Week 21 in Manufacturing News

3 Ways Industry 4.0 Will Change Engineering

Additive manufacturing breakthroughs. Previously unimaginable structures can now be created, sometimes from completely new materials, taking AM (aka 3D printing) beyond mere prototyping to final-part production.

New computational models are being developed. Coupled with the rise of additive manufacturing is a demand for more sophisticated, agile computational modelling systems that can help manufacturers take advantage of new manufacturing capabilities.

Connecting analog tools and data structures. The Industrial Internet of Things (IIot) makes it possible to integrate sensors into many manufacturing processes, as well as some key aspects of the supply chain, better-informing design from the earliest stages.

Source: IndustryWeek.

Trade War Update: China Throwing More Lifelines, Apple In Trouble

China will lend more support to strategic sectors of the economy caught in the trade war fire fight, and one big American company, namely Apple, could be the biggest visible loser as Washington targets China tech firms like telecom giant Huawei.

Source: Forbes.

UK manufacturing hit by its worst slump in two and a half years

Britain’s manufacturing sector has suffered the worst slump in orders for more than two and a half years as the car and textile industries struggled against Brexit headwinds.

The CBI said its industrial trends monitor for May showed that without an agreement with the European Union, the manufacturing sector was gripped by “economic paralysis” and moving “ever closer to disaster”.

Source: The Guardian.

Will Eurozone Manufacturing Surprise Us Today?

Last month we saw a ray of hope as the decline in the manufacturing production slowed down. French manufacturing PMI remained in contraction in the first reading but it was revised higher in the second reading and now it remains flat. This month, the PMI indicator was expected to tick higher to 50.1 points. But report beat expectations coming at 50.6 points.

Source: FX.