Design Engineering
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Daily industrial news and top headlines for plant and maintenance managers
Kohler Ordered To Pay $9.6M In Patent Suit
May 21, 2013 2:20 pm | by The Associated Press | News | CommentsThe Kohler Co. has been ordered in federal court to pay $9.6 million to a Massachusetts manufacturer for infringing on two of its patents for components that reduce exhaust emissions in marine generators. Jurors in U.S. District Court in Boston last week found Kohler willfully infringed on the patents issued in 2008 and 2010.
Is Apple Losing Its Cool?
May 21, 2013 1:22 pm | by CNN | Videos | CommentsGoogle has released a spate of new products, but tech giant Apple still leads—today—says business reporter Rocco Pendola. Now accused of losing it's innovative edge, Pendola says Apple needs to release the next new gadget within the next year and questions whether CEO Tim Cook is the right leader for the job.
Goff’s Enterprises Wins BizTimes “I.Q. Award” For Innovation
May 20, 2013 3:24 pm | News | CommentsGoff’s Enterprises, Inc. has received an I.Q. Award for Innovation from BizTimes Media LLC. The I.Q. Awards salute southeastern Wisconsin businesses for their innovations in products and services. The award was presented at the BizTimes Award luncheon on May 16th, in Milwaukee, WI.
Canada Trying To Lure Silicon Valley Tech Workers
May 20, 2013 2:35 pm | by The Associated Press | News | CommentsThe Canadian government launched an aggressive campaign to lure Silicon Valley tech workers frustrated by U.S. visa policies northward, just as Congress wrestles with a long-sought overhaul of America's immigration system. Canada's minister of citizenship, immigration and multiculturalism arrived in the San Francisco Bay area for a visit aimed at snapping up talent for Canada's high-tech economy by offering startup entrepreneurs a visa.
Manufacturing Gangnam Style
May 20, 2013 8:05 am | by Stacey Wagner, Manager, Workforce Systems Development, NIST MEP | Blogs | CommentsBaxter’s ability to work side by side with human counterparts has many people worried. What if he and his robotic buddies stop dancing and take over all the manufacturing jobs? What if people – and the wonderful human qualities they bring to manufacturing – become passé?
Flying Car Prototypes Grounded After Crash
May 17, 2013 12:47 pm | by The Canadian Press | News | CommentsThe Transportation Safety Board says the U.S. manufacturer of flying cars has grounded all five of its prototypes until it can determine a cause for a recent crash in B.C. One of the Maverick flying cars crashed near a Vernon elementary school last week, leaving a pilot and a passenger with minor injuries.
Top 10 Coolest Things At AMUG 2013
May 16, 2013 8:01 am | by IMTSTV | Videos | CommentsiSpy Jake Ervin attended the AMUG (Additive Manufacturing Users Group) Conference in Jacksonville, Florida this year. Vendors displayed some very exciting parts manufacturing with additive technology. Jake shows us the top 10 coolest parts exhibited at the event.
Inside BMW's Design Lab
May 14, 2013 1:46 pm | by CNN Money | Videos | CommentsAn inside look at BMW's North American design lab, where the company works on everything from cars to coffee makers. Designworks is an independent creative agency owned by BMW that is always working on the next generation of cars.
David Vs. Goliath – Stealing Innovation
May 10, 2013 4:06 pm | by Mike Collins, Author, Saving American Manufacturing | Blogs | CommentsThe right thing to do is to enforce invention and innovation rights. These rights create jobs, economic benefits, and profits for our society, while our patent-piracy tolerance destroys the economic benefits we seek. If an American-made business model is destroyed by the cannibalistic capitalism of our marketplace, what products can survive to create jobs in our society?
Tesla Model S Gets Consumer Reports' Top Score
May 9, 2013 2:15 pm | by Tom Krisher, AP Auto Writer | News | CommentsThe Tesla Motors Inc. Model S electric car has tied an older Lexus for the highest score ever recorded in Consumer Reports magazine's automotive testing. The Model S, which starts at $62,400 after a federal tax credit, scored 99 points on a scale of 100 in the magazine's battery of tests.
Flying Disc-Throwing Robots Teach Kids Tech
May 9, 2013 8:02 am | by The Associated Press | Videos | CommentsThousands of high school students from around the world have put their engineering skills to the test at an international robotics contest. "FIRST" is compared to a "Superbowl of the Mind" mixing math, science, and technology with competition.
Why BMW Is Building A Bobsled
May 9, 2013 8:00 am | by CNN Money | Videos | CommentsThe United States Olympic team has tapped the automaker to design and develop a two-man bobsled for the upcoming 2014 Winter Olympic Games. To the bobsled-making game, BMW brings its technical experience in functionality and aerodynamics.
An Opportunity For Intelligent Device Manufacturers
May 6, 2013 8:00 am | by Steve Schmidt, Vice President of Corporate Development & Strategy, Flexera Software | Articles | CommentsOpportunity beckons intelligent device manufacturers. They must evolve their products from fixed function and disconnected systems to flexible and seamlessly connected devices. Making products smarter will provide a wide array of benefits.
