Smart Manufacturing Blog

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Industrial Manufacturing

Plex Manufacturing Blog

The Internet of Making Things: The Connected Torque Wrench

Jerry Foster December 5, 2014

For more than 100 years the torque wrench has been an essential and valuable tool for manufacturers because it applies specific torque to a fastener, such as a nut or bolt. Torque can be the difference in the performance of the end product, whether that’s the power output of a diesel engine or the fit-and-finish of the latest iPhone....

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Why More Manufacturers Are Finding Quality Maturity in the Cloud

Mike Roberts December 4, 2014

All manufacturers—from startups to those in the Fortune 100—are concerned with quality. However, where each is along the path to quality maturity varies. At LNS Research, we like to refer to the process of progressing forward on this path as an “endless journey,” because with an ever-evolving set of quality obstacles as well as continual innovation in strategies and technologies, there’s room for…

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Success Is ... Shape Corp.

Plex Team December 2, 2014

Manufacturing quality takes many forms, from the consistency and flavor of ice cream to the perfectly aligned stitches that glide across the dashboard of a luxury automobile. Quality can be about precision, fit and even about experience. For Shape, quality is about safety. ...

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The Lego Hand

Plex Team November 24, 2014

Topics like quality, efficiency, process and cost can dominate almost any manufacturing conversation. End-customer satisfaction depends on consistent quality and high value; as an industry, we spend billions of dollars annually to implement practices and technologies to make things better....

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Repairing the Clumsy Relationship between People and Technology: Wearables on the Shop Floor at TEDxDetroit

Plex Team October 20, 2014

Google Glass, Bluetooth and other emerging mobile and wearable technologies are poised to transform manufacturing practices and how people interact with materials on the plant floor. Imagine pairing Google Glass with RFID tags to create a way for people to see inside boxes and around corners without using their hands....

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Plex CMO Heidi Melin Talks Marketing Technology

Plex Team September 14, 2014

Today’s highly connected digital world has evoked a shift in everything from the way people communicate with each other to how companies conduct business. We see it all the time in manufacturing – companies selecting Cloud ERP technology after putting careful thought into their business processes and the infrastructure to keep operations running....

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The Difference Between Active and Passive Compliance

Jim Shepherd April 16, 2014

I had an interesting conversation last week with a company that was evaluating new ERP systems. One of the principal drivers for replacing their old business system is compliance and traceability. Today they use a combination of manual processes and disconnected systems to track material usage, quality, and production activities. ...

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Cloudwashing

Jim Shepherd March 27, 2014

Wow have we made progress! It used to be that architectural changes in ERP systems required rewriting the code, but now you can do it by simply editing the web page and issuing a press release. ERP “paradigm shifts,” like the ones from mainframes to minicomputers or host-based to SOA, consumed thousands of software engineers’ efforts and sent the majority of vendors to the ERP graveyard. ...

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Guest Post: Cloud: the Key to Global Sourcing Strategy

Ann Grackin February 18, 2014

Developing a global sourcing model to serve a world-wide customer base as well as to manage global operations in a seamless way, manufacturers have adopted a ‘build anywhere-ship anywhere strategy.’ Adopting a cloud manufacturing system is emerging as the best strategy to quickly enable these capabilities....

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How Plex Is Revolutionizing Manufacturing with Two-Tier ERP

Plex Team February 11, 2014

Bottom line: Two-tier ERP strategies provide companies with a convenient approach to isolate and contain legacy ERP systems – which like asbestos - can do much damage in any company if left uncontained....

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