving corporate America, a private equity or a strategic buyer, we can help get you where you want to go faster. With us you'll find a professional, no-nonsense approach and the information you need to make an informed acquisition determination.

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MANUFACTURING TECHNOLOGY, ADDITIVE MANUFACTURING

3 New Design Goals to Fuel Innovation Easily with Additive Manufacturing

Article | September 30, 2022

Stand out with long-term scalability with AM by fuelling innovation in the design process. Staying relevant has now become critical when it comes to additive manufacturing. It is, therefore, essential to make decisions by deep diving into the right people, processes, and technologies at the right moment to keep up the momentum when using AM processes. Better Product Designs with Design Innovation Framework for Additive Manufacturing Additive manufacturers have started using the product design innovation (DI) framework. It serves additive manufacturing part designs with increased - Proof of value (POV) - Helps your business stand out in the market with superior quality design. Proof of concept (POC) – Ensures that the design will function as intended. Proof of market (POM) – Defines the level of success of a design at scale for mass market production. Proof of impact (POI) – Using simulation to mitigate design failures and ensure that your designs last longer. As a result of the design innovation framework, additive manufacturing parts are manufactured faster and with better quality while lowering material costs. Furthermore, with more and more additive manufacturing companies implementing design innovation frameworks for their production, it is possible to tap into the opportunities of innovative product design at an early stage to give your production a competitive edge. Therefore, in the quest to grab an early market share in additive manufacturing for new, small and medium enterprises, the design innovation framework will play a pivotal role. Your product design, product research and development teams will implement the DI framework for the scalability of your additive manufacturing units. Fuel innovation and design thinking to produce innovative product design ideas with the goals and practices in the DI framework, as mentioned below. They infuse your designs with the design innovation framework to get quality manufactured products. Strategic Business Growth with AM Design to Fuel Innovation for Small and Medium Enterprises Fuel innovation in how you design additive manufacturing parts with strategic business growth. By keeping three goals in mind during the design process, you can use cutting-edge research in additive manufacturing design to help your business grow. Increase Speed: Create highly detailed intermediate manufacturing goods. As additive manufacturing is still in the transition phase, creating highly complex designs on a small scale is easy. But for large-scale AM production, intermediate goods like molds make it easy and quick to make intricate details. Build upon the existing DI (Design Innovation) process. Make use of designs from the design repositories and similar component geometry. Choose an orientation that does not need additional support. Save resources by preferring cellular structure over solid volumes. Make use of internal volumes to add more functionality. Print functional joints to save assembly steps and time. Standardize the assembly process to save production time. Use high-resolution STL files to reach your maximum design potential. Improve printability by scaling the artifacts and considering the resolution of the process. Manage Quality: Reduce residual stress to keep the parts from warping. Materials must be qualified and characterized to be micro-structured. Adhere to industry standards to get consistent, reliable, and repeatable outputs. While successful designs with strategic AM innovation can be beneficial to Create new products with AM. Create new business models with AM, AM helps to advance product design processes. Create new classes of AM technologies. Save Costs: Save costs by creating multifunctional parts. Choose a cheaper alternative material that satisfies the same constraints. Go for an economical assembly by manufacturing high-performing parts. Implement a cellular structure to reduce the quantity of material used. Innovate designs that bring down costs through accurate simulation of manufacturing constraints. Use composite material that satisfies the applied constraints. Risk Factors to Consider and Mitigate When Investing in AM The Risk of Data Leakage Cyber security is a critical component when storing design file data on the cloud and sharing it over the network. Getting a design file copied, stolen, altered, infected, or deleted causes a loss of time and sometimes money. Attackers ask for a ransom by putting a worm in your design file or blocking access. A highly private network with encrypted personal cloud connectivity and highly secure access control are the answers to mitigating the risk of cyber-attacks. Mitigating the risk is done with several measures. These include doing regular risk assessments, using a single design with no mistakes as a base for other design models, using advanced RFID tags to make products with AM, and practicing individual vigilance through awareness. The Risk of Poor Quality When outsourcing your manufacturing to an AM unit, the risk of low quality of the manufactured products is high. You cannot offer a warranty or guarantee when outsourcing production. Also, there is a risk that companies facing losses due to faulty products might want to claim for their losses. Quality improves when you give much attention to post-processing the manufactured parts. Leading Industries Using the DI Framework in AM: Aerospace Automotive Consumer products Energy Infrastructure Medical and pharmaceutical Food Sports Accessories Final Thoughts: Gearing up with innovation in additive manufacturing starts with three design goals. These include increasing speed, managing quality, and saving costs, which can help you achieve strategic business growth to scale for the long-term for business resilience. In addition, the DI framework for AM helps your large enterprise use progressive design thinking. So, now is the best time to invest into new ways to design products using design and management software for additive manufacturing.

