📌 Top Highlights
A steel revolution
Friction stir welding breakthrough
Welding continues to wield power
🔍 Deep Dive: University of Florida’s Magnetic Solution
A University of Florida-led innovation aims to reduce the power required to produce everything from tractors to soda cans. UF researchers created a unique superconducting magnet that could offer groundbreaking advances in the metal industry, cutting steel processing time by up to 80 percent and thus reducing both energy requirements and overhead. Magnets have long been used in technology, making them an attractive idea in more ways than one.
🖨 Technology Trailblazers
HowToRobot, a company based in Denmark, recently launched an AI-powered sourcing service aimed at streamlining automation adoption, squashing long delays, and gathering competitive quotes. This system asks buyers what they’re looking for, creates structured project briefs, and matches them with suppliers from a 20,000-vendor network. The goal is to deliver proposals and financing options within a day, ensuring projects are completed faster and more affordably.
AI is helping startups manufacture just about everything, from pet food and batteries to contact lenses. It has the unique ability to increase production, forecast demands, and predict hiccups. And it does it all without any office drama!
With electric cars ruling the roadways, it was only a matter of time before electric planes followed suit. Delta Airlines is partnering with Maeve Aerospace to make the friendly skies a little more cordial to Mother Nature. Maeve’s hybrid electric aircraft reduces fuel consumption by up to 40% and aligns with Delta’s mission to achieve net-zero emissions by 2050. Now, if they’d actually do something about airplane food.
🥽 Friction Stir Welding Breakthrough
PNNL was recently home to a breakthrough that could bring friction stir welding to assembly lines through the use of a spinning tool that generates intense levels of heat. Friction stir welding is not commonly used in assembly lines, although it is used in some vehicle manufacturing. Even then, however, it’s limited to two flat sheets welded on top of an anvil. In other news, the public reports that it's impossible to hear the word “anvil” and not think of Wile E. Coyote.
🏢 Movers and Shakers
ABB announced an investment of $110 million in the US to expand R&D and the manufacturing of its advanced electrification solutions, striving to help customers improve energy efficiency and reduce energy costs. ABB’s initiative will create nearly 200 jobs and support several key industries, including data centers.
Kanfit has acquired NanoParticle JettingTM for both metal and ceramic solutions. This acquisition strengthens Kanfit’s position in the aerospace, industrial, and medical sectors.
Northeast WI Technical College is bringing back its annual Welding Rodeo. Giddy-up with your goggles and attend this free, family-friendly event showcasing creativity, featuring job and educational opportunities, and, perhaps, sparking passion. It takes place on October 1st at the Marinette Campus and on October 9th at the Sturgeon Bay Campus.
Zega Apparel is empowering entrepreneurs through its customized clothing. Offering flexible attire, including shirts, joggers, shorts, sweatshirts, and hoodies, it strives to make customized clothing affordable, putting it in reach of everyone, from startups to starving artists.
Owens Corning is raising the roof! It recently announced the development of a shingle manufacturing facility in Prattville that will create up to 100 new jobs. Construction is scheduled to begin next year, with shingle production beginning in 2027.
Northeast Ohio’s goal of turning into an epicenter for industrial innovation just got a little more realistic. Northeast Ohio Strengthening Manufacturing for American Resilience through Technology (NEO-SMART) was named one of 15 finalists for a winner-take-all NSF grant.
💡 Manufacturing Marvels
Eli Whitney, of cotton gin fame, popularized the idea of interchangeable parts, a concept that’s become a cornerstone of the modern manufacturing era. Prior to its adoption, things like clocks and muskets had to be handmade and repaired from scratch.