In this release of WTWH’s Processing and Packaging series, we took a close look at the growing beverage industry. Composed of everything from bottled water and carbonated soft drinks to cold-pressed juices and premium spirits, the beverage industry represents a diverse slice of manufacturing that encompasses a wide variety of products and packaging formats. This report will…

IO-Link is an internationally standardized, crossvendor IO technology that enables bidirectional communication to the sensor/actuator level. The fieldbus-independent, open standard can be integrated into any system landscape using standard unshielded cables and point-to-point connectivity. Bidirectional communication enables comprehensive diagnostics and interference-free data transfer. Pepperl+Fuchs’ IO-Link portfolio covers a wide range of sensor technologies, including photoelectric…

Renishaw offers a comprehensive range of non-contact encoders for position and motion control. These vary from open or enclosed optical, magnetic and laser encoders. Discover how our different types of encoder products can meet your industrial automation needs. Renishaw’s high-accuracy and high-quality encoders offer superior reliability, easy installation and are suitable for even the harshest environments. The FORTiS encoder series is a next-generation enclosed…

Design World, the leading design engineering magazine in the United States for OEM design engineers, along with Machines Italia, jointly conducted a readership survey investigating several critical topics of interest to manufacturers today. These include smart machines, smart devices, innovations, and sustainability. In all, there were 185 respondents who answered most or all of the…

Motion system designs run millions of automated food-manufacturing designs worldwide — including those in employed in grain milling, pasta making, and baking; fish and poultry processing; beer, wine, and spirit production; slaughtering and meatpacking; fruit, vegetable, and baby-food packaging, canning, jarring, and freezing; candy making; dairy and cheese making; and oils and fat extraction and…

For this first release in the WTWH Packaging and Processing series, we asked food manufacturers to reflect on their experiences with flexible and shelf-ready packaging, two closely related formats that have found traction in the food industry. In this report, you will hear from food industry professionals about what their greatest challenges are with flexible…

Clippard provides thousands of standard and special precision flow control products to design engineers and manufacturers around the world. Clippard’s expertise is not limited to providing over 7,000 standard products, but also offers a unique advantage by providing custom products and value-added assemblies for hundreds of applications. Electronic Pressure Regulators & Flow Controllers Electronic Valves:…

  Sponsored by Tormach In 2001, Tormach was founded by “two guys in a garage” who aimed to make small-yet-capable CNC mills affordable, thereby empowering people like themselves who wanted to make things but lacked big corporate budgets to do so. Today, the Madison, Wisc.-based, employee-owned firm has a global customer base for its broad…

Dig into the specs and story of an innovative DC power solution that works with every AC input for DC powered components.  Sponsored by Altech  Every industry faces challenges with consistent power supply. When facilities lose power unexpectedly, a variety of problems can ensue. Altech, a leader in automation and control components, addresses these issues…

Packaging machinery uses cutting-edge automation, and it’s no wonder. Facilities that parcel products need to deliver high throughput, but modern consumers demand smart packaging in the form of no-fuss containers that protect everything from M&Ms to patio furniture. What’s more, there’s a continuous drive to customize packages and let consumer-facing companies wrap products for bulk…

Pneumatics is a fluid power technology similar to hydraulics in that it transmits force through a pressurized medium to create useful work. However, pneumatic technology differs from hydraulics in every critical fashion — compressibility. To be fair, hydraulic oil compresses as well, but only 0.4 percent every thousand psi or so. However, in the simplest…

Programmable logic controllers or PLCs are microprocessor-based components that serve as the programmable smarts for simple or isolated applications. They’re also finding increasing use on integrated machinery and automated installations with extensive IIoT connectivity. In this new Tech Toolbox, the editors of Design World detail how PLCs came to replace relay-based controls as well as…

Industrial robot arms can have as many as ten articulated joints. Each joint is its own mechanical system with an actuator, drive, gearbox, controller, and other components. Factors like misalignment, imbalance, and field noise create cumulative stress that impacts the precision of end-of-arm tools (EOAT) like grippers and welding torches. The cycloidal and strain wave…

  A new design ensures high contact reliability with lower insertion force Connectivity is an intrinsic part of today’s industrial automation and robotic applications. An ever-increasing number of devices and peripherals depend on stable connections to transmit power and signals to the printed circuit board (PCB). Managing these connections is labor-intensive, leading many OEMs away…

By Shannon VanDeren, AMUG President, and Ed Graham, AMUG Director, Education and Conference The 2024 AMUG Conference is rapidly approaching. The five-day event opens on March 10, 2024, in Chicago, Illinois, to host additive manufacturing (AM) users in ways that advance their skills, broaden their horizons and ignite new collaborations. On the surface, the AMUG…

Discover how JIECANG is leading the way in the sanitation revolution with cutting-edge linear actuators in upgrading cleaning robot automation.

By Kate Nadeau, Marketing Manager CAD360 – Custom Conveyor Models in Minutes CAD360 is an all-in-one online conveyor modeling platform; providing 2D and 3D models and images within minutes. Registration is simple and free; and once registered you can access over 30 different conveyor platforms; in addition to a dozen pre-configured conveyor system layouts. CAD360…

Balancing Costs & Risks for Optimal Machine Performance By Jared Worth, Content Writer Any maintenance schedule serves the purpose of keeping machinery running as long as possible and without defects. However, there are different types of maintenance schedules that take various approaches to the process. Two of the most common are predictive maintenance and preventive…

Developers of high-end semiconductor products that face manufacturing limitations with respect to die sizes are investing in 3D stacked die technology. These advanced designs already push current design-for-test (DFT) solutions to the limits: tool run time, on-chip area demand, test pattern count, and test time. The next major step for improving system-in-package technology is 3D…

Many industries face increasing compliance requirements, consumer demand for detailed lot-level package information, and competitive pressures for supply chain speed and efficiency. Faced with strict traceability and anti-counterfeiting regulations, the pharmaceutical industry has led the way in using optical character recognition (OCR) to ensure security end-to-end in its supply chains. This required significant investment, the…

The flanged bush eliminates the need for a housing. The flange connects directly to the assembly making the mounting easy. NB’s round, square or two-side cut Flange Slide Bush lines offer the best of both worlds – the benefits of a slide bush with the mounting ease of a flange. When your application calls for…

  Recirculating Slide Guides Recirculating slide guides excel in three areas: applications needing longer strokes, designs with space constraints and configurations where cost is a primary concern. Because of the unique design, travels are only limited by the maximum rail length of each profile size.

The SAFER Workplace initiative promotes workplace safety to reduce the potential of near misses, accidents, and injuries. The SAFER acronym is based on the 5 fundamental steps used to conduct a risk assessment and stands for STOP, ASSESS, FORMULATE, EXECUTE, and REVIEW. These steps are fundamental to properly addressing any concerns such as unsafe operations…

Requirements for the proper placement of safety guards and presence sensing devices Applying safeguards to equipment and machines may lead to a false sense of safety if not applied correctly. This paper explores the often overlooked practice of determining the minimum safe distance or height at which a hard guard or protective device should be…

An overview of US and Canadian standards for food industry Hygiene and sanitation are key issues in the food processing industry to prevent food borne illnesses. It influences the design of machines used in areas that need to be constantly cleaned. It is important when selecting safety devices or command devices for food processing machines…