Machine Building

Robots for clean rooms

Humans shed and re-grow outer skin cells every 27 days, equating to around 1000 new skins in an average human's lifetime. Even in a clean room environment, a worker will shed 600,000 particles of skin per hour. With this flakiness in mind, Nigel Smith, managing director of Toshiba Machine partner, TM Robotics, explains how clean room robots can eradicate the risk of human contamination.

4th September 2018

Optimise bearings to avoid production downtime

Bearings are highly stressed drive components which, over a period of time, become susceptible to wear. With this in mind, it is particularly important to include bearings when developing a maintenance plan, as this strategy will help extend the operating life of machinery or equipment.

4th September 2018

The trade-off between fastener performance and wear resistance

One of the most common problems that occur when tightening fasteners is "˜galling'. While galled fasteners will certainly not be loose, the related joint won't be properly tensioned and can fail from fatigue when put under service loads. As a result, the equipment may be affected, with mating components being seized, stripped, twisted off or sheared. Chris Herling, Applications Engineer at Optimas, looks at thread galling and how to reduce its occurrence.

3rd September 2018

Bin-picking using robots and 3D vision

For processors, one of the most promising industrial internet of things (IIoT) tools is the vision system. Combining a 3D camera with vision software and a robot arm enables facilities to automate bin picking with ease. We discussed this emerging technology with Nigel Smith, managing director of Toshiba Machine partner, TM Robotics.

29th August 2018

How to increase sustainability when specifying plastics

The war on plastic waste is arguably one of the biggest environmental battles of the 21st century. Here, Dr Simona Maccarrone, materials scientist at online materials database Matmatch, explains what new options suppliers are adopting to increase sustainability in the plastics market.

28th August 2018

Smart Factories: what to expect from the factory of the future

Andrew Minturn, Strategic Product Manager at Bosch Rexroth, explores the changes we can expect for the future of manufacturing.

25th August 2018

Hygienic sensors for the food processing industry

The food processing industry performs a delicate balancing act, striving to meet the needs of both food safety and equipment efficiency. With a strong focus on the improvement of effectiveness and efficiency, sensors are playing an increasingly important role - but it is important that they do not compromise food safety.

25th August 2018

Why surge protection is essential

Proper electrical protection is the key to safely removing the effects of dangerous overcurrents due to short circuits, overloads and voltage transients from switching surges, and other abnormal conditions. Kevan Cowley, Electronic & Safety Specialist with Wieland Electric, examines how and why protection is often overlooked.

24th August 2018

How industrial machines benefit from smart sensors

Sensors are essential in capturing basic diagnostics from industrial machines and equipment. However, as the people maintaining these machines near retirement, a new, younger workforce is emerging. Although this new generation is comfortable with rapidly evolving manufacturing technology and the data that comes with it, these employees are not necessarily as 'in tune' with the equipment as seasoned staff.

24th August 2018

Using predictive analytics to improve manufacturing

Research by IndustryWeek shows that equipment failure is the cause of 42 per cent of unplanned downtime. This raises questions about why more manufacturers aren't using technology to improve machine and factory performance. Here, Stefan Reuther, Chief Sales Officer at industrial software expert COPA-DATA, explains how to leverage predictive analytics to reduce factory downtime and increase business competitiveness.

23rd August 2018