In the first part of this Design World Trends series, we heard from industry experts about discrete automation’s edge devices; efforts to promote standards for increased system compatibilities and interoperabilities; and the rise of fog computing as well as industrial uses for wireless technologies such as 5G. In this follow-up piece, we detail the holistic…
Top industrial connectivity and digital-transformation trends: Part 1 of 2
Discrete automation’s edge devices include actuators, sensors, and connectivity components such as gateways and motor-mounted controllers. Many of these components feature computational capabilities to minimize data bandwidth and latency issues associated with legacy versions of centralized control. Their installation at the furthest reaches of automated equipment means their processing power is situated to filter and…
For fifth time, Emerson is named Industrial IoT Company of the Year
Technology and software company Emerson has been named the IoT Breakthrough 2023 “Industrial IoT Company of the Year” for the fifth time — an honor the company also received in 2018, 2019, 2020 and 2022. This year’s award recognizes the power of Emerson’s industry-leading Plantweb digital ecosystem, which now includes the AspenTech suite of plant…
Industrial edge computing in the context of DX initiatives
Edge computing in industrial automation refers to systems with distributed electronics that locally collect, store, analyze, and act upon with unrivaled speed. A related industrial-network structure brings cloud-computing capabilities down into the furthest reaches of the factory-floor via nodes and networks. Called fog computing, this distributed intelligence as well as data processing out at a…
Digital-transformation sustainability: Waste minimization and energy savings
Nearly two thirds of all energy created globally for commercial, transportation, industrial, and residential use is lost to inefficiency and waste. For operations aiming to achieve carbon-neutral status (or just higher profitability through energy conservation) preventing the loss of energy is at once immediately possible and commendable. After all, Energy Information Administration analysis indicates that…
The digital transformation and lean-digital approaches
The top goal of most digital transformation (DX) initiatives sounds suspiciously similar to that of lean-manufacturing methodologies — to minimize an operation’s waste and cost while concurrently maximizing its quality (defect-free) throughput of customer-coveted product. Benefitting a vast array of industries outside manufacturing, today lean-manufacturing approaches are applied in most all settings that allow collected…
Machine control and connected machines for DX initiatives
The COVID-19 pandemic permanently changed the way in which tens of thousands of businesses worldwide operate. It also changed how many view automation and digital transformation (DX) initiatives. The latter have proven helpful where businesses aim to make remote work for office personnel permanent; toggle operations from on to idled and back more nimbly; allow…
Basics of smart factories and discrete-automation connectivity
Smart factories are facilities that digitize all aspects of manufacturing or production that allow digitization. Such operations continuously record data via connected equipment and systems — and then disseminate that data to allow machines to run self-optimizing routines. Such programs might help the facility time production of a given end product; proactively prevent mechanical issues;…
Basics of the digital transformation (DX)
A digital transformation (DX or less commonly DT) is the application of software, programmable hardware, and operational technologies (OTs) to fundamentally transfigure a company’s operations and end products for the better. DX programs can be undertaken by industrial organizations, machine builders, or a vast array of other businesses; the involved OTs typically include machine-monitoring systems,…