Top 5 Automation Applications Your Business Can’t Live Without

There’s a plethora of industrial software applications now available from a variety of vendors, both small, point-solutions based companies to the larger, all-in-one industrial automation vendors.  They offer everything from development environments through IT solutions.  But if you look at your critical needs, it comes down to using 5 applications:

Repost: Device Shipments Up 6% To 2.4B In 2013, Driven By Android Smartphones, Tablets Amid More PC Decline

http://techcrunch.com/2013/06/24/it-device-sales-to-rise-6-to-2-4b-in-2013-driven-by-android-tablets-smartphones-pcs-continue-decline/

If we as an industry aren't paying attention to the tremendous growth seen in the mobile device market, we'll miss one of the most important platform changes since the PC took hold.

In 2013, over 2.3 billion units are anticipated to be shipped.  By 2014, Gartner projects over 2.5 billion units--that's equal to 32% of the world's population!  Mobile access to data has now become part of our everyday life--from shopping to entertainment to work tasks.  The blending of our private and public lives centers on these devices that travel with us 24 x 7.

From an industrial software perspective, it's exciting and challenging. New formats mean reaching new customers, that may not have the legacy associated with PC-based systems.  So it gives us a chance to provide richer, more graphical applications.  The challenge, of course, is that it requires new products, to take advantage of the form factor and expected performance in a mobile device--intuitive, report-ready, simple to operate.

We've already seen startups such as Sarla (SmartGlance) and Transpara offering mobile device-enabled reporting.  But there's so much more!  MES, EMI,  HMI, the list goes on--all are using mobile as an important form factor to reach the increasingly mobile worker. 

SPC for the Real World | Automation World

SPC for the Real World | Automation World

A good interview by John Clemons of Maverick Technologies on the need for SPC for manufacturing.  As costs, time, and market pressures come to bear, SPC is a foundational technology to help manufacturers understand behavior and trends of their manufacturing process.  Most automation providers offer some type of SPC functionality, whether it is within their HMI (like Wonderware InTouch) or as a standalone Quality application (like Wonderware MES/Quality).  But whether it's solo, or as part of a suite, it's a critical component that ensures proactive quality management.

Repost: Mobile Usage Is Rocketing Search Efforts

Mobile Usage Is Rocketing Search Efforts

by Gavin O'Malley, Yesterday, 1:24 PM

Read more: http://www.mediapost.com/publications/article/196826/mobile-usage-is-rocketing-search-efforts.html#ixzz2OwU04vED

Why is mobile device search usage important to the industrial automation industry?  Because it shows us a booming trend in the way users want to access information--and it shouldn't matter if that information is coming from a website, or from a Programmable Logic Controller (PLC) or an industrial application such as Enterprise Manufacturing Intelligence or Human Machine Interface software. 

People are "joined at the hip" with their smart device.  Can you imagine driving somewhere, or even taking a walk, without your smart phone?  Unheard of.  In the world of industrial automation, it's getting to be the same.  Smart Devices are being fed by information coming from data historians, MES applications, workflow, and corporate energy management software.  It's allowing people to get the information they need, when they need it, to make more effective and timely decisions.

So you are now seeing a growing supply of vendors, large and small, who are providing either complete, or point solutions of mobile device-enabled reporting, visualization, and analytics.  Costs are coming down, to fulfill the single-user need for personalized information.  It's becoming part of the standard product offering, versus a strong differentiator.  For the end user, that's a really good thing.

Tablet users are big spenders compared to smartphone users: report

http://www.mobilecommercedaily.com/tablet-users-are-big-spenders-compared-to-smartphone-users-report

Work Tasks application from ArchestrA Workflow Software

This is an interesting report, not only because of the purchasing shift to tablets from smart phones, but the opportunity for the automation community to leverage this new format for reporting & analysis applications.