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ADDITIVE MANUFACTURING

10 Best Features to Look for in an Additive Manufacturing Software

Article | September 20, 2022

The day is near when additive manufacturing (AM) will become production-ready, with many technological advancements in additive manufacturing software. Although taking care of manual post-processing is one of the challenges AM faces, methods to reduce it are on the rise with the help of better additive manufacturing software. Multilayer 3D printing revolutionises production, combining to fuel innovation. Let's find out what software features for additive manufacturing can help solve the problems that arise. How Does Additive Manufacturing Software Aid in the Resolution of Issues in Large Enterprises? For large enterprises, additive manufacturing software champions innovation to achieve long-term goals and resolve problems with these solutions. Sustainability in Manufacturing: A minimum wastage of material makes additive manufacturing sustainable. Therefore, achieve your goal of implementing sustainable practises quickly. Decrease Costs: Cut costs by automation, optimization, and simulation to help decrease costs at all stages of an AM workflow. Optimize Inventory: You can get rid of a lot of your inventory if you know exactly what material each part needs and how much of it you need. Easy Material Replacement: Simulate results for different materials and easily replace your material for printing as per availability. Combine multiple materials to strengthen parts and make them versatile. Generate Multiple Design Versions: The generative design approach allows you to generate multiple versions of a complex part subject to constraints. As a result, you reduce the guesswork and improve the quality quickly and efficiently. With AI designs in additive manufacturing software, you get progressive design innovation and development. As AM software aids large enterprises to fuel innovation in design implementation and follow the recent trends in additive manufacturing, AM processes such as binder jetting, metal additive manufacturing work and other types of additive manufacturing benefit from them as well. Explore the benefits of additive manufacturing for small and medium enterprises in our next segment which will cover additive manufacturing overview. Learn in-depth insights into why AM software are becoming a choice of medium sized businesses as well. Three Reasons to Use Additive Manufacturing Software To realize the full potential of additive manufacturing, good software plays a vital role in determining the quality of the output printed. Find out exactly how software for additive manufacturing could help your designs and your business grow. Automate: Automated light weighting, part consolidation, and generative design help unlock the scalability of your designs in terms of functionality and cost efficiency. Additive manufacturing software helps you achieve these efficiently. Optimize: Streamline the AM workflow using additive MES (manufacturing execution system) software. Increasing the printing process's efficiency helps reduce the time needed to print and improves the quality of the part manufactured and the machine utilization rates. Simulate and Test: Make your part design model subject to different constraints with the help of simulation using AM software. Reach excellence in additive manufacturing parts for real-life situations. Build a failsafe part using automated mathematical analysis. Using additive manufacturing software can help you overcome many challenges. However, while considering AM software, please note its shortcomings. The Big Challenge in Additive Manufacturing Software At each step of additive manufacturing, separate software is essential to perform different functions. AM software performs many critical functions, such as step-by-step design, printability checks, light weighting, adding support, and simulation analysis. However, a single software package does not exist that addresses all aspects of additive manufacturing. Software integration resolves this issue effectively and efficiently. Additive Manufacturing Software Functions for Large Enterprises For large enterprises, it is essential to get the accurate design of complex parts and manage the AM production workflow right. Additive manufacturing software brings both functions to the table. Learn how additive manufacturing fuels innovation in design. Features of Additive Manufacturing software for design and managing workflow are as under: Top Features of Additive Manufacturing (DfAM) Software: It is easy to nurture the design thinking process by arming with suitable DfAM software for medium and large enterprises. Their features are as follows: Topology Optimization: Using mathematical tools to simulate the material distribution of the part is topology optimization. Making changes in the material distribution can remove inefficient regions from the design. In addition, automated topology optimization helps quickly produce complex geometrical structures using DfAM software. Lattice Pattern Generation: Using additive manufacturing software, we generate 3D lattice patterns automatically. They significantly save costs by using a lower volume of materials and helping design multifunctional parts and structures. In addition, they reduce their weight and cost, making them flexible and stress-resistant. Generative Design: The power of generative design lies in designing to match all the design parameters, applying all constraints, and generating multiple design candidates quickly and efficiently. These include material type, shape, density, orientation, and more. This design evolves your part per your required parameters and expedites optimization. Automatic Light-Weighting: Applying light weighting techniques such as materials selection, part consolidation, conformal ribbing, lattice structures, and optimization of topology helps further bring down the costs. With DfAM software, the process is automatic and easy. Automated Part Consolidation: Creating a single part that can perform multiple functions saves space and costs, boosting efficiency. However, deciding whether consolidation can conform to other system components can sometimes be challenging. Find a way to solve this problem with the help of a feature in additive manufacturing software that automatically groups parts together. Stress, Heat, and Impact Simulation: Predict the part design's stress, heat, and impact-taking ability in the case of light weighting. Simulation helps test the part using different materials, keeping in mind their temperature, stress, and impact resistance. For instance, DfAM software tests a part before printing the prototype, utilizing this feature. Build Failure Prediction: Mathematical analysis-backed calculations of distortions and validations help in predicting building failures. A DfAM also helps predict building failures before they happen by calculating the efficiency over time. This makes the parts more durable. 