Featured Brilliant Manufacturing, Operational & Industrial Intelligence Articles, Analysis, Reviews, Interviews & Views
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Workflow Automation Engine B2B eCommerce Digital Transformation
While the drive for "more, better, faster, cheaper" may seem relentless, technology provides the tools that make it possible. Flexible B2B eCommerce workflows are a powerful way to help increase productivity and profitability. Automating routine business tasks translates to increased customer satisfaction, retention, and improved
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by
Yoav Kutnert
Workflow Automation Engine B2B eCommerce Digital Transformation

by Yoav Kutnert
Best-in-Class Engineer-to-Order ERP Automates Custom Manufacturing
Reducing complexity with engineer-to-order (ETO) automation is finally possible.
More than 50% of all manufacturers now acknowledge aspects of plant operations include customization. Many ETO companies assume it is impossible to automate the entire end-to-end process surrounding product configuration, design, engineering, and production.
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Best-in-Class Engineer-to-Order ERP Automates Custom Manufacturing
Ergonomic SaaS Automation Required During COVID-19
Ergonomics describes the interaction between humans and other elements of a system, in this case, factory employees and their respective industrial machinery. COVID-19 urgency has forced a new definition for good ergonomics which applies design principles to co-ordinate the devices, systems, and safe working conditions in a factory. Until now it was nearly impossible to cost-effectively automate ergonomic functions.
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Ergonomic SaaS Automation Required During COVID-19

Hydraulics and Electrical Controls: The Heart of Automation
In January 2021, it is quite probable that a $15 per hour minimum wage will become the law. With increasing labor costs and technology becoming less expensive, the paradigm of manufacturing productivity will be forever changed. The need for increased productivity will be addressed by automation.
Key elements of automation are hydraulics and electrical controls. While electrical controls are used to create logic elements, the work performed
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by
Nimit Patel
Hydraulics and Electrical Controls: The Heart of Automation

by Nimit Patel
The Best Innovation of MODEX 2020: Picavi Cockpit Pick-by-Vision
The Picavi Cockpit tool generates smart data for managing, maintaining, and customizing the screen of the Pick-by-Vision glasses: analytics, mobile device management (MDM) and configurator. Users benefit from enormous time and cost savings, greater flexibility and transparency as well as improved process quality.
Unlike anything else at MODEX, this innovation unleashes the full potential of order picking supported by assisted reality (AR).
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The Best Innovation of MODEX 2020: Picavi Cockpit Pick-by-Vision

Small Manufacturers Automate Comparison Pricing
Every manufacturer must pay attention to costs and competitors' pricing. For better or worse, purchasing professionals are rewarded for capturing the lowest price; few have the time to scour the internet for ever RFQ to see if the bid offered is indeed competitive. Measuring value with price experiments is not realistic. Full-time competitive pricing professionals could work 24/7 to generate statistically valid and accurate data. For the small and mid-sized manufacturer, the solution is...
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by
Mike Franz
Small Manufacturers Automate Comparison Pricing

by Mike Franz
Upgrade to Industry 4.0 While Running A Legacy System
The growth of IIoT is exponential; Global Industry Analysts, Inc projects growth of the market at an annual rate of 7.1% worldwide and 8.1% in the United States. This interest in industrial Iot-based solutions is evident when reading industry publications, where there is an abundance of articles extolling the virtues of IIoT. But how can you reap the benefits of this technology when your plant is running a legacy system?
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by
Marla Keene
Upgrade to Industry 4.0 While Running A Legacy System

by Marla Keene
Overall Pricing Effectiveness Takes Lessons from Overall Equipment Effectiveness
A decade ago, the rhetorical question asked by manufacturers was whether plant equipment was operating at maximum effectiveness. More specifically the inquiry was evaluating equipment availability, performance, and quality output.
That lean manufacturing principle led to a rationale, explanation, and progression of Overall Equipment Effectiveness (OEE).
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Overall Pricing Effectiveness Takes Lessons from Overall Equipment Effectiveness

Determining the Right Time to Sell a Manufacturing Company
According to Investopedia, approximately 10,000 Baby Boomers are retiring each day. Many of them are founders of manufacturing companies started in the 70's, 80's, or 90's. Those founders are ready to retire, and many are considering selling their manufacturing companies.
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Determining the Right Time to Sell a Manufacturing Company

Holiday Warehouse Automation
B2C (Business to Consumer) changing market dynamics, increased technical complexity, and the unyielding pressure to do more with less, requires that warehouse and DC managers look to innovative solutions to make the most of the space they have (especially since adding square footage, if available, is prohibitively expensive).
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Holiday Warehouse Automation

Accessing Existing Business Intelligence Automates Industrial Profitability
Too often manufacturing firms, even top-tier operations managers, use company analyses or reports which neglect to ask why outcomes failed. There is attention paid to all variables evenly and equally rather than discerning which area of an industrial business needs most attention to improve profit.
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Accessing Existing Business Intelligence Automates Industrial Profitability

