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Innovation and Technology
Plex Manufacturing Blog
Future of Manufacturing Roundtable: The future is bright, but comes with growing pains
Plex Systems recently brought together industry analysts and its customers for the second Future of Manufacturing Roundtable (FoMR). This collaborative day seats manufacturing technology leaders on Plex’s customer advisory board next to experts who write about enterprise software day-in and day-out, which always leads to a lively conversation about the future of the manufacturing industry....
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Wondering How to Select an MES Vendor? Consider the latest Gartner Magic Quadrant for MES
At the end of the day, your main concern is delivering on customer demands as efficiently and as cost-effectively as possible. The systems that run your business are essential to making this possible. Your investment is not trivial, and those systems need to be reliable so there are little, if any, disruptions to production. ...
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Manufacturing Industry Enthusiasm Off the Charts at IMTS 2018 and Hanover Messe USA
Not only did the International Manufacturing Technology Show (IMTS) and collocated Hanover Messe USA break records by setting an all-time high for exhibitors and attendees, but these events also captured something more important: a sense of unbridled global optimism in the manufacturing industry....
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Breakthrough Technologies Impacting Manufacturing and the Way We Make Things
Technology has seen rapid advancements in the past decade—and it only seems to be happening faster as each year passes. When it comes to breakthrough technology, manufacturing certainly has seen its share, most recently due to trends like Industry 4.0 and transformative connectivity made possible by the Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT)....
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4 Things You Need in a SaaS-based Manufacturing ERP and MES Solution
As more businesses move to SaaS (software-as-a-service) applications, some manufacturers still have some uncertainty about data safety and security, as well as uptime and reliability in the cloud. If moving your operations to the cloud seems foreign to you, or if you aren’t sure how to evaluate cloud versus on-premise ERP and MES systems, just remember these four things: availability,…
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Fastener Manufacturers Focus on On-Time Delivery to Stand Out
Metal products like screws and bolts are often seen as a commodity but if you can become a preferred supplier to large OEMs, the opportunity is ripe to take advantage of higher margins. Finding reliable suppliers is a lengthy and tedious process for large OEMs....
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Disrupting Habits in Manufacturing
If you’ve spent time in tech circles, or if you’ve watched the show "Silicon Valley,” the term “disruptive technology” is used to describe anything new in tech. Unfortunately, the term is overused, and like most items on the Gartner Hype Curve, a lot of today’s “disruptive technologies” will quietly die out before they truly have the chance to disrupt anything. We saw this with all the hype…
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3 Principles for XR in Manufacturing
It’s no secret that most manufacturers are focused on value-added activities, and often have little resources for technology research and development exploration—unless its dedicated to the development of new products. Decisions to invest in capital to run the business are not taken lightly....
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LiveWorx: Augmented Reality, IIoT, and the Future of Manufacturing
If you’re wondering whether augmented reality (AR) is on the horizon for manufacturing, you can stop. It’s here, and it will change the way manufacturers use technology to benefit their businesses. By bringing together the digital and physical, AR has the power to dramatically change many manufacturing business processes such as training and asset management. ...
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AWE: Another Indicator the Wearables Are Coming… for Manufacturers
Wearables aren’t just for gaming anymore. While that statement shouldn’t be a surprise, you might be surprised to learn—as I was—at the sheer number of AR, VR and XR devices now available on the market, and the industries they’re being applied to. From playing volleyball, to learning to ballroom dance, to owning and feeding a virtual pet, to being able to pilot and land a plane in an emergency…
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