3D Packing: Find the ideal shipping container and calculate its size, number, and maximum capacity using 3D packing technology. This automated software tool helps you efficiently send your shipments to your clients. Machine Parameters: Select the process parameters as per the part or product requirements. Apply different constraints to simulate the work using additive manufacturing software. Adjust them as per the desired characteristics in the output part using the software. Print Failure Prediction: Analyzing a designed model for deformation, cracks, stress, and growth is possible with software simulation. In addition, this data helps detect probable print failure. An end-to-end workflow automation solution using additive manufacturing MES software works in sync with your existing software. Learn about its features as below: Features of Good Additive Manufacturing MES Software: Order Management: Receiving, organizing, and processing orders for printing is excellent at order management. Part/file Analysis: The main tasks of part or file analysis are to look at the part or file's feasibility under different constraints and suggest ways to fix it. Production Planning: Production planning helps automate preparation for the production cycle. Instant Quotations: With built-in quotation management, create, approve, present, accept or reject quotations and place an order for part printing. Material and Inventory Management: It takes care of choosing the right material for the part and making sure that enough of that material is in stock to make it. Nesting: With nesting calculations, automatic space optimization on the print bed is possible Post-Processing Management: Remove defects after manufacturing using a streamlined post-processing management system. Quality Inspection and Management: Use the Quality Management System to remove possible distortions and deformations under constraints. Order Tracking and Traceability: Get the status of print order processing at all times with accurate tracking during the AM process. Analytics: Get a complete analysis of the data generated at each step of your AM workflow. If getting powerful software is not something you are considering at the moment, you can still welcome a host of new additions with the help of software integrations. Explore more about it down below. Use Software Integrations to Connect Existing Software: Link your existing software to your additive manufacturing software for seamless data sharing over the additive MES using software integration. For instance, connect existing AM workflows, 3D modelling simulations, import CAD files of models, send and receive purchase orders, and do much more with a one-stop MES solution. With the right integrations, you can add the features your software needs to stay current. When considering purchasing an AM software package, the initial, operational, training, and time required to learn it must all be calculated. For large enterprises, the reduction in inventory size and better accuracy with AM software bring down the cost of additive manufacturing production. Let us take a deep dive into the estimation of AM software. Estimation for Additive Manufacturing Software Setup and Operations: Depending upon the feature set of the additive manufacturing software, it might cost from $120/month/user to $25,000 annually or more. The significant influence is the implementation time and user-friendliness, like any other software for your business or enterprise. Several additive manufacturing and management software might have features that you may not need right now. However, upon scaling your business, they will become a necessity. You may want to consider software with supporting API integrations to smoothly transition from your existing software to advanced additive manufacturing software. As a result, you will reduce your cost of training the personnel while boosting their efficiency manifold. Additive Manufacturing Software's Future Scope Custom printing of complex geometrical structures with additive manufacturing is no longer restricted just to rapid prototyping. With the advent of volumetric additive manufacturing, it is now possible to print all the target points in the geometry simultaneously. Achieve this with the help of rotating the resin container with the guidance of a digital light projection system. In addition, this method can reduce some of the post-processing involved in an additive manufacturing production workflow to help make additive manufacturing more reliable and efficient. The future of additive manufacturing looks supremely promising with several applications of volumetric additive manufacturing. These include aerospace, medical, transportation, energy, consumer products and the like. In the future, revolutionary multifunctional parts will be created using automated part consolidation to optimize part designs like never before. Furthermore, using AI, accuracy is bound to improve. Conclusion: Building a resilient business for medium and large enterprises to unlock scalability is easy with a range of additive manufacturing software. Leveraging AM software saves turn-around time from researching to the production line with a stable and better design. It boosts ROI by streamlining your additive manufacturing workflows and cutting production costs using additive manufacturing software. Software integrations help enterprises stay current with all the features needed and introduced from time to time to make additive manufacturing practical. Using AI with AM software is becoming the norm for both medium and large AM companies that want to get a head start on the market.

