Members of the media got a sneak peek at the igusGO app at last month’s Hannover Fair, a fascinating new cloud platform that uses artificial intelligence in a very creative way. A beta version of the app was demonstrated by CEO Frank Blase as we walked around the company’s booth. A user simply takes a…
Giant solar-powered butterfly shows climate change solutions
The SolarButterfly is focused on reaching millions of people, alerting them to the companies and individuals that are integral in transitioning societies away from fossil fuels toward clean energy technologies. Presently on a four-year journey around the world, the SolarButterfly plans to identify, record, and publicize at least a thousand climate protection pioneers and their…
Mouser Electronics’ CEO Glenn Smith celebrating 50-year anniversary
Mouser Electronics Inc. has announced the 50th service anniversary of company President and CEO Glenn Smith, who continues to impress with his dedication to the company, employees, and the industry. Much has changed since 1973 when college junior Smith got a part-time job in the warehouse of what was little more than an electronics startup…
Hannover Fair update: Microsoft, Toyota work together on warehouse management system
At the recent Hannover Fair industrial trade show in Hannover, Germany, more than 130,000 attendees from across the globe came together to experience the latest technology and products over the five day event. Visitors to the huge Microsoft booth were able to explore four key areas for the future of manufacturing: empowering a connected workforce,…
Bosch Rexroth named winner of Hermes Award 2023
Bosch Rexroth was presented with the prestigious industrial prize, the Hermes Award, at the opening ceremony of Hannover Fair by Bettina Stark-Watzinger, Federal Minister of Education and Research, in the presence of German Chancellor Olaf Scholz. This year the jury, chaired by Prof. Dr.-Ing. Reimund Neugebauer, President of the Fraunhofer Society, awarded the prize for…
Machine Heat Recovery System from igus heats factories with waste coolant water
Engineers from igus are now using a simple technology for heat recovery. It heats industrial factories with the waste coolant water from machines, saving on gas costs and CO2 emissions. The company is making the technology available online, with all the details available to other industrial companies. If all injection moulders worldwide were to use…
Danfoss to power all North American facilities with solar
With an eye toward achieving its global decarbonization goals, Danfoss North America recently signed a power purchase agreement with CIG Capital, a U.S.-based project financing firm, to purchase about 75 MW of solar power from a solar farm in Texas, starting in 2025. The initial agreement term is 12 years, allowing Danfoss to fully replace…
Ford Aerospace acquired by SPIROL
SPIROL has announced that Ford Aerospace Ltd., based in South Shields, U.K., will be joining the SPIROL group of companies. Ford Aerospace was founded at Tyne Dock in 1910 by Robert Ford, and the family business has most recently been led by the founder’s great-grandson, Chris Ford. The company specializes in manufacturing high precision metal…
LUTZE cable solutions catalog for industrial automation
LUTZE Inc. is releasing a new LUTZE Cable Solutions for Industrial Automation North America Catalog to support the fast-growing customer base in North America. LUTZE’s flexible and continuous motion cables such as LUTZE SILFLEX, LUTZE SUPERFLEX, MOTIONFLEX and DRIVEFLEX VFD cables are designed for harsh industrial environments and carry multiple approvals for code compliance. An…
Tuna, but no Thimbleberries
By Mark Jones The tuna was perfectly prepared, lightly seared, perfectly seasoned. It was a meal fit for a seaside bistro, but I wasn’t oceanside. I was in Ironwood, Mich. Delicious as the meal was, it was no locavore meal. We had stopped in Ironwood, a town in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula, looking for thimbleberry jam.…
The in-person meeting returns from the brink
The COVID-19 pandemic changed so much around our jobs, from how we work to where we work. It brought Zoom into the daily vernacular of the office, and for many of us, that office now bears a striking resemblance to our living room or den or study. One thing that COVID-19 didn’t seem to change…
Entrepreneur Siegbert E. Lapp dies at the age of 70
On Wednesday, April 26th, Siegbert E. Lapp, 70, died in a tragic road accident, for which he was not to blame. With a confident sense of technology and innovation, Lapp had shaped the Lapp Group into a globally recognized company. His life was characterised by passion, entrepreneurial foresight, and the ability to identify electrical trends…
Ohio manufacturer wins igus’ manus international design award
German motion plastics company igus has held the biennial manus awards since 2003. This competition recognizes creative, economical, innovative, and sustainable applications that incorporate plastic lead screws, linear actuators, plain bearings, linear bearings, and slides into industrial designs. This is the third iteration where Design World’s own VP, Editorial Director, Paul J. Heney, served on…
