Manufacturing Cash Crunch
I received this 2026 Manufacturing Outlook report by Steve Carpenter, Chief Operating Officer, Creditsafe. To be honest, I’ve never heard of this company as it plays in a market space I seldom study. Several companies send news items about layoffs. That’s all in the...
Podcast-Automation Fair plus Software Market Thoughts
Podcast released on my podcast site and on YouTube. Thoughts on organization structures and Rockwell CEO Blake Moret's experiments with bringing in outsiders and setting his own directions. Thoughts on the industrial software market in general and Rockwell's...
PwC US Industrial Manufacturing Deals 2026 Outlook: Industrial M&A accelerates as megadeals signal renewed confidence
This site does not specialize on market data and analysis. I’m often suspicious of market numbers promulgated by most market analysts. Sometimes we do need to pause and reflect on a variety of economic themes. PwC has regularly sent interesting looks at parts of the...
Onshape Executives Talk AI in PLM
I delve into the world of Product Lifecycle Management, CAD, CAM, Product Data Management, and the like a few times a year. A few supplier companies have invited me to their user group conferences over the past few years. A recent interview was with the new CEO of a...
Zebra Divesting or Closing Robot Unit?
Zebra Technologies winding down Fetch-based mobile robot group news from the Robot Report. Steve Crowe writes in the news item, “Zebra Technologies is winding down its autonomous mobile robot (AMR) division. The group was built around Zebra’s $290 million acquisition...
Human-Like Bin Picking Solution Powered by On-Arm AI Vision
This news came to me touted as an industry first. Actually, I’ve already written about a similar application. That does not denigrate the accomplishment. It only speaks to marketing. AI has been a part of vision systems as long as I can remember. AI as an automation...
Another Robot Stack
I recently wrote about a company that designed its own “stack” of its robot plus an autonomous mobile robot. Stack must be a new trend. I have written about Flexxbotics a few time over the past three years. The company features several several current and former...
Growth Seen For Global Manufacturing Output in 2025
It’s tough to make predictions, especially about the future.—Attributed to Yogi Berra This is the season of predictions. Take them with a grain of salt. They are useful thought experiments. Extrapolation from past data is fraught with potential errors. Policy...
Manufacturing Marketing Outlook
It’s tough to make predictions, especially about the future.—Attributed to Yogi Berra I received this commentary by Steve Carpenter, Chief Operating Officer, Creditsafe regarding the company’s 2026 Manufacturing Outlook. This is the season of predictions. Take...
Teradyne Establishes US Operations Hub in Metro Detroit
Not long after news from another automation supplier about an investment in manufacturing in the US, here comes news from Teradyne Robotics about an investment in suburban Detroit. I’m sure it’s beneficial for Teradyne both for saving shipping costs (we won’t mention...




