The digital and print versions talk about the trends going on right now -- lack of expertise, reticence of the ‘millennium generation’ to study subjects and gain skills that manufacturers need, and how all sorts of devices are coming onto the plant floor and carpeted areas to help workers do their jobs more efficiently. Read More »
A very warm welcome to David Bell, Industry Solutions Consultant Architect, to the Manufacturing Industry Blog!
David is a Cisco Consulting Solutions Architect, and has a wealth of experience with a number of industries: he works in a global consultancy role at Cisco working closely with customers to deliver innovative industrial networking solutions. David has extensive experience in Manufacturing, Utilities, Mining and Transportation industries. Read More »
The world of transportation is rapidly changing, which is in turn driving rapid change in the world of manufacturing. Transportation products of all kinds have had connectivity in some form for many years however; the connectivity was confusing, unreliable and often deficient in adequate bandwidth and technology to sustain a continuous stream of interactions between equipment and operation centers. New means of M2M have emerged out of necessity, which have broadened the ecosystem of participants to include tech companies, service providers, and others. Read More »
I really like it when a research firm goes out to do primary research. We can all pontificate about what customers want. We all have our own opinions and anecdotes.
But when Aberdeen Group wanted to find out about the current Industrial Networking trends and directions and wanted to find out why manufacturers were converging Corporate IT and Operational Technology (OT) networks, (and what was the business case for it?) they went out and talked to real executives in real companies.
“Manufacturing is an industry with complex operations, where the success of any organization lies in producing high quality products at lower costs at the right time. This requires companies to enable real-time visibility into operations at the plant floor as well as at the executive level to make intelligent decisions. Aberdeen’s surveyed over 150 executives to understand how industry leaders are taking advantage of industrial networking to enable real-time visibility into data to optimize production, maintenance, and safety.”
Today, industrial networks are being impacted by a number of trends – convergence of industrial and enterprise networks, growing inter-connectivity across industrial equipment, and heightened security concerns. Come visit Cisco in Hall 8, Stand 26 at Hannover Messe to see what we have to offer for manufacturing, mining, transportation, and oil, gas and energy companies. Read More »
Have you noticed all those iPads around the factory? All around the production areas, the office areas and the warehouse? These mobile connected devices and applications are quickly changing business and organizational models.
They are also changing employee habits and the way we work, as more and more users depend on tablets, such as the Apple iPad, for a variety of daily personal and professional tasks.
It’s not just Apple, though they’re the most common. All those other tablets too. Some of the others are capable of a drop or two, or more onto hard concrete!
The most prevalent use case that IT departments need to solve for is the one where an employee brings their own personal device into the company and seeks to gain network access. This is happening a lot these days. Funny, but companies are finding this is one of the ways they are attracting and keeping talent, especially young talent, so listen up!
Figure 1 illustrates the Cisco solution… Read More »
Nine tips help enable an industrial wireless mobile workforce, including standards, self-healing technologies, and the right blend of hardware and software.
The latest copy of Control Engineering has some useful Tips and Tricks that point towards the kinds of solutions and offerings Cisco provides, to make our customer’s lives easier. In a later post I’ll elucidate on the tips and explain how Cisco is able to make for a Smarter Wireless Industrial Workforce. For now, here are the tips:
#1) Standards-based solutions: Ensure suppliers provide open standards based solutions—this is particularly important when choosing wireless mobility systems.
#2) Self-healing wireless: System integrators can provide good interference detection and mitigation wireless solutions that can automatically change channels to maintain continuity, which reduces operating expenses.
#3) Hardware vs. software: It is better to use wireless systems with specialized hardware and software implementation rather than the older software implementations when analyzing interference. Read More »
Cisco Cius - Not BYOD since it's Corporate provisioned.
If you’re a manufacturer you’ve probably heard of BYOD, or ‘Bring Your Own Device’. You know that more and more devices are proliferating throughout the organization. You also know that security is a big issue: How do you stop folks accessing sensitive systems, how do you protect Intellectual Property, and how do you prevent a disastrous shutdown caused by a device either intentionally or unintentionally?
