We send out a monthly recap of what we’ve seen in manufacturing and automation news and thought was interesting. This post contains links to prior month’s newsletters.

The U.S. recently imposed a 25% tariff on steel imports and a 10% tariff on aluminum imports. Roughly one-third of the 100 million tons of steel used each year by American business is imported, while imports account for more than 90% of

Automation NTH attended the ATX West and MD&M trade shows in Anaheim, California on February 8th to see the latest advances in automation technologies. This was a huge show with a lot to take in, but a consistent highlight for

The recent tax reform legislation provides many benefits for manufacturers in the U.S., who are just coming off the best year of factory activity since 2004. The elements of the legislation that have the most impact on manufacturers’ taxes include: Corporate

Unplanned downtime can be a killer for manufacturing costs.  Predictive maintenance helps eliminate unplanned downtime by allowing manufacturers to be proactive and use data to guide their work.  This article in IndustryWeek provides a good overview of predictive maintenance and

In this thought-provoking article in IndustryWeek, Larry Fast discusses the potential impact of new capabilities like Big Data Analytics, AI, and IIOT in manufacturing.  There are several points he made that I found interesting.  He highlights how IIOT in manufacturing

Allen-Bradley Ultra3000 Servo Drives were discontinued by Rockwell at the end of 2016.  The Ultra3000 has been a valuable work horse for Rockwell Automation customers. These drives were able to do standalone indexing as well as ride on both DeviceNet and

Ransomware and cyber attacks at manufacturers is becoming increasingly common, disrupting operations and causing millions of dollars worth of damages.  Consumer Products company Reckitt Bensicker was recently the victim of one such attack that impacted the company’s 60 factories. What