For the past few decades, consumers have rewarded companies that customize their products and services to individual tastes and needs.

Recently, an automotive parts manufacturer was searching for a system to measure over 4,000 individually machined components a day. 

In our 21st Annual Spending Survey, we’ve looked into who will be buying what and when. Despite the economic upset resulting from COVID-19, equipment budgets look to be steady, if not growing, for the next fiscal year.

Automakers in Europe, the Asia-Pacific region and the United States are struggling with performance and safety issues associated with electric and hybrid-electric cars.

Over the past decade manufacturers have increasingly turned to flexible, customizable automation platforms to meet the demands of high mix/low volume orders and ensure their long-term survival in a competitive manufacturing environment.

Cars have become such an integral part of our lives. A car has long passed the point of being a necessary means of transportation, now becoming a symbol of independence and free-mobility, and sometimes even an expression of our personality.

Driven by the need to make parts faster, better, and for less, manufacturers of all sizes are embracing various forms of automation in the quest to lower costs, increase production, and reduce response times. 

Inspecting components for e-mobility applications is something that David Wick is very familiar with.

Today, in his remarks at General Motors in Detroit, U.S. Secretary of Energy Dan Brouillette announced $139 million in federal funding for 55 projects across the country that will support new and innovative advanced vehicle technologies. Six of these innovative projects will be led by teams in Michigan.