Topic

This week’s question concerns the health-care reform bill. One of the controversial bill’s provisions, now in Congressional debate, revolves around an escalating series of fines that would be imposed on individuals refusing to purchase health insurance. The fines, slated to take effect starting...

The days of human beings sweeping floors, guarding plants, and doing other mundane or hazardous tasks could someday become a thing of the past. Service robots are increasingly being called on to perform these tasks, according to a new study from industry intelligence organization The Robot Report. According to the...

This week's question concerns satellite radio. When the first U.S. digital satellite radio service was launched in 2001, many people predicted that satellite radio would someday dominate the airwaves, eclipsing all other forms of radio broadcasting. Most of the major automakers...

Although this is the last entry for my Design & Manufacturing Midwest show blog, I want to encourage all of you to keep innovating, and to let me know what new products and technologies you’re working on that may be inspiring to someone at next year’s show. Here are the last couple of products I wanted to let you know...

EU RoHS, China RoHS, Korea RoHS, California RoHS, ELV, REACH – the list of environmental regulations for reducing hazardous substances in products keeps growing. What, exactly, are the costs if your products fail to comply? Missed customer requirements, blocked shipments, costly redesigns, and scrapped parts are...

Machine designers and end users find themselves balancing sometimes opposing priorities such as improving energy efficiency while minimizing adverse impact on the environment, at the same time ensuring performance (e.g., precision, reliability) is not compromised. A key trend...