Tuesday, May 10, 2016

3 Takeaways From the IndustryWeek Manufacturing & Technology Conference & Expo


Smart Manufacturing sets a new bar.
Nearly every speaker presentation touched on the topic of Smart Manufacturing at last week’s IndustryWeek Manufacturing & Technology Conference & Expo and MESA North American Conference. While it was evident that there are many different definitions for Smart Manufacturing, one thing is clear, manufacturers need to, and already are, investing in new technology to remain competitive. They’re getting “smart” on the topic of Smart Manufacturing in terms of people, processes and technology.


It is time to leverage the Industrial Internet of Things.
OrbitalATK and Synchrono® shared how the global leader in aerospace and defense technologies is Leveraging the IIoT and Visual Factory Technology to Drive Continuous Improvements. Using Synchrono SyncOperations software, powered by Savigent Software, OrbitalATK is able to connect machines, work cells and systems across the enterprise so that relevant data can be collected in real-time and fed into SyncView, a visual factory information system.


With data overload, context is key.

“To measure everything is to measure nothing.”

Advanced Analytics was one of six MESA Smart Manufacturing unConference breakout sessions. The session examined how manufacturers can better use the massive amounts of data they collect on a daily basis. Data alone provides very little value. Smart Manufacturing tools that provide data visualization, advanced analytics and contextual information are what’s needed to transform data into meaningful, timely and actionable business intelligence.