Well, these are only some of the issues -- and they’re rarely addressed by a ‘Good-Enough Network’. Cisco’s BYOD is different -- it looks at the whole picture. It’s not just about your wireless network -- although the Cisco offerings are better than most! It’s about an holistic approach to BYOD. That covers the plant, IT, the LAN and fixed wired network and the wireless network too. All aspects.
Cisco Live Australia follows on from Cisco Live UK where we’ll be showing an array of Industrial Network products, ideal for manufacturers of all sizes.
Cisco Booths, including ‘Cisco Industrial Automation’ where you’ll see the latest in factory networking that’s compatible with Cisco and other IT infrastructure and the basis of what many manufacturers are now seeing as the only way to converge IT and Plant networks safely, securely and with productivity and cost benefits.
Fluke Networks provides innovative solutions for the testing, monitoring and analysis of enterprise and telecommunications networks and the installation and certification of the fibre and copper foundation of those networks.
Panduit -- a Cisco Partner that is a leading global supplier of complete end-to-end solutions for data centres and enterprise networks. The Panduit solution portfolio encompasses products, software and services based on the principles of a Unified Physical Infrastructure approach. Read More »
Recently Cisco was honored to be named in the Automation World 2011 First Team Honorees list. This recognizes Cisco as a leading player and trusted partner for manufacturing, distribution and industrial companies.
Cisco Wins 'First Team' Honoree Award from Automation World Readers
Part of what we should be happy with every day is learning something new. I strive each day for that, sometimes I over exceed, sometimes I may not recognize I learned something until days later. But here it is critical to maintain balance. I would hasten to add that each day it is even more critical to enjoy something. Like your family.
My friends and loyal readers would know I work from home. One of the powers of a Cisco powered network is to be there while being here. So I usually have the TV on in the background. To let me know that the snow is coming (finally?) or of other breaking news. But one of the things I watch (before my partners on the West Coast get in) is the local Fox morning show.
Here in Milwaukee they are running the local Auto Show. It is being held at the local convention center that has been renamed 10 times in the last six years (I exaggerate, saving that for a future blog) due to acquisitions. They, the local Fox station and Toyota, are doing a promo to give away a new car to a Veteran. So they’re down to the final six. Read More »
Hear Kevin being interviewed by Theresa Houck, Editor of the Journal from Rockwell Automation Magazine, as Kevin talks about some of the jointly developed technologies that Cisco and Rockwell were previewing at the show. Read More »
I just finished an interview on the topic of “Cloud in Manufacturing” with a German machine-building and factory automation magazine. The interview ran an hour longer than scheduled—an indication of the publication’s interest, as well as its lingering doubts about whether cloud services truly can benefit “real manufacturing.”
We discussed an abundance of cloud-related ideas – most pertaining to obvious areas such as web presence in marketing, after-sales application hosting to make field engineers more productive, and collaboration as a service to enable partners and suppliers to work together more effectively on large projects.
The uncharted cloud territory, however, is the area that manufacturers see their “core”: the physical making of things. Can cloud play a role in supply chain management (yes, it can)? Will there be a cloud service for motion control (due to latency and determinism considerations, not yet) and for asset management and MIS applications (yes)? Read More »
Please WelcomeDirk Schlesinger to the Manufacturing Industry Blog
It is with great pleasure that I introduce Dirk Schlesinger as our latest Manufacturing Industry Thought Leader. Dirk has a distinguished career at Cisco and is currently senior director and global manufacturing lead of the Cisco Internet Business Solutions Group (IBSG).
In this role, Dirk helps leading manufacturers become more competitive by transforming their businesses through leading processes and innovative technology enablement. He has extensive knowledge in the areas of business process reengineering, asset development and productivity improvement, as well as post-merger integration. Read More »
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