AMT/USA Pavilion Emerging Technology Center (ETC) Brings Leading Innovations to FEIMAFE 2011
McLean, Va. . . . Featuring the game-changing technology that will drive manufacturing’s future, AMT-The Association For Manufacturing Technology will be sponsoring the Emerging Technology Center (ETC) at FEIMAFE 2011. The ETC will be part of the AMT/USA Pavilion, an area devoted to U.S.-based exhibitors.
The ETC will include four featured technologies: MTConnect, cloud computing, micro manufacturing and nanotechnology, and additive manufacturing. All of these technologies have been singled out as having a major impact on the industry’s future.
“We want to share the technologies we feel will have the greatest industry impact with the Brazilian manufacturing community,” said Mario Winterstein, Business Development Director at AMT. “The ETC is informative and gives FEIMAFE visitors a first-hand look at these amazing innovations.”
MTConnect is an open, royalty-free standard designed to improve communications between machine tools. It borrows principles first developed in the IT world to foster better interoperability on the shop floor. Many manufacturing firms are taking part in its development and implementation, including GE, FANUC, and Siemens, among many others.
Cloud computing is the outsourced management and storage of data, done on large, remote server farms that end users access through the Internet. Its use has been growing among both businesses and consumers, and it is making its way into manufacturing as well. Cloud computing eliminates
the need for companies to maintain and update their own servers — instead, their selected cloud service provider does all that work for them. It allows end users to enjoy the benefits of extensive computing power, without the associated maintenance and related costs.
Micro manufacturing and nanotechnology are growing increasingly common in manufacturing, thanks in particular to the medical, electronics, and aerospace industries. It involves the machining and manipulation of ultra-small parts and particles — in the case of nano, smaller than 100 nanometers. But the advances made possible through these technologies are bigger than ever before imagined.
Finally, additive manufacturing is the process of building objects based on thin, horizontal cross-sections from 3-D computer models. It allows for design flexibility previously unknown and even impossible in traditional subtractive processes. Additionally, with no need to make a die, it can speed up production dramatically. It’s an ideal technology for sophisticated, low-quantity parts.
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