MAY 31-JUNE 6, 2024
The latest edition of IBJ’s annual Innovation Issue explores the Fourth Industrial Revolution—known in business as Industry 4.0—as Indiana companies invest heavily in connected devices, robots, automation and more. Susan Orr reports that much of the current focus is on tying tech adoption and tech training more closely together. Taylor Wooten has a case study in adopting robotics from Indianapolis-based Circle Beverage. Mickey Shuey explains how wearable technology is improving safety and productivity. And John Russell details how Eli Lilly and Co. will use the latest advances in automation at its planned $9 billion campus in Lebanon dedicated to turning out in-demand drugs.
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2024 Innovation Issue: Wearable devices promise improved safety, productivity
But the devices—whether they’re used in the industrial setting or for personal reasons like health and fitness—can also raise concerns as well as questions about data privacy.
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2024 Innovation Issue: The path to Industry 4.0
Numerous groups are working to advance both technology adoption and related workforce development in Indiana’s manufacturing industry, especially among the small companies that represent the bulk of Indiana’s manufacturers.
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2024 Innovation Issue: Robotic welding system boosts Smoker Craft’s production
The company has received attention for its system and last month earned the Conexus Indiana Manufacturing Innovation Award at TechPoint’s 2024 Mira Awards gala.
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2024 Innovation Issue: Circle Beverage expands reach with robotic sleeving
The company has spent millions on the mostly automated production line. That shift has allowed the company’s 30 employees to upskill to work with the technology, but he said some manual labor remains.
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2024 Innovation Issue: How automation can be a lifesaver
Lilly plans to outfit its Lebanon plants—now under construction—with the latest in robotic, digital manufacturing equipment that will do much of the work that a generation ago was done by humans.
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2024 Innovation Issue: ‘Progressive improvement’ leads to customer smiles
TWI Institute, a consulting firm for manufacturers, describes continuous improvement as the “act of taking an established process, breaking it down to its component parts, building it back up using only the essential parts and committing to making incremental improvements over time.”
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2024 Innovation Issue: State grant program spurs Industry 4.0 investments
A total of 526 grants worth a combined $56.9 million have been awarded so far to companies and organizations in 79 counties. In 2023, $20 million was granted to 161 projects in 50 counties. See how the money has been distributed.
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2024 Innovation Issue: On-demand production allows companies to respond quickly to customer needs
Striving for efficiency drives the on-demand philosophies of Mach Medical, Homefield Apparel and 80/20 Inc., even if the companies have little else in common.
Read More2024 Innovation Issue: 5 keys to driving Indiana’s manufacturing future
Innovation is the thread woven through these truths, not only in the digital sense but also as it relates to the education and training of our future workforce, providing strategic funding and proactively building the powerful partnerships necessary to effect real change.
Read MoreIndiana 250: Scott Glaze of Fort Wayne Metals
Scott Glaze has spent his entire 50-year career at Fort Wayne Metals, which produces wire-based materials for medical devices. When he became the company’s president in 1985, Fort Wayne Metals had one small facility with 30 employees. It now has more than 1,500 employees in Indiana, Ohio and Ireland. Glaze and his wife, Melissa, are […]
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Made in Indiana: Veterinary equipment by Vetamac Inc.
Company overview: Harry Latshaw, a veterinary anesthetist who worked at the Purdue University College of Veterinary Medicine from 1972 to 2000, founded Vetamac in 1990. The company makes veterinary anesthesia machines and equipment, and it services its own and other manufacturers’ anesthesia machines. Equipment sales account for about 40% of revenue, with service accounting for […]
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Editorial: Indiana should invest more to make sure manufacturers have latest tech
Indiana’s strategic advantage as a manufacturing powerhouse is dependent not just on companies that are building new plants with the latest technology but also in ensuring that existing manufacturers—many of which are suppliers for the big guys—implement the latest technology. If they don’t, they could lose the ability to compete.
Read MoreNate Feltman: 3 big challenges await Indiana’s next governor
Gubernatorial candidates Sen. Mike Braun and Jennifer McCormick have an opportunity to explain to Hoosiers their ideas to address our failing K-12 education system, rising energy costs and rising health care costs. Doing so will lay the groundwork for action in 2025.
Read MoreChuck Surack: Downtown Heliport is asset too valuable to give up
Indianapolis can be both a hub for aviation innovation and an elite sports destination. These are not mutually exclusive options.
Read MoreGreg Zoeller: Carbon capture can usher a new era of manufacturing
In our industrial landscape, the traditional image of manufacturing is often associated with billowing smokestacks and environmental degradation. However, thanks to advancements in carbon capture and sequestration, this image is rapidly becoming outdated.
Read MoreGarrett Mintz: Survivor’s guilt: 3 ways to build morale after layoffs
Layoffs are part of a business’s natural ebb and flow.
Read MoreCecil Bohanon and John Horowitz: Innovation drives investment outcomes
According to Bruce, if a person had bought the used Tucker in 1951 and reasonably maintained and stored the car, it would be worth at least $1.5 million today.
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Hogsett ‘serious’ about leaving proposed Indy Eleven stadium site undeveloped
Indianapolis Mayor Joe Hogsett’s administration could pursue a plan to turn the proposed Indy Eleven stadium property into a memorial park to honor its history as an early cemetery grounds rather than let it be developed, the mayor’s spokeswoman confirmed Friday.
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Whitestown councilor and former WRTV reporter Tanya Sumner dies at 53
Whitestown Town Manager Katie Barr said the community “lost a dedicated leader who will leave a void in all our hearts.”
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Elanco to launch product that reduces dairy cattle methane emissions
Elanco has called Bovaer a potential blockbuster, meaning it could ring up annual sales of at least $100 million.
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Ex-podiatry office manager handed 5-year fraud sentence
Investigators said Leslie Smith engaged in multiple fraud schemes against her employer, relatives, and the government.
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Indianapolis 500 viewership ratings climb 8% over 2023
In addition to higher ratings, the Indianapolis 500 purse paid out a record purse for the third year in a row.
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Interim chief Jennifer Pyrz named IndyGo president and CEO
Pyrz, formerly the chief development officer for IndyGo, succeeds Inez Evans, who stepped down from the role in December.
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