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Article | February 11, 2020

As a part of the Industry 4.0 movement, factory engineers are increasingly adopting some form of industrial Ethernet to interconnect the machines and other equipment implementing their production processes. Ethernet has been around in multiple forms for over 40 years. Most of it serves the IT community by interconnecting PCs and other equipment to a company LAN. Because of its flexibility, Ethernet has been adapted to many industrial uses.

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The Impact of Coronavirus on Electronic Manufacturing

Article | February 11, 2020

Wuhan, the epicenter of the outbreak, is considered a crucial hub in the middle of China, a place of high importance for the production of automobiles, electronics, optics, and fiber optics. Wuhan and surrounding cities in the Hubei province are currently on a government-imposed quarantine at a scale the world has never seen before, some Chinese officials have referred to the situation as warlike.

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MANUFACTURING TECHNOLOGY, ADDITIVE MANUFACTURING

3 New Design Goals to Fuel Innovation Easily with Additive Manufacturing

Article | September 30, 2022

Stand out with long-term scalability with AM by fuelling innovation in the design process. Staying relevant has now become critical when it comes to additive manufacturing. It is, therefore, essential to make decisions by deep diving into the right people, processes, and technologies at the right moment to keep up the momentum when using AM processes. Better Product Designs with Design Innovation Framework for Additive Manufacturing Additive manufacturers have started using the product design innovation (DI) framework. It serves additive manufacturing part designs with increased - Proof of value (POV) - Helps your business stand out in the market with superior quality design. Proof of concept (POC) – Ensures that the design will function as intended. Proof of market (POM) – Defines the level of success of a design at scale for mass market production. Proof of impact (POI) – Using simulation to mitigate design failures and ensure that your designs last longer. As a result of the design innovation framework, additive manufacturing parts are manufactured faster and with better quality while lowering material costs. Furthermore, with more and more additive manufacturing companies implementing design innovation frameworks for their production, it is possible to tap into the opportunities of innovative product design at an early stage to give your production a competitive edge. Therefore, in the quest to grab an early market share in additive manufacturing for new, small and medium enterprises, the design innovation framework will play a pivotal role. Your product design, product research and development teams will implement the DI framework for the scalability of your additive manufacturing units. Fuel innovation and design thinking to produce innovative product design ideas with the goals and practices in the DI framework, as mentioned below. They infuse your designs with the design innovation framework to get quality manufactured products. Strategic Business Growth with AM Design to Fuel Innovation for Small and Medium Enterprises Fuel innovation in how you design additive manufacturing parts with strategic business growth. By keeping three goals in mind during the design process, you can use cutting-edge research in additive manufacturing design to help your business grow. Increase Speed: Create highly detailed intermediate manufacturing goods. As additive manufacturing is still in the transition phase, creating highly complex designs on a small scale is easy. But for large-scale AM production, intermediate goods like molds make it easy and quick to make intricate details. Build upon the existing DI (Design Innovation) process. Make use of designs from the design repositories and similar component geometry. Choose an orientation that does not need additional support. Save resources by preferring cellular structure over solid volumes. Make use of internal volumes to add more functionality. Print functional joints to save assembly steps and time. Standardize the assembly process to save production time. Use high-resolution STL files to reach your maximum design potential. Improve printability by scaling the artifacts and considering the resolution of the process. Manage Quality: Reduce residual stress to keep the parts from warping. Materials must be qualified and characterized to be micro-structured. Adhere to industry standards to get consistent, reliable, and repeatable outputs. While successful designs with strategic AM innovation can be beneficial to Create new products with AM. Create new business models with AM, AM helps to advance product design processes. Create new classes of AM technologies. Save Costs: Save costs by creating multifunctional parts. Choose a cheaper alternative material that satisfies the same constraints. Go for an economical assembly by manufacturing high-performing parts. Implement a cellular structure to reduce the quantity of material used. Innovate designs that bring down costs through accurate simulation of manufacturing constraints. Use composite material that satisfies the applied constraints. Risk Factors to Consider and Mitigate When Investing in AM The Risk of Data Leakage Cyber security is a critical component when storing design file data on the cloud and sharing it over the network. Getting a design file copied, stolen, altered, infected, or deleted causes a loss of time and sometimes money. Attackers ask for a ransom by putting a worm in your design file or blocking access. A highly private network with encrypted personal cloud connectivity and highly secure access control are the answers to mitigating the risk of cyber-attacks. Mitigating the risk is done with several measures. These include doing regular risk assessments, using a single design with no mistakes as a base for other design models, using advanced RFID tags to make products with AM, and practicing individual vigilance through awareness. The Risk of Poor Quality When outsourcing your manufacturing to an AM unit, the risk of low quality of the manufactured products is high. You cannot offer a warranty or guarantee when outsourcing production. Also, there is a risk that companies facing losses due to faulty products might want to claim for their losses. Quality improves when you give much attention to post-processing the manufactured parts. Leading Industries Using the DI Framework in AM: Aerospace Automotive Consumer products Energy Infrastructure Medical and pharmaceutical Food Sports Accessories Final Thoughts: Gearing up with innovation in additive manufacturing starts with three design goals. These include increasing speed, managing quality, and saving costs, which can help you achieve strategic business growth to scale for the long-term for business resilience. In addition, the DI framework for AM helps your large enterprise use progressive design thinking. So, now is the best time to invest into new ways to design products using design and management software for additive manufacturing.

