6 River Systems (6RS), the provider of fully collaborative mobile robotics solutions, announces general availability of Mobile Sort, a new solution which enables warehouse operators to intelligently generate and fulfill batched orders using 6RS’ robots, mobile sort stations and cloud-based software enhanced with machine learning. 6RS will debut Mobile Sort on April 8 at ProMat 2019.
 
E-commerce and retail sales continuously grow each year, yet warehouse operators struggle to find and hire enough warehouse associates to maintain with the work. The Wall Street Journal recently reported that U.S. warehouses need to hire an additional 452,000 workers between 2018-19 amid record-low unemployment nationwide, just to fulfill the growing demand. Mobile Sort is designed to assist operators rise to meet peak demands and challenges.
 
“Each-picking operations are under bigger-than-ever marketplace pressure to pick a lot faster and scale for peak seasons with fewer seasonal hires,” Jerome Dubois, 6RS co-CEO and co-founder said. “6 River Systems’ Mobile Sort enhances throughput with a picking and sorting solution that is certainly mobile and flexible, assisting operators who are crunched for time, capital and resources balance performance and cycle times.”
 
Mobile Sort stations consist of smart kiosks, mobile put-to-light walls with validation sensors which work with 6RS’ cloud-based software and 6RS collaborative robots, called “Chucks.” 6RS’ intelligent allocation engine continuously makes highly optimized batches of work which group orders into the most effective picking jobs, decreasing walking. Chucks deliver empty totes to associates in active picking places and direct associates to complete picks. Totes are then delivered to take-off points, where they are sorted into orders using the Mobile Sort stations.
 
Equipped with product images and put lights, Mobile Sort stations furthermore assist associates to sort items into customer orders at industry-leading speed and accuracy. The entire solution, from robots to sortation and packout stations, is operated by 6RS’ machine learning which moves efficient picking and system performance. Not only does Mobile Sort improve pick rates, but also, it is used to consolidate picks across different areas or automation into discrete orders; as an example across mezzanine levels or from goods-to-person automation solutions.
 
“Mobile Sort is simple to install and breakdown, and does not require any permanent infrastructure,” Gillan Hawkes, 6RS VP of Product said. “Unlike regular automation, Mobile Sort can be easily scaled up or down to manage seasonality and to reclaim valuable floor space.”
 
With the addition of Mobile Sort, 6RS extends the value that their solutions offer buyers — from their collaborative mobile robots, to order allocation, picking, sorting and pack-out. These solutions address present gaps in the market today, especially for third party logistics, B2B, fast-growing e-commerce and omni-channel retail operations.
 
“Autonomous mobile robots have done a fantastic job of attacking the low-hanging fruit in fulfillment processes — movement of material” said John Santagate, Research Director for Commercial Service Robotics at IDC. “As the innovative vendors in this space have started to scale deployments, they're now also developing complementary products that extend the value of the AMRs in the fulfillment process. Mobile Sort from 6 River Systems is a good example of an AMR vendor extending the abilities and value of their products and services ”.
 
The Mobile Sort solution will likely be deployed throughout leading 3PL and retail warehouse operations in time for peak 2019.
 
This article is originally posted on tronserve.com

Artificial intelligence (AI) is front and center for many enterprises because of its potential to deliver significant benefits to both top and bottom lines of businesses. It can help enterprises make greater decisions by leveraging their data to reduce costs by improving process efficiencies, and to increase revenues and gain competitive benefit by bringing new offerings to market more swiftly.
 
Further, AI has massive potential to impact human lives. AI can help deliver better healthcare by reducing human errors in diagnosis, enhancing understanding and treatment of diseases and dramatically accelerating drug discovery. It can also be utilized to enhance personal security by identifying potential threats from humans or nature before they become an issue, such as more accurate weather forecasts, or enhanced, in-car traffic monitoring. 
 
Many of the intelligent applications delivering these transformational benefits in enterprises need huge amounts of data, particularly using new means like deep learning, which enables AI today. Much of this data still lives in on-premise data centers due to security restrictions, privacy laws or even the economics of rolling sheer amounts of data. These issues are much more prominent in certain verticals like healthcare, manufacturing, finance and research organizations. When developing and deploying AI applications in these scenarios, it makes more sense to bring the compute power closer to the data than the other way around.
 
To be effective with AI work, companies need more than just a hardware provider for their computing needs. They need a partner who will work hand-in-hand to help minimize business uncertainty and technical complexity associated with this emerging technology. Lenovo is taking a unique approach to meet customer needs through some offerings, which goes beyond infrastructure. Together with Launch:AI Workshops, Lenovo’s global AI Innovation Centers help customers identify use cases that can deliver business value and execute proof-of-concepts by providing AI expertise and optimized infrastructure to lessen business risk and prove technical viability.
 
The next phase of executing AI projects even bring many more obstacles, primarily in procuring hardware and software tools to assist data scientists and developers while optimizing total cost of ownership (TCO). Currently, much of the AI development using deep learning method makes use of open source software frameworks such as TensorFlow, Caffe, MxNet, etc., whereas enterprise IT experience is mostly with packaged software applications, which are easy to manage. Adding further complexity is the need to maintain multiple builders using various frameworks and versions to accomplish the same task. In this context, enterprises need supporting development tools to leverage open source efficiently. Our award-winning Lenovo intelligent Computing Orchestration (LiCO) simplifies AI development by efficiently managing cluster resources, open source frameworks and typical AI workflows.
 
Procuring infrastructure for AI is a balancing act for many data center IT admins because of the need to satisfy numerous requirements. These typically include meeting the several performance demands from data scientists, AI engineers and software engineers, while optimizing the TCO. A hard needle to thread!  The optimal solution would have the performance of a purpose-built system, yet have the flexibility to run multiple applications, even non-AI workloads. With this blueprint in mind, the Lenovo ThinkSystem SR670 was designed basically for scale-out AI workloads, but with flexibility to handle traditional high performance computing (HPC), virtual desktop infrastructure (VDI), video processing, etc. Further, it efficiently scales from experimentation with a couple of nodes to large-scale deployments in distributed training environments, which LiCO also supports as an added benefit.
 
