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News:
A First New US Aluminum Plant in Decades Plans Emissions Cuts [Canary Media]
Annually, aluminum production emits about 1.1 billion tons of CO2 due to the significant electricity demands of the smelting process, which has historically relied on fossil fuels. In response, the DOE announced a $6 billion fund to support "industrial demonstration" projects to mitigate the environmental impact of heavy industries like aluminum production. Century Aluminum Company is a significant beneficiary of this initiative, which may receive up to $500 million to construct the nation's first new aluminum smelter in 45 years. Dubbed the Green Aluminum Smelter, this facility promises to halve the CO2 emissions of traditional smelters by incorporating enhanced efficiency measures and renewable energy sources. The Green Aluminum Smelter aims to significantly increase U.S. production of primary aluminum, targeting nearly a million tons annually—a substantial boost from the 750,000 tons produced in 2023. However, achieving this will require a large-scale increase in clean energy generation, particularly in Kentucky, where the preferred site for the new smelter is located but currently has minimal renewable energy infrastructure. The project, still pending final approvals and not yet disclosing its total capacity or timeline, could necessitate about a gigawatt of power, equivalent to the energy needs of 800,000 U.S. homes for a year.
SwRI Releases CAD-based Toolkit for Robotics Development [Robot Report]
The Southwest Research Institute (SwRI) developed the SwRI Workbench for Offline Robotics Development (SWORD), a toolkit designed to simplify programming robots by integrating computer-aided design (CAD) into robotics motion planning, modeling, and execution. SWORD is a FreeCAD plugin that combines robotics capabilities with a familiar, cross-platform CAD environment. According to SwRI engineer Matt Robinson, the toolkit is particularly helpful in reducing the programming complexity typically associated with ROS. It offers graphical tools for setting up motion planning and testing advanced robotic applications, targeting robotics developers and manufacturing engineers familiar with CAD. Critical features of SWORD include environmental modeling, robot manipulation, planning, and a custom planning pipeline. The toolkit was demonstrated at last week’s Automate conference.
NVIDIA, Intrinsic Collab Aims For ‘Zero Shot’ Robot Learning [Engineering]
Intrinsic, an AI and robotics company within Alphabet, is harnessing NVIDIA's AI and Isaac platform technologies to push forward the capabilities of autonomous robotic manipulation. Announced at Automate, their collaboration showcases significant advancements in robotic grasping and industrial scalability. The integration leverages the NVIDIA Isaac Manipulator, introduced at GTC in March, which consists of foundation models and GPU-accelerated libraries designed to help automate complex, dynamic manipulation tasks. These foundation models use a transformer deep learning architecture similar to that underlying ChatGPT, which facilitates advanced robot perception and decision-making. This collaboration will help simplify processing challenges, enable previously impossible applications, reduce development costs, and enhance end-user flexibility. Intrinsic also demonstrated the practical application of these technologies through a prototype developed for Trumpf Machine Tools. Utilizing Intrinsic’s Flowstate and NVIDIA’s Isaac Sim, this prototype optimizes vacuum grasping tasks, allowing for efficient and cost-effective simulation and planning before real-world deployment.
The Impact of Generative AI in Manufacturing at Hannover Messe 2024 [AWS]
A report from Capgemini reveals that a significant portion of manufacturers, totaling 100%, are exploring or implementing generative AI, with 55% investigating its potential and 45% engaging in pilot projects. At Hannover Messe 2024, AWS highlighted these advancements, showcasing over 25 demonstrations of generative AI. Examples include:
Tulip combined no-code apps, AI, and edge connectivity in its frontline operations suite to digitally transform processes faster through guided operations, production tracking, and real-time operational visibility.
Bosch showcased their digital twin solution for optimizing critical asset performance through multi-sensor data, physics-based AI algorithms, and prescriptive asset management combining sensing, insights, and automation.
MongoDB showcased a demo combining real-time telemetry data collection, vector search for acoustic diagnosis, and generative AI using Amazon Bedrock to provide users with real-time natural language reports on device status.
KONE uses Amazon Bedrock to empower field technicians with a generative AI-driven Assistant, leveraging vast libraries of technical documentation to enhance customer service.
Merck & Co. applies generative AI to reduce false rejects in pharmaceutical manufacturing by over 50%. By generating synthetic data, Merck enhances its ML models’ ability to identify genuine defects.
Vivix Vidros Planos leverages a Virtual Engineer powered by Mendix and Amazon Bedrock to accelerate new technicians' onboarding and training process.
Research:
IEA’s Advancing Clean Manufacturing Report
The IEA’s annual report highlighting the investment in clean technology manufacturing is back! Some key highlights:
Clean technology investment was approximately $200 billion in 2023, growing by more than 70% relative to 2022. Investments in solar PV and battery manufacturing plants led the way, accounting for more than 90% of the total in both years.
China accounted for three-quarters of global investments in clean technology manufacturing in 2023, down from 85% in 2022, as investment in the United States and Europe grew strongly – particularly for battery manufacturing.
China alone accounts for over 80% of global solar PV module manufacturing capacity and 95% of wafers.
