The Thomas Blog

6 Mesmerizing Videos of Rube Goldberg Machines

Throughout the 1900s, millions of Americans read newspapers every day and flipped through to the funnies to find the latest from Rube Goldberg, a popular cartoonist.

While his work was somewhat political and controversial at times, he regularly drew complicated gadgets that would work together to complete a simple task — just to get a laugh. Over time, we’ve affectionately grown to call them “Rube Goldberg machines.”

Now, we see odes to the artist in popular culture — and they’ve evolved to become fascinating feats of engineering and manufacturing. Plus, they’re pretty awesome, so we rallied some of our favorite videos for you to see. Check them out below:

Video: Going For The Gold In Metal Production

With Mother's Day right around the corner, you may be thinking about picking up some gold in the form of jewelry. But one research team actually produced a new form of gold that may change the process of metal production and have far-reaching implications for manufacturers and engineers.

Easy Website Design Tips That Increase Clicks

Studies show that we have less than 15 seconds to leave a good first impression with our website visitors.

If your website’s headline, call-to-action, or even its color scheme doesn’t hit all the right notes, your prospects will simply find a website that does — which, unfortunately, could be your competitor’s.

While you may rely on your products or services to close the sale, you need to employ a website design that leads prospects to the beginning of that sales journey. Below are some effective and easy website design tips to begin leveraging to increase clicks and (ultimately) sales.

What You Need to Know About Growth-Driven Design

It’s no secret the concept of growth-driven design has been shaking up digital marketing, but specifically in our manufacturing and industrial space, it has been a game-changer.

Early adopters have been excited to toss out the rigid, “one and done” process with web design in favor of flexibility, growth and changes based on data and performance.

We discussed the basics and the benefits in a blog titled “What Is Growth-Driven Design?” but thought it’d be good to bring some additional insight. So we thought: Who better to chat with than the person who literally wrote the book on growth-driven design?

Meet Luke Summerfield. He’s HubSpot’s Partner Program Manager and Growth-Driven Design Evangelist, and he’s here to chat about HubSpot principles, web design and his “light bulb” moment.

10 Must-Have SEO & Website Analysis Tools

You’re in the industrial marketing space, and you need the world (which, in 2016, means the internet) to know how great your company is.

You’ve got amazing content that should provide your visitors with enough incentive to offer up some basic information in order to access, but you can’t take any chances. You want to make sure your conversion rate is as high as possible.

When you have quality website design and content, paired with insight through a marketing automation tool such as HubSpot, you're already on the right track.

6 Technical Trends That Are Reshaping Manufacturing (Part 2)

Last week, we revealed the coolest new technology behind additive manufacturing, wearables, and robots. But with so many examples of technical trends that are sweeping manufacturing and the supply chain in Frost & Sullivan's outline of the Top 50 Emerging Technologies that are expected to transform the world, we couldn't cram them all into one post.  

So without further adieu, here are three more tech trends in the manufacturing industry along with examples of the latest advancements in their respective fields.

Video: 3D Printing Comes To Life - Kind Of

3DP Unlimited, a leading manufacturer of large-scale, industrial-class 3D printers based in Illinois, recently took their 3D printing capabilities to the next level when they constructed a life-sized version of one of their employees.

Trend Watch: Connectivity and Digitalization in Automotive Manufacturing

After years of focusing on growth in emerging markets, the automotive industry has finally seen a shift in a new direction: optimizing cars for connectivity and digitalization.

Instead of concentrating on expansion in China and new markets, automotive OEMs are now looking to Silicon Valley to learn about ways to integrate technology and build more connected cars for their customers. 

Everything You Need to Know About MD&M East

Medical Design & Manufacturing East has been a trusted medical industry expo for more than 30 years, connecting suppliers with buyers and giving attendees the opportunity to bring their medical devices from paper to patent.

With the 2016 trade show just around the corner, here’s everything you need to know before signing up.