The ThinkSystem SR670 has two models, each based on the different AI workloads in data center, supporting either NVIDIA T4 or NVIDIA V100 Tensor Core GPUs. The most recent ThinkSystem SR670 offering (announcing at NVIDIA GTC’19) supports eight T4 GPUs in a 2U server. With NVIDIA NGC-Ready validation, T4 servers can exceed across the whole range of accelerated workloads— machine learning, deep learning, virtual desktops, and high-performance computing (HPC). And, at 70 watts each, the T4 GPUs alleviate the power and cooling requirements to populate these servers at scale in existing enterprise data centers.
 
For deep learning training or running HPC applications exclusively, the SR670 currently supports four NVIDIA V100 GPUs, and delivers the best total compute capacity with 448 deep learning teraflops or 28 double-precision teraflops. Further, the 32GB on-board HBM2 memory is suitable for training large neural networks and HPC computational models with in-memory requirements. Together, with the dedicated PCIe communication channels between CPU and GPUs in ThinkSystem SR670, this configuration becomes the ideal choice for IT to get the best performance for these two workloads.
 
By using the SR670 and LiCO, IT admins will be able to balance their performance requirements and TCO by designing their data center infrastructure for a better return on investment (ROI).  Now is the time to bring AI closer to the ‘data’ center for building production-grade intelligent applications.
 
Interested in learning more about Lenovo’s AI offerings and the ThinkSystem SR670? Visit the Lenovo booth at GTC ’19 in San Jose from March 18th-21st, to chat with our team about beginning your AI journey.




This article is originally posted on Tronserve.com

The Internet of Things (IoT) offers numerous potential opportunities for businesses to improve operational efficiencies, generate new products and implement new ideas.
However, it is crucial to bear in mind that many applications for IoT are still mainly exploratory. Before jumping on the IoTbandwagon, it is important to define your business challenge as well as the operational specifications of a possible IoT solution. Without the right business case, IoT projects will fail to present any value, and could end up being an expensive waste of resources.
 
The IoT is essentially a converged network of sensors, gateways, portals and platforms that formulate data. This data has big potential and can be harnessed, analyzed and used to improve business insight, improve efficiency, reduce costs and more. Some of the applications include proactive management and maintenance of machinery, vehicles and security, enhancing operational efficiency, and leveraging data from sensors to drive enhanced business decision-making.
 
However, defining your use case is required. Many businesses presently make the mistake of fixating on technology and trying to develop a business case around it. As with any technology, a more effective approach is to recognize a business need or operational challenge, and then build an IoT solution to solve it. Once you have a defined business case the next step is to discover the most ideal technologies to address it. Here, one must then look at integrating these technologies or the technology into the existing infrastructure of the business.
 
There are many businesses where IoT has successfully been integrated or where there is considerable potential. In the financial services and insurance sectors, for example, connected sensors can be used to track vehicles, sending information like location, speed, acceleration, deceleration and so on. This can be used to mitigate insurance fraud by determining when and where an accident took place and who may have been responsible for causing it. Retailers can also make use of IoT to manage warehouses and stock levels, implement self-checkout services, automatically calculate the cost of a shopping cart, and automate payment upon exit. Within the agricultural sector, sensors can be used to monitor crops and automate water use or deliver alerts to potential risks and hazards, such as fire. These are just some examples of potential uses for IoT – there are practically limitless applications.
 
However, when deploying an IoT solution, the choice and use of technology become key. Not all available technologies may be suitable across all industries. The connectivity protocol should be established to avoid buying into a technology that may be unnecessarily expensive. For example, an IoTsolution that uses Global System for Mobile communication (GSM) to connect, may not be necessary within a warehouse environment where cheaper, shorter range Wi-Fi or RFID technology will work.
 
While concerns around security are acceptable, as the IoT becomes extremely prevalent vendors will be better able to close loopholes, and the benefits will begin to outweigh the risks. One thing is for certain, the IoT is growing, and it is felling a global behavioral alteration. Socially and culturally, connectedness coupled with data insights means we are developing an expectation of service providers to anticipate what we need and this is driving a more impatient yet far more aware and conscious society. Slowly, we are moving towards an Internet of Everything environment, where people and technology integrate into a global network, opening up new avenues of opportunity for businesses and individuals alike.



This article is originally posted on Tronserve.com

The automotive giant, Daimler, has presented a new Mercedes-Benz factory near Moscow following a ceremony attended by President Vladimir Putin on Wednesday (3 April), according to Reuters.
 
In a move which indicates a rare foreign investment into Russia’s car sector, the plant is the first to be exposed by a foreign car maker in Russia as investment in the automotive industry dries up following western sanctions and a struggling economy.
 
At the inaugural ceremony, Putin disclosed that the plant is set to create around 25,000 cars yearly, with the investment in the project worth over $291mn. It is anticipated that the factory will employ nearly 1,000 people following Daimler’s deal with Russia’s authorities at the beginning of 2017. The automotive market has started to rise again and it was recorded that around 1.8mn cars were sold last year.




This article is originally posted on Tronserve.com

The global workforce is having a generational shift: By 2020, millennials will portray the premier generation in the workplace, at 35%, while the share of baby boomers will drop to 22%.
 
This presents an especially challenging forecast for manufacturing sales teams, many of which consist largely of baby boomers who are likely to retire in the next 10-15 years. With 85% of current sales people saying they would advise a career in sales to a young person, there is significant potential for millennials to find fulfilling careers in manufacturing sales. The global salesforce is forecasted to remain relatively stable through 2020, at .46% compound annual growth rate—good news for millennials, who are likely to prioritize job security over other considerations.
 
So, how can manufacturing companies attract this new generation of sellers? It starts with careful planning and gaining clarity about what millennials want and need in a job.
 
Play up the opportunity to become a specialist
 
Like most other generations, compensation represents the No. 1 factor that strikes millennials’ assessment of a potential job. But they’re also looking for a company and role that speaks to their individual values and interests. Recent graduates with an engineering background may not have considered sales as a career path, but manufacturing sales affords millennials the opportunity to build expertise in fascinating, cutting-edge technology. Play up the exciting technology behind your company’s automated sensors or the new software powering its robotics division.
 
