Welcome to Manufacturing Upgraded! In this series, we collect the best online resources to help you excel at work, all centered around the world of manufacturing, workplace safety, EHS and operational risk management. Could use an upgrade on your work floor? Keep reading!

Is there such a thing as too much data?

We rely on data and alerts to warn us if something is wrong, but if workers get exposed to hundreds of alerts a day, they will get desensitized to them and stop taking them seriously. This might cause workers to miss the alerts that actually matter, those that are indicating a critical failure somewhere. Rohit Gupta on Impomag shares tips on how to avoid ‘alert fatigue’, and make sure that all the alerts are treated the way they should. Let no beep go ignored! Read the tips here.

New 3D winding machine to change the fiber industry

Marc Hauschild on The Manufacturer tells us about a new machine that winds carbon fiber into parts for the automotive and aerospace industries. Cygnet Texkimp, in collaboration with Manchester University, developed this new 3D winding machine in order to make the end product even stronger and lighter than before. This is a new machine that will start changing the fiber industry soon. Learn more about it here.

Automation increases safety and reduces worker stress

Any workplace is overrun with procedures, and in order to optimize those procedures to make the workplace run more safely and smoothly, it’s important to distinguish between the different types of procedures, and then decide who should be executing them. On Chemical Processing, Mark Sen Gupta gives us an exhaustive analysis of the different types of procedures and explains which ones should be automated in order to make plants safer, and operators less stressed. People are good at intervening, reacting quickly, and thinking creatively. Machines do the repetitive tasks well, which, if left to people, can cause safety problems due to human error. Doubting about automation? Let this article give you a new perspective, and take your work to the next level.

Webinar: optimize your production schedule

On August 9^th, IndustryWeek is hosting a webinar on production scheduling tools. It’s a one-hour webinar that will tell you about the shortcomings of current scheduling tools, why you aren’t delivering on time, and how to fix those problems and meet every target from then on. They will share tips on how to ensure you’re prioritizing your tasks well, how to manage rush jobs, and much more. Register here and never miss a production deadline again!

We hope you enjoyed this first article in the Manufacturing Upgraded series. Twice a month, we’ll make sure to showcase new articles, stories, and insights for  you to stay on top of your game. Receive the next one directly in your inbox.