BROWSING: Smart Factory

Note, this is the third part in a three-part series about manufacturer Sandvik Cormorant, which has been ranked as the smartest factory in Sweden. Go here to read the previous instalment ('Smash-proof guitars and ‘insane’ amounts of data'). Go here to read the first...

Note, this is continued from a previous article, called: ‘Greta dislikes you, but we like Greta’ – Sandvik on industrial revolution and the smartest little tool-house in Sweden. Go here to read the first instalment. The smartest factory in Sweden is a couple of...

Ohio-based tool distributor Jergens Industrial Supply (JIS) has developed an industrial spin-off of Amazon’s Dash IoT button for retail customers of its products. The Wi-Fi-enabled solution, which simplifies and automates stock replenishment, uses software from Austin-based Epicor. JIS says it has improved productivity by...

Rockwell Automation has acquired India-based systems integrator MESTECH Services for an undisclosed fee. It said the deal will enhance its digital-change offer, spur business in India, and provide a new channel for PTC solutions. Rockwell Automation took a $1 billion stake in PTC last year,...

The Port of Marseille Fos, in France, has new discussions with Orange about 5G, a developing relationship with IBM on blockchain, and a host of collaborations with local industry around port innovation, geared towards container handling, traffic management, cyber-security, and renewable energy.  Stéphane Reiche, general...

Toronto based LPWA challenger BehrTech has released a new wireless smart sensor for environmental monitoring in industrial IoT setups under its MYTHINGS brand. As with all its MYTHINGS family, the new sensor uses telegram-splitting ultra-narrowband (TS-UNB) technology for low-power wide-area (LPWA) connectivity in industrial IoT...

Digital transformation, set in motion by industrial IoT, is an abstract exercise. It is not an off-the-shelf kind of a sale. It requires all parties to collaborate to affect change and reinvention, capturing business culture and business practice. Importantly, it also needs to consider...

Factories are bringing intelligence to the production line in a number of ways. Most are focused on integration between machines on the factory floor and leveraging sensor data for actionable insights.  Texas-based software firm Epicor identifies certain examples: shop-floor scorecard systems for reviewing performance, touchscreen...

French IoT firm Traxens has struck deals with logistics and transport providers Inter Transit Pharma (ITP) and Inter Transit et Prestations Logistiques (ITPL) for real-time precision tracking of consignments of pharmaceuticals auto-parts by air and sea to Africa. ITP and ITPL are part of...

Hitachi Vantara has introduced a suite of AI-flavoured industrial IoT solutions to accelerate digital transformation on the shop floor in manufacturing operations. The new Lumada Manufacturing Insights package applies “data science rigor to drive continuous improvement” in manufacturing, said Hitachi Vantara. It incorporates artificial intelligence...

California-based software developer FogHorn provides edge intelligence software for industrial and commercial IoT applications. The company has signed with auto-parts maker ADVICS to deploy its edge compute software to enable real-time analytics and artificial intelligence (AI) as part of its “smart factory transition”. It is...

BehrTech is a Toronto-based industrial IoT connectivity provider claiming a “disruptive” streak in the burgeoning low-power wide-area (LPWA) networking market. The company has just issued a (privately commissioned, independently researched) report that says its novel telegram-splitting ultra-narrowband (TS-UNB) technology is better than LoRaWAN. Indeed, it...

“It's like a secret recipe,” says Bernd Gross, chief technology officer at German firm Software AG, when asked about why the car industry is not crowing, yet, about its paint-shop analytics solution, developed with German robot maker Dürr, and rolled out by at least two...

Deutsche Telekom has added new partners for its 5G-based smart factory ecosystem, the German telco said in a statement. The new partners are EK Automation, Konica Minolta and Endress+Hauser. "Our development of a complete 5G ecosystem for industry will accelerate the pace of digitization in industry....

The Italian smart port of Livorno in Italy is to showcase how buzzword industrial tech like 5G, AI, and IoT can help enterprises, municipalities and governments to bring forward environmental improvements to meet the United Nations’ ‘sustainable development goals’ (SDGs). The SDGs were set out...

Deloitte has launched a pre-configured suite of cloud-based IoT applications designed to accelerate smart factory transformations for companies with manufacturing operations. Powered by Amazon Web Services (AWS) IoT, the Smart Factory Fabric suite of services is aimed at helping industrial companies improve their operational performance and reduce...

German semiconductor manufacturer Infineon Technologies is investing €1.6 billion in a new, fully automated factory for producing 300-millimeter thin wafer chips in Villach, in Austria. It has recruited German data integration and analytics firm Software AG to underpin the new site’s manufacturing execution (MES)...

How is data, analytics, and artificial intelligence (AI) transforming the manufacturing sector? In the third installment in a new series on smart manufacturing technologies, UK-based global editor-in-chief editor James Blackman looks at the role of data analytics techniques to bring intelligence to manufacturing operations.

The pursuit of cheaper, faster, and more varied production is intensifying. Factories are bustling with innovation experiments, as industrialists are availed of ever-more sophisticated digital tools. But the manufacturing sector is competitive, and its grab for innovation, to raise its members above their rivals, is...

Google-backed analytics provider Canvass Analytics has signed with the two “largest industrial automation companies” to resell its takeaway AI solution for industrial companies.  The Toronto-based firm, founded in 2016, is focused on advanced analytics for optimising assets, processes, and energy usage in industrial firms. Its...

Smart factory projects are rarely greenfield builds Canadian company Kontrol Energy Corp. announced its first smart factory order from Toyota Tsusho Canada (TTCI). Kontrol Energy said that the order is for an Ontario automotive manufacturing plant. Following a detailed review of the plant and its operations, Kontrol...

“The world is changing, and changing extremely fast,” explains Swedish manufacturer Sandvik at PI World 2019 in Gothenburg this week. The firm, a ‘lighthouse’ smart manufacturer for the World Economic Forum, says industrialists must drive digital change in order to save the planet.   During a...

The operational technology (OT) industry moved to shore up its position as the arbiter of industrial change at PI World 2019 in Sweden today by declaring that new-fangled digital technologies like artificial intelligence cannot be so easily sold into the industrial set by opportunistic...

Ericsson has completed a SEK 500 million ($52 million) overhaul of its Nanjing factory in China, where it produces LTE (4G) and 5G gear, to create what it claims to be “among the most advanced” manufacturing facilities in the world. The new factory upgrade, covering...