When I look back on the last 12 months, I see a substantial number of changes in the requests for solutions we received from our clients. The pandemic deeply affected all manufacturing industries and supply chains, forcing them to quickly rethink their investment strategy. Things happened in a nonlinear progression, with several changes of directions, while companies began to understand how the virus was changing...
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It was clear from the beginning that the COVID-19 related global pandemic, even if not new in the modern world, was totally different from any previous one. The main reason of the difference was due to the globalized organization of our modern world and society. The second one was due to the global technology availability that was supporting the globalized society. These two aspects are making the pandemic...
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To remain competitive, companies need to become more collaborative along the entire supply chain. IIoT and cloud technologies can enable this. [qodef_separator class_name="" type="normal" position="center" color="#b2dd4c" border_style="solid" width="100%" thickness="" top_margin="20px" bottom_margin="20px"] Once we accept that the real competition happens at the supply chain level, it becomes obvious that having a perfectly organized, tuned and efficient supply chain is mandatory. At the plant level, there are several aspects...
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Fast-development platforms have been catching on to provideeasy implementation of one or two MES/MOM functionalities, along with the ability to customize as needed. In the past year, I’ve seen a significant increase of requests for proposal (RFPs) of manufacturing execution system (MES) applications to be developed on non-traditional MES platforms. They are typically not looking for fully functional MESs, but rather “basic” MES functionalities such as...
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Although there have been concerns about maintaining control of the information in a cloud-based MES/MOM, things have changed considerably in less than a year, and cloud is a viable and beneficial option. It was probably less than a year ago when I first heard IT and operations debating about the possibility of adopting a cloud-based manufacturing execution system (MES). At the time, the general feeling was...
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A range of technologies have changed the industrial landscape. Companies that can successfully manage those technologies will also change the way they manage their supply chain. My last three articles analyzed the relationship between digitalization and the manufacturing execution system (MES), considering MES as a key component of any digitalization initiative. At the time, I touched only briefly on the impact MES has on the supply...
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With 22 years of experience in the creation of software for manufacturing, production management and supply chain optimization, Autoware, a system integration company headquartered in Vicenza, Italy, has launched Autoware Digital, located in Austin, Texas. Autoware Digital is a digital System Integrator, focused on helping clients develop transformative business models in response to an increasingly interconnected and digitalized industrial market. Since 1996, Autoware has been improving business...
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Following on from a debate about manufacturing execution systems and how they relate to your digital initiatives, this third and final part of the series brings Industry 4.0 into the discussion. In Italy we say, “There’s no two without three!” So here is the third and last part of my thoughts on the relationship between a manufacturing execution system (MES) and digitalization. It began as a...
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Standards need to be revised and updated to take into consideration how the landscape has changed. They are still useful for mapping processes, but cannot effectively capture the more fragmented and complex approach process description requires. Part 1 of this discussion focused on how a good old-fashioned Manufacturing Execution System (MES) is still an effective way to enable a digital initiative. Here, we address some comments...
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You can’t judge a book by its cover? Think again. Presentation is just as important as the content inside. It might be time to update your user interface. What if iPhone X were sent folded in ugly ruined boxes? Would customer satisfaction and loyalty be the same? Whoever says, “You can’t judge a book by its cover” is usually wrong (or at least not completely correct). The...
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