Augmented Reality, Artificial Intelligence, and Smart Glasses
WMS (Warehouse Management Systems) solutions are good at managing information, but not truly intuitive for the floor worker. This is primarily because lines of text are not the best way to tell someone how to do work; humans respond best to visual instructions. For that reason, most companies discuss on-boarding and training in terms of days, or worse yet, weeks. Visual Input Enabled Wearable (VIEW) technology rethinks workforce ...
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by
Seth Patin
Augmented Reality, Artificial Intelligence, and Smart Glasses

by Seth Patin
Automatic Truck Loading Systems Increase Efficiency by 400 Percent
Automatic Truck Loading Systems (ATLS) increase efficiency by 400% compared to traditional forklift truck loading. This automation is particularly important as 3PLs (third party logistics) companies, distribution centers (DCs), and warehouses all get ready for the all-important holiday picking, packing, and shipping season. There is a fundamental flaw ...
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by
Jack Smylie
Automatic Truck Loading Systems Increase Efficiency by 400 Percent

by Jack Smylie
Automated Optimization Generates 77 Percent Reduction in Barcode Scans
Insight into techs, warehouses, and neighboring sources have a direct correlation to customer satisfaction. Automating this process by using mobile devices, field service technicians keep inventory updated, allowing everyone in the eco-system to review part inventories. When a part is needed, warehouse operators are notified on their device immediately for fast delivery or pick up. Once a part is in the possession of the tech, inventory is automatically ...
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by
Travis Smith
Automated Optimization Generates 77 Percent Reduction in Barcode Scans

by Travis Smith
Two Functions at Manufacturing Organizations Prime for Process Improvement
Two functions at manufacturing organizations are prime for process improvement: selling and pricing. A closer look at the selling function reveals that despite reducing labor costs via transformational automation solutions, sales teams still manage large, antiquated portfolios. They are expected to increase their book of business while retaining current customers ...
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Two Functions at Manufacturing Organizations Prime for Process Improvement

Capturing Improved Productivity: Tugger Train Automation
Ultimately the reason for automation is to capture improved productivity. Cesar Jimenez, a Toyota Material Handling, U.S.A. employee shared that a forklift can only carry up to two loads at a time. A tugger with multiple heavy-duty carts can be pulled and moved at the same time. The result is improved safety and productivity. Too often automation and robotics are characterized by sensors driving Industry 4.0 and the Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT).
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by
Andy Legut
Capturing Improved Productivity: Tugger Train Automation

by Andy Legut
Industry 4.0 and Fork Truck Free
By 2025, the intralogistics industry must be capable of supporting a highly diverse set of order and distribution channels in keeping with mass customized products and delivery methods. Customers expect deliveries of customized product anywhere at any time, placing fierce demands on DCs for faster throughput. Industry 4.0 data driven approach when combined with FTF will play an integral role.
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Industry 4.0 and Fork Truck Free

AGV Automation in the Automotive Sector
For decades, automated guided vehicle (AGV) technology has delivered materials handling and logistics solutions to the world's largest and most sophisticated automotive companies. Automotive manufacturers have embraced the lean principles of advanced logistics and manufacturing solutions. Fork truck free (FTF) initiatives and operations are the standard in North America and Europe since 2015. Automotive companies and their Tier 1 suppliers recognize the need for partnership in the AGV industry.
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AGV Automation in the Automotive Sector

Automated Guided Vehicles' Traffic Control Software Advances Value Proposition of Mobile Robots
AGV (Automated Guided Vehicles) systems in some ways follow the evolution of America's transportation system. Railroads represented the first 'automated' transportation for material; people and products. These systems were constrained to run on pre-defined routes with specific schedules. Changing routes, or adding destinations, was a monumental undertaking. The system evolved with the introduction of the interurban rail system (e.g., trolley systems). Routes and destinations were fixed yet easie
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by
Rob Sullivan
Automated Guided Vehicles' Traffic Control Software Advances Value Proposition of Mobile Robots

by Rob Sullivan
New Automation Architecture Drives Changes in the Voice Picking Landscape
Server-based voice picking companies have been promoting custom, proprietary systems as superior to existing workflows and businesses processes. Embedded in these claims is a bit of arrogance about what is best for businesses claiming they are the experts of voice picking. While there have been successes utilizing well-known server-based voice-embedded, with big names like Vocollect, many companies have been burned, leaving a sour taste for voice-picking. The promises of integrated software modu
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New Automation Architecture Drives Changes in the Voice Picking Landscape

Cloud-based MES, ETO, and Job Element Monitoring
A Manufacturing Execution System (MES) is a system that manufacturers can use to measure and control critical production activities. Some of the benefits of MES solutions are increased traceability, productivity, and quality. Other functions served by MES solutions may include equipment tracking, product genealogy, labor tracking, inventory management, costing, electronic signature capture, defect and resolution monitoring, key performance indicator (KPI) monitoring and alarming, executive dashb
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Cloud-based MES, ETO, and Job Element Monitoring

