The chemical, mechanical, and physical properties of 3D printed materials

whitePaper | September 21, 2023

Automation is improving the overall productivity of discrete manufacturing plants and facilities, delivering a range of goods from automobiles and electronics to furniture and toys to countless other items. The complexity of coordinating personnel, work procedures, material handling, and automated equipment – all while meeting production goals – make increasing digitalization and use of data across the enterprise and in production essential. Perhaps most important is the ability to put the control engineer, line worker, and design engineer in the middle of this critical data to derive actionable insights and provide real-time decision support. The constantly growing capabilities of digital technologies are creating more opportunities for discrete manufacturers to drive increasingly reliable and more efficient operations.

whitePaper | February 7, 2020

This paper discusses four key focus areas for manufacturers looking to capitalize on the advancements of the fourth industrial revolution in Aerospace & Defense 4.0-and centers around some common feedback we hear from our customer base when they look to future-proof their business. Connectivity at the core, Configurability crucial, Intelligence must be evolutionary, Security paramount.

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 | July 24, 2020

The advanced actuation system on Emerson’s new Branson GSX ultrasonic welder dynamically adjusts weld force to enable reliable assembly of plastic parts in product designs considered too small, delicate or difficult to weld before. This white paper outlines the development of the new actuation system and explains how improved force control — particularly “dynamic follow-through” after plastic melt — contributes to superior weld strength and quality. The paper also describes head-to-head tests in which the new Branson GSX actuation system outperformed existing welders with pneumatic and servo-controlled actuators by completing consistently good welds on plastic parts that could not be reliably welded in the past.

whitePaper | May 3, 2023

From Henry Ford’s moving assembly line to Taiichi Ohno’s Toyota production system, now known as lean production, manufacturers globally have constantly strived to make their operations better. The concept of lean, widely known for its tools to eliminate non-value added processes, has been at the forefront of management for the last five decades.

whitePaper | July 25, 2022

Traceability, the ability to identify and trace the product, process, operator, context, and detailed quality and component supplier and lot information for every item that moved through manufacturing, is a must-have for manufacturing success. A robust traceability framework that envelopes the total process, product, and material traceability, is a critical component for manufacturers facing stringent regulations while seeking to reduce the overall cost of compliance.