Back Issues

Jan/Feb 2012  
News/Features: Front Page
Additive manufacturing: a creative source

As a rule, I don’t use the word “create” to describe manufacturing operations. Create means to bring something into existence from nothing. Manufactured goods, be they gears, file cabinets or baseballs, are things made from something else.

Read more
Cue the $6 Million Dollar Man

Somewhere, Lee Majors must be smiling. Best known for his starring role as Colonel Steve Austin, an ex-astronaut outfitted with bionic implants in the 1970s TV series “The Six Million Dollar Man,” Majors made us all believe that one day humans could be rebuilt joint by joint. Today, most of the key joints in the body can indeed be replaced—hips, knees, ankles, wrists and fingers—all for a lot less than $6 million.

Read more
CMMs, NAFTA and other ruminations

While preparing this issue of MICROmanufacturing, I was exposed to a bootful of interesting stories and technologies pertaining to manufacturing. Some relate to this issue. Some don’t. Following is a “best-of-the-boot” sampler:

Read more
Additive manufacturing—a creative force

As a rule, I don’t use the word “create” to describe manufacturing operations. Create means to bring something into existence from nothing. Manufactured goods, be they gears, file cabinets or baseballs, are things made from something else.

Read more
UAVs? There’s an app for that

Despite the recent onslaught of tumultuous events—the war in Afghanistan, the struggles in Japan, the fighting in Libya, massive numbers of birds falling from the sky—a consumer electronic toy managed to navigate through an outright apocalyptic news cycle to capture my attention, if not my wallet—yet.

Read more
Fresh winds blowing through manufacturing

"Manufacturing stinks." I’ve heard that blunt assessment of the U.S. industrial sector plenty of times over the past 3 years. To all those who’ve uttered those words—or even blunter appraisals—I offer a small measure of comfort: Manufacturing stinks less now than it has in a long time.

The latest government and industry statistics show:

Read more
Production by the masses

Where will goods be produced in the future? In the kitchens, spare bedrooms, cobwebbed basements and garages of people around the world, according to proponents of the mushrooming MIY (make-it-yourself) movement.

During the past 3 years, legions of entrepreneurs have opened businesses and begun making and selling jewelry, toys and other crafts via the Internet. A slew of Web sites have been launched to provide sales channels for these MIYers.

Read more
MEMS devices: widely used, little known

A microelectromechanical-system device probably saved my life 15 years ago. At the very least, MEMS technology prevented me from sustaining massive injuries. Editor's note: This article originally appeared in the Winter 2009 issue of MICROmanufacturing magazine.

A microelectromechanical-system device probably saved my life 15 years ago. At the very least, MEMS technology prevented me from sustaining massive injuries.

Read more
Pushing forward, toward manufacturing's future

When the Eads Bridge opened in 1874, the most distinctive living thing to cross it was an elephant. The reason for the “elephant walk” was the structure’s distinctive—and revolutionary—design.

Read more
There’s still plenty of room at the bottom

MICROmanufacturing recently posted an audio interview with Arthur Chait, the CEO of microfab-system manufacturer EoPlex Technologies Inc.* The articulate Chait had loads of interesting things to share. Many more, regrettably, than would be practical for us to post. MICROmanufacturing recently posted an audio interview with Arthur Chait, the CEO of microfab-system manufacturer EoPlex Technologies Inc.* The articulate Chait had loads of interesting things to share.

Read more