Industrial Automation Blog

Finding yourself with more questions than answers about your automation project? Make or buy? Robots? Conveyors? Tooling? How much will this cost? Do we have the expertise in house to even try to tackle an automation project?

If machine builders are not incorporating an Industrial Internet of Things solution into their systems, they’re missing out on an opportunity to grow their businesses with additional services for their customers.

Moving beyond the hype and buzzwords, an integrator brings knowledge of many different products and industrial sectors to help get the most value from your digital transformation.

Learn what model predictive control can do to help you get a return on investment from all the data you’ve been collecting in your facility.

A detailed analysis of your critical plant assets will enable you to develop a proactive strategy to deal with aging equipment and minimize plant downtime.

The more understanding an operator has about his impact on the process and, ultimately, the performance of the line, shift, and plant, the more likely the operator is to make better decisions.

As many manufacturers begin to embrace Big Data, they are realizing it represents both a big opportunity and a big shift. Big Data will allow an organization to set factory performance goals and track progress in real time; support Lean and other initiatives to improve quality, reduce costs, and increase responsiveness; and improve planning by connecting to ERP, batch, and other systems. Being prepared for this shift is essential to being successful in capturing the right data at the right time.

System integrators will have to be ready to change their business model, at least in part, by offering subscription services or by focusing on other aspects of their business that may be less impacted by the Smart Manufacturing transformation.

In this open letter to end-users, a system integrator offers some suggestions on how to make a good client-integrator relationship even better.

Time and effort spent archiving data is a small investment with a big payoff for mission-critical results.

Mobile apps are transforming the way manufacturers track parts, monitor machine health and manage performance.

When all you're thinking is "show me the money," how often have you found yourself wanting, even demanding, more details and insight into what’s happening in your manufacturing plant?

Your plant floor data is a repository of informational gold. Have you started digging yet?