BROWSING: smart factories

The Lean Six Sigma doctrine proposes a set of data-oriented management techniques to eliminate defects and raise quality in process-driven environments. It has become standard in manufacturing. In essence, it describes a process to solve a problem, comprising five basic phases of resolution: to...

The Industrial Internet Consortium (IIC) has issued a white paper with practical guidance on edge computing in industrial internet-of-things (IIoT) settings. The publication seeks to define edge computing architectural functions and drivers, highlight key use case considerations. The IIC paper, called IIC Introduction to Edge...

Rockwell Automation is to take a $1 billion stake in Needham-based industrial software maker PTC as part of a part of a strategic partnership to drive growth for both firms, and enable customers to make good on the "promise of industrial IoT." Rockwell Automation...

We live in a world of continuous digital transformation. One technology obsoletes another, and the pattern repeats itself. For example, the invention of email has displaced the fax technology. Today we see another digital transformation caused by the industrial Internet-of-Things (IIoT) — the convergence...

Manufacturers should treble their money on digital transformation, at least, reckons Greg Kinsey, vice president of Hitachi Vantara. If the digital ROI does not stack up, before starting out, then they should down tools, and start over. If the it does, they should expect to...

PTC, Hitachi and SAP have come top of Gartner’s inaugural ‘magic quadrant’ for IIoT platforms, ahead of IBM, Software AG and Accenture. But the analyst house warned also that major challenges remain for IoT providers in the industrial space, including with market fragmentation and...

MTN has selected Cisco's Jasper Control Center platform as a launchpad for enterprise customers' 'internet of things' (IoT) services on its mobile network in South Africa. MTN said interest in new IoT services was strongest in the connected car, vehicle tracking, building security and...

The ‘internet of things’ (IoT) market is moving towards new value-based and event-based pricing, led by smart cities and industrial operatives, according to Cisco. Until now, device-as-a-service, and latterly anonymised data sharing with third-parties, have thrived as business models in the nascent IoT space. However,...

Bosch is to invest €100 million (US$120m) in a smart factory for automotive parts in Celaya, in Mexico. The new plant will create 1,200 additional jobs by 2020. The German manufacturer said it will upgrade all 10 of its manufacturing plants in Mexico as smart...

Deutsche Telekom is to launch a data-sharing platform for industrial enterprises, in particular, that allows direct access to information between enterprises providing data, and those scheduled to receive it. The Germany-based telecoms group described it as a “key element for the digital factory,” ahead...

European network operators are prioritizing connected cars over other sectors and assets when it comes to internet of things (IoT) technologies, they have said. Both Orange and Telefónica said the opportunity and focus for them is on cars, ahead of factories and cities. Emmanuel Routier,...

Furthering the Industry 4.0 movement, Telefónica has teamed up with car maker SEAT and car-parts maker Ficosa to showcase an IoT-based supply-chain and manufacturing concept for the automotive industry. The demo, one of many industrial IoT concepts from telecoms operators and vendors at Mobile...

Ericsson and China Mobile have signed a strategic framework agreement at Mobile World Congress (MWC) in Barcelona to collaborate on new enterprise and industrial IoT (IIoT) systems and services. The pair said they will build an ‘Industry IoT Cooperation Center’, as a crossover between China...

Manufacturers expect 21% of their plants will be smart factories by the end of 2022 Manufacturers expect that their investments in smart factories will drive a 27% increase in manufacturing efficiency over the next five years, which would add $500 billion in annual added value...