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In the middle of the most chaotic, uncertain months of 2020, manufacturers discovered that the perfect antidote was to double down on quality and reliable delivery—turning to their enterprise resource planning (ERP) systems for the timely insights needed to navigate rapid changes in market demand and resources across their supply chains. 

With the manufacturing industry growing more complex every day, it’s hard to imagine operating a manufacturing enterprise without an ERP system. The software provides a critical central communication point for the business, handling all activities from quote to cash and everything in between. 

“There is no reason and no way that a human mind can keep up with an artificial intelligence machine by 2035,” predicted the techno-futurist philosopher Gray Scott. But the truth is more nuanced: automation will create as many opportunities for humans as it reduces. Here’s how manufacturers can greatly enhance their processes—and address the U.S.’s skills shortage.

In line with Industry 4.0 objectives, many manufacturers strive to streamline their processes to quickly produce consistently superior products.

Part 1 of this three-part series examined how to identify characteristics of the object and the background you can use to create contrast with the illumination source for your machine vision application. This second part looks at how you go about choosing a light source to take advantage of the characteristics that create contrast. 

Imaging lenses enable machine vision systems to inspect, sort, and measure objects for a variety of applications including manufacturing, robotics, autonomous (self-driving) vehicles, and more. 

The use of machine vision in industrial automation applications continues to increase as companies look for gains in productivity, efficiency and safety. Market forecasters estimate that the total market for machine vision will reach more than $18 billion by 2025, up from about $10 billion today. 

The single most important thing manufacturing leaders can do to engage their employees is to share the ‘why’ behind their daily work, says Kathleen Skarvan, CEO at New Prague, MN-based Electromed—Quality’s 2021 Plant of the Year.

Digitalization has changed our world as the internet and modern technology continue to shape the manufacturing industry. For example, the vision of Industry 4.0 shows that production systems and machines are required to be flexible and adapt with continuously changing manufactured products. That means production will be more individualized, flexible, and faster. 

The role of metrology is shifting. This is especially true in modern industrial settings and for increasingly exacting applications. Once perceived as a necessary evil residing in the quality control department validating the integrity of finished parts and components, today metrology is viewed more as an enabling technology that truly adds value.