The Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT) is more than just the latest manufacturing fad. It promises to transform the way that many types of products are designed, assembled and serviced.

Inserting glass windows into car bodies has been, and remains, a challenge for automotive OEMs. Manual insertion is labor intensive and imprecise, and carries with it the risk of bodily injury to assemblers due to broken glass.

Needles are one of the most basic and least glamorous types of medical devices. But, every day, doctors and nurses rely on "sharps" to administer medicine, draw blood, conduct biopsies and perform many other vital medical procedures.

In a few weeks, more than 100 million Americans will be tuning into Super Bowl LII. At press time, the two teams were not known, but one fact is certain: Many fans will be watching the big game from the comfort of a La-Z-Boy recliner.

Being the welding equipment supplier for several of the world’s leading automotive OEMs is a big responsibility, but not an impossible one. Hirotec America (HA) is proof of that. Since 1988, the company has provided this equipment to GM, Fiat Chrysler, Ford, Toyota and BMW.

In Brillion, WI, every season is a good season to care about lawn mowers. The reason is because Brillion is home to Ariens Co., a leading manufacturer of walk-behind, stand-on and riding mowers.

When it comes to the oil and gas industry, bigger is always better. This statement applies not only to the equipment used for site preparation and production, and the amount of usable natural resources removed from the ground—but also to the metal containers that are required to store the radioactive waste material that naturally occurs during exploration and drilling.

Manufacturers have known the importance of being discreet since the start of the Industrial Revolution. History has definitely shown this approach to be the best way to safeguard all of a company’s technological, production and assembly secrets.

Robots are being used for a variety of assembly and inspection applications, which is enabling the operation of lean, efficient and automated systems where more than one product type or model can be produced on a single assembly line.

Lessons learned in childhood often last a lifetime. The same can be said of acquired skills, such as building things with Erector Sets, Legos and Lincoln Logs. Individuals who mastered and enjoyed these classic toys may very likely be the same people who use T-slot extrusion framing, pipe-and-joint and square-tube systems to build modular workstations, flow racks and other production structures for manufacturers.