Read More
ADDITIVE MANUFACTURING

10 Best Features to Look for in an Additive Manufacturing Software

Article | September 20, 2022

The day is near when additive manufacturing (AM) will become production-ready, with many technological advancements in additive manufacturing software. Although taking care of manual post-processing is one of the challenges AM faces, methods to reduce it are on the rise with the help of better additive manufacturing software. Multilayer 3D printing revolutionises production, combining to fuel innovation. Let's find out what software features for additive manufacturing can help solve the problems that arise. How Does Additive Manufacturing Software Aid in the Resolution of Issues in Large Enterprises? For large enterprises, additive manufacturing software champions innovation to achieve long-term goals and resolve problems with these solutions. Sustainability in Manufacturing: A minimum wastage of material makes additive manufacturing sustainable. Therefore, achieve your goal of implementing sustainable practises quickly. Decrease Costs: Cut costs by automation, optimization, and simulation to help decrease costs at all stages of an AM workflow. Optimize Inventory: You can get rid of a lot of your inventory if you know exactly what material each part needs and how much of it you need. Easy Material Replacement: Simulate results for different materials and easily replace your material for printing as per availability. Combine multiple materials to strengthen parts and make them versatile. Generate Multiple Design Versions: The generative design approach allows you to generate multiple versions of a complex part subject to constraints. As a result, you reduce the guesswork and improve the quality quickly and efficiently. With AI designs in additive manufacturing software, you get progressive design innovation and development. As AM software aids large enterprises to fuel innovation in design implementation and follow the recent trends in additive manufacturing, AM processes such as binder jetting, metal additive manufacturing work and other types of additive manufacturing benefit from them as well. Explore the benefits of additive manufacturing for small and medium enterprises in our next segment which will cover additive manufacturing overview. Learn in-depth insights into why AM software are becoming a choice of medium sized businesses as well. Three Reasons to Use Additive Manufacturing Software To realize the full potential of additive manufacturing, good software plays a vital role in determining the quality of the output printed. Find out exactly how software for additive manufacturing could help your designs and your business grow. Automate: Automated light weighting, part consolidation, and generative design help unlock the scalability of your designs in terms of functionality and cost efficiency. Additive manufacturing software helps you achieve these efficiently. Optimize: Streamline the AM workflow using additive MES (manufacturing execution system) software. Increasing the printing process's efficiency helps reduce the time needed to print and improves the quality of the part manufactured and the machine utilization rates. Simulate and Test: Make your part design model subject to different constraints with the help of simulation using AM software. Reach excellence in additive manufacturing parts for real-life situations. Build a failsafe part using automated mathematical analysis. Using additive manufacturing software can help you overcome many challenges. However, while considering AM software, please note its shortcomings. The Big Challenge in Additive Manufacturing Software At each step of additive manufacturing, separate software is essential to perform different functions. AM software performs many critical functions, such as step-by-step design, printability checks, light weighting, adding support, and simulation analysis. However, a single software package does not exist that addresses all aspects of additive manufacturing. Software integration resolves this issue effectively and efficiently. Additive Manufacturing Software Functions for Large Enterprises For large enterprises, it is essential to get the accurate design of complex parts and manage the AM production workflow right. Additive manufacturing software brings both functions to the table. Learn how additive manufacturing fuels innovation in design. Features of Additive Manufacturing software for design and managing workflow are as under: Top Features of Additive Manufacturing (DfAM) Software: It is easy to nurture the design thinking process by arming with suitable DfAM software for medium and large enterprises. Their features are as follows: Topology Optimization: Using mathematical tools to simulate the material distribution of the part is topology optimization. Making changes in the material distribution can remove inefficient regions from the design. In addition, automated topology optimization helps quickly produce complex geometrical structures using DfAM software. Lattice Pattern Generation: Using additive manufacturing software, we generate 3D lattice patterns automatically. They significantly save costs by using a lower volume of materials and helping design multifunctional parts and structures. In addition, they reduce their weight and cost, making them flexible and stress-resistant. Generative Design: The power of generative design lies in designing to match all the design parameters, applying all constraints, and generating multiple design candidates quickly and efficiently. These include material type, shape, density, orientation, and more. This design evolves your part per your required parameters and expedites optimization. Automatic Light-Weighting: Applying light weighting techniques such as materials selection, part consolidation, conformal ribbing, lattice structures, and optimization of topology helps further bring down the costs. With DfAM software, the process is automatic and easy. Automated Part Consolidation: Creating a single part that can perform multiple functions saves space and costs, boosting efficiency. However, deciding whether consolidation can conform to other system components can sometimes be challenging. Find a way to solve this problem with the help of a feature in additive manufacturing software that automatically groups parts together. Stress, Heat, and Impact Simulation: Predict the part design's stress, heat, and impact-taking ability in the case of light weighting. Simulation helps test the part using different materials, keeping in mind their temperature, stress, and impact resistance. For instance, DfAM software tests a part before printing the prototype, utilizing this feature. Build Failure Prediction: Mathematical analysis-backed calculations of distortions and validations help in predicting building failures. A DfAM also helps predict building failures before they happen by calculating the efficiency over time. This makes the parts more durable. 