Update your internal tech tools
 
Millennials don’t just want the opportunity to sell the latest technology; they wish technology to power their everyday work. As a digital-first generation, millennials live on their smartphones, and bring strong technical knowledge to the table. Companies that provide technology tools, especially those that incorporate your proven sales methodology, demonstrate they’re prepared for the future.
 
Make sure your company and the prospect are a good match
 
If your company hopes to attract millennials, it needs to apply a forward-thinking approach. This includes your business practices and ethics, work-life balance and the flexibility of the work environment.
 
As with any role and potential hire, your sales and human resources departments should have a solid classification of the characteristics, skills and personality traits that will make a millennial applicant a good fit. Employ talent and skills assessments during your interview plan to help assure a cultural fit and determine where their strengths can serve your company — and how you can build their skills once they are on board.
 
Develop training programs that go beyond the technical
Millennials may possess extensive technical knowledge that helps them understand the technical aspects of manufacturing sales. But with the increase in the number of stakeholders involved in the manufacturing sales decision making process, it’s just important to spend time training and coaching them on best practices on connecting with customers as it is understanding a product’s purpose. Young sellers need to discover and speak to the value of solutions based on each person’s valid business reasons.
 
Organizations that blend sales training with technical and product training achieve greater success—companies whose reps exceed client expectations in providing insights and perspectives have win rates 12.4% higher than those who simply meet expectations.
 
Invest in long-term development and retention
 
While millennials have higher rates of turnover than prior generations, they’re likely to return loyalty when they receive it from an employer. Millennials who believe their companies exhibit a high-trust culture are 22 times more likely to want to work there for a long time.
 
Companies can demonstrate this trust by investing in millennial sellers for the long-term. Ask millennials about their career priorities, such as participating in the launch of a new technology. Help them envision a long future at your company by setting benchmark goals and drawing up career paths. Give them opportunities to show their capacity to lead from the beginning.
 
With unemployment rates at historic lows, millennials know they have choices when it comes to their next employers. Manufacturing sales organizations have an opportunity to sell themselves and prove their worth as an attractive workplace.



This article is originally posted on Tronserve.com

Client satisfaction is more and more crucial in the manufacturing sector, just like it is in consumer-facing industries such as retail. Customer demands are rising across the board, and manufacturers are requiring higher responsiveness and additional visibility into the service of their equipment as they strive to maximize uptime. Customarily, improving customer satisfaction has come at a price, but new technologies that improve the customer experience have the additional advantage of actually maximizing the efficiency of the service organization and minimizing the cost of service.
 
There are three main steps through which field service organizations can both enhance efficiency and improve customer satisfaction:
 
Planning
 
Seasoned field service professionals realise that effective execution on the day of service is the result of careful planning for days, weeks, or even months ahead of time. Establishing likely levels of demand for service, and ensuring the right sources are established to meet that demand, are essential to meet the required standard of customer service. Having suitable resources in the right locations with the right skills means that on the day of service, field technicians can lessen travel time, increasing resource utilization and allowing a faster response time for customers.
 
For manufacturers, data about machine performance is a key element in this process, helping planners to know the likelihood of particular machine failures. This not only helps adjust resources with demand, but also helps proactive service to avoid downtime altogether and eliminate any SLA penalties.
 
Execution
 
Even the best-laid plans are subject to disruption due to external factors like traffic, extreme weather, or customer cancellations. Even though there is always a gap between the plan in theory and the execution in practice, organizations can decrease this by capitalizing on ‘actual intelligence’. This is the thought of constantly leveraging real-time information to optimize the way in which service resources are allotted and making sure there is effective communication with consumers. Starting with the initial service level agreement committed to the customer, through to successful completion of service and follow-up, each and every step in the process offers an opportunity to delight customers and outpace competitors.
 
Diebold Nixdorf is the largest worldwide manufacturer and servicer of financial self-service equipment, such as ATMs, and anyone who has ever experienced an out-of-order ATM understands the necessity for quick response times. To meet these service level agreements, the company implemented technology to automate scheduling and improve operational visibility and control. As well as meeting customers’ high expectations, the company also improved scheduling efficiency and reduced mileage and travel time for technicians. After implementing field service management software, Diebold Nixdorf saw a reducing in total travel distances by more than 300,000 miles per year and a 33 percent increase in the number of calls per day per technician.
 
Delivering value through improved efficiency, that also enhances customer experiences, is increasingly a center part of manufacturers’ strategies to be noticeable from the competition in the eyes of the customer. In the execution phase, improving and automating technician scheduling is where much of this value can be realized’ combining sophisticated algorithms with actual intelligence and practical input from dispatchers, managers, and field personnel increase operational visibility and ensure a tightly run schedule that meets both business and customer needs.
 
Analysis
 
Real-time analysis of performance data towards key business indicators not simply demonstrates how a service operation is doing versus its goals but also delivers a blueprint for improvement that can be incorporated into the planning phase. Up-to-date business performance indicators enable manufacturers to better manage what is measured and either make real-time adjustments (e.g. reallocating resources to a different region) or make more wide-reaching changes in the future (e.g. increasing training to deal with a particular service challenge). With a stream of operational performance data available at their fingertips, business managers have the right data at the right time to make the right decisions to drive service excellence.
 
Planning, execution, and analysis represent a common sense model to consider a service operation as a strategic asset that supports competitive differentiation in the manufacturing industry. As data grows rapidly, and enables both proactive service and real-time responsiveness, organizations that can effectively incorporate this information into the framework will not just reduce the cost of service and also improve customer contentment levels along the way.
 
This article is originally posted on tronserve.com

Technology has the power to transform the way we think. It has the power to change the way in which we create, and the way that we interact with our world. It has completely altered our products, our workplaces, and our methods of communication. And it has molded entire generations, defined cultures, and reimagined industries.
 
Today, technology is the power behind change in the manufacturing industry. We see it in everywhere we look. Paper has been replaced by touch screens. Conferences are conducted via Skype in the place of face to face. Production facilities are more measured, more data driven, more intelligent, and more nimble than ever before. Artificial intelligence and robots are now a part of our daily lives.
 