2023 LEAP Awards now open for nominations
The LEAP Awards (Leadership in Engineering Achievement Program) celebrates the most innovative and forward-thinking products serving the design engineering space. This dynamic competition honors the most innovative engineered products/components across several of our flagship brands: Design World, Fluid Power World, and EE World. Submissions for the 2023 LEAP Awards program are being accepted starting today, April…
Bearings in mining, aggregates face tough obstacles
At the recent Conexpo/ConAgg show in Las Vegas, Dennis Ducalo, an industry manager for mining, cement, and aggregate at Schaeffler Group USA, talked a bit about his company’s bearings that can be used in vibratory screens, including an exciting new product update. There are basically two types of series of spherical roller bearings that are […]
Ewellix launches e-MOVEKIT to reduce design time for mobile machinery
Ewellix, which is owned by the Schaeffler Group, has introduced a new e-MOVEKIT to help designers and manufacturers of mobile machinery simplify the specification, assembly, and testing of electric linear actuation systems. The e-MOVEKIT has been developed in response to the growing trend towards electrification of motion systems in mobile and off-highway equipment. In particular,…
IFPE 2023 wrap-up: Ewellix’s new electric actuators for mobile applications
Ewellix launched a new generation of electric actuators at this year’s IFPE/Conexpo in Las Vegas. Designed specifically for use in mobile applications, from agricultural and construction machinery to lift platforms, the new actuators combine exceptional power-density with high levels of energy efficiency, position and motion control and repeatability. The first products to be released later…
ABB to expand robotics factory in U.S.
ABB has announced that construction is starting on the expansion of its existing North American robotics headquarters and manufacturing facility in Auburn Hills, Mich. The project is expected to be completed in November 2023 and represents an investment of $20 million. The expansion will create 72 highly skilled new jobs in the area and is…
A new way of thinking
One of the most valuable pieces of “real estate” in any magazine is the page facing the inside back cover. Over the years, I’ve known many publications — both trade and consumer — with must-read departments or columns in that sacred space. Many times, they’re on the lighthearted or even humorous side. I’ve even subscribed…
Time saved on energy consumed
By Mark Jones On the second pull, there was a cloud of white smoke and the engine sputtered to life. My 20-year-old snowblower was ready to tackle the fresh snow. The 2-cycle fumes hitting my face come with twinges of guilty. I don’t need to use the snowblower. My trusty snow shovel offers a fumeless,…
Hannover Fair preview: Festo’s PhotoBionicCell and its automated cultivation of biomass
Algae are small climate savers. Even in their natural state they are extremely efficient photosynthesizers and absorb ten times more carbon dioxide (CO₂) than land plants. In bioreactors equipped with appropriate sensors, control technology and automation, the efficiency of algae can be increased to a hundred times that of land plants. This shows that they…
Hannover Fair preview: Lenze’s Nupano bridges IT and OT worlds
Mechanical and plant engineering is an important industry, many well-paid jobs depend on it in Europe. To be competitive in the long term, it needs knowledge of production processes, physics and digital tools for new business models. European machines sell all over the world. However, margins are low and often one-off. Mechanical engineering needs new,…
When team motivation becomes a dead end
Engineering leaders are not immune to that constant management mantra of motivate, motivate, motivate. In fact, some managers I’ve known seem to do little more than try to motivate others, with flowery speeches and too-long-to-read emails ending in statements like “This is going to be THE YEAR!!!” But in his book, What to say when…
Hannover Fair preview: Pepperl+Fuchs’ innovative technology for 3D measurement
From industrial automation to autonomous vehicles to care robots, mastering the challenges of the future will require powerful 3D sensors that capture their surroundings quickly, comprehensively, and with millimeter precision. A technological innovation from Pepperl+Fuchs in cooperation with the Fraunhofer Institute for Silicon Technology ISIT enables maximum precision and performance — while remaining highly cost-efficient.…
Hannover Fair preview: Holo-Light’s AR, VR speed up product development
XR expert Holo-Light will showcase the new, enhanced version of its Augmented Reality Engineering Space AR3S at Hannover Fair April 17-21, 2023, in hall 15, booth F71. In exclusive demos, visitors will experience how immersive technologies simplify and accelerate product development and how to collaborate across Augmented Reality (AR) and Virtual Reality (VR). Holo-Light’s AR3S…