3D Packing: Find the ideal shipping container and calculate its size, number, and maximum capacity using 3D packing technology. This automated software tool helps you efficiently send your shipments to your clients. Machine Parameters: Select the process parameters as per the part or product requirements. Apply different constraints to simulate the work using additive manufacturing software. Adjust them as per the desired characteristics in the output part using the software. Print Failure Prediction: Analyzing a designed model for deformation, cracks, stress, and growth is possible with software simulation. In addition, this data helps detect probable print failure. An end-to-end workflow automation solution using additive manufacturing MES software works in sync with your existing software. Learn about its features as below: Features of Good Additive Manufacturing MES Software: Order Management: Receiving, organizing, and processing orders for printing is excellent at order management. Part/file Analysis: The main tasks of part or file analysis are to look at the part or file's feasibility under different constraints and suggest ways to fix it. Production Planning: Production planning helps automate preparation for the production cycle. Instant Quotations: With built-in quotation management, create, approve, present, accept or reject quotations and place an order for part printing. Material and Inventory Management: It takes care of choosing the right material for the part and making sure that enough of that material is in stock to make it. Nesting: With nesting calculations, automatic space optimization on the print bed is possible Post-Processing Management: Remove defects after manufacturing using a streamlined post-processing management system. Quality Inspection and Management: Use the Quality Management System to remove possible distortions and deformations under constraints. Order Tracking and Traceability: Get the status of print order processing at all times with accurate tracking during the AM process. Analytics: Get a complete analysis of the data generated at each step of your AM workflow. If getting powerful software is not something you are considering at the moment, you can still welcome a host of new additions with the help of software integrations. Explore more about it down below. Use Software Integrations to Connect Existing Software: Link your existing software to your additive manufacturing software for seamless data sharing over the additive MES using software integration. For instance, connect existing AM workflows, 3D modelling simulations, import CAD files of models, send and receive purchase orders, and do much more with a one-stop MES solution. With the right integrations, you can add the features your software needs to stay current. When considering purchasing an AM software package, the initial, operational, training, and time required to learn it must all be calculated. For large enterprises, the reduction in inventory size and better accuracy with AM software bring down the cost of additive manufacturing production. Let us take a deep dive into the estimation of AM software. Estimation for Additive Manufacturing Software Setup and Operations: Depending upon the feature set of the additive manufacturing software, it might cost from $120/month/user to $25,000 annually or more. The significant influence is the implementation time and user-friendliness, like any other software for your business or enterprise. Several additive manufacturing and management software might have features that you may not need right now. However, upon scaling your business, they will become a necessity. You may want to consider software with supporting API integrations to smoothly transition from your existing software to advanced additive manufacturing software. As a result, you will reduce your cost of training the personnel while boosting their efficiency manifold. Additive Manufacturing Software's Future Scope Custom printing of complex geometrical structures with additive manufacturing is no longer restricted just to rapid prototyping. With the advent of volumetric additive manufacturing, it is now possible to print all the target points in the geometry simultaneously. Achieve this with the help of rotating the resin container with the guidance of a digital light projection system. In addition, this method can reduce some of the post-processing involved in an additive manufacturing production workflow to help make additive manufacturing more reliable and efficient. The future of additive manufacturing looks supremely promising with several applications of volumetric additive manufacturing. These include aerospace, medical, transportation, energy, consumer products and the like. In the future, revolutionary multifunctional parts will be created using automated part consolidation to optimize part designs like never before. Furthermore, using AI, accuracy is bound to improve. Conclusion: Building a resilient business for medium and large enterprises to unlock scalability is easy with a range of additive manufacturing software. Leveraging AM software saves turn-around time from researching to the production line with a stable and better design. It boosts ROI by streamlining your additive manufacturing workflows and cutting production costs using additive manufacturing software. Software integrations help enterprises stay current with all the features needed and introduced from time to time to make additive manufacturing practical. Using AI with AM software is becoming the norm for both medium and large AM companies that want to get a head start on the market.

