Manufacturers are increasingly investing in Manufacturing Execution Systems (MES) to automate tasks, maintain high quality, and gain real-time insights into their operations. A Digital Work Order Progress Tracking system is designed to address these needs by offering a comprehensive, automated WIP manufacturing solution for tracking production workflows, ensuring consistency, and improving operational efficiency. Read More
NeoMatrix was honored to receive the Inductive Automation 2024 Firebrand Award for our efforts in aiding Lucid Motors along its digital transformation journey leveraging Ignition. Read More
In the ever-evolving landscape of industrial control systems (ICS), the Purdue Model has long been a standard for architecting these systems. However, as technology advances and the Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT) rises in significance, the Unified Namespace (UNS) architecture has become increasingly prominent. Read More
As many manufacturers look to remain Industry 4.0 competitive, they turn toward automation and IoT technologies to enhance efficiency. As part of this initiative manufacturers need to build organizational capabilities particularly in the areas of human capital to support and maintain these systems.
To do so, manufacturers must develop effective training for factory automation and enterprise systems. However, when it comes to training there is no such thing as a one-size fits all. Every manufacturing plant operates with unique processes and challenges and off-the-shelf industrial automation training often falls short of meeting these specific requirements. Read More
This article was originally published on AutomationWorld.com on January 8, 2024.
Everyone loves spaghetti! Who doesn’t remember their grandmother cooking spaghetti, the aroma filling the house, the anticipation of a delicious, hearty meal? It’s a universal comfort food, often bringing back fond memories of family gatherings and cozy dinners. However, while spaghetti on your dinner plate is a delightful experience, ‘spaghetti code’ in the context of PLC programming is far less appetizing. Read More
This article was originally published on AutomationWorld.com on March 27, 2023.
Key aspects of equipment integration into the manufacturing process are often overlooked. These machine-to-enterprise integration methodologies and tips will help you create a viable digital integration strategy.
Manufacturers must have real-time access to information from their processes. Such information can assist users throughout the organization in analyzing, troubleshooting, and suggesting enhancements to improve operations. Following are three frequently overlooked integration aspects that, when implemented, will ensure you have access to the information you need: Read More
In Lean manufacturing, the Andon system was created to notify operators of any issues on the production line as a means to promptly identify and tackle any production issues. Traditionally, an Andon was made up of a cord, which the operator pulls to indicate the occurrence of a problem, and an Andon light, which draws attention to the issue. Today, Andon systems are available in various forms, each progressively more advanced in terms of technology: Read More
Industry 4.0 is marching towards digital transformation in life sciences and smart factories are being driven by IIoT, real-time data, cloud computing, and machine learning. With its implementation comes the promise of increased efficiencies and improved processes. The idea sounds simple, but manufacturing has many distinct data points across its entire process and integrating a digital transformation strategy and data across an enterprise is a far more challenging undertaking, especially in regulated environments. Read More
The Unified Namespace (UNS) has proven to be a popular architecture for folks undergoing a digital transformation initiative. At the core of the unified namespace architecture is a centralized repository of structured data which any application or device can subscribe or publish data to. Utilizing a hub and spoke architecture provides the benefit of decoupling your data from the application layer – each node only needs to subscribe and publish to data within the UNS rather than create discrete connections to each device/application in your ecosystem. Read More
During Walker Reynolds’s 4.0 Solutions Podcast on June 14th, he recommneded this blog as great place to start for anyone looking for help in introducing people to UNS architecture, wanting to demonstrate what is UNS and understanding whats’s the most effective strategy for digitally transforming the organization.
The 4th Industrial Revolution is here and reshaping the plant floor through digital transformation. Access to real-time data, cloud computing, and machine learning are the driving forces behind Industry 4.0. I subscribe to iiot.university, created by Walker Reynolds and Zach Scriven from 4.0 Solutions, and I learned quite a bit about their philosophy on digital transformation and achieving that through an architecture called the Unified Namespace (UNS).