Older production machines don’t have to retire when they start to become less productive–not when modern automation systems can give them a new lease on life. That’s one of the messages that emerged from last week’s Siemens Automation Summit in Orlando, Fla.
Modernization has become one of the top issues facing manufacturers, according to Raj Batra, vice president of Siemens’ Motion Control and Automation business. "At one point or another, manufacturers have to grapple with how to upgrade their production machines," he says.
A couple presentations at the event underscored this point. One involved the use of modern networking technology to eliminate a failing slip ring on one of Osram Sylvania’s light bulb machines. The other detailed Owens-Illinois’ on-going migration from costly customized motion control systems to off-the-shelf drive-based controls for its glass forming lines. Click here for a closer look at both applications:
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Against a backdrop of mounting product complexity and a need to keep a lid on development costs, companies are recognizing a need to make simulation a more integral part of the design process. In response, vendors in the CAD world are building out CAE functionality as part of their CAD suites while simulation vendors are building tighter integrations to leading CAD tools. Keith Meintjes, Ph.D., Practice Manager, Simulation and Analysis at CIMdata, Inc., joins Design News CAD Editor Beth Stackpole in this radio program to explore the new face of integrated CAD and CAE, how companies are benefitting from this tighter partnership between platforms, and how integrating CAE earlier in the development cycle pays off in optimized product designs.
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