There is no question that these improvements have brought disruption, and cost to manufacturing. But the rise of technology in our industry has been important in keeping us competitive and essential for sustaining the industry in the future.
 
Manufacturing is more effective, productive, and adaptable today than it was twenty years ago. There’s a greater understanding of what occurs on the plant floor, with more real-time data to assist decision making. With new software and technology, we're seeing our industry reach new levels of performance that we cannot have imagined even a decade ago.
 
Today, lots of factories are boosting their performance by operating like video games. Gamification is taking the industry by storm, with systems designed to coordinate with the natural motivations that people need certainly to make a difference, and be recognized in how they drive plant floor performance. Increasing transparency and tracking achievements by individual user or teams has resulted in huge results in efficiency for some companies. When contributions are seen by associates and managers, this motivates those people to remain to problem solve and innovate. When well designed, gamification is making employees more engaged, productive, and happier.
 
But most significantly, gamification and technology are opening the door to connect with a younger generation, who quite frankly, haven't shown much attention in the manufacturing industry to date.
 
When we glimpse at the data on available jobs in the manufacturing industry, it really is sobering to say the least. According to The Manufacturing Institute, 3.5 million manufacturing jobs will need to be filled over the next ten years. Two million of those jobs will go unfilled. Not thousands but two million. This is a warning for our industry.
 
At my company, we read the statistic from The Manufacturing Institute and wanted to find out why more Americans are not pursuing careers in manufacturing. We were also keen to see if there were any differences in views by generation. We commissioned Engine, a research provider, to poll 1,002 Americans demographically representative of the United States at a 95 percent confidence level. Feedbacks were then grouped by generation, Baby Boomers (born between 1946-1964), Generation X (born between 1965-1980), and Millennials (born between 1981-1998).
 
We were shocked by how considerably the responses diverse by generation. When questioned whether respondents agreed or disagreed that manufacturing jobs are important to the U.S. economy, 86 percent of both Baby Boomers and Generation X agreed. In comparison, only 68 percent of Millennials agreed that manufacturing is important to our economy.
 
We then questioned respondents about the supply of experienced workers in the U.S., and again observed differences by generation. Sixty percent of Baby Boomers and 63 percent of Generation X agreed that there is a absence of experienced workers in the U.S. In contrast, only 51 percent of Millennials agreed that there is a shortage.
 
And lastly, we asked respondents if they agreed that the manufacturing industry provides fulfilling careers. Fifty nine percent of both Baby Boomers and Generation X agreed. To our surprise, only 49 percent Millennials agreed. That’s less than half of the younger generation who think our industry offers desirable or satisfying opportunities. This is a test for our industry, because our future manpower depends on what we do today to reach the younger generation.
 
The fact remains, our industry has never done a great job at connecting with younger audiences about what makes manufacturing engaging or enjoyable. Other industries have, such as the tech sector. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, computer and information jobs are expected to expand by 12 percent during the period of 2014-2024. This is the speediest growth rate of all other occupations for that time period.
 
It may surprise Millennials that besides manufacturing offer opportunities to work with cutting-edge technology, but it also offers competitive pay to the tech sector. According to Glassdoor, the ordinary base pay of a Manufacturing Supervisor is $64,118, and for a Manufacturing Engineer, the average is $71,679. For a Director of Manufacturing, the average base pay is $146,412. For a generation known for its record-setting student debt, this is a compelling message to convey.
 
As an industry, we should be more vocal in sharing the exciting technology opportunities in manufacturing. Ongoing developments in artificial intelligence, robotics, automation, integration, gamification, and real-time data are what interest Millennials and what will connect our industry to younger generations. We must share the facts and data at the conferences we attend, on our internet sites, in our presentations at schools and universities, and in all of our recruitment efforts. Two million empty jobs is no small matter. It is now time to shout from the rooftops.
 
Technology is leading the manufacturing industry to brand new frontiers. If we do it properly, we can bring the younger generation together with us in being a part of expanding manufacturing in the U.S. And if our technology can join forces with Millennial interests and skillsets, our industry might thrive.
 
This article is originally posted on tronserve.com

Safety relay modules consist of safety relays which are controlled by built-in monitoring functions and ensure a trusted opening and closing for safety programs. Safety relay modules provide a high level of fail-safe operation for vital processes and protection.
 
These speed safety relays provide overspeed, underspeed and/or standstill detection for single - or three-phase motors by monitoring both external proximity sensors installed on a rotating element of the motor or load, the frequency of the motor power signal or the remanence voltage (back EMF) of the motor signal.
 
New Dold UH6932 speed monitor relay modules come with 2 PNP or NPN sensor inputs and 2 N.O. positively driven and 2 semiconductor monitoring outputs.
 
New Dold UH6937 frequency monitoring relay modules require no external sensors and provide 2 N.O. positively driven and 2 semiconductor outputs for monitoring.
 
The brand-new safety speed relay modules start at $380.00 and have a 1-year warranty.
 
This article is originally posted on tronserve.com

We barely take into consideration our gender when evaluating what we want to do with our lives. Gender equivalence has come a long way over the past several decades. Fields that were once reigned over by men are now seeing more and more women. A survey conducted by CareerBuilder, however, indicated that gender still influences what people can expect to get out of their careers.
 
Take men for example. They expect superior job levels throughout their profession when compared to women. In fact, their expectations to fill both CEO and vice president roles is twice that of what women expect. Only 10 percent of men hope to stay on in entry-level positions while 22 percent of women have the same expectation. Also significant is that 54 percent of men view their jobs as a career while only 47 percent of women have the same view. 42 percent of men are content with their career advancement opportunities, but only 36 percent of women are.
 
What about you? Do you believe women's pay is comparable to men's?
 
The CareerBuilder study reveals 34 percent of women believe their pay isn't comparable to what men make who hold the same position and have the same experience. On the opposite side of the fence, though, 82 percent of men believe the wages is equal. Yet all these differences don't lead to job dissatisfaction among many women. Though women have differing thought around career expectations and equal pay, the rate at which men (64 percent) and women (63 percent) are satisfied with their careers is about the same.
 
