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).
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