July 2019

| 34 | As manufacturers embrace a lean approach to operations, executives are evaluating their opportunities to continually optimise productivity. Smart Machines & Factories reports. | 37 | Harting’s MICA modular industrial edge computer is at the heart of a system for workflow optimisation at warehouse packing stations that offers the benefits of process optimisation for increased productivity as well as integrating incompatible hardware and software and simplifying the jobs of the packing operatives. Smart Machines & Factories reports. | 38 | Smart Machines & Factories takes a look at how manufacturers can easily benefit from deep learning in their machine vision applications. | 42 | Additive Manufacturing (AM) is moving into series production, opening up opportunities for suppliers, service providers and end- users. Unfortunately, despite the many advantages of AM, poor surface finish is a major barrier to adoption, particularly in demanding end-use applications, such as the civil aerospace industry. | 43 | A new 250 million- euro Rittal plant in Haiger is embracing the principles of Industry 4.0. It represents the company’s largest-ever single investment, which the company claims will enable them to establish the world’s most advanced manufacturing facility for its new compact and small enclosures. Smart Machines & Factories reports. | 46 | | Applications | | Technologies | | Interviews & Reports | | CONTENTS | www.smartmachinesandfactories.com July 2019 | 0 3 | | 46 | At the recent B&R Innovations Day: Enabling the Adaptive Machine, held at the Williams F1 headquarters in Oxford, Sam Tinsley, managing director of Cutting Edge Services - supplier of food processing machinery, services and consumables - highlighted how the company is working with B&R to add incremental automation solutions in an under-invested and low-tech industry such as butchery, in order to raise productivity and address labour shortages for the industry. Smart Machines & Factories’ Aaron Blutstein reports. | 38 |