Is Discrimination a Cliché in the Manufacturing Industry?
 
The labor force has an nearly equal composition of men (53 percent) and women (47 percent). However, among the manufacturing manpower, only 27 percent of the industry consists of women. Why is this? Is work environment discrimination just a cliché in the manufacturing industry, or is it a real problem?
 
Gendered career paths are quite typical in spite of society's recognizance of them. Take for example the manufacturing industry. Men are expected to occupy many of the higher-up roles, including engineering and management positions. Women, nevertheless, are commonly placed in quality control and accounting roles along with other human resource positions.
 
Why does this happen? Is it because men are more normally associated with aggressiveness and independence, both of which are two qualities that must be mastered to effectively fill leadership roles? Probably women are pointed toward safety control roles because of their 'feminine' qualities of nurturing and caring.
 
Irrespective of whether these gendered career paths are intentional, it is evident that opportunities for career development and advancement are more usual for men than for women. It's also notable that many women fail to seek leadership roles because of the disadvantage they endure when networking. Since more leadership roles are filled by men, this puts women in a distinctive position -- they must lean on males as mentors to guide them, but for some women, they would much rather follow in the footsteps of a female mentor rather than a male.
 
Workplace Patterns That Indicate Unconscious Gender Bias
 
In case you notice any of these habits occurring in your workplace, there's a good possibility that involuntary — or possibly conscious — gender bias is forming the company toward a more male-dominated brand.
 
•             Women have to show more competence than men to be considered as equally competent as their male counterparts. This brings many women having to prove themselves again and again.
•             The women in your company walk a fine line of trying not to be too feminine or masculine.
•             Your work environment places a stereotype on women, believing they become much less committed to their work after having children or starting a family.
•             There's a tug-of-war conflict (this is mostly seen in the manufacturing industry) where women are constantly struggling men to fill a limited number of leadership roles.
 
How to Avoid Gender Bias in the Workplace
 
Ernesto Reuben, a professor at the Columbia Business School, says, “Studies that seek to answer why there are more men than women in STEM fields typically focus on women’s interests and choices. This may be important, but our experiments show that another culprit of this phenomenon is that hiring managers possess an extraordinary level of gender bias when making decisions and filling positions, often times choosing the less qualified male over a superiorly qualified female.” To avoid gender bias in your manufacturing plant, ensure that to follow the tips listed below.
 
Use Valuable Data
 
Carry out research and audits in the workplace to assess gender bias. Don't use limited findings to influence your strategy of eliminating gender bias. Take for example you conduct a survey that indicates there is no proof of sexual assault in your plant. This finding is highly unlikely, so, therefore, you should begin asking yourself why no one is coming forward. Always put both men and women as moderators of the audits. This assures women feel comfortable coming forward with their true thoughts and concerns.
 
Collaborate
 
You're not the only manufacturing plant that struggles with gender bias, and you're not the only one trying to make a change. This is why, it's always helpful to join forces with other manufacturing companies that have effectively corrected gender bias. You can make use of their knowledge and strategies to tackle gender bias in your own plant.
 
Draw a Straight Line
 
Create bathrooms and locker rooms separately for men and women, each of which should be the exact same size. Also, while we're on the topic of locker rooms, ensure that to enforce a policy that discourages 'locker room' talk. Locker room talk takes place among both women and men, and it can make major drama in the workplace. Locker room talk takes place when males talk badly about women and vice versa.
 
If you believe you are a victim of workplace discrimination, it's imperative to consult with your supervisor. You are entitled to equal treatment in the workplace regardless of your gender.
 
This article is originally posted on tronserve.com

Siemens Digital Industries Software and SAS have joined to offer AI-embedded IoT analytics for edge and cloud.
Through the partnership, the technology companies will embed SAS and open source streaming analytics into Siemens’ IoT operating system Mindsphere. The new answer will provide a comprehensive, open-compatible AI framework for the industrial Internet of Things (IIoT). This will help meet growing demands for IoT analytics with AI and machine learning capabilities.
 
These solutions aim to increase productivity and lessen operational risk through predictive and prescriptive maintenance as well as optimized asset performance management, for example. “SAS is a recognized world leader in advanced analytics, machine learning, and artificial intelligence. We are enthusiastic to leverage their analytics in MindSphere,” said Stephen Bashada, Executive Vice President and General Manager of Siemens MindSphere. “The combination of Siemens’ deep industrial domain knowledge with SAS’ deep analytics knowledge is a powerful step forward for IoT.”
 
The solutions are expected to be presented later this year and will profit customers working in a range of industries including manufacturing, healthcare, energy, smart cities and automotive. Peter Pugh-Jones, Head of Technology at SAS, added: “Siemens stays unmatched when it comes to revolutionising operational assets, software and processes. Siemens is committed to digitising the world’s industries and provides a unique platform for IoT to realise its full potential through AI. “This partnership can accelerate adoption of the transformative value of IoT for our customers.”




This article is originally posted on Tronserve.com

Toyota has affirmed it will present free access to its hybrid-vehicle patents until 2030 as it seeks to increase its use of lower-emission technology, according to Reuters.
 
It is considered Toyota's core aim consists of looking at driving industry uptake of hybrids and managing the challenge of all-battery electric vehicles (EVs).
 
The automaker proven it would award licences on almost 24,000 patents on technologies used in its Prius, the first mass-produced green car worldwide, as well as providing its supply competitors with components such as motors, power converters and batteries in its lower-emissions vehicles.
 
Speaking to reporters, Toyota’s Executive Vice President, Shigeki Terashi, said: “We want to look beyond producing finished vehicles. We want to contribute to an increase in take up (of electric cars) by offering not just our technology but our existing parts and systems to other vehicle makers.” It is anticipated that Toyota’s vehicles makes up roughly 80% of the hybrid vehicle market worldwide. Janet Lewis, head of Asia transportation research at Macquarie Securities, commented: “Toyota has knew that they made a mistake by protecting their hybrid technology for years. This prevented diffusion. Toyota on its own can’t get key technology popular, but if other companies use it, that offers the best chance of expansion.”



