Workforce development is taking on increasing importance as manufacturers not only must fill more than 800,000 current openings but also define new careers involving robotics, automation and AI. Manufacturers are seeking people with the right skills for the advanced manufacturing jobs of today and tomorrow and finding ways to upskill their...

The United States is the second largest market for apparel consumption in the world and is also the third-largest producer of cotton globally. But despite having demand and materials, the domestic textiles and apparel industry has been in steady decline for decades. The U.S. imported a total of $127.7 billion in textiles and apparel in 2019, and...

The onset of the COVID-19 pandemic caused severe shortages of medical personal protective equipment (PPE) in the U.S. The advanced manufacturing sector was at the center of the U.S. response, acting as a catalyst to help re-invent the PPE domestic supply chain and playing a major role in the development, production and distribution of...

One of the main promises of Industry 4.0 is to use digital technology to harness data to unlock business value from machines. The vision of “smart manufacturing” has been partially realized through digital technology and its seamless and efficient connection of the Industrial Internet of Things (IloT). Manufacturers now employ various levels of...

The ARM (robotics institute) technology Project “Automated Defect Inspection for Complex Metallic Parts” has yielded impressive results, including detection rates above 95%, a speed of approximately one minute per part, and an expected 345% return on investment if deployed at one site. GKN Aerospace is adopting the technology, and has already built...