The age of cobots has dawned.  According to Greg Nichols who authored "Big announcements from major players in collaborative robotics" and "Robotics in business: Everything humans need to know" published by @ZDNet, "the cobot market is unstoppable as heavyweights compete to expand distribution and bring new products online." 

And what fueled the recent growth?  Greg honed it down to essentially four reasons:

* falling sensor prices
* open source development
* rapid prototyping
* convergence of disparate technologies

In 2018 alone, I've had opportunity to work on several custom tray projects in support of cobot manufacturing in the automotive, medical, industrial, and electronics manufacturing industries.  

Take for example the custom vacuum formed tray pictured above.  This tray was created for an automotive device manufacturer reworking a robotic line  that was scaling down in size.   Working closely with the customer's engineering team, RapidMade provided design assistance (DfM), first articles for performance verification, and ultimately low-volume manufacturing to help the customer expediently and cost effectively reconfigure the robotic line with minimal impact to manufacturing output.

Grippers paired with custom fixtures (such as the thermoformed tray described) enable these cobots to work effectively with humans, and RapidMade is uniquely positioned to offer vacuum forming for one-off projects and low-volume manufacturing with NRE's that are a fraction of traditional tooling charges.   

Follow the links provided above read the full articles.  To discuss low-volume manufacturing of custom vacuum formed trays, rapid prototyping, or other manufacturing services,  please contact HOPEWELL Companies today.

​HOPEWELL COMPANIES provides experienced representation of test and manufacturing services and solutions.

With a highly specialized background in Aero/Defense and electronics manufacturing, and more than 20 years in electronic manufacturing and engineering services, HOPEWELL COMPANIES brings empowerment and value to our clients through:
​

• consultation and experienced interpretation of complex Scopes of Work to space, avionics, military, and commercial regulatory standards;
• timely identification of Principals able to satisfy client requirements for quality, performance, budget and delivery;
• expansive network of subject matter experts and consultants;
• assistance beyond the sale, to include ongoing program oversight.

For more information regarding the engineering, test, and manufacturing capabilities of our Principals, please visit our website.

McKinsey&Company recently published an exceptional article entitled "How industrial companies can respond to disruptive forces" in which authors Rajat Dhawan, Bernd Heid, Paul Kuderli, and Kevin Laczkowski provide data with executive commentaries from over 300 surveyed participants that can be summarized and categorized as follows:

* Incumbents are grappling with five disruptive forces (the disruptive forces themselves and the ability of companies to prepare for them)

* Disruption is upending the core of industrial companies (the implications for incumbents of the new disruptive world)

* What can incumbents do to stay relevant - or win (the way companies can deliver a sustained, successful response)

The study is targeted on three industrial sectors:  automotive, aerospace and defense, and diversified industrials (building and industrial technologies, machinery, and power equipment) and is loaded with insights and observations on a wide variety of subjects including AI, IoT, electrification, cybersecurity, talent acquisition and other critical business factors.    For the full article, follow the link provided.

#Aerospace #defense #electronics #industrial #infrastructure #IOT #AI #artificialintelligence #electrification #diversifiedindustrials #cybersecurity #RF #microwave #semiconductor #manufacturing

​HOPEWELL COMPANIES provides experienced representation of test and manufacturing services and solutions.

With a highly specialized background in Aero/Defense and electronics manufacturing, and more than 20 years in electronic manufacturing and engineering services, HOPEWELL COMPANIES brings empowerment and value to our clients through:
​

• consultation and experienced interpretation of complex Scopes of Work to space, avionics, military, and commercial regulatory standards;
• timely identification of Principals able to satisfy client requirements for quality, performance, budget and delivery;
• expansive network of subject matter experts and consultants;
• assistance beyond the sale, to include ongoing program oversight.

For more information regarding the engineering, test, and manufacturing capabilities of our Principals, please visit our website.

With the turning of the leaves comes that most delightful season of all … yup, it's Forecast Season folks.

Within the electronics community I serve, RF and Microwave technologies are key drivers, and so I've been doing a little digging and have found a few really good articles to pass along for your reading enjoyment.

BLILEY TECH is one of my favorite sources for RF news, and while this article was originally published January 2017 it still contains some valuable insights:   "What Will The RF Industry Look Like in 10 Years".   Key highlights include:

*  Integration and increasing saturation of 5G technology, ushering in true "IOT". 

* Mil/Aerospace and Satellite Applications:  Global Electronic Warefare (EW) spending is expected to exceed $9.3B by 2022 with increasing demand and advancement for military RF and microwave tech to support EW and SATCOM​

In keeping with the above, I also recommend you read "Accelerated Growth Curve to Push Defense Spending to $2.6 Trillion" published by STRATEGY ANALYTICS.  It includes a 2018 global defense analysis which elaborates on some of the specific technologies to benefit from the increased defense spend.    Here's a snippet:

"Spending on radar, EW and communications will be some of the priorities for defense spending along with Command and Control (C2), Computers, EO-IR (electro-optical and infrared) sensors, navigation and smart weapons.​…."

And finally, "Technology in 2025:  Prepare for the fourth industrial revolution" by PLURALSIGHT, whose SME's have provided updated commentary and content to a 2013 report published by THE MCKINSEY GLOBAL INSTITUTE entitled "Disruptive technologies:  Advances that will transform life, business, and the global economy".  I highlight recommend you read both, for the unique content contained in each publication.

And what is a key driver to these advancements … RF and microwave technologies! 

Or to quote Eric Schmidt, of Alphabet Inc. "Advancement in radio frequency technology is the magic that is going to make this all happen." 

We couldn't agree more, Eric!​