Liz Lynch, Marketing Communications Manager, Stratus Technologies

The convergence of IT and OT in the industrial world has been a topic of discussion for years. With the increasing need to drive business efficiency through the adoption of new technologies and concepts such as the Industrial Internet of Things and the cloud, bringing previously disparate IT and OT together is a necessity. It’s also a challenge.

We’ve put together a list of the best conferences for industrial automation professionals. We’ve got IIoT, Manufacturing, Monitoring, Edge Computing and more, all around the world.

By embracing the promise of automated tech, organizations of all sizes are poised to make good on their promises of digital transformation. But, to realize the possibilities of the connected, autonomous future, automation pioneers must follow a new set of best practices to achieve meaningful results.

It seems digital transformation is on everyone’s agenda, but not everyone agrees on what digital transformation means. How do you know if your efforts are truly effective, or if what you’re really working on is digital optimization?

As baby boomers reach retirement age, organizations need to grapple with the effects of losing large amounts of institutional knowledge essential to keeping operations running smoothly. Automation can help ease this transition if implemented intelligently.

At the recent Rockwell Automation Fair, Dave Vasko, Director of Advanced Technology at Rockwell Automation, Inc. spoke with Barry Dellecese, Director of Product Management and Marketing at Stratus about the “bleeding edge” of edge computing. Their conversation is now available as part of Rockwell’s State of the Industry podcast.

Computing infrastructure is an ever-changing landscape. The rise of edge computing capabilities, coupled with traditional industrial control system architectures, provides increased levels of customization.

The concept of digitalization within the manufacturing industry can feel a bit like trying to build a bridge between two islands – IT and OT. Each side has been aware of the other and each understands the other’s importance. But the idea of connecting to one other can be met with resistance.

Downtime disrupts the supply chain on the front and back end of the food and beverage industry. Behind the curtain; profits and compliance are at risk when the production floor grinds to a halt. Safety also becomes a concern since injuries often occur when equipment is down, plant managers have limited visibility or systems are in maintenance mode.

The rising tide of data that organizations now receive, manage and analyse shows no signs of receding. The emergence of the Internet of Things (IoT) in particular has increased data management exponentially. More than ever before, the need for reliable hardware and accessibility solutions is a pivotal part of most organizations’ long-term plans.