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- Managing Automation Blogs
Author Archives: Stephanie Neil
Looking for Enterprise Apps? Try Your Automation Supplier
As manufacturers request more ways to increase operational visibility and productivity, automation providers are moving beyond their controller roots to become enterprise integration experts and savvy software sellers. It’s been really interesting for me to watch the evolution of the automation companies over the past decade. Back when I first began reporting on factory floor [...]
Posted in Enterprise Integration Tagged automation, consumerization of IT, DCS, enterprise integration, ERP, FactoryTalk VantagePointEMI, InFusion, Invensys, iPhone in factory, manufacturing intelligence, MES, operational intelligence, Pavilion8, PLC, Rockwell Automation, SCADA, simulation Leave a comment
A Manufacturing Democracy
Using crowdsourcing and micro-factories, new community-oriented manufacturers are building innovative products of the people, by the people, for the people. Not too long ago, Web 2.0 technology was largely ignored by manufacturers. They viewed social media tools as a passing fad that had no place in the enterprise. Executives couldn’t easily govern its use, and [...]
An Outage Obstructs Enterprise Mobility
Last week, BlackBerry users, including myself, got a taste of what it’s like to work without their smartphones. This server outage was a nuisance for individuals, but a real productivity problem for large enterprises. It didn’t occur to me that I was one of the many victims of the BlackBerry blackout last week when [...]
Skills Shortage: Educate or Automate?
The answer: Do both. Baby Boomers are taking their intellectual capital into retirement with them, and manufacturers are turning to technology and training to solve what is quickly becoming a dire skills shortage. There was a disturbing headline in the Chicago Tribune recently. It read, “Caterpillar CEO: We Can’t Find Enough Skilled Workers.” The article [...]
Online GHG Data Could Spark New Sustainability Strategies
At the end of the month, large industrial companies will report their greenhouse gas emissions data to the EPA—electronically, if they choose. And with e-GGRT, they can benchmark their sustainability efforts against their peers’. About 7,000 companies considered “large industrial emitters” face a Sept. 30 deadline to file their 2010 greenhouse gas (GHG) emission data [...]
Innovation Starts in the Heart
From the Mac to the iPad, Steve Jobs has transformed the way we work and play through technology. Now, as he steps down from his post as Apple’s CEO, we reflect on his triumphs and the passion that ignited his innovative ideas. Steve Jobs’ resignation as CEO of Apple sent a shockwave through corporate [...]
Posted in Product Innovation Tagged Apple, iPad, iPhone, Mac computer, NeXT, Operational Excellence, Pixar, product innovation, Steve Jobs, Tim Cook Leave a comment
Is SaaS Sabotaging Enterprise Integration Efforts?
Hosted applications remove the burden of buying and maintaining hardware, but off-premise systems could cause data integration problems that require serious consideration in any purchase decision. Through industry standards, application programming interfaces (APIs), and middleware for enterprise integration, manufacturers have made great progress in uniting the islands of information that once kept them from sharing [...]
The Mobile-To-Mobile Enterprise: What It Means for Manufacturers
Near field communications technology promises to dramatically change the mobile e-commerce model. Savvy manufacturers should start thinking about how else they can leverage this short-range wireless exchange technology. Creating a structured enterprise mobility plan that includes in-house wireless networks and support for a myriad of mobile devices is essential in today’s business climate. But manufacturers [...]
Product Innovation Through Social Networking—Face to Face!