During the recent Manufacturing Week 2019, our managing director Mike Maddock was interviewed by the High-Value Manufacturing (HVM) Catapult about Industry 4.0 & other current industry challenges.
Below is a transcript of the interview;
I'm Mike Maddock, managing director of Performance Engineered Solutions (PES) Ltd but I'm here on behalf of Make UK as their Industry 4.0 champion.
What one technology do you think will have the most impact on manufacturing?
I'm going to say graphene, because it’s a transformational material. It's still in its evolution process with nano-platelets, but the market is moving forward. Many people think it's probably a technology for 15 to 20 years’ time, but it's not, it’s here now.
In terms of graphene, to put it in simple terms, ...
Neil Armstrong's historic Apollo 11 spacesuit has been painstakingly restored by the Smithsonian Museum, with the help of 3D optical scanning and CT scanning.
The restoration took place ahead of the 50th anniversary of the Apollo 11 mission launch and used technology unavailable when the Apollo 11 crew flew to the moon in July 1969.
The spacesuits worn by Armstrong, Buzz Aldrin & Mike Collins have been kept at the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum in Washington DC since their return, but time has taken its toll on the historic garments.
The restoration work began in 2015, with the team beginning work on the gloves of the suit. X-ray images recorded the suit's condition and allowed the inner parts to be ...
Detecting potential problems in the quality and integrity of a part.
Here’s an example from our partners at NSI, showing the uses of industrial CT scanning in quality inspection processes to detect potential problems in the quality and integrity of a part.
In this case, a small battery has some visible damage to it, which indicates that there might be a potential fault. The case on this battery appears to be swollen with a dome shape to it; not something that you would ordinarily see with these products.
This could be a symptom of a larger problem with the battery, which if undetected could cause the battery to leak or burst. Depending on the application the battery is being used with this ...
Porta Performance has used 3D Scanning and other advanced technologies to devlop the most advanced race boat designs both hydrodynamically and aerodynamically.
Scott Porta of Porta Performance undertook the challenge to solve the “unsolvable problem” which comes from an offshore racing dynamic. What happens at 100+ MPH when a catamaran converts from a boat to an airplane without wings?
Porta stated, “Here’s the dynamic, the engines are supported by a plane of hard water coming from the hull on the bottom of the gear cases … only until the boat launches and flies. At that point, the engines become a thousand pounds of dead weight, the centre of gravity shifts, the bow elevates, and the rest is history.”
Porta Performance’s scanning partner ...
Excerpt from an article from Fabbaloo.com
Whilst 3D scanning is typically seen as a modern technology, there is evidence that it could be a lot older than you might imagine.
This idea of moving around a subject to obtain a number of different views in order to build up a 3D model is in fact not new at all. The “photo sculpture” process was invented in 1860 by French artist François Willème.
According to Wikipedia:
“A photo-sculpture is the reproduction of persons, animals, and things, in 3-dimensions by taking a series of photos in the round and using them as synchronized photo projections to create a sculpture. The process was invented and patented by French artist (painter, sculptor and photographer) François Willème in ...
Excerpt from an article www.digitalengineering247.com
CT scanning has the ability to provide detailed quality inspection scans of 3D printed parts for many industries. This role in additive manufacturing supplements how CT scanning is already used in reverse engineering activities.
Whilst 3D printing enables the production of parts in previously impossible designs, there is a need to inspect them, and that’s where CT scanning comes in. As 3D printing allows the production of complex internal structures, CT scanners provide a unique way to help quality inspect the accuracy of printed parts which will be used in production. Other scanning and metrology techniques are limited to only recording the exterior surfaces of the parts.
“We see a lot of interest in printing components because ...
The continued success of PES Performance has been recognised and commended by the Institute of Directors at its recent Awards event for IoD Yorkshire and North East.
At the awards ceremony in York, PES Performance’s Managing Director Mike Maddock was acknowledged for his leadership with a Highly Commended award in the SME Director of the Year category.
Mike set up PES Performance in 2011, with business partner Dan Fleetcroft, as a high-performance engineering business, working across multiple sectors, and delivering engineering solutions for clients.
They soon realised that there was a real opportunity, in high-value niche markets, for a team of highly skilled engineers and business solution specialists; an offering which remains fairly unique today.
With a 40% growth in the last financial ...
A marine biology project led by students at the University of Swansea has used 3D scanners to create full body 3D scans of dolphins, sharks, and large turtles.
The 3D models produced enabled the design and customisation of tags which gather data on the speed and activity levels of the animal, offering detailed information on migration patterns and the effects of ocean temperatures on their behaviour.
Swansea University’s Lab for Animal Movement (SLAM) researches marine animal life using state-of-the-art tagging technology and leading data visualization techniques. This is done to understand more about the lives of marine animals in the depths of the ocean, even when they are out of sight.
Led by Lloyd Hopkins, a Ph.D student, SLAM have been focused ...
The iconic Porsche 917 race car was introduced in 1969 and brought Porsche its first win at the Le Mans 24 Hours in 1970. The 917 was made more famous by starring in Steve McQueen's 1971 film ‘Le Mans.’
In preparation for the forthcoming “50 years of the 917” anniversary event, the Porsche Museum decided to restore the original longtail 917 (917-001) back to how it looked on its original appearance at the 1969 Geneva Auto Show.
917-001 is transformed into a Le Mans winner
In September 1970, after Porsche’s victory at Le Mans, the 917-001 was converted into the winning 1970s short-tail version. Various modifications were made before the car was exhibited at the Paris Motor Show, and eventually became a ...
From January to the end of October 2018, the Old Town Astronomical Clock in Prague underwent a restoration project.
The goal of the restoration work was to give the watch its original look and original tuners of the 1960s.
During the Second World War, the astronomical clock was hit by bullets and subsequent fire severely damaged the clock. After the war, the clock was repaired to be fully functional again. More contemporary approaches were used to fix the clock. As a result, the whole mechanism consisted of both historical and modern-day parts. After the renovation, this cultural and historical monument was to return to a state that was both functionally and visually reminiscent of its original version.
The Czech Horological Society was ...
