Autodesk Puts PLM in the Cloud
For small design shops and large corporations, no-muss, no-fuss Autodesk PLM 360 is a sophisticated, cloud-based PLM system available to “anyone, anytime, anywhereâ€â€”and inexpensively. PLM is nothing without reporting capabilities. Here, the bar chart shows the number of ECOs created per month—on top of a line showing the previous year’s monthly average for ECO creation. […]
Advancing Manufacturing Technology at Ford
Ford is deploying its 3-Wet paint process in facilities around the world—both in greenfield and brownfield sites. The process not only provides environmental benefits through the reduction of emissions, but requires significantly less energy, reduces the footprint of the paint shop, and accelerates vehicle throughput, all without sacrificing anything in the way of quality paint […]
Advancing Manufacturing with Manufacturing Software
The new Max Trochoidal Width parameter in Esprit 2016’s ProfitMilling strategy allows passes to vary from wide to narrow, which lets machinists generate trochoidal movements for any size or shape pocket. The New Hole Recognition feature in Esprit 2016 automatically recognizes different types of holes, including partial and coaxial holes, and names them accordingly. It […]
Acura and ADAS
Acura is finding increased interest in ADAS, particularly among Millennial customers. Will advanced driver assistance system (ADAS) technology make a difference to customers for luxury cars and crossovers, especially younger ones? Jon Ikeda, vice president and general manager of Acura, thinks so. “We are working toward a zero-collision society, and this approachâ€â€”as in equipping vehicles […]
A Brief History of smart: Production Car As Fashion Statement
The smart car lineup for the U.S. consists of three fortwo models, with the most visible difference being the convertible version (“passion cabriolet). The other two are similar, although the entry model, “pure,” has less content than the more-upscale “passion.” Most of the people who have made $99 “reservations” with smart USA are opting for […]
Introducing “IoT Platforms” – Part II
These are the core components of ThingWorx, an IoT platform. Related: Digital Domain As with so many things, the devil is in the details when comparing Internet of Things (IoT) platforms. The following overview of two such platforms is hardly an apples-to-apples comparison, but it should give an indication of the breadth of such products. […]
World Class Vehicle Launch Timing: General Motors (Part 2 of 6)
Previous Next By Brett C. Smith We identified a total of 12 vehicle launches by General Motors during the period investigated. However, only 6 of those launches meet the single product-single plant requirement for this investigation. Our initial discussion will focus on these six launches. We will conclude this review with a brief discussion of […]
World Class Vehicle Launch Timing: Part 1 of 6
Previous Next Related: Automotive Chassis By Sean McAlinden and Brett C. Smith PART 1 of 6 The World Class Vehicle Launch series of articles will investigate the launch performance and apparent launch strategies of five leading vehicle assembly firms operating in North America. The companies reviewed in our analysis include Chrysler, Ford, General Motors, Toyota […]
When Controls Converge: CNC,PLC & PC
Related: Automotive Production Digital Domain Related Suppliers FANUC America Corporation What’s happening in factory control these days? In a word:Â convergence. Many of the features that differentiated programmable logic controllers (PLCs) from computer numerical controllers (CNCs), CNCs from motion controllers, and all of those from industrial controllers based on personal computers (PCs), can now be found […]
What’s “Cloud Computing”?
Related: Digital Domain Imagine outsourcing the company’s management information systems (MIS) department—hardware, software applications, database management, and support staff. What would that look like? It’d look like cloud computing. Cloud computing (also called “the cloudâ€) is an enormous collection of computer technologies that give people access to practically unlimited amounts of computer processing, data storage, […]
