The machines that enable smart manufacturing mean factories are teeming with thousands of non-human identities (NHIs), from robotic arms PLCs to IoT and IIoT sensors seamlessly integrated through the production lines. While they drive operational efficiency, they also represent a rapidly expanding and often invisible attack service. Industrial security is a key theme at MachineBuilding.Live on 15 October, across both the exhibition hall and the workshop programme.

In industrial and commercial hardware, securing access without compromising usability is crucial. Quarter-turn locks - also known as cam locks - offer a simple, cost-effective solution, as the experts at FDB Panel Fittings explain.

Flexible, modular workpiece transport can bring valuable extra speed to automated assembly with free pallets. Scalability is also enhanced, while built-in tracking provides traceability data to meet the requirements of demanding industries such as automotive, as the experts at Yamaha Robotics explain.

In industries where equipment maintenance and inspection are routine, the use of removable service panels is essential. However, the risk of panel misplacement, damage, or injury during servicing remains a persistent challenge. To address this, manufacturers and engineers are increasingly adopting lightweight tethers and lanyards as a simple yet highly effective solution, as the experts at Able Components explain.

Light metals such as aluminium play an important role in reducing the weight of a car body. However, joining them to steel is a challenge due to the very different melting points and coefficients of thermal expansion of the two materials. The SWOPtec process offers a flexible solution here as the experts at ARNOLD UMFORMTECHNIK explain.

Energy infrastructure is evolving fast, and Southco's previous experience in infrastructure improvement has emphasised the importance of reliability, resilience and high performance in new technologies - reinforcing the role of enclosure hardware, as business development manager Phil Taylor explains.

According to the experts at FDB Panel Fittings, there can be added value benefits from buying your hardware from a specialist stockist-distributor.

Rotor Clip appreciates that every project has its own set of challenges. While the company offers a wide range of standard retaining rings and wave springs, sometimes off-the-shelf parts just won't cut it. That's where customisation comes in, allowing Rotor Clip to tailor parts precisely to what your application needs.

Measuring and controlling organic contamination prior to welding is essential for producing defect-free welds of the highest quality. Dyne Testing, an Intertronics brand, has published a White Paper entitled The Importance of Measuring Organic Contamination Prior to Welding, which discusses the impact of organic contamination, methods of measuring it, and some best practices for contamination prevention and removal.