Check out this list of the best factory machines around today. Is 2019 the year to invest in tech at your work? This list’ll get you started.
Gone are the days of industrial assembly lines as you once knew them. Enter, the age of automation. Factories are going high-tech in 2019 and new innovations are changing the industrial landscape.
This article tells you about the five high-tech factory machines that are changing the manufacturing industry for 2019.
The Advent of Industry 4.0
The industry has seen four distinct iterations, since the industrial revolution of the 19th century. First, was the mechanization of industrial processes, powered by water and steam. Then, Ford’s assembly line gave rise to mass production with the help of electricity.
Computers gave rise to Industry 3.0 around the time of the Space Race, which has dominated, until now. Today, industry 4.0 speaks to the next step-cyber-physical systems.
Industry 4.0 includes the rise of cyber-physical systems, Internet of Things (IoT), cloud computing, and cognitive computation.
These four elements work together to enable a factory to make decisions for itself, without a humans hand behind it. This heightened autonomy reduces the risk of accidents, malfunctions, and safety hazards on the factory floor.
Always under the supervision of a human eye, industry 4.0 seeks to automate as many factory processes as possible. The goal is to increase the quality and efficiency of the manufacturing process.
5 High-Tech Factory Machines for 2019
The landscape of industrial machine technology is becoming more automated than ever. The innovations from industry 3.0 pave the way for the upcoming revolution in factory machines and artificial intelligence.
Industry 4.0 comes into its own in 2019, with these 5 high-tech factory machine innovations:
1. Industrial Robots
Industrial machine robots are no newcomer to manufacturing. But the intelligence and autonomy with which they operate are pushing the boundaries of what was once thought possible.
In manufacturing, robots industrial robots perform welding, painting, product assembly, testing, and more. The more automated robots on the factory floor, the greater the accuracy and speed with which daily tasks are completed.
Industrial robots reduce the need for menial laborers to perform sorting, stocking, and other material handling jobs.
The function of these robots ranges, from repetitive tasks to that which requires improvisational flexibility. By using smart sensor technology, industrial robots use primary and sub-routine programs to carry out a vast array of factory tasks.
Machine learning artificial intelligence (AI) offers industrial robots the ability to visually recognize and track objects around them. Factories operate with greater precision and reliability by enabling robots with visual recognition technology.
2. Augmented Reality (AR) Task Managment
Robots are great for some tasks, however, some industrial manufacturing processes still require the hand of a human. Augmented reality gained widespread recognition from the mobile app market.
But the true genius of this innovation is seen in the factory machine realm.
Factory workers wear hands-free AR headsets that inform on and analyzes the task at hand. AR enables your factory worker to have real-time access to an interactive parts manual.
The AR tech tracks the visual spectrum of the user and identifies parts, objects, and more. The program contains all the information necessary to carry out a task, along with the technology to understand and analyze project elements in real-time.
The Daqri headset lets you plan, guide, design, and more-all in a virtual space. You can scan your surroundings and plan upgrades or infrastructural changes with ultra-accuracy.
3. EBM 3D Metal Printers
Metal 3D printers are ready for full-scale implementation in industrial manufacturing. These high-tech factory machines use a process of additive manufacturing, known as electron-beam melting (EBM).
Additive manufacturing, as opposed to rapid prototyping, produces a project-ready product. In this process, the metal 3D printer uses an electron beam to heat a metal powder or wire.
Custom metal designs, in an EBM 3D metal printer, bypass the need for welding metal pieces together. The EBM process chemically bonds the metal into the shape of your design. So, the finished product is one solid piece of metal.
The powder-based EBM method is the best for creating strong, weight-bearing pieces. The metal powder goes on one layer at a time. Each layer melts into the previous, making a single, uninterrupted metal part.
A metal wire EBM 3D metal printer is similar to a plastic 3D printer. The design takes form from the bottom up, by heating a coil of metal welding wire. Unlike plastic, a stronger heat source must be provided, hence the necessity of the electron beam.
There is plenty to learn more about how to use waterjet cutting and laser technology to take your metal printing to the next level. And some manufacturers offer industrial 3D metal printers are scalable. You can connect multiple fabrication units onto a single control unit to increase your 3D printing capacity.
4. Computer AI Factory Quality Control
Quality control is an essential part of the manufacturing process. Until recently, human eyes were the best method of ensuring the quality of your production. In 2019 you will see fewer humans on the quality control line of factories and more robots.
These robots are, basically, a camera that hooks into a computer. But the program it runs on uses high-tech AI machine learning to analyze the state of a product. Every product that comes off the assembly line is checked for defects and manufacturing problems.
Unlike their human counterparts, AI quality control does not become tired, bored, or distracted. It checks each product with the same vigilance as the last. The advent of AI machine learning can ensure reliability and consistency in the factory production process.
5. Exoskeletons Safety Suits
Iron Man is coming to life on the factory floor, in exoskeleton safety suits. Suits are in use today, that reduces the lifting requirements of laborers without batteries or motorization. And some companies, like Sarcos, are already making fully motorized exoskeleton suits that lift up to 200 pounds repeatedly.
Cutting edge technology companies, like Strong Arm Technologies, are making lift-assistant wearable units with predictive power control. In the event of an impending accident, these suits take control to provide the necessary counterbalance weight.
Exoskeleton safety suits are a groundbreaking innovation for the occupational safety of factory laborers. By raising the standards of safety in factories, humans and machines work together to raise the level of production and efficiency.
Final Thoughts
Industry 4.0 is ready to explode in 2019, with sophisticated AI factory machines. As the manufacturing industry enters the new realm of automation and robotics trailblazers in factory technology hold the key to success.
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