Demands for Increased Visibility Are Impacting Cybersecurity Preparedness

Posted by IMEC on Nov 16, 2022 9:51:06 AM

This is an original article from the NIST Manufacturing Innovation Blog.

Digitization and connectivity are having a huge impact on more than just your manufacturing operations and ability to monetize data. Your vulnerabilities also are increasing as Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT) manufacturing solutions involve more software, devices and digitally connected employees.

The manufacturing industry continues to be at high cyber risk as a result of global competition and geopolitical tensions. Companies up and down the supply chain are demanding more transparency into their customers’ and suppliers’ reliability in order to mitigate risks from disruptions. Some are starting to require cybersecurity assurances, a trend that will only gain momentum. Enforcing cybersecurity standards will ultimately protect U.S. innovation and competitiveness.

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Cybersecurity – A Critical Component of Industry 4.0 Implementation

Posted by IMEC on Sep 27, 2022 9:40:56 AM

This is an original article from the NIST Manufacturing Innovation Blog.

This blog is the second in a series on cybersecurity and Industry 4.0.

In blog one of this series on “Cybersecurity and Industry 4.0 – What You Need to Know” we discussed the four aspects of Industry 4.0: cyber-physical systems (CPS)/cobots, Internet of Things (IoT), cloud manufacturing and automation, as well as how they are interconnected. Strong cybersecurity practices protect those interconnections, ensuring manufacturers’ systems consistently deliver accurate data in a timely manner – something critical to the success of an Industry 4.0 model.

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Cybersecurity and Industry 4.0 – What You Need to Know

Posted by IMEC on May 17, 2022 3:26:50 PM

This is an original article from the NIST Manufacturing Innovation Blog.

This blog is part one of a series on cybersecurity and Industry 4.0.

This morning my favorite local morning news program had an interesting segment on new slang words and what they mean. While the definitions were probably not necessary for Millennials or Generation Z, for Baby Boomers like me it was an eye-opening vocabulary lesson. I must admit I didn’t know what boujee meant, even though I had heard it a few times – like when my niece said the wine glasses I used at Thanksgiving were boujee.

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Using Technology to Capture Standardized Work via the TWI-JI Format

Posted by Ken Wunderlich on Jan 7, 2022 12:10:21 PM

This article will focus on technology as well as Training Within Industry - Job Instruction (TWI-JI) module to capture standardized work.

The challenge: The onboarding process is challenging. The primary reason is two-fold.

First, if tasks are documented, they are usually written and describe the steps in the process. However, the onboarding process is much more than tasks. It involves a logical format that often uses more sensory input to be successful (e.g. vision or audio). Only, providing a written document for training has limited effectiveness as it does not consider all sensory input. Different individuals capture knowledge differently. Providing multiple methods or considering different sensory inputs will provide a more effective educational session.

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10 Important Insights About Advanced Manufacturing Technology Adoption in Illinois

Posted by IMEC on Nov 30, 2021 3:23:40 PM

In the spring of 2021, IMEC, Illinois Manufacturers Association (IMA), Technology & Manufacturing Association (TMA), and Valley Industrial Association (VIA) partnered with the W.E. Upjohn Institute for Employment Research to survey manufacturers about their adoption of Advanced Manufacturing Technologies and processes, achieving a phenomenal 87% response rate.

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Two Industry 4.0 Technologies Primed for the Food Manufacturing Industry

Posted by IMEC on Nov 12, 2021 12:51:15 PM

Written by Matthew Inniger of Manager of the  Advanced Technology Program of CIFT, part of  Ohio MEP. This article first appeared on the NIST Manufacturing Innovation Blog. 

This is an exciting time in the food manufacturing industry. The innovations and technology associated with Industry 4.0 are making it easier for small and medium-sized manufacturers to overcome obstacles in ways that at one point would not have been considered. While manufacturers have previously been slower to move toward incorporating advanced industry technologies due to the high level of regulation and biologically complex products with which they work, innovation is becoming more widely accepted as a key to industry sustainability. Two examples of such Industry 4.0 technologies are automation and augmented reality.

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Hiring Tech-minded Millennials: Are you on board?

Posted by IMEC on Sep 14, 2021 3:35:18 PM

How important is it to bring Millennials into your workforce? Let’s put it this way: Like an unstoppable speeding train, the future is coming up fast. Couple that with the fact that the future belongs to those who adapt advanced manufacturing technologies. Will yours be the company running to catch the train after it has left the station?

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Upskilling for the Move to the Smart Factory

Posted by IMEC on Jul 20, 2021 12:33:47 PM

On the heels of the global pandemic comes yet another challenge for manufacturers to face: The coming of the “smart factory”. The factory that requires you to upskill your workers just to stay afloat and will leave you and your employees behind if you don’t start planning now. Right now.

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Manufacturing Execution Systems: What You Don’t Know Can Hurt You

Posted by IMEC on Jun 17, 2021 1:07:58 PM

This article is written by Chuck Werner,  Manager of Operational Excellence at Michigan Manufacturing Technology Center - part of the MEP National Network, and originally published in IndustryWeek.

Smart Manufacturing is the manufacturing of the future, and, at its core, works to save time, money, and resources. One valuable tool in the move toward Smart or Smart(er) Manufacturing is the implementation of a manufacturing execution system. A Manufacturing Execution System (MES) is an automated system that utilizes real-time data to assist you in measuring how your production equates with financial performance.

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4 applications you should produce with additive manufacturing

Posted by IMEC on May 28, 2021 1:40:49 PM

This is an original article from Fast Radius.

When people think of additive manufacturing (AM), the first thing that often comes to mind is prototyping. When you need to iterate on a design quickly without the constraints of traditional manufacturing runs, AM works well because there’s no hard tooling involved, making rapid iteration possible.

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