Advanced Manufacturing Now

Author and host of Manufacturing Talks Jim Vinoski shares the inspirations of his new book, "American Manufacturing," which profiles 22 of the country's most resilient success stories and the innovative people behind them.

SME Media Editor Rachel Thomas is joined by Shannon Marimón, Executive Director of ReadyCT, and Christine Lawlor-King, Director of STEM and Manufacturing Initiatives, to discuss K-12 workforce development. ReadyCT builds vital connections between education and the manufacturing sector, introducing students to high-paying, rewarding careers in STEM. Shannon and Christine detail the expansion of Connecticut's Robotics 2.0 initiative, including new in-classroom pilots, teacher coaching programs, and regional practice hubs designed to make hands-on robotics accessible to all students.

Cara Walton shares the latest benchmarking results about efficiency, ROI, automation, workforce trends, IMTS and more from the consulting company's annual survey. Spoiler: material costs and volatility were the top concern.

In today's rapidly evolving manufacturing landscape, workforce challenges aren't just about filling roles—they're about building a sustainable, skilled talent pipeline that can adapt to change. From accelerating retirements to advancing technologies, manufacturers must rethink how they attract, engage, and retain talent. In this webinar, Tooling U-SME Workforce Development Specialist Denise Cowburn shares practical, proven strategies to help organizations strengthen their workforce for 2026 and beyond. Attendees will gain insights into creating a repeatable talent cycle that supports long-term growth, resilience, and competitiveness. PRESENTER: Denise Cowburn, Workforce Development Specialist, Tooling U-SME Presented by Tooling U-SME Visit https://toolingu.com/webinars for more webinars and an interactive experience with visuals.

The manufacturing sector has expanded for the seventh consecutive month, according to the July 2026 Institute for Supply Management (ISM) Manufacturing PMI Report. Susan Spence, chair of the ISM Manufacturing Business Survey Committee discusses the factors driving industry expansion.

FAI creation is an essential element of quality control programs but can consume a significant amount of time. In this webinar, we will discuss a tool that consolidates all requirements into an accountability checklist, keeping drawing and inspection sheets in sync. Automatically capture sheet and zone and identify Bill of Materials (BOM) and specifications for a complete and accurate report. This software exports a professional ballooned print as a PDF and can output to your customized Excel spreadsheet. In this session, we'll go over how to reduce quality escapes that occur from overlooking requirements. Failing results are flagged in real-time and any missing required FAIR AS9102 data is also flagged for compliance to the standard. Easily renumber balloon sequencing and change between Imperial and Metric units as required by your customers. Learn how to seamlessly import your CMM data to validate each result and easily flag non-conformances. Use any CMM in your shop to create result data and automatically populate the Designed Tooling. The tool we discuss will assist you in keeping up with the growing prevalence of 3D modeling in manufacturing. Using the Product Manufacturing Information (PMI) of the model, this software extracts the geometry and notes from the model to create views with ballooned data and exports to the inspection sheet. In this webinar, you will learn how to: Error-proof each FAI for accuracy and customer approval. Eliminate the need for manual data entry. Use your CMM output to populate FAI actuals. Address your customer's requirement for MBD. PRESENTER: Jeffrey C. Davis Account Manager DISCUS Software Presented by DISCUS Visit https://advancedmanufacturing.org/webinars for more webinars and an interactive experience with visuals.

Tech consultant and contributing editor Meaghan Ziemba spoke with industry experts about how to improve CNC operations via a holistic approach. She previews the result for her latest article in Manufacturing Engineering & Technology with Editor-in-Chief Steve Plumb.