IMTS 2014: Disruptive technologies step forward

Some of the sights were familiar at IMTS 2014 in Chicago, Sept. 8-13: large machining centers, waterjet cutting tables, large displays of inspection and quality assurance tools, and large screens showing off the latest CAD/CAM developments. But that huge 3-D additive manufacturing cell in front of one of the main halls was not something you see every day.

A visit to IMTS made that very clear to the more than 100,000 people attending the show. The metal manufacturing processes of yesterday aren’t necessarily going to be those of the future. In fact, many of the changes that await aren’t really apparent at the moment.

Just look at the 3-D-printed car that was put together at the show. Local Motors, an Arizona-based group known for its Rally Fighter, a car design directed by input from web-based engineers and car enthusiasts, decided to tackle a vehicle body made entirely from direct digital manufacturing—or 3-D printing as it is most commonly known. Well, after 44 hours of constant running, the cell produced a car body—which still needed plenty of secondary finishing—but the mission was accomplished. A technology that has been gaining attention for its ability to produce elaborate one-off parts was on full display as a possible production technology option.

The buzz about 3-D printing was evident with a simple stroll through the halls of the North Hall, where people filled the small booths of printer companies trying to get a glimpse of parts made with the process. The Additive Manufacturing Workshop, held on Sept. 9, drew almost 500 individuals, making it far and away the largest-attended conference event at the tradeshow. Many believe that 3-D printing is ready for prime time.

“It gives the manufacturer a new way of looking at manufacturing parts,” said Tom Pasterik, manager of business and process development for printer company ExOne.

Pasterik said his company believes that this process is poised for high volumes—probably not in the tens of thousands, but in the hundreds. Equipment has been developed that can produce a part as large as 29 by 17 by 17 inches, but these large “printers” also can accommodate multiple parts during one job. In addition, research is constantly being conducted on “industrial-grade material,” as Pasterik called it, opening the door to the world of metal manufacturing. ExOne has had success with aluminum and even something as exotic as ICONEL® alloy.

Another intriguing manufacturing advancement that wasn’t nearly as obvious as large 3-D printing devices were applications being developed for Google Glass. A device that was developed clearly with the consumer market in mind has been adapted for the industrial world.

Beckhoff Automation presented its Google Glass concept, which basically takes the human-machine interface and moves it right in front of the face of the glasses wearer. The user can access machine documentation, web pages, or videos with a simple touch on the side of the glasses.

As part of the demonstration at Beckhoff’s booth, visitors were cast in the role of a service technician. They scanned a QR code with their mobile phones and a status screen for a thermocouple came up right before their eyes. They—or service technicians in the field—could see just how the device was performing. Extending the example, a service technician actually could have an alert message sent to the glasses in case diagnostics discovered something was amiss with the thermocouple.

Some of the “disruptive technologies”—a phrase used by industry observers who think that certain advancements hold the potential to change industry drastically when widespread adoption occurs—aren’t even visible to the naked eye. When people talk about the cloud, they don’t mean the weather, for instance.

This cloud computing—where companies no longer maintain on-site servers and access files, applications, and programs over the Internet—continues to grow as an attractive alternative to manufacturers. Craig Downing, Epicor’s senior director, global cloud marketing, said that larger companies are now jumping onboard with the idea, companies that might have been a little hesitant at first. IT staffs are recognizing that their jobs are still needed to create dashboards and to tailor software options to users’ desires instead of spending time on less valuable activities such as working on patches for servers.

In addition, these companies can get updates and access to new or underutilized modules associated with the enterprise resources planning software almost instantaneously through the web instead of waiting for a software upgrade. Now this is not necessarily true for some heavily regulated industries, such as the food and drug arena where federal government representatives have to sign off on all software changes in a facility, but even then, Downing said, a restricted, cloud-based server can be set up. Updates can be done at the request of the end user in the heavily regulated industries, just not automatically as would be the case for all others.

“When you put people to the cloud, you get more collaboration instead of just relying on the people inside your own four walls,” Downing said. “That’s where you get real efficiencies.”

Technologies such as these, while not traditional in the sense of equipment that cuts metal, represent new additions to the toolbox for manufacturers—even if they aren’t clearly evident to the toolbox owner.