Covering Scientific & Technical AI | Thursday, July 9, 2026
Hybrid Manufacturing Technique Holds Revolutionary Appeal
Software-based "Design for Manufacturing" solution promises faster, cheaper product development. Full article
Digital Manufacturing: Why There’s Never Been a Better Time
The past several decades have seen the continued outsourcing of manufacturing to overseas outfits. Increased competition, both globally and at home, is leading US manufacturers to seek out all available avenues to cut costs and boost efficiency. With the cost of entry to the world of digital manufacturing at an all time low, there has ... Full article
Event Highlights the Benefits of Manufacturing Software
Manufacturers flock to Rhode Island to learn how software can reduce product costs and speed time to market. Full article
Museum Displays Robotic Building System
A bright-orange robotic arm creates furniture out of small metal cubes at Atlanta's High Museum. Full article
The Invisible Innovators: What Is the Missing Middle? And Why Do We Need Them?
The manufacturing market is held together by a vitally-important yet often ignored segment, known as the "Missing Middle." The term refers to the roughly 300,000 manufacturers in the US (two million globally) that employ fewer than 500 people. Economically, this group is responsible for more than twice as much employment as all the "big" manufacturers ... Full article
Making Digital Manufacturing Affordable: A Vendor Perspective
A new breed of GPU-based workstations have the potential to make advanced computing resources available to small- to medium-sized manufacturers — especially the "missing middle" who are not yet making full use of this technology. NVIDIA's Sumit Gupta lends his perspective on how the barriers to digital manufacturing can be overcome. Full article
Make Your Own Stuff: RepRap and the Home 3D Printer
Low cost, desktop 3D printers that use plastics and other materials to print just about anything you want are making their way into the home. Full article
Altair Rep Talks Up Computer-Aided Engineering
Modeling and simulation solutions make inroads into all levels of the design process. Full article
Simulation Software Lifts Prop-Plane Manufacturing
Propeller airplanes return to the skies as manufacturers adopt digital manufacturing. Full article
Dana Holding Corporation: Optimizing Products and Processes with HPC
When Frank Popielas talks about the "sweet spot," he's not referring to his tennis game. He's talking about the most efficient and cost effective way to use high performance computing (HPC) to accurately simulate the design of a specific product. In this case, the products in question are axles, drive-shafts, sealing and thermal management components ... Full article
The Future Is Not Made, It Is Manufactured
Manufacturing hasn't been proven to sustain the US economy. It has been proven to sustain every economy in the history of civilization. No matter what else you do, you must build things. Those societies that abandon this central ideology do so to their sorrow. Full article
Simulation Tool Boosts Hydrogen Safety
Norwegian firm has been working to minimize the potentially explosive nature of hydrogen leaks. Full article
Making High Performance Computing Accessible and Affordable to Manufacturers
The Rocky Mountain Supercomputer Centers (RMSC) is on a mission to bring high performance computing (HPC) technology to the "missing middle" of the North American manufacturing sector. These are the small- to medium- sized manufacturers (SMMs) that are poised to launch new products, hire additional personnel and beat their bigger competitors to market if only ... Full article
Virgin’s CFD Experiment Loses Momentum
After two disappointing seasons, Virgin Racing parts ways with technical director Nick Wirth. Full article
Bionic Bird Takes to the Skies
A bionic bird, inspired by the herring gull, can start, fly and land autonomously -- with no additional drive mechanism. This design first, a hybrid of nature and science, stretches the imagination and redefines what's possible. Full article
Innovation: The Assembly Line of the 21st Century
Human history is marked with crucial innovations: moments that resulted in change so significant that they forever altered the way we live our lives. Manufacturing stands on the precipice of a new innovation with as much potential as the assembly line – a 21st century game-changer with the potential to position the US as the ... Full article
Designing a Smart Truck with the Power of Jaguar: A Case Study
Advanced modeling is being used to improve the aerodynamics of long-haul tractor trailers, and in the process save billions of gallons of fuel each year. South Carolina-based BMI Corp. partnered with researchers from the Department of Energy's Oak Ridge National Laboratory to develop the SmartTruck UnderTray System, a group of aerodynamic add-on parts that minimizes ... Full article
Hope for the Missing Middle
There are about 300,000 manufacturing companies in the United States. Only 5 percent of the total are big organizations like Boeing, General Motors and Procter & Gamble; the rest are small- to medium-sized manufacturers (SMMs). And the disparity between the two groups couldn't be greater. Full article
Why SMMs Balk at Adopting Digital Manufacturing
Despite the fact that the adoption of digital manufacturing modeling and simulation can reduce costs, improve products, shorten time-to-market and, in general, boost a company's competitive capabilities, rapid and whole-hearted adoption by the several hundred thousand small- to medium-sized manufacturers (SMMs) in the US is not guaranteed. Full article
APIs Enhance 3D Printing Experience
Feature-rich Web services contribute to 3D printing's growing popularity. Full article