This article is originally posted on Tronserve.com

The automotive goliath, Ford, is planning to reveal over 30 new Ford and Lincoln vehicles in China over the next three years as it commences to handle a loss in sales in the world’s biggest automaker market, depending to CNN Business.
 
In a statement, Ford disclosed that approximately one-third of the new cars will be electric vehicles (EV). In spite of a slowdown in the entire auto market, sales of EVs are improving following the government’s policy to clean up the country’s environment.
 
Jim Hackett, Ford CEO, said: “ China is leading the world with smart vehicles, and is a key part of Ford's global vision for the future. Ford is seriously committed to China, and with our new China leadership team and vision, we're investing in the future.”
 
After the United States, China is Ford’s second biggest market. Ford’s announcement is part of a greater relaunch of the automaker’s strategy in China which is ready to concentrate on new technology and adapt its Ford and Lincoln brands to local needs.



This article is originally posted on Tronserve.com

Companies added the fewest job opportunities in 18 months in March, a private survey found, advising employers may have grown more cautious as signs of slower economic growth have emerged.
 
Payroll processor ADP said Wednesday that businesses added 129,000 jobs last month, down from the previous month's gain of 197,000. Still, the job gains in March are enough to a little bit lower the jobless rate over time.
 
All the job gains were in service sectors, such as education and health care, which added a combined total of 56,000. Professional and business services, which consist of engineering, accounting, and other higher-paid work, added 41,000.
 
Manufacturing and construction firms both cut jobs last month.
 
Small businesses added just 6,000 jobs, a lot below the hiring by large and medium-sized businesses. Smaller companies typically struggle to compete in hiring with bigger businesses when far fewer workers are available. Bigger companies can usually provide higher pay or greater benefits.
 
ADP's report does not include government employees and frequently diverges from the official data. The government's jobs report, due Friday, is supposed to show that employers added 170,000 jobs last month and the unemployment rate remained 3.8%.
 
The U.S. economy appears to have slowed in the past couple of months, with Americans pulling back on their shopping, home sales flattening, and businesses reining in spending on large equipment, new office towers and other buildings.
 
Global growth is also slowing, with Europe nearly in recession and the U.S. trade war with China weighing on both countries' economies.
 
Mark Zandi, chief economist at Moody's Analytics, said that taken together these tastes point to a larger economic slowdown and cautious hiring by employers.
 
'It's fair to say that the job market is throttling back meaningfully from where it was months ago,' Zandi said.
 
Still, other measures of hiring and employment paint a more positive picture: The number of Americans seeking jobless benefits stays very low by historical standards, a sign that companies are laying off few workers.
 
And companies are advertising a record-high level of available jobs.
 
The economy expanded at a 3.8% annual rate in the spring and summer of last year, the swiftest six-month development in four years. Yet since then the economy has decelerated: It grew just 2.2% in the remaining three months of last year.
 
And most economists predicted it increased at just a 1.5% to 2% pace in the first quarter.
 
This article is originally posted on tronserve.com

Automobile sales in the U.S. fell 2% in the first quarter, another sign the nation's economy is beginning to slow.
 
Automakers ended up selling just over 4 million vehicles from January through March, according to Ward's Automotive Intelligence, and industry analysts blame the decline on climbing vehicle prices, competition from an abundant supply of late-model used vehicles and quite high interest rates. Weak sales of cars, harsh winter weather and the partial government shutdown also had an affect.
 
'We can now confidently say new vehicle sales are past their peak,' said Jeremy Acevedo, Edmunds.com's manager of industry analysis. 'With new vehicle prices continuing to rise, interest rates sustaining post-recession highs and renting growing increasingly expensive, pressure on the market is mounting.'
 
Most analysts are guessing vehicle sales of around 16.9 million this year, still stable but down from last year's 17.27 million. Sales soared to in 2016 at 17.55 million.
 
Prices are a big aspect. The National Automobile Dealers' Association reported that the average new vehicle sales price was $36,410 in the end of the first quarter, up 3.3% from a year ago. Auto-loan interest rates, on average, hit their highest point in a decade at 6.36%, up from 5.66% a year ago, according to Edmunds, which provides information to The Associated Press.
 
The report of decreasing sales came a day after the Commerce Department reported that retail sales dropped 0.2% in February as consumers pulled back from spending on building materials, food items, household furniture, electronics and clothes.
 
The recent dip in auto sales and consumer spending suggests more Americans are tightening their belts amid slowing global growth and waning effects of President Donald Trump's tax cuts at the end of 2017.
 
Analysts for Cox Automotive said the economy is experiencing swift deceleration from a maximum in growth during the past year. Gross domestic product growth hit 4.2% in last year's second quarter, but has slowed since. A revision in fourth-quarter figures took growth to 2.2%.
 
The U.S. economy also is affected by a delaying international economy that's been hit by trade uncertainties, the Cox analysts said.
 
Charles Chesbrough, senior economist for Cox Automotive, said Americans have bought 85 million new vehicles over the past five years. 'There's not that much demand that's left unfulfilled out there,' he said. 'Were in the late stages of this business cycle.'
 
Plus, Chesbrough said he expects a record 4.1 million vehicles to return to the market this year mainly from two- and three-year leases. That gives customers a choice to buy late-model vehicles at around a 40% discount from new ones, he said.
 
But even with a drop this quarter, auto sales are still healthy. Patrick Manzi, senior economist with the dealers' association, said that although consumer confidence is waning, it continues to be high, showing that consumers still are willing to make huge purchases. Also, job gains have been steady and wage growth has been speeding up.
 
Here's exactly how major automakers fared from January through March:
 
— General Motors, down 7% to 665,840. Chevrolet Silverado pickup sales were off 15.7%, and it was bumped from its normal spot as the nation's No. 2-selling vehicle by the Ram pickup.
 
— Ford sales fell 1.5% to 572,707.
 
— Toyota, down 5% to 543,716. Sales of the RAV4 compact SUV fell 8.4%.
 
— Fiat Chrysler, down 3.2% to 498,425. Ram pickup sales rose up 15.4% to 120,026, but Jeep sales fell 7%.
 
