Hannover Fairs USA and Deutsche Messe officials announced that Siemens will showcase its latest Industry 4.0 solutions at Digital Industry USA 2019 from Sept. 11-12 in Louisville, Kentucky. Spanning the Production Efficiency, Data Analytics, & Cloud hubs on the show floor, Siemens’ presence will demonstrate how manufacturers can leverage Industry 4.0 to gain a competitive advantage in a rapidly changing value chain.

“The digitalization of industry is opening up completely new possibilities for productivity and flexibility,” notes Klaus Helmrich, member of the managing board of Siemens AG and CEO of Digital Industries. “The technical solutions for this are already available, now they need to be implemented. The U.S. manufacturing sector is a leader in the adoption of industrial software, advanced automation, and Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT) solutions.”

“We are proud to partner with Siemens for our inaugural event,” says Larry Turner, president and CEO of (HFUSA). “We specifically designed the Digital Industry USA trade show and conference to showcase Industry 4.0 and to provide a platform for manufacturers to address their challenges and needs as they implement or expand these disruptive technologies into their facilities. Siemens is a perfect partner as the company is radically improving the factory of the future.”

Raj Batra, president of Siemens Digital Industries U.S. adds, “The U.S. manufacturing sector is increasingly embracing the value proposition of digitalization and setting their sights on becoming truly digital enterprises. Thanks to dramatic improvements in virtualization, automation, and simulation, today this is an attainable objective. For example, it is now possible to create a high-fidelity digital twin of your products, your production operations, and your overall manufacturing performance. Lighthouse factories have proven these concepts in the U.S. and abroad.”

Siemens will demonstrate technologies and services that are part of a proven path to discontinuous value creation in an increasingly digital industrial age. The company will showcase its automation systems for discrete and process industries, software for creating and gaining step-change value from digital twins, the open IIoT platform MindSphere, and a range of digital services including defense-in-depth cybersecurity.

North American sales of machine vision (MV) components and systems that provide vision intelligence to robots and other machines declined 4.5% over the same period last year. According to statistics from the AIA, the industry’s trade group part of the Association for Advancing Automation (A3), financial transactions for the entire market contracted to $674 million, with sales of MV components down 12.6% to $93 million and sales of MV systems down 3.1% to $579 million.

“Based on what we were hearing from our member companies at the end of last year and into the new year, we expected the statistics to reflect fewer sales for the quarter,” notes Alex Shikany, vice president of membership and business intelligence at A3. “The semiconductor industry, which is a leading indicator for machine vision, showed signs of contraction at the end of last year, which led us to believe lower sales figures might’ve been ahead to begin 2019. Fortunately, machine vision technologies are still becoming smarter and smaller to fit within in-demand automation applications such as AI-driven bin picking, autonomous vehicles, and advanced inspection technologies, which is a positive indicator for the future health of this industry.” 

Mixed Expectations for future MV
According to AIA’s latest survey of industry experts, 41% believe machine vision component sales in total will increase, 39% believe they will remain flat and 21% are bracing for further declines. There is more consensus for machine vision systems markets with 71% of respondents expecting flat performance, 23% expecting increases and only 6% bracing for declines. Overall, two-thirds (66%) of respondents believe the overall machine vision market in North America will remain flat in the next six months.

With the development of the Generalized Bearing Life Model (GBLM), SKF customers and distributors can be sure they choose the right bearing for the right application, every time.

Until now, it has been difficult for engineers to predict whether a hybrid bearing will outperform a steel one in an application, or whether the possible performance benefits that hybrid bearings enable are worth the extra investment required. The conventional equations engineers use to calculate the rating life of a bearing don’t reflect the real-world performance of hybrid designs.

To address this issue, in 2012 engineers at SKF started to develop what would become GBLM. A primary version of the model was presented at Hannover Messe in 2015, but at this stage the model was not ready to perform calculations for hybrid bearings. Four additional years were needed by scientists and technicians at SKF’s facilities in the Netherlands and Austria to incorporate this feature into GBLM.

Using GBLM, SKF engineers have been able to determine the real-world benefits hybrid bearings can have. In the case of a poorly lubricated pump bearing, for instance, the rating life of a hybrid bearing can be up to 8x that of a steel equivalent. For a screw compressor bearing running with contaminated lubricant, meanwhile, the hybrid offers a rating lifetime 100x greater than a conventional steel bearing.

"SKF has always been at the forefront of developing new methods for calculating bearing life," says Guillermo Morales-Espejel, principal scientist at SKF Research and Technology Development. "GBLM is a giant leap for bearing science and will enable better choices to be made when selecting bearings for a wide variety of applications."

Through SKF Bearing Select, this capability is available to SKF customers and distributers. SKF Bearing Select can be used to model hybrid deep-groove ball bearings, and hybrid cylindrical roller bearings.

More advanced calculations are available in SKF internal calculation tools to support application engineers in customer projects.

The collaborative Youth Apprenticeship Program for advanced manufacturing – with the University of Arkansas - Fort Smith in partnership with ABB was launched at the Fort Smith Area Chamber of Commerce Signing Day in May – with 9 students from 6 local high schools officially joining ABB as apprentices.

The event saw 31 students from UAFS and regional high schools publicly commit to Fort Smith business, including ABB, ArcBest, Baptist-Fort Smith, Mercy-Fort Smith, SSI Design-Build Constructors, and more.

Fort Smith has seen an increased need for skilled workers in advanced manufacturing, information technologies, and healthcare reaching near critical need. The ABB Youth Apprenticeship Program is one element in this community-led effort to bringing together business, economic development, higher education and k-12 education to establish a workforce development model that creates a talent pipeline for existing and future businesses in the region.

"Developing our programs alongside the business community ensures we are delivering students with critical skills that are in high demand," says Ken Warden, dean of the College of Applied Science and Technology at UAFS. "These students will not only have the opportunity to apply what they learn in school in a real-world environment, but they will also receive a regular paycheck while completing their high school careers."

The ABB Youth Apprenticeship Program targets rising high school juniors and seniors ages 16-18 who are enrolled in advanced manufacturing career and technical education programs at the university. Once they are accepted into the program, they will work full time for ABB over the summer and part time during the school year while attending high school and earning technical concurrent college credit.

"As ABB continues to invest in advanced manufacturing technology, equipment and processes, it's critical to have the right employees with the right skills to support them," says Johnny McKusker, vice president of operations for ABB's NEMA motors business.

Students will spend two months at ABB over the summer, dedicating 40 hours a week to their studies and career development. They will continue their advanced manufacturing curriculum with UAFS instructors on a daily basis in an on-site classroom at ABB and will begin to work with ABB staff to put their skills to use.

"As we move forward in the world of industry 4.0, it's exciting to know we are building a pipeline of talent, inside and out, that understands the technology we will use to take better care of our customers," McKusker says.