Plant floor layout in the medical device industry is typically dictated by the types of products being produced.

Traditionally, hearing aids, pacemakers, defibrillators, cochlear implants, neurostimulators and other medical devices depend on lithium-ion batteries. However, batteries add extra weight. Batteries also raise numerous safety and reliability concerns.

I just returned from attending the 2013 Automate show at McCormick Place in Chicago. Despite the frigid temperatures outside, I was impressed by the crowds inside warming up to the latest robotics technology.

Over the last decade, lean manufacturing has been prescribed as a cure-all in a wide variety of industries.

New equipment addresses changeover and repeatability issues.

Rising health care costs are one of the biggest challenges facing the American auto industry today.

Oil and gas equipment manufacturers face many unique challenges.

Roughnecks (a term widely used in the oil and gas industry to describe oil-field workers) demand tough materials for equipment that must work around the clock in hostile environments. Delays

Cost often takes a back seat to quality, reliability and robustness.

Additive manufacturing is one of the hottest technologies to come along in the last 50 years.