The Next Killer Manufacturing Technology App
May 1, 2013 11:57 am | by IMTSTV | Videos | CommentsToday, there is an extensive amount of data produced relative to the manufacturing process. However, this data is typically “trapped” in equipment used in the production of products or the operation of the facilities or it is recorded on paper where it cannot be easily analyzed. The purpose of MTConnect is to “unlock” this data and provide it in a format that can be used by software applications.
Silicon Valley Has Nothing On Manufacturing
April 22, 2013 8:05 am | by David Mantey, Executive Editor, Product Design & Development | Blogs | CommentsManufacturing floors don’t have Lego stations and pool tables – and yes, OSHA may take issue with throwing empty cans from the mini bar into the same bin as the scrap metal from the lathe, but that doesn’t mean that the industry has any fewer engineers flocking to it.
Engineering Answers: Fail Faster
April 19, 2013 8:00 am | by Chris Fox, Associate Editor, PD&D | Articles | CommentsAs the market gap between hobbyist makers and professional engineers continues to close, desktop 3D printing is emerging as the next golden nugget in prototyping and small-scale manufacturing. MakerBot has been at the cusp of this revolution.
The First Phase Of The MTConnect Challenge Opens
April 11, 2013 4:59 pm | by NCDMM | News | CommentsThe National Center for Defense Manufacturing and Machining and the MTConnect Institute announced the start of the first phase of the MTConnect Challenge: Creating Manufacturing Intelligence, a competition that seeks to engage and stimulate development of advanced manufacturing intelligence applications that utilize the MTConnect standard.
Toyota Taking On Rivals With Efficiency, New Designs
April 8, 2013 2:15 pm | by The Associated Press | News | CommentsHaving drawn lessons from a series of predicaments since the 2008 global economic downturn, Toyota Motor Corp. is focusing on lowering its production costs worldwide and improving its competitiveness in product design as it faces intense competition from overseas rivals.
Fisker's 80 Percent Staff Cut May Send Luxury Co. Under
April 8, 2013 1:05 pm | by Bloomberg | Videos | CommentsFisker Automotive, a maker of luxury plug-in cars seeking investors to fund operations, said it's firing about 80 percent of its workforce after failing to secure a deal with an automotive partner. Cory Johnson reports on Bloomberg Television's "Bloomberg West.
Innovation Brings Jobs To WI
April 5, 2013 1:45 pm | by WISC-TV | Videos | CommentsAn innovation in Rock County could lead to about 100 new manufacturing jobs. Monterey Mills in Janesville is rolling out a new product, and it has 14 patents protecting its new collapsible paint roller. The new product won a prestigious award from the American Brush Manufacturers Association and is being hailed as the greatest innovation in the industry since 1946, when the paint roller was invented.
Race To Build Driverless Cars Is In Full Throttle
April 5, 2013 9:44 am | by Rick Montgomery, The Kansas City Star | News | CommentsTo call Tim Sylvester a road builder misses the point. The streets he intends to build are embedded with electronic sensors that may keep cars of the future from speeding, veering and crashing. A few blocks from Sylvester's Integrated Roadways office in Kansas City, doctoral candidate Amol Khedkar is toiling on his own prototype for a software system that would let cars talk to one other.
Solar Powered Everything!
April 2, 2013 8:05 am | by Chris Rendall, Mechanical Engineer, PCDworks | Blogs | CommentsI’ve heard for years that “soon we’ll have solar panels on everything.” To be honest, I’ve never paid much attention to the hype because these magical solar panels that can fit on and inside everything never seemed to materialize commercially. But researchers seem to have made a real breakthrough in solar technology: thin, sticky, flexible solar panels that can stick to just about any surface or object imaginable.
The Virtual Plant Seen Through Standardized 3D HMI
March 29, 2013 8:05 am | by Chris Parkinson, Senior Engineer, HMI Technology Lead | Articles | CommentsHMI or Human Machine Interface – everybody has them. From physical pushbutton stations to sophisticated graphical interfaces with 3D representations of equipment – HMIs are the visible part of a controls and/or manufacturing intelligence system.
Play With Smart Materials
March 28, 2013 9:12 am | by Ted | Videos | CommentsInk that conducts electricity; a window that turns from clear to opaque at the flip of a switch; a jelly that makes music. All this stuff exists, and Catarina Mota says it's time to play with it. Mota leads us on a tour of surprising and cool new materials, and suggests that the way we'll figure out what they're good for is to experiment, tinker, and have fun.
Jeep Takes A Radical New Turn With Cherokee
March 27, 2013 10:12 am | by Dee-Ann Durbin, AP Auto Writer | News | CommentsThe Jeep Cherokee is back, with a surprising design that could win some new buyers but lose some old fans. The 2014 Cherokee midsize SUV makes its debut Wednesday at the New York International Auto Show. The remake is so radical that observers might not realize it's a Jeep.
