Ballet. Tap. Jazz. Tango. Hip hop. Salsa. Fox trot. Swing. Ballroom. Machine performance. Wait — what? The machine performance dance? Yep. I’ve often compared automation technologies and methods to dance — hear me out — and that’s certainly true for OEM performance, which we examine in this issue of The Journal. OEMs are doing some pretty fancy footwork to meet the varying and evolving needs of end users, who are under pressure from ever-changing consumer demands, regulation, workforce shifts, value-chain restructuring, food safety issues, production personalization and more.
OEMs are choreographing an intricate dance to help them cost-effectively design and deliver machines on time that can help their end users with these issues. Of course, smart manufacturing is permeating all aspects of industrial production now, whether ranging from adding sensors and software in a small shop to the smart machines with The Connected Enterprise® and IIoT in large firms.
Now OEM technology is grand jetéing right into the cloud. By providing analytics in the cloud instead of building in-house remote-monitoring and analytics capabilities, OEMs can get real-time and historical insights into how their equipment is operating, so they can collaborate with users to help cut downtime faster. OEMs embed a gateway device onto their smart machines or equipment and connect securely with minimal configuration between the device and controllers.
Cloud-based, smart machine analytics are groundbreaking because OEMs see how their machines and equipment are performing and create new opportunities to serve their customers better, as well as help improve asset utilization and time to market. That’s definitely a dance worth learning. Until next time…
Theresa Houck
Executive Editor
The Journal From Rockwell Automation and Our PartnerNetwork™ is published by Putman Media, Inc.