Smart Manufacturing

Big trend in manufacturing: MES 4.0?

Internet of Things, Big Data, Cloud and Analytics are changing the way we produce? Which is going to be the impact on the MES? Luigi de Bernardini’s new blog on Automation World.

When referencing big trends these days—those trends that evolve rapidly and have a significant impact on changing operations where they are applied—we are often referring to one of four key technologies: the Internet of Things, Big Data, Cloud Computing or Analytics.

*The Internet of Things is a concept wherein devices communicate their status, needs and problems using intelligent sensors to transmit this information over the Internet. Widely distributed sensors and data sources are woven into an autonomous communications network, generating complex and significant aggregated data.

* Big Data identifies the large volumes of data available at high transfer speeds and is characterized by innovative and economic systems that are needed to manage and extract information useful in decision-making. The challenge is storing and processing these data efficiently.

* Cloud Computing usually refers to a system whose processing capabilities are provided through Internet technology and is scalable, so that the user does not have to acquire and maintain an IT infrastructure, but can simply use a service sized dynamically to suit their needs. Information is available anywhere and to anyone who needs it.

* Analytics is a generic term to identify activities and business intelligence applications relating to a specific domain or specific content. Analytics involve the application of statistical models or mathematical algorithms to the available data in order to predict possible scenarios and support manual or automated decision-making processes. This facilitates the ability to treat data in a complex way, automatically applying algorithms to generate sophisticated information previously available only after extensive manual processing by people with extensive experience.

Each of these technology elements have been generated within IT, but they are not considered closely related or interdependent. However, I believe that there is a different way to look at it. These four trends, each one transformative in and of itself, are, in fact, complementary parts of an overriding movement that is revolutionizing the manufacturing industry

See more on the Automation World web site. 

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