This is not your grandmother's Ford. CEO Jim Hackett talks like a tech guy and is reconfiguring the company as much as its cars and trucks around a vision of autonomy, electricity and services that go way beyond vehicles. More
Manufacturing Partner Insights
Inside the Digital Factory
A process as simple as the torqueing of a screw can be ensured to be done correctly by using smart torque drivers and specialized vision systems that can “see” the workspace. This is not your father's factory, as our partner, Celestica, explains. More
Community Insights Manufacturing Society
Supply Chain Gaps Can Make the Case for Blockchain
Despite the popular hype surrounding blockchain, it will likely be the humble blocking and tackling of supply chain management that proves the technology’s value to business. Tradeshift's Christopher Jablonski covers blockchain's potential benefit to business. More
Business Manufacturing Partner Insights
Resurgence of Hardware Driving Innovation Across the Enterprise
As the demands of the enterprise increase and software becomes more sophisticated, standard hardware cannot keep up, says Celestica's Jason Phillips. There is momentum around a new class of advanced hardware optimized for today’s complex enterprise environments. Note: Celestica is a Techonomy partner. More
Managing Manufacturing Techonomy Events
The Future of Work: Automation, Training, and the ‘Digital Reckoning’
At Sunday’s session of Techonomy 2017, Techonomy CEO David Kirkpatrick spoke about the future of automation and American business with GE Vice Chair Beth Comstock and Penny Pritzker, former U.S. Secretary of Commerce and founder of PSP Capital Partners. The bottom line: there's still a lot of work to be done. More
Managing Manufacturing Techonomy Events
At Techonomy NYC: Chewable Ice and Turning Bananas into Dirt
Companies struggle to stay relevant to customers as tastes and trends change quickly. At Techonomy NYC, I was struck by Slava Rubin, cofounder of crowdfunding service Indiegogo, which has started working with companies like GE and Whirlpool to test ideas with consumers. His best stories relate to refrigerators and the way we dispose of trash. More
Arts & Culture Learning Manufacturing
Five Ways AR and VR Will Improve Our Current Reality
A flood of investments into the new tools of reality continues to fuel innovation. Virtual and augmented reality, from the original Google Glass to the latest Oculus Rift, has continually shaped the technology market,and will grow substantially in the coming years. AR and VR will impact the world around us in a number of interesting—and beneficial—ways. Here are five things to look forward to. More
Internet of Things Manufacturing
A Robot the Price of a Smartphone Could Bring Humanoids into the Household
The big dream of consumer robotics has always been the in-home robot. In movies and television, friendly robots help with daily chores, talk and interact with their owners, and generally become a part of the family. Now, a new robot from Taiwanese company Asus could make the family robot an affordable reality. It’s name is Zenbo – and at $599, it costs less than an iPhone 6S. More
Manufacturing Startup Culture Techonomy Events
From Techonomy Detroit: In Manufacturing, Speed Trumps Scale
A tech trifecta is transforming manufacturing: Cloud connectivity, cheaper, computing, and easily-shared digital information. When speed-to-market is valued over all else, businesses that best utilize these tools for R&D, production, and delivery will win. The new synergies are transforming one-man manufacturing startups as much as giants like Ford. More
Cities Government Manufacturing Techonomy Events Transportation
Geared up for Techonomy Detroit Tuesday 9/15!
On September 15th our FOURTH Techonomy Detroit conference hosts fantastic thinkers and leaders for conversations about how tech is changing companies, work, cities and countries. Speakers include Aetna CEO Mark Bertolini, Autodesk CEO Carl Bass, and Detroit Mayor Mike Duggan, plus leaders from Google, IBM, Microsoft, and numerous other companies. And 41% of our speakers are women! More
Business Manufacturing Startup Culture
Will Makerspaces Jumpstart a New Industrial Revolution?
After I first visited TechShop in 2006, I hypothesized that if makers could be given access to the tools of the industrial revolution at a cost they could afford, they could change the world. Nine years later we have innumerable examples of how this access has revolutionized who gets to make things, what gets made, and where and how they do it. In other words, it changes the very nature of manufacturing in America. More
Driverless Cars Debut Soon—But Will We Be Ready for Them?