About 40% of the investments in 2023 were for facilities expected to be operational in 2024, with nearly 70% of these investments directed towards battery manufacturing facilities.
The main upfront cost contributing to overall production costs is the capital expenditure to set up and the associated financing costs. For solar PV, wind, and battery manufacturing, facilities in the United States and Europe are typically 70% to 130% more expensive per unit of output capacity than those in China before accounting for the cost of capital between regions.
Annualized capital expenditure amounts to just 15% to 25% of the total cost of producing solar PV modules, with a cost of capital of 8%. The proportions are similar for batteries (10-20%), wind turbines, and heat pumps (2-10%) and somewhat higher for alkaline electrolyzer stacks (15-30%)
Emerging Resilience in the Semiconductor Supply Chain
A new report by the Semiconductor Industry Association (SIA) and BCG on the semiconductor supply chain forecasts significant improvements in the resilience of the supply chain in both the U.S. and globally in the coming years. Some key highlights:
America’s projected 203% increase in fab capacity from 2022 to 2032 is world-leading, a stark difference from its modest 11% increase from 2012 to 2022.
The U.S. share of the world’s chip manufacturing capacity will increase from 10% in 2022—when the CHIPS and Science Act was enacted—to 14% by 2032, marking the first time in decades the U.S. has grown its domestic chip manufacturing footprint relative to the rest of the world.
The U.S. is expected to attract $646 billion in capital investments, more than one-quarter (28%) of the total $2.3 trillion global semiconductor investment.
The U.S. will gain fab capacity share in crucial technology segments, including leading-edge logic, DRAM memory, and analog. For example, the U.S. will gain new capabilities in advanced logic, growing its share from 0% to 28% by 2032.
How Manufacturers Are Using Artificial Intelligence [NAM]
Here are some highlights from the National Association of Manufacturers detailing use cases for artificial intelligence in manufacturing and case studies of how manufacturers are already implementing AI technologies.
As of October 2023, 74% of surveyed manufacturers had invested or planned to invest in machine learning. Respondents noted a wide range of uses for AI in their operations, the top three of which were manufacturing and production, inventory management, and quality operations/R&D.
“Hitachi is focused on applying AI, machine learning, and related technologies to address real-world challenges in industrial and societal domains. Functional areas include maintenance and repair, operations optimization, quality assurance, safety management, supply chain management, and automation and control. The goal is end-to-end optimization of key industrial processes”— Chetan Gupta, the Hitachi Advanced AI Innovation Center GM.
Almost 80% of MLC survey respondents had invested in or planned to invest in vision systems, and 50% stated that predictive maintenance is a crucial AI application in their operations.
47% of surveyed manufacturers plan to deploy more customer-facing AI tools in the next two years.
21% of surveyed manufacturers already use AI for their supply chain management, and 60% plan to deploy it in the next 12–24 months.
2024 State of DIY Industrial Automation Report [Vention]
Here are some highlights from one year of data on manufacturers adopting and using Vention’s Manufacturing Automation Platform (MAP).
Small and medium manufacturers were the leading purchasers of automation systems on MAP in 2023, accounting for 48% and 17%, respectively. However, due to more challenging economic conditions, there was a 12% decline in purchases by small manufacturers (60% in 2022 vs. 48% in 2023)
Enterprise-sized manufacturers weren’t just the biggest adopters overall. They also outdid themselves, realizing more projects this year than last—an average of 4.9 in 2023, compared to 4.1 in 2022.
When comparing industries, Fulfillment, Distribution, & Retail realized the highest number of projects on MAP, followed by Aerospace & Defense, and Metrology & 3D Scanning.
In 2023, the MAP's most deployed robot cell application was Robot Pedestals & Bases, at 19.3% of deployments. This was followed by Pick & Place (16.6%), Robotic Tending Cells (12.4%), and Cobot Palletizers (12.4%)
Looking at applications, in 2023, machine-tending applications recorded the highest speed of project realization
Podcasts/Video:
Will Embraer Step Up To Challenge the Duopoly [Check 6]
Manufacturing Deals🏭💵
Legion Technologies - A company building a platform for industrial companies to streamline labor efficiency and employee engagement
$50 million [Venture] - Led by Riverwood Capital and joined by Norwest Venture Partners, Stripes Group, Webb Investment Network, and XYZ
Inkbit - A company that has developed a Vision-Controlled Jetting (VCJ), a multi-material manufacturing system that scales from prototyping to production
$19 million [Venture] - Led by Ingersoll Rand and joined by Stratasys, Future Labs Capital, GC Ventures America, iGlobe Partners, Ocado, and Zeon Ventures
Rapid Liquid Print - A company developing a new class of 3D printers that can produce large-scale, high-resolution, soft and stretchable products in minute
$7 million [Series A] - Led by HZG Group and joined by BMW i Ventures and MassMutual
Composabl - A company developing an AI platform for engineers to build intelligent automation that works in real life
$4.2 million [Seed] - Led by Momenta Ventures and joined by Hannah Grey VC, Ridgeline, Exposition, and Remus
Planned Downtime 🏭🧑🔧
Story of Jim Simons
The Bear Season 3