I have been to many IMTS and EMO shows over my fifty years in the industry; yet the 2024 show proved to be a thrilling and confusing event that left me tired and looking forward to a future that will surpass even my meager manufacturing dreams. At the first manufacturing technology show I attended (even before McCormick Place was built), I was in my early twenties and gobsmacked by the huge milling machines with tool changers that were operated by tape drives—no CNC for the old school. Well, the 2024 show proved to be deep in the new school.

During a recent conference session on AI and manufacturing in Las Vegas, one presenter made a valid point about simplifying and accelerating shop floor processes. “AI has the potential to revolutionize the way companies design, develop, manufacture and operate.” This is happening in gear manufacturing shops, automotive OEMs, production plants—even mining facilities.

The 10,000-Year Clock, also known as the Clock of the Long Now, is a visionary project aimed at fostering long-term thinking and responsibility. Located inside a mountain in West Texas on land owned by Jeff Bezos, this clock is designed to keep accurate time for 10,000 years, serving as a powerful symbol of longevity and sustainability.

Engineers Assemble. If you’re a product engineer in charge of designing the latest and greatest manufacturing creations, it’s officially “Tony Stark” time. If Philip K. Dick is more your speed over the Marvel Cinematic Universe, than how about “Tom Cruise” time in Minority Report? Siemens and Sony recently introduced a solution that combines the Siemens Xcelerator portfolio with Sony’s new XR head-mounted display (HMD), SRH-S1—designed using Siemens’ own NX software—insert chicken vs. egg debate here.

A gear is nothing without its counterparts. Gears work in conjunction with other components within a gear system to achieve specific mechanical functions. These counterparts work together synergistically to form functional gear assemblies capable of transmitting motion and torque, converting speed and torque ratios, and performing a wide range of mechanical tasks in various applications across industries.

Pi Day took place on March 14, 2024. Our friendly neighborhood constant is used in engineering to determine the dimensions of gears, wheels, and pipes. Pi is also used in computer science to generate random numbers for cryptography, simulation, and gaming. With a tip of the cap to math enthusiasts, we offer a quick cheat sheet to pi and its fascinating history.

Gear Technology regularly covers machine tools, often referred to as “mother machines” due to their role in producing other machines, which serve as the cornerstone of industrial civilization by cutting or shaping metal. Think of all the gears in the machine tools that not only cut and polish gears but are indispensable for manufacturing a wide range of goods, with nearly every product being created either directly using machine tools or through machines manufactured using these tools.

I grew up playing video games in the 1980s/1990s. Today, my kids not only play video games, but could discuss coding, designing, and marketing at length on their YouTube channel. This generation is growing up with technology no other generation has ever had.

Three Degrees of Freedom: Notes on an active ball joint mechanism based on spherical gear meshing.

We came across an interesting statistic recently in our normal product coverage for Gear Technology magazine. United Grinding had more than 2,500 remote deployments during the pandemic. Digital assistance systems—big and small—helped machine operators navigate production output in real time during this chaotic work period.