Is operating a driverless car legal? With Tesla, Audi, and Cadillac all set to roll out vehicles featuring autonomous functions over the next year—in a legal climate where the federal government and a majority of states lack any regulation at all—the question is difficult to address, but urgently demands an answer. Many automakers say that if a state doesn’t expressly bar hands-free driving, it’s permitted. And legal experts agree. But they also point out that how police officers elect to actually handle driverless cars is another matter. More
Manufacturing Techonomy Events
Technologies and Trends that Let Small Designers Make Stuff Locally
While most of the world is yet to be enlightened as to how 3D printing will change manufacturing, Autodesk CEO Carl Bass is already talking about its limitations, and why biological manufacturing is the industry’s more exciting future. Bass joined fellow manufacturing industry thought leaders last week at Techonomy 2014 in Half Moon Bay, Calif., for a conversation about how hardware and software are changing manufacturing. More
Manufacturing Techonomy Events
Just Make It: The Evolution of Manufacturing
Trends in openness, access to technology and an expansion of new resource channels combined with a burgeoning hacker mentality mean doors are starting to open to an industry long closed off to startups. What does the future of making things look like as the hardware changes and software evolves? What is the new infrastructure of manufacturing? Techonomy's David Kirkpatrick speaks with Autodesk CEO Carl Bass, PCH CEO Liam Casey, and Shapeways co-founder Marleen Vogelaar at the Techonomy 2014 conference in Half Moon Bay, Calif. More
Analytics & Data Manufacturing
Manufacturers Struggle to Turn Data Into Insight
Let’s tone down the hype about the Industrial Internet of Things. While the concept shows promise—building smart machines that use sensors and Internet connectivity to improve performance and catch problems—the far more pressing opportunity is learning to make better use of the mountains of data that factories already generate each year, data that manufacturers today often discard after a production run or store unexamined. More
Tahoe-Reno Will Be the World’s Battery Capital
Tesla's $5 billion Gigafactory will be worth nearly $100 billion to Nevada over 20 years, according to the state's Governor Brian Sandoval and Tesla Motors CEO Elon Musk, who announced plans to build the lithium-ion battery plant in the northern part of the state in the Tahoe Reno Industrial Center. In return, Nevada is expected to allow Tesla billions of dollars in tax breaks. More
People Are Still More Adaptable Than Robots
The media and pundits have exaggerated the threat robots present to human workers' livelihood, claims labor market scholar David Autor. Reporting on ideas Autor presented at a recent bankers' conference, New York Times writer Neil Irwin sums up the argument: "Even as computers have gotten better at rote tasks, they have progressed far less in applying common sense." More
Inventing Outside of the Box
Steven Norris, an editor at Gearburn—a Cape Town, South Africa website chronicling "the latest gadget news from around the world"—admits to being endlessly amused by "staggeringly cool technology videos" that reveal how designers transform ugly tech devices into "eye-pleasing shapes." As a favor to those who share his fascination, yesterday Norris shared 13 videos "of incredible inventions that show off their makers' insane intelligence." His picks? We agree they're all staggeringly cool, but suggest that their inventors are likely quite sane geniuses. More
Energy & Green Tech Manufacturing
Panasonic Will Help Tesla Crank Out the Gigawatt-hours, but Where?
Tesla Motors and Panasonic confirmed this morning that they will cooperate on the construction of a large-scale lithium-ion battery manufacturing plant in the U.S. Five states in the running to host the $5 billion Gigafactory expect an announcement of its location after the market closes today. Arizona, California, New Mexico, Nevada, and Texas are the hopefuls to house the facility, which is expected to comprise up to 10 million square feet over 1,000 acres. More
Electronics Manufacturers Bet Big on Vietnam
Attracted by low labor costs and other advantages, global electronics manufacturers invested billions in Vietnam over the past few years. As they continue to build new factories in 2014, Vietnam’s economy will benefit from the influx of foreign capital, talent, and technology. A small player in the global electronics supply chain just a decade ago, Vietnam exported $38 billion in devices and components last year, according to data from the International Trade Center. Although this pales next to the $560 billion shipped by China, the world’s leading producer of electronics, Vietnam now ranks as the 12th largest electronics exporter in the world. More
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