Effective production management is no longer able to tolerate leaving high productivity machine tools with expensive hourly ratings standing idle.  Here, common problems arise while waiting for decisions to proceed while inspection and measurement, ‘solution hop’ and move parts from one piece of specialist measuring instrument or device to another in order to fully satisfy the needs of the feature to be checked. 

Big data is not just for predicting election outcomes and mapping genomes. General Electric (GE) is betting on the so-called Industrial Internet – a term they coined – to help manufacturers boost performance, streamline processes and better compete in the global marketplace.

For deepwater offshore pipelines, risers and flowlines, as well as pipes for onshore applications in oil, gas and petrochemicals, the demand for corrosion-resistant alloy (CRA) clad pipes is expected to grow, with more than 80% of developing oil and gas fields demonstrating corrosive properties.

While engineering groups have steadily increased their appetite for simulation, the simulation process itself remains a challenge. Simulation generally involves multiple parties across various engineering disciplines working independently on what oftentimes are conflicting strategies. Each is armed with a different set of tools and, most likely, in hot pursuit of their own objectives. To complicate what by nature is a lengthy and intricate process, simulation efforts are also still deeply mired in manual steps that prevent the various silos from sharing results until late in the game when it is difficult to make changes without having a negative impact on product delivery schedules and budgets.