Lean and Technology: the Rapid Growth of the Demand Driven Institute
Lean advocates often get accused of being anti-technology, but do Lean advocates really want manufacturing companies to abandon the promise of technology? The answer should be yes when that technology is wasteful, confusing, and not reflective of reality, whit it force-fits concepts so as to simply permit their use. Unfortunately, this has been the situation for quite some time with regard to traditional MRP and DRP (distribution requirements planning) systems.
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by
Chad Smith
&
Carol Ptak
Lean and Technology: the Rapid Growth of the Demand Driven Institute

by Chad Smith & Carol Ptak
The Problem: Untapping the Value in Extended Enterprise Value ChainsThe Solution: Demand Driven Enterprise-wide Supply Chain Solutions
Over the past decade there has been a great need for better technology solutions to address global demand-driven and enterprise-wide supply chains. While lean manufacturing initiatives have instigated certain processes, such as Kanban, the reality for global manufacturers is simple: ERP (enterprise resource planning) solutions (from NetSuite to Oracle to SAP and others) have failed to deliver the promises needed. ERP is a critical and important aspect of any manufacturing firm; it is not a panac
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by
Frank Kapper
The Problem: Untapping the Value in Extended Enterprise Value ChainsThe Solution: Demand Driven Enterprise-wide Supply Chain Solutions

by Frank Kapper
Tweets by AutomationMedia
Manufacturing Insights
- Manufacturers Automate Pricing to Manage Pandemic
- Autonomous Forklifts During the Pandemic : Automation as a Return-to-Work Strategy
- Cloud-Based Manufacturing Solutions Must Interface with QuickBooks, Shopify, Xero, WooCommerce and BigCommerce
- Lean Manufacturing Automation 2019: Digital Visual Management
- Lean Manufacturing Finally Arrives at the Sales Process
- Less is More: How SKU-Keeper by Voodoo Robotics is Redefining Traceability Technology
- The Need for Effective Communication Regarding Automation
Editor's Ramblings
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New Products Brought to Market Faster with Cloud-Based Technologies
The customers are training the manufacturing sector with the mantra, make what I want, when I want it or I will take my business elsewhere. This insistence for a one-of-a-kind (or far from "off-the-shelf") solution requires that new products be brought to market faster than ever. .... [Read More] -
Big Data Scientists with Big Pay and Big Stress
A survey of 600 data scientists found that many are "exhibiting high levels of work-related stress", with more than a quarter reporting they were "heavily stressed." .... [Read More] -
Relentless Pursuit: Fatigue Ensues
When new lean teams gather for the first time there is usually an imperative for the program. From operations managers, maintenance managers, quality control manager to C-level participants and plant floor workers, there is an initial enthusiasm for the concept and quasi-religious fervor of eliminating waste and zealous appreciation that this is the beginning of a long road to continuous process improvement. Fast forward two years later and those same folks, if still employed by the same company, are tired, far less enthusiastic, and even bored with the lean process. .... [Read More] -
Manufacturing Execution Systems Allow for Innovation and Manage Variability
Managing a highly configurable product through the manufacturing process can be a daunting task, manufacturing execution systems (MES) with advanced configuration capabilities can help. Parametrics involve the ability to adjust based on parameters. The dictionary definition of a parametric equation implies that such parameters are based on coordinates. For a project-based manufacturer using an MES, those coordinates take on great importance. MES technology solutions should include parametrics which go far beyond using parameters only to represent coordinates; the coordinates should have the capacity to dynamically adjust bills of materials, bills of labor, routings, costs, selling prices, and sizes. .... [Read More]
Press Releases
& News
Featured:
Westermo launches robust industrial 4G router for reliable machine to machine communication
Compact Enclosures Simplify High Temperature Process Analytical Applications
Treon Launches Industrial Node for Condition Monitoring on a Massive Scale
Quest Controls Announces that the RSC 1000 HVAC Control System has Successfully been Modeled into MegaSys Telenium Software
Tough Outdoor Enclosures Simplify Advanced Remote I/O Plant Control Architectures
Greenliant Offers Superior Data Retention and Endurance with EnduroSLC SATA NANDrive SSDs
UltraFlex demonstrates automated induction brazing of 6 copper pipes using Dragon 15 Brazing Robot
DAES Distribution Announces Partnership with First National Capital
UltraFlex melting aluminum with levitation using an induction heater
Weland Solutions acquires Compact Store and Kodverkstan
UltraFlex Induction Heaters Used by Researchers to Mimic a Nuclear Disaster
3 Types of Industrial Serial Communication
BACnet Router Upgrade - New and Improved BACnet Router for only $255 during the month of April, 2019
CAS BACnet Wireshark Report Tool - A Free Utility for Automation Professionals
KEB America announces new safety solutions for automation systems
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