Trends & Forecasts

Augmented Reality: Is the ROI Worth the Effort?

Augmented Reality If you could improve safety and efficiency in your plants, lower travel costs and more efficiently train employees with one technology, would you consider adopting it? If it could increase your competitive advantage as a manufacturer or make your process plant remain online with fewer unplanned shutdowns, would you adopt it?

For many early adopters of augmented reality (AR) technology, the decision to incorporate AR into their business, whether it was for service-related tasks, manufacturing or knowledge transfer, has proven to be a game-changer. According to a whitepaper published by PTC, the growth in the industrial internet of things (IIoT) and digital content, along with maturing AR hardware, is fueling the emergence of more and more powerful AR experiences.

The VMA Knowledge Forum, Part Two: The Human Factor

Louis Lessig Finding and retaining the right talent is a continual challenge to manufacturers who say the skills shortage has negatively impacted their ability to expand. You’ll find this subject on the agenda at nearly every manufacturing and industry gathering, including those held by the Valve Manufacturers Association during the past few years.

During VMA’s first multi-track Valve Industry Knowledge Forum, held April 11-13 in Savannah, GA, human resources professionals and company executives learned about employment law, workforce development and ways to use training as a retention tool.

The VMA Knowledge Forum, Part One: Technology at the Forefront

The first VMA Valve Industry Knowledge Forum, April 11-13 in Savannah, GA, provided a potpourri of topics for valve industry professionals from all disciplines. In addition to 20-plus excellent presentations, from onboarding new employees to the evolution of control valve diagnostics, lively conversations and networking opportunities inspired new collaborations among attendees. Participants could also mix and match tracks (choosing from Human Resources, Technical and Manufacturing), so engineers who would normally not have an opportunity to attend HR events could learn about successful training programs and top employment cases, while HR professionals had the chance to learn about robotics and understand how that could affect their workforce.

In Part 1, we focus on the Technical and Manufacturing tracks; the second part of this article will cover Human Resources presentations.

Weathering the Snow, Preparing for the ‘Winds of Change’

Despite thousands of flight cancellations and challenging travel conditions resulting from an unexpected snowstorm, most members headed for VMA’s Valve Industry Leadership Forum made it to the meeting at the Ritz-Carlton Pentagon City in Arlington, VA, March 22-23.

Speakers focused primarily on governmental activities and regulations, as was befitting an event held just a couple of miles from the nation’s capital.

Shaping the Valve Industry’s Future

The British Valve & Actuator Association (BVAA) is coming to the end of the second year of its innovative Future Leaders Program.

“It is quite possibly the most rewarding activity of my career.” said BVAA’s Director & CEO, Rob Bartlett. “The program has had an amazing effect on all those involved in it. I believe we all instinctively knew the BVAA Future Leaders Program had terrific potential, but all my colleagues have been blown away by the successes of the first cohort, and the tremendous impact it had on the second cohort in 2017.”