A machine goes down on an automated assembly line. You're out on the shop floor with a group of operators and technicians. It's costing the company a ton of money for every minute the line is down. The plant manager hovers over you reminding everyone of that loss. Worse, the news hits national media. The celebrity CEO camps out in the factory to "oversee" repairs.
I, and probably you, have been in the scenario up to the plant manager part. I don't even want to imagine the scene back when Tesla's production line went down. The world's smartest man, Elon Musk himself, was out there.
The consensus seemed to be that perhaps the line was over-automated. There was a lack of resiliency. The production line was brittle.
The famous phrase in the tech world is "software is eating the world." The same thing is happening in the control and automation market. Including the IIoT part. When a motor is going out, it can be checked and repaired. When there is a problem in the software, finding and solving can be a nightmare. Even in 1985 when I was in the business, that was often where we would lose money on a machine. Troubleshooting the ladder logic.
But, what about your software? I heard a university professor about 10 years ago describe the kids entering her classes as "brittle." Their helicopter parents expected so much out of them. Their anxiety levels were triggering the high-level alarm. There was a lack of resiliency.
Perhaps you, in your career or your life? Do you need to build in some capacity to bounce back? Build a little slack in your life?
I will be working on a new podcast. The latest one, 221 It's Hard to Predict Especially About the Future, is published.
Check out this latest post on The Manufacturing Connection relating a couple of talks from Andrew Ng, CEO of Landing AI about the application of artificial intelligence in vision inspection. You can also pick up some ideas for AI projects--or even projects in general.
There are many other posts this week you can check out.
This newsletter is brought to you with support from Inductive Automation. Discover a whole new view with Ignition 8.1 by Inductive Automation. Packed with features for the modern control system like unlimited licensing, high-powered tags, and a mobile-first flexible design environment for all devices, Ignition 8 supports enterprises of any size. See all Ignition has to offer.
I, and probably you, have been in the scenario up to the plant manager part. I don't even want to imagine the scene back when Tesla's production line went down. The world's smartest man, Elon Musk himself, was out there.
The consensus seemed to be that perhaps the line was over-automated. There was a lack of resiliency. The production line was brittle.
The famous phrase in the tech world is "software is eating the world." The same thing is happening in the control and automation market. Including the IIoT part. When a motor is going out, it can be checked and repaired. When there is a problem in the software, finding and solving can be a nightmare. Even in 1985 when I was in the business, that was often where we would lose money on a machine. Troubleshooting the ladder logic.
But, what about your software? I heard a university professor about 10 years ago describe the kids entering her classes as "brittle." Their helicopter parents expected so much out of them. Their anxiety levels were triggering the high-level alarm. There was a lack of resiliency.
Perhaps you, in your career or your life? Do you need to build in some capacity to bounce back? Build a little slack in your life?
I will be working on a new podcast. The latest one, 221 It's Hard to Predict Especially About the Future, is published.
Check out this latest post on The Manufacturing Connection relating a couple of talks from Andrew Ng, CEO of Landing AI about the application of artificial intelligence in vision inspection. You can also pick up some ideas for AI projects--or even projects in general.
There are many other posts this week you can check out.
This newsletter is brought to you with support from Inductive Automation. Discover a whole new view with Ignition 8.1 by Inductive Automation. Packed with features for the modern control system like unlimited licensing, high-powered tags, and a mobile-first flexible design environment for all devices, Ignition 8 supports enterprises of any size. See all Ignition has to offer.
Gary