math) fields remain a serious challenge, as is improving the technical skills of the incumbent workforce. But for now, many manufacturers are innovating their way through this problem in a variety of ways: machining and tooling solutions that do in one step what used to take many, and increasing automation, all aided by new and constantly improving software.
Next-generation MTM (multitask machining) solution in GibbsCAM shown at IMTS 2012, shown simulating a B-axis turning operation.
serving a role in helping manufacturers manage their operations despite a shortage of highly skilled workers.
• Additive. While subtractive methods of manufacturing dominate the industry, additive or rapid, 3D printing methods continue to gain attention and move into mainstream manufacturing, especially in the medical field. Several things are driving the growth, including increased understanding about the design freedom that rapid processes promise and an increasing num- ber of materials available in additive processes.
The Challenges To be sure, the manufacturing industry faces bumps in the road this year. Boeing is working through a quality crisis with its Dreamliner, in which its entire supply chain has come under scrutiny, and confidence in lithium-ion batteries seems shaken. The defense industry faces certain cutbacks, given the nation’s financial crisis. The medical industry, in particular, faces a new medical device tax, more stringent FDA approval processes and pricing pressure from hospitals that have gained more negotiating power.
The workforce shortage poses serious threats to continued growth, too. Develop- ing and attracting students literate in STEM (science, technology, engineering and
A robot inspects a Boeing 787 composite forward fuselage at Spirit AeroSystems’ manufacturing facility in Wichita, KS. Robots are increasingly being deployed for airframe drilling and fastening tasks as robot rigidity and accuracy improve.
4
ManufacturingEngineeringMedia.com | April 2013
Promising New Technologies The IDA concluded in its 2012 report on emerging trends that there are four technol- ogy areas that deserve special attention in the manufacturing sector. Among other reasons, these technologies represent broad trends in manufacturing, such as mass customization; they can act as platforms upon which other technologies or processes can be built; they are critical to national security; or they enjoy a high level of R&D in major manufacturing countries with which the US competes: • Semiconductors. Already the cornerstone of the IT economy, “very few technologies serve as a platform for further innovation more than semiconductors,” the IDA report says. The number of transistors on a chip has doubled every two years since the 1970s, a phenomenon known as Moore’s Law that has been
Photo courtesy Spirit AeroSystems Inc.
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