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Achieving Interoperability in an Industry 4.0 Factory

Article | February 11, 2020

As a part of the Industry 4.0 movement, factory engineers are increasingly adopting some form of industrial Ethernet to interconnect the machines and other equipment implementing their production processes. Ethernet has been around in multiple forms for over 40 years. Most of it serves the IT community by interconnecting PCs and other equipment to a company LAN. Because of its flexibility, Ethernet has been adapted to many industrial uses.

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The Impact of Coronavirus on Electronic Manufacturing

Article | February 11, 2020

Wuhan, the epicenter of the outbreak, is considered a crucial hub in the middle of China, a place of high importance for the production of automobiles, electronics, optics, and fiber optics. Wuhan and surrounding cities in the Hubei province are currently on a government-imposed quarantine at a scale the world has never seen before, some Chinese officials have referred to the situation as warlike.

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SPOTLIGHT

Accelerated Manufacturing Brokers, Inc., specializes in the sale of manufacturing companies nationwide, with generally $2 - $20 million in revenue. We help manufacturing business owners transition into retirement, and help manufacturers partner for growth. Our mission is to ensure the continuity of U.S. Manufacturing & jobs by transitioning ownership to a new generation of entrepreneurs. If your seeking to purchase a manufacturing company, whether you're an individual leaving corporate America, a private equity or a strategic buyer, we can help get you where you want to go faster. With us you'll find a professional, no-nonsense approach and the information you need to make an informed acquisition determination.

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Legenday Starts Supplying Silicone Products to 3C Industry

LegenDay | November 28, 2022

Today, LegenDay started supplying silicone products to computers, communications, and the consumer electronics industry (3C Industry). This comes after LegenDay adopted a range of silicone product manufacturing technologies such as extrusion, injection molding, Overmolding, compression molding, and multi-shot injection molding. LegenDay will supply silicone parts to 3C industries, including Bluetooth headsets, phone parts, headphones, Wi-Fi accessories, mouse pads, gamepads, case sleeves, phone holders, and multimedia players, among other components. During this first phase, LegenDay will support small and OEM businesses in the 3C industry. “Rethinking performance, reliability, safety, and performance makes silicone the best material in consumer electronics, At LegenDay, we strive to create the future by supplying the best silicone product to the 3C industry – whether small or large silicone products. We are a partner you can trust.” -Frank, Marketing Manager LegenDay. Silicone rubber is a breakthrough in the 3C industry. Its soft-to-touch feeling, exceptional durability, flexible design, best chemical resistance, temperature tolerance, and eco-friendly features make silicone rubber the best for consumer electronics products. LegenDay continues to partner with product developers alongside manufacturers and reputable brands in the 3C industry. About LegenDay: LegenDay designs and manufactures silicone products for home and industrial use. Based in China, the company has invested in advanced silicone products manufacturing technologies such as silicon extrusion, co-moulding, Overmolding, multi-shot, and clean room injection molding. With continued innovations and research, LegenDay remains a market leader in silicone product manufacturing.

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Acerta Analytics raises $8M ($10.4M CAD) to improve manufacturing quality in fast-changing automotive sector

Acerta Analytics | November 28, 2022

Acerta Analytics, the leading provider of advanced analytics solutions that leverage machine learning and artificial intelligence (ML/AI) to turn complex product data into actionable insights, has raised an $8M ($10.4M CAD) Series B round. The funding will be used to accelerate Acerta’s mission of providing actionable insights that improve product quality and operational efficiency in precision manufacturing globally. BDC Capital’s Industrial Innovation and Thrive Venture Funds led the round, with participation from existing investors OMERS Ventures and StandUp Ventures. Acerta helps automakers like Nissan and suppliers of complex vehicle parts such as Dana dramatically improve quality in their manufacturing processes and support early defect detection, making them more efficient, helping them reduce scrap and rework and avoid shipping defective parts that lead to costly recalls and brand damage. Acerta’s LinePulse platform uses machine learning and artificial intelligence to help companies leverage their data for actionable insights into vehicle part production. Results suggest that using Acerta’s LinePulse platform can lead to a reduction of 30% or more in rework rates, which can result in multi-million dollar savings on a per-plant basis. "Automotive manufacturers are facing increasing challenges as the industry moves towards electrification with more sophisticated sensors and electronics in every vehicle model. Acerta provides a platform that manufacturers can leverage to ensure they’re delivering high-quality products to market and maintaining brand reputation.By applying our advanced analytics on their complex data, automotive suppliers and OEMs can reduce scrap in their plants, thereby raising margins and increasing throughput. We help them achieve higher operational efficiency so they can make better day-to-day decisions. Manufacturing issues contribute to approximately one third of all early in-field vehicle breakdowns, but they are especially problematic for new EVs. Given the number of costly recalls and subsequent brand damage that EV makers are seeing, companies are investing in new digitalized production lines that are poised for the value that Acerta provides.This fundraise will help us add even more value to our core platform, LinePulse. We plan to expand our team to ensure we put our next-gen solution into the hands of more manufacturers." -Greta Cutulenco, CEO and co-founder of Acerta Acerta’s solutions drive significant improvement in manufacturing quality. We’re thrilled to support a company with such an inspiring vision for bringing AI and advanced data analytics into precision manufacturing. The time is right for this innovation, and we are very confident that this team will deliver, said Joseph Regan, Managing Partner, Industrial Innovation Venture Fund at BDC Capital. "We are excited to support Greta and the Acerta team in their next phases of growth. The company’s suite of SaaS solutions for precision manufacturing is already transforming the automotive and transportation industries and receiving strong market validation. We know that there is a lot more to come" -Michelle Scarborough, Managing Partner, Thrive Venture Fund at BDC Capital. After a difficult few years in the automotive industry due to the global pandemic and supply chain issues, manufacturers are doubling down on new production lines and the sector is anticipating that demand will recover strongly, especially as a new generation of EVs comes into production. A greater focus on local production in Europe and North America is also re-shaping the industry, as increasingly manufacturers look to safeguard global supply chains. Acerta currently operates in Canada, the United States, Europe and Japan. It will use the Series B funding to expand its customer base in North America and Europe, while strengthening ties with leading OEMs and automotive suppliers. Acerta’s customers are involved in producing complex parts for all types of vehicles. About Acerta: Acerta Forged from industrial experience and driven by data science, Acerta assists precision manufacturers to take their digital transformation beyond manually crunching sensor data. Our ML/AI-powered software services enable companies to make the right decisions fast, optimize production, and improve product quality. We translate complex product data into actionable insights. Founded in 2017, Acerta Analytics Solutions Inc. is based in Kitchener, Ontario, Canada. About BDC Capital: BDC Capital is the investment arm of BDC, Canada’s Business Development Bank. With over $6 billion under management, BDC Capital serves as a strategic partner to the country’s most innovative firms. It offers businesses a full spectrum of capital, from seed investments to growth equity, supporting Canadian entrepreneurs who have the ambition to stand out on the world stage.

