Based on discussions I had with various vendors at the 2011 RAPID show, I would not be surprised to see the Additive Manufacturing (AM) industry head down two paths. One path focuses on the needs of the engineer, such as getting product to market faster. The other path involves the potentially new market of “makers” and those interested in personal manufacturing, a recent term that coincides with the goals of makers.



Could this new market be the key to developing new customers for AM… Continue

Put YOUR idea in there! $20,000 dollars for 1st place!

 

http://contest.techbriefs.com/component/content/article/1373

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Interesting application story from TRD Manufacturing, a Bimba company: A machine integrator had to design an automatic forge loader that could detect the orientation of the first operation head offset on a ¾-in. square steel fastener, rotate the part…

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I love COMSOL, the company. Here's why: Their marketing and presentation materials get right to the point and provide us editors with the data we need. There is no promotional mumbo-jumbo, head honcho bravado, or hard to understand commentary.

 

Case in point, this week I sat in on their COMSOL 4.2 roll out webinar presented by David Kan and Bjorn Sjodin. Their slides were strictly related to the software upgrade and new features -- not one promoting the company or bashing…

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The existing strategies for New Product Development focus on the following aspects:

1-      Low product cost: Entire spectrum of activities in the product development concentrate on bringing the product cost down, and include value engineering, alternative materials, supply chain initiatives etc.

2-      Low Development cost: Focusing on innovating at low cost, by resorting to temp manpower, out sourcing development, platform technology, planned product upgrades…

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With all the new, slick motor technologies that are standard fare in any design engineer's toolbox, you would think that the old workhorse brushed DC motor is about as relevant as the horse-and-buggy. But hold on a minute. This tried and true motor has been around since the very beginnings of the electrical revolution in the 19th century and it isn't going away any time soon.

 

Dan Jones, a well-respected industry stalwart and motor design and motion control guru,…

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I just sat in a Vuuch webinar called Vuuch: Enterprise Social System for Manufacturing. Vuuch software, if you're not familiar with it, helps organizations centralize discussions about designs within the design environment. I asked what are the 3 biggest differentiators between Vuuch technology and traditional product lifecycle management (PLM) products.

Here are the presenters' responses.

1. Vuuch software is cross-departmental and was designed to apply to an entire…

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So I was reading through Twitter this morning and came across this article. After reading it, I thought Heck, this should go for everyone, especially Engineers! Engineer's have the unique opportunity to develop products from the ground up, so this advice almost speaks directly to YOU! 

 

Apple's Jobs to Nike CEO - "Get Rid of the…

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Presently working on 4 models of LED UV Curing Systems. Two models are at 400nm and 2 models are at 365 nm for emission wavelength. Please contact me if you have any interest.

Haven't been to this show myself, but tentatively planning on making the drive up to Michigan for it this August ... anyone else on the EX planning on attending?

 

 

Military Vehicles Exhibition & Conference

August 9-11, 2011

Cobo…

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If solar is to become competitive with other forms of energy production, we must find ways to reduce the cost of manufacturing it domestically.

I recently read an interesting article on this subject on techcrunch.com. The article explains that the newly formed U.S.…

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Click here to read R&D at B&R—and a sitdown with the company's General Manager

 

One of the most embarrassing moments of my engineering career was being called to a shop floor meeting to see a machined pocket and screw on display that I had supposedly designed to work together. There was no way to fit the screw in, it was obvious, and there…

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Electrical Engineering Editor

 

Design engineering b2b media company seeks electrical engineer to cover all aspects of EE developments—from sensors to microchips to power supplies and beyond. This position requires a person who is willing and able to become the industry authority in this market.

 

Our ideal candidate will have an electrical engineering degree and good writing skills. S/he should be comfortable on camera and meeting with industry…

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what about the “packaging of technologies” into a product? Well, there is a small and very important slice of the development here, for in this 80-20 effort, the last 20 will make or break the product. How well is the ergonomics, how good is the interface, and how well is the feature bundle pu together? These answers will sell the product, not the 80 percent part which was bought off, uncustomized.

 

Oh by the way, the big smart guys have begun to customize their offers I case…

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Everyone is wondering what will be the great application that will propel rapid prototyping, 3D printing into a huge industry. The answer is people who just want to make things.

While the 3D/DC conference in Washington recently was focused on intellectual property (IP) issues, Autodesk announced its plans to release a consumer targeted, free design tool called 123D, that it hopes will not only enable anyone to design a product for a 3D printer, but that will also help develop a…

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which methods will suit product development henceforth?



If we trend product development cycles over the last 50 odd years, we can see a progression from hit and miss; to specific targeted methods; on to creative and lateral thinking; and lately onto high technology computing for quick screening of ideas, then the hard prototype using various new RP methods.



Going forward, I believe the methods will be:

Specify the features

Alchemy the technology… Continue