CNC (Computer Numerical Control) technology has for a long time served the manufacturing world as a nearly unerring method for creating parts. Today, our factories have something like a workbench CNC, where our artificial intelligence, simulation, and robotics breakthroughs can happen. But we are using these new technologies not just to create a more efficient and intelligent factory of the future. We are pushing the limits and trying to envision the next technologically advanced world beyond that.
The advanced materials and 3D printing of tomorrow will collaborate with computer numerically controlled (CNC) technology. The machines could be working with these materials to instill them with the truly advanced properties that make them top-notch industrial contenders. Meanwhile, as we have seen, the pairing of 3D printing and CNC technology in our workshop could enable us to realize, in axe-handle or assembly-line form, designs limited only by what we can dream up. Or, as we sometimes say, our "music" could be enabling us to make "sculptures" in space.
CNC technology and nanotechnology are coming together, and this is a good thing. When they intersect, we see some never-before-seen outcomes, as with the production of devices like the iPhone. But the next iPhone promises to take CNC-nanotech convergence to a whole new level, with some unprecedented features that Madey sums up as enhancements in "functionality, efficiency, and portability."
Advancing technology is bringing artificial intelligence and machine learning closer to union with CNC processes, permitting these two new manufacturing marvels to work together in a rather brilliant tandem. Today's CNC machines come outfitted with all sorts of sensors that help keep the performance of these marvels of engineering more or less on course.

Keeping track of all these bits and pieces is something that AI just loves to do. In fact, it uses "big data" (really, really huge amounts of data) to more or less figure out how "normal" performance of a CNC machine should be, and to get a handle on just how much variation in performance is acceptable.
How will CNC technology change in the future? By becoming unified without any effort whatsoever with the Internet of Things. CNC machines will be connected and will interact with all other equipment in the manufacturing assembly ecosystem as well as with every conceivable sensor and data analytics platform—all in real-time. Humans will manage the machines mostly by not being in the same space where the machine is. The future looks bright for production optimization and predictive maintenance. The machine ecosystem will do a lot more of the work for you. Work will get done smarter and more reliably. Not "if," but "when." Data collection and analysis will be a major means towards these ends.
The manufacturing industry is poised for a major upheaval thanks to a potent combination of new technologies—specifically CNC, virtual reality, and augmented reality. Visualization and simulation, to put it frankly, are blossoming with the promise of CNC precision transformed into virtual space. As with any appearance of order, the staggering of virtual tools within a virtual machine must appear somehow natural and somewhat human to a person employing AR. To put it another way, the ease with which one maneuvers through a sequence of virtual tasks in a virtual work environment can be understood as a direct corollary to the ease of real-time navigation through a sequence of virtual orders within the CNC-controlled work environment.
I have every confidence that the CNC tech of tomorrow will channel an even greater thrust of momentum into sustainable practices and resource efficiency. We've always been part of a lean movement, machining parts smarter, for instance, with "high-speed" anything—milling, multi-axis machining, or, for that matter, an advanced machining strategy that satisfies the demands of not just CNC, but also eco-friendliness. But tomorrow's warp-drive CNC will not scorch the Earth unless we adhere to a path of sustainability and resource efficiency—of "eco- machining," in a word.
In a not so distant world, the CNC technology holds an awesome potential to transform the manufacturing process. By the year 2030, the advancements in material science, 3D printing, and nanotechnology will have moved CNC technology to a whole new level of efficiency and effectiveness. It also seems likely that by this time, everything being manufactured will be connected to the Internet of Things (IoT). Virtual reality (VR) will be the best experience that helps humans use CNC machines in more ways than they currently use them—and in better ways, to boot.