In a short span of 60 years, robots have revolutionised manufacturing and emerged as game changers in industry.

The smart factory is still a work in progress, but the building blocks are already in place. A report.

An interview of Dr Stefan Assmann, Business chief digital officer, Industrial Technology business sector, Bosch Connected Industry. By Milton D'Silva.

Machine vision technologies are evolving rapidly to keep pace with the requirements of industry, at times even surpassing them.

Editorial by Steed WEBZELL.

https://issuu.com/ipmediaonline/docs/25_industry_emea_jul20

https://issuu.com/ipmediaonline/docs/01_electronics_journal_jul20

The concept of the smart factory has been steadily evolving over the past few years as its moves towards the goal of providing harmonious communication between shop-floor devices and enterprise-wide management systems. Ultimately, the ambition is to ensure productivity and quality are maximised, from quotation and order, to manufacturing and dispatch. Such a transition also provides the perfect opportunity to address a sometimes overlooked aspect of smart factory operations: energy efficiency.

Editorial by Steed WEBZELL.

IMTS - The International Manufacturing Technology Show, scheduled for September 14-19, 2020 had to be cancelled.