THE CHANGING FACE OF AEROSPACE in SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA

whitePaper | September 4, 2022

It’s the clarion call of today’s marketplace and the prime directive for executives in any business that designs or produces physical goods, no matter how simple or sophisticated. Fortunately, every product can be improved and made at less cost. But how quickly a company can satisfy such demands – before, say, its competitors do, or the market moves on to something new – is largely a function of the product-development cycle. Shorten that cycle, and you can improve the numbers across the board, from customer satisfaction to market share to profitability. However, one seemingly intractable barrier to faster product development lies within the traditional design process. That process starts with identifying a need in the market or within one’s organization; it ends with the manufacture of a finished product, whether a massive, complex assembly or one tiny part. In between are multiple iterations of designs and tests: engineers sketch out a solution, prototype and test it (or run a computerized simulation), and then go back to the design to address any shortcomings. But trade-offs complicate matters each time the cycle repeats: make a part lighter and it’s likely to become weaker, make it stronger and it will probably cost more, and so on. A workable, if not optimal, solution can usually be found. However, finding it often takes longer than the product-development timeline or budget will allow.

whitePaper | January 3, 2023

In order to achieve digital manufacturing through Industry 4.0, it is critical to aggregate and manage the huge amount of data generated in the factory by Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT) sensors and devices. Having connected machines, workers and systems is just the start of the digital transformation journey. To extract real value from this connectivity, a digital twin of machines and processes have to be modeled in a standardized manner which will help aggregate heterogeneous data and provide valuable insights to drive productivity and efficiency. The interoperability and flexibility of different assets is an important challenge due to the volume and variety of data that needs to be modeled. This paper will go over Industry 4.0 compliant data modeling principles using the MongoDB Smart Factory testbed as an example. We will model the data using MongoDB Atlas in a way that fulfills requirements and needs of Industry 4.0: interoperability, flexibility and scalability.

whitePaper | July 12, 2022

Modern manufacturers succeed when they balance the types of jobs they accept with the capabilities they offer, and maximize the value of both their equipment and their personnel. Shops that fail to optimize their capabilities and remove inefficiencies from their processes may be unable to produce at their real capacity and meet expected quality standards. To improve efficiency and reach their production potential, shops must discover ways to meet four main challenges, especially as highmix, low-volume (HMLV) production gradually replaces mass-quantity output in multiple industrial environments.

whitePaper | September 10, 2022

From the very beginning, SmarterChain’s vision has been to democratize top-tier supply chain knowledge and expertise. Through the years, we have been fortunate to work with best-in-class organizations and academic institutions and understand the importance of easy and systemic access to practical, top-tier strategic advice. As a plan of action designed to achieve a longterm ambition, strategy is what makes or any type of organization from a company, a nation, or an individual. The word ‘strategy’ itself comes from the ancient Greek words for ‘army’ (‘stratos’) and ‘lead’ (‘egy’) – it means leading your army into battle. And, as such, strategy is about the leadership required to make big ambitions a reality. For centuries, the biggest, most influential organizations and companies have led with radical approaches that have shaped the way we do business, as well as how we teach business to future generations.

whitePaper | September 30, 2022

Until 2020, progress towards digital transformation for most manufacturers was slow. But the urgency for manufacturers to make successful digital transformations escalated during the first 8-12 months of the global pandemic. As COVID-19 reshaped consumer buying behaviors, the pace jumped from a crawl to a sprint: According to one study, 85% of organizations accelerated their digital transformation initiatives in 2020.[1] Some industry observers believe we witnessed 6.5 years of digital progress in the last eight months of 2020 alone.[2] The pandemic was largely responsible for worldwide supply chain disruptions that slowed down goods production and delivery. As a result, manufacturers justifiably focused on managing and fixing the supply chain problems first. But as the pandemic continued, it became clear that the supply chain issues were a symptom of something deeper than the short-term disruptions.

whitePaper | February 23, 2022

Fully automated assembly lines with industrial robots are highly efficient, fast and precise – as long as they are in operation. When unplanned downtimes occur, the economic damage can be immense within just a matter of minutes. Prevention is better than repair. Using high-performance lubricants during regular maintenance of industrial robots prevents unscheduled downtimes, optimizes the robotics and maximizes the uptime of the assembly line. In this white paper, you will learn more about the right lubrication for your industrial robots.