Automation

Design Insights: Automation and Workforce Development; Technology Drives a Material Change

June 3, 2021
A review of the day’s top trending stories from Machine Design editors.

Automation and Workforce Development

On the heels of yesterday’s Design Insights that discussed the continuing labor shortage and its impact on a post-pandemic economic recovery, Siemens has developed a white paper available at MachineDesign.com that looks how automation will impact both worker training and automation advancement.

“While the drive toward an automated future has been around for a long time, companies are still not clear on where to start when it comes to system considerations or the challenges that lie ahead, except that maintaining a skilled workforce will continually be part of their needs,” Siemens notes in the white paper introduction. “The results of this survey will help companies get a better understanding on what might be required for their automation transition and how to evaluate and select the right vendor for them.”

Download the Siemens white paper by going to this link.

Technology Drives a Material Change

A recent Machine Design article notes the ways technology has advanced all aspects of design and manufacturing. From the advent of artificial intelligence to the power and flexibility of 3D printing, designers have new tools and new techniques to turn ideas into reality and employ new materials in the process.

“Several emerging technologies are letting material engineers more freely tinker and iterate to see results from their work much more rapidly,” writes Markus J. Buehler, materials engineering instructor at MIT. As a result, designers and engineering teams developing advanced materials can test out more ideas, discovering more solutions to pressing problems, faster than ever.

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