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Reell Precision Manufacturing Introduces the SJ500 Spherical Joint with Multi-axis Position Control

Reell Precision Manufacturing | November 25, 2022

Reell Precision Manufacturing, a world leader in innovative small package motion control, is pleased to introduce the latest addition to its popular SJ Series of multi-axis friction hinges, the SJ500. The SJ500 is Reell's largest spherical joint hinge. It is available with torques from 4.0 - 8.0 N-m, making it ideal for positioning today's larger monitors and display devices, as well as industrial applications and many other components requiring precise multi-dimension position control in the industrial, medical, office, and consumer electronics marketplace. All Reell SJ Series hinges have the capability to swivel from side to side with a 60º range of motion, tilt back and forth with a 60º range of motion, and rotate with a full 360º range of motion. They utilize Reell's patented SphericalTorq™ clip technology to perform consistently for a life of 50,000 adjustments. All SJ models have a durable glass-filled molded nylon housing and black finish, presenting an attractive and stylish appearance, while the all-metal shaft, ball, and torque elements are manufactured from nitrided and hardened steel for durable performance. Global Product Line Manager Jim Brown is excited about the introduction of the SJ500. "The SJ500 expands the capability of our popular SJ platform with increased torque options for larger applications. We can now provide our easy adjustment, smooth feel, and secure holding power to a wider range of customer applications in lighting, monitor mounts and industrial equipment." AboutReell Precision Manufacturing: Reell Precision Manufacturing provides high-quality innovative solutions to transmit torque, control angular position and protect delicate components from excessive force. Combining the world's most precisely controlled torque technology with the industry's most experienced engineering team, Reell provides a perfect product fit for customer application. With facilities on three continents, Reell's responsive global customer service and world class manufacturing ensures exceptionally easy ordering and on-time delivery.

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Legenday Starts Supplying Silicone Products to 3C Industry

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Acerta Analytics raises $8M ($10.4M CAD) to improve manufacturing quality in fast-changing automotive sector

Acerta Analytics | November 28, 2022

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Reell Precision Manufacturing Introduces the SJ500 Spherical Joint with Multi-axis Position Control

Reell Precision Manufacturing | November 25, 2022

Reell Precision Manufacturing, a world leader in innovative small package motion control, is pleased to introduce the latest addition to its popular SJ Series of multi-axis friction hinges, the SJ500. The SJ500 is Reell's largest spherical joint hinge. It is available with torques from 4.0 - 8.0 N-m, making it ideal for positioning today's larger monitors and display devices, as well as industrial applications and many other components requiring precise multi-dimension position control in the industrial, medical, office, and consumer electronics marketplace. All Reell SJ Series hinges have the capability to swivel from side to side with a 60º range of motion, tilt back and forth with a 60º range of motion, and rotate with a full 360º range of motion. They utilize Reell's patented SphericalTorq™ clip technology to perform consistently for a life of 50,000 adjustments. All SJ models have a durable glass-filled molded nylon housing and black finish, presenting an attractive and stylish appearance, while the all-metal shaft, ball, and torque elements are manufactured from nitrided and hardened steel for durable performance. Global Product Line Manager Jim Brown is excited about the introduction of the SJ500. "The SJ500 expands the capability of our popular SJ platform with increased torque options for larger applications. We can now provide our easy adjustment, smooth feel, and secure holding power to a wider range of customer applications in lighting, monitor mounts and industrial equipment." AboutReell Precision Manufacturing: Reell Precision Manufacturing provides high-quality innovative solutions to transmit torque, control angular position and protect delicate components from excessive force. Combining the world's most precisely controlled torque technology with the industry's most experienced engineering team, Reell provides a perfect product fit for customer application. With facilities on three continents, Reell's responsive global customer service and world class manufacturing ensures exceptionally easy ordering and on-time delivery.

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