About the Author
Plex, by Rockwell Automation, is the leader in cloud-delivered smart manufacturing solutions, empowering the world’s manufacturers to make awesome products. Our platform gives manufacturers the ability to connect, automate, track and analyze every aspect of their business to drive transformation. The Plex Smart Manufacturing Platform includes solutions for manufacturing execution (MES), ERP, quality, supply chain planning and management, Industrial IoT and analytics to connect people, systems, machines, and supply chains, enabling them to lead with precision, efficiency and agility.
Where Did My Machine Data Go?
Labor and capital equipment are usually the two most expensive manufacturing operating costs. And in terms of expenditures, capital equipment can often run into the millions. Machinery is considered a long-term investment that will remain in service for years or even decades.With so much on the line, it would make sense that every manufacturer would drill down as deeply as possible to ensure…
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Where Did My Production Data Go?
Traditionally, manufacturing companies relied heavily on manual record-keeping for production processes. Operators on the production floor recorded data like units produced, machine downtime, scrap rates, and others manually.But manual record-keeping has several problems that can immediately and negatively impact the bottom line....
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Improving Operator Efficiency with Asset Performance Management KPIs
Operators and front-line supervisors are critical in keeping equipment running smoothly in any industrial setting. They spend hours controlling machinery, monitoring its performance, making adjustments, and intervening when necessary.Often, operators are intuitively aware of issues with their machines. They quickly learn each machine's quirks and their normal and abnormal performance. While this…
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Where Did My Quality Go?
Many people only look at production operations to assess quality within an operation. But quality is imperative across all departments within manufacturing. Production processes, inventory management, maintenance, and the demand and supply planning process are all critical components of quality management.However, there are two different approaches for businesses regarding these processes -…
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Take Us to Your Leader
Old black-and-white movies of invading outer space robots are an old staple of weekend cable television. Landing on an open field surrounded by stern-faced military staff, guns, tanks, and anxious political leaders, the ships always revealed robots with waving arms and impending doom for humanity.We've come a long way from fearsome robots resembling a cross between a giant propane tank and the…
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Beating the Devil in the Details
Imagine driving down a dark road at night. You're cruising along, listening to the radio, and suddenly, your engine dies. You look down and see the “Check Engine” light as you ease to a stop on the side of the road.If your car is older, the technology on board may tell you nothing other than that your engine has a problem. If you're lucky, and your car's onboard technology is a bit more advanced…
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Clearing Your Manufacturing Hurdles with the Right Software
On your mark.Get set.Go!As the starting gun cracks, athletes streak down the track to clear hurdles in a race to the finish line. Some will clear them all, others will knock over one or two, and one athlete might seem incapable of getting the rhythm, height, and pace correct and crashes into them all....
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Where Did My Profit Go?
While the last few years have seen significant events like COVID-19 and other disruptions impact profit for companies in every industry, staying profitable and maximizing profit is a never-ending pursuit.Companies often audit, implement improvement initiatives, and pressure suppliers to lower the cost of raw materials to increase their bottom line. But hidden in the weeds is a cumulative set of…
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Key Takeaways from the Smart Manufacturing Software Buyer's Guide
With advanced technology driving industrial digitization across the globe, companies are reaching new heights in efficiency, process optimization, and other revolutionary achievements unheard of even a few years ago.To stay competitive, it's essential to identify superior solutions that align your company with all these technologies. But choosing the best software solution to accomplish this isn’…
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Dial in Quality with Smart Manufacturing
Traditional manufacturing has always sought to build quality into the process. Initially, these systems focused on quality control which required manual data collection and analysis and lots of inspection done by people. As systems improved, companies sought to move beyond quality control and toward quality assurance to prevent defects....
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