— Honda posted a 2% increase to 369,787. Sales of the midsize Accord rose 4.6%.
 
— Nissan, down 12.1% to 365,851. Sales of the Nissan Rogue small SUV, were off 19.4%.
 
— Subaru sales rose 4.7% to 156,754, led by the Forester with an increase of 9.6%
 
— Hyundai brand sales were up 2.1% to 147,585, led by the Tucson SUV with a 3.4% increase.
 
— Kia sales rose 7.6% to 136,596, led by the Soul small SUV with 19.3% increase.
 
— Volkswagen brand sales increased 2.3% to 85,872. Jetta sedan sales rose 58%.
 
This article is originally posted on manufacturing.net
https://www.manufacturing.net/news/2019/04/high-prices-interest-rates-push-1q-us-auto-sales-down-2-percent

A recently released survey by Mint Jutras of more than 300 manufacturers and distributors about their ERP implementations disclosed that the majority were pleased with the results. The respondents are in leadership roles at manufacturing and distribution companies with income that goes beyond $25 million annually and have deployed ERP systems. Contrary to the impact left by well publicized, expensive ERP implementation failures that many people are aware of—Vodaphone, Target Canada, Hershey’s and Waste Management, among others—the majority of companies implementing new ERP possibilities are, by and large, reaping the advantages that the technology supplies and satisfied with the results.
 
It’s understandable that executives in the C-suite approach improving enterprise technology solutions with trepidation. They are complicated to substitute or upgrade and business continuity can be impacted, something no company wants to endure. All in all, an executive’s professional reputation is at risk with an embarrassing and expensive failing. It could even result in the loss of a job or reassignment to a less important position within the company.
 
The results of the survey paint a vastly different picture. More than 67 percent of the manufacturers and distributors queried stated their implementations as profitable or very successful. A small 2 percent described their implementations as “not very successful” and only one of the 315 companies considered its ERP implementation a failure.
 
Why Tackle Challenging Technology Implementation?
 
While the reasons many executives are reluctant to embrace change are clear, the reasons for applying a new or upgraded technology solution are considerable. A full 82 percent of the companies surveyed achieved ROI within the time forecast. Not only were the more aggressive companies more likely to achieve full ROI, they were most likely to do so within the time anticipated, even though they set the bar higher than the less demanding companies. We urge clients to try to achieve ROI within two and a half years, that we identified as the industry standard. The ROI comes from a variety of places with reduced IT costs being the maximum factor at 40 percent per the survey. It was followed by reduced inventory levels (38 percent), reduced cycle time (35 percent) and reduced headcount dedicated to manual data entry (32 percent).
 
Today’s newer architectures and technologies, especially those built on microservices, make solutions better to develop and preserve. Further savings may be derived by opting for a SaaS model as opposed to the traditional on-premise deployment model. No capital expenditure is required with no need to build and handle a data center. It also minimizes the need for dedicated IT staff that can be redirected to other, more strategic positions. With less hardware costs and no up-front license, fee you have lower startup costs. Subscription-based rates gives the option of accounting for costs as operating expenses rather than capital expenses.
 
Key Success Factors
 
The survey uncovered what went right for the majority of the companies and what went wrong for the less than successful efforts. A consistent theme to the responses had more to do with the organization’s people and processes than with the software itself. Well executed planning and preparation, as well as visible support from top management, pays off.
 
While the study did not find a single, overriding factor when unsuccessful implementations were considered, the lack of proper business process re-engineering and a weak evaluation of the solution selection based upon those processes were determined to be primary reasons for lack of success.
 
Key Takeaways
 
It is crucial for companies to set targets before starting on an ERP deployment. Business cost savings and performance enhancement are frequently cited as reasons why companies opt for new enterprise technology solutions but if they don’t establish specific, measurable goals, they are not likely to achieve as much improvement as is possible with the new solution.
 
It’s crucial to be critical during the goals-setting process and determine if you are achieving for the full potential that will provide your company with a competitive edge versus your competitors. If this is a difficult task for internal resources, then take part in an independent third party that can recognize realistic objectives and outcomes.
 
My closing thought which was confirmed by the Mint Jutras survey is to be strong, embrace new technology and all the benefits it can bring but prepare for the deployment in a innovative, strategic fashion. The technology has never been better and in order to make sure continued success in a crowded, challenging marketplace, take the challenge of leveraging new technology solutions to develop operational efficiency and competitiveness.
 
This article is originally posted on tronserve.com

Aurora Bearing Company ( Montgomery, Il ) declares the availableness of their latest product catalog. Aurora’s catalog 319 features their most up-to-date product choices, as well as the best quality legacy components that have caused Aurora a global leader in quality and longevity since 1971.

This new 128 page publication is a  graphically enhanced technical resource that will assist engineers in designing with and specifying motion transfer components from Aurora’s complete line of Rod Ends and Spherical Bearings. It contains 12 series of SAE AS series Mil Spec bearings and 6 new SAE AS approved series. Find listings for special race car items, as well as commercial/industrial thru SAE AS approved. A full-range of metric rod ends and spherical bearings are also conveniently listed and categorized.
 
The new catalog is available as a hard copy as part of Aurora’s engineering library which also contains 2 and 3D part drawings. Aurora Bearing Company is qualified to Mil Spec PTFE liner system AS81820, Bearing Specifications AS14101 through AS14104, Rod End Specification AS81935 and Journal Bearing Specification AS81934.
 
This article is originally posted on tronserve.com

Nagarro, a technology solutions provider headquartered in Hanover, Germany, announced this week that is has accessed into a new partnership with Nokia for ‘Factory in a Box 2.0’.
 
First revealed in 2017, Nokia’s ‘Factory in a Box’ solution is a disruptive new project to provide modular and flexible production in a mobile, demand-centric way. According to the company, “ The idea is to support Industry 4.0 / Supply Chain 4.0 agile, modular and flexible production wherever required.” Housed in a shipping container, the ‘Factory in a Box’ can provide manufacturing solutions such as 3D advanced manufacturing, robotics and augmented reality. The underlying communication infrastructure also leverages Nokia's 5G network capabilities.
 
