"Culture and bureaucracy are the two barriers. People just need to stop hugging their data. People love their data so much."

"Culture and bureaucracy are the two barriers. People just need to stop hugging their data. People love their data so much."

-- Dan Morgan, chief data officer at the Department of Transportation, as quoted by CIO.com

I had to smile when I read this quote.  So that's what makes Business Intelligence, #EMI (Enterprise Manufacturing Intelligence) and other data analysis applications so enticing.  We DO love our data!  In the industrial automation market, data makes stuff work.  Data makes the visibility and control of processes possible.  And you need to treat your data with respect, because if you don't believe it, processes can quickly get out of control.  This becomes not only a profitability issue, but a safety issue and a sustainability issue.  So yes, we need to hug our data.  We need to understand it, keep it close, nurture it and let it safely grow. 



 

Dairy Customer Improves Operations Using Wonderware MES

Customer Evidence verified by TechValidate.

Repost, with Comments: ATK CIO Says Metrics-Driven IT Paves the Way for Innovation

http://www.cio.com/article/2683272/cio-role/atk-cio-says-metrics-driven-it-paves-the-way-for-innovation.html

This is a very timely and relevant article from CIO Magazine, interviewing ATK's CIO,  Jeff Kubacki. The article discusses his activities to make IT a partner, and drive business value, through technology.

If we look at the changes that have occurred over the past 10 years in industrial software, we see several important milestones:

•  An overlap and blending of technologies to create "composite" apps that provide not only visibility, but reporting, analysis, data acquisition and storage.  More functionality with less apps means time saved in installing, but more importantly, a faster learning curve, cost savings in both hardware and software, and greater productivity by leaning out your software stack.
• More predictive capabilities in software and solutions.  It is one thing to analyze after events occur, but the big win, and the reason Big Data is so necessary, is the ability to not only analyze, but predict events concerning maintenance needs (proactively issuing work orders for asset overhaul, or anticipating additional maintenance based on environmental or condition factors of surrounding equipment); or using Operations Intelligence solutions to identify opportunities for improvements in material, labor, energy or equipment usage.
• "On-demand Computing" fueled by mobile solutions.  No longer do workers need to be tethered to desks or buildings.  Insight Research reported that 67% of all workers now use mobile technology, and it's only increasing as form factors and cost of devices are reduced.
• Ubiquitous access to applications using Software as a Service. One of the banes of IT has been the cost of acquiring and implementing complex manufacturing solutions such as #MES (Manufacturing Execution Systems) since they touch so many other enterprise applications, and are normally implemented using a multi-plant architecture.  Using SaaS solutions reduce the cost of maintenance, upgrades, and infrastructure.

The outcome? IT has become an important stakeholder in determining which applications will be used, how they will be used, and what the impact on the organization will be.  It is a necessary and important change that brings large enterprises forward, and we certainly support it.

F&N Dairies Thailand - a Wonderware MES Success Story

A terrific new video by @JayDavid of Schneider Electric, covering F&N Dairies/Thailand's use of Wonderware MES solutions.

Customer Case Study: Lexmark International's Use of Wonderware MES

Case Study verified by TechValidate.

Case Study: DICS Intertrade Benefits from Microsoft/Wonderware Partnership

Customer References verified by TechValidate.

DICS Intertrade was faced with the task of integrating their business and automation systems. Although a variety of approaches could be used, they turned to Wonderware and Microsoft for a solution--and in turn, gaining efficiences of greater than 30% in productivity, time to market, and not surprisingly, technology adoption.

Food Company Gains Improvements through Wonderware/Microsoft Partnership

Customer References verified by TechValidate.

Wonderware and Microsoft have had a longstanding partnership, spanning almost 25 years.  During that time, a software revolution occurred--Windows for manufacturing, .NET, OPC, and now, the cloud.  We wanted to find out how our customers perceived the value of this relationship, and so you'll see a number of #TechValidate posts from me on the benefits customers have gained.  Want to see the entire library of assets?  Go here.