Nagarro's AR solution will enable workers inside 'Factory in a Box 2.0' to create defect free parts and seamlessly use advanced manufacturing machines. This AR solution for the upcoming generation of similar workers provides capabilities such as: step-by-step instructions, hands-free navigation, remote connect with experts and the ability to take notes.
 
The augmented reality application – which has been made using Skylight, Upskill's multi-experience AR software platform - allows the worker to learn and adapt to individualized production on highly sophisticated machines in a very short distance of time. At Hannover Messe, the solution would be confirmed on three smart glasses – Glass Enterprise Edition, Realwear HMT-1 and Vuzix M300.
 
Nokia is currently showcasing the factory at the 5G Arena in hall 16 at Hannover Messe 2019. Grant Marshall, VP Supply Network & Engineering at Nokia said: 'We could tell from the positive feedback we received on the Factory in a Box last year that there is a lot of potential for this principle in the manufacturing industry. This year, we have raised the bar again, and Factory in a Box 2.0 is now related to Nokia WING and has Nokia DAC on board, making it even more flexible, secure and efficient.'



This article is originally posted on Tronserve.com

Exterran, discusses how his company is beginning to digitize its services in the oil and gas sector
For manufacturers today, digitization is essential if they want to remain one step ahead of the competition and perhaps nowhere can this be seen better than in the oil and gas industry.
 
Regarded as a proactive solutions provider to a range of global and regional oil and gas customers, Exterran is now embarking on the first phase of its digital transformation plan. Suraj Devadiga, Director of Supply Chain of Middle East & Asia at Exterran, highlights how the company’s procurement function has become a key part of Exterran’s operations. “In the past, procurement used to be where purchase orders were made. The company would say ‘I need this, go and buy it’ and it would be the job of purchasing to buy and provide it,” details Devadiga. “What’s different now is that we ask lots of questions to drive value. Are we buying at the best price and is it in our plan? If so, are we buying it from suppliers who are certified? Is this supplier consistent? Are we going to generate a museum of suppliers and then end up having to spend more on maintaining parts and services? It’s necessary to figure out completely what we’re enabling.”
 
Having previously worked in India at General Electric Oil & Gas in a variety of different roles such as Senior Product Manager, Business Manager and then Head of Supply Chain Integration, Devadiga is well-positioned to oversee the beginning of Exterran’s digital transformation as it begins to digitise its operations. “We’re in the process of digitizing our supply chain operations in order to implement the same ERP globally and we’re also introducing the necessary digitisation platforms to enable engineering teams to work seamlessly across our locations in Houston, the UAE and Singapore. It also allows us to connect with the supply chain team which, similarly, is on a platform that allows us to collaborate as a global supply chain organization,” he clarifies. “We’re very much in the nascent stages of digitization and I feel our approach of low investment, high return is essential.”
 
“At our current stage of digitisation, we have invested in two key things. Firstly, we have remote monitoring and diagnostics equipment that allows us to accumulate, collate, synthesise and then analyze information from equipment across various sites worldwide. Once we have enhanced our operations in one area, we can then implement this approach across our various locations which have the same operating dataset,” he says. “ Digitization is also enabling to us reduce our operating expenditure and better manage our finances.”
 
Devadiga believes the transition of three enterprise resource planning (ERP) systems to two has been key to his company as it looks to implement phase one of its digital transformation. “In the third quarter, we’re targeting for all our pilots to be completed and launched to the platforms. We must be very judicious, take the feedback and refine it because you need a strategically significant dataset,” says Devadiga. “One of the big hurdles has been that we don't have a contract operations site in the US where we just sell products. However, in terms of the rest of the world, we have more of a 360- degree solution approach because we don’t just sell products but we also build, own, operate, and maintain them over five to 10 years. Ultimately, it’s the big global sites in Argentina, Oman and Thailand where the first phase of our digital transformation plan will be launched.”
 
Forming key partnerships
 
Exterran has begun to work with Oracle across all its sites in North America and Latin America. Through the company’s collaboration with Oracle, Devadiga believes his company has utilized ERP to introduce pilots successfully. “In the western hemisphere, all our sites in places such as North America and Latin America with the exception of Peru are on Oracle. During the past year, our Middle East operations in Oman and Bahrain as well as our manufacturing facility in the UAE and Dubai are all on Oracle. But, Pakistan, Nigeria, Thailand, Indonesia and the entire Asia-Pacific region still use Sage Accpac as an ERP. That's why we’re rolling out these pilots only in the Oracle ERP areas.”
 
The benefits of establishing and maintaining key partnerships is fundamental to all successful businesses. Exterran has collaborated with industry leaders such as General Electric, Ariel Compressors, Caterpillar Engines and Atlas Copco. Devadiga affirms that a good working relationship with partners is vital to success. “ Our partners are exceptionally important,” he says. “ From our perspective, there’s a very high degree of dependency on these authentic equipment manufacturers (OEMs). We need them to value our association as a delivery model for their products into the oil and gas industry because we’re packagers of their machines and we buy the engine and compressor from the engine manufacturer. Nevertheless, these two units don't do anything by themselves. The engine and compressor must be together and installed with the associated piping and other components in a manner that meets the purpose for which that compressor has been created. That capability exists with us because we create the solution in order to process and treat that gas. It’s up to us to select the compressor that Ariel may be manufacturing and marry it to the engine that Caterpillar might be manufacturing.”
 
Looking to the future
 
Looking forward, Exterran is set to remain acutely focused on its digital transformation strategy. Valuing a mentality of “ knowledge is power ”, Devadiga believes it’s important to stay vigilant when gathering data in the digital space. “ We can’t improve when we don't know what we need improve on. The journey to knowledge starts with three simple words which are extremely difficult for most people to say: ‘I don't know ’. But the moment we admit that we don't know, that’s when we can start our journey,” explains Devadiga. “We’re in the first stage of collecting data and transforming that data into information. But if we can implement tools where the information can be gleaned from the data and made available to managers both at a high and mid-level, it will create a knowledge base that will allow us to scale up from being this $1-3bn company and hit the $5bn mark. That has to be the goal.”



This article is originally posted on Tronserve.com