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What to Watch for This Year in Automation Trends

Mike Jeffries | March 21, 2017

What to Watch for This Year in Automation Trends.jpegManufacturing is expected to see many exciting shifts throughout 2017. New advancements in industrial automation and technology will see increased incorporation of technologies such as the Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT) into the industry, as well as the continued growth of robotics usage. Here are a few of the major trends in automation poised to shake up manufacturing.

Related Blog: How Automation Technologies can Transform Manufacturing Companies

The Industrial Internet of Things, M2M and The Connected Enterprise
The Internet of Things (IoT) has been a buzzword for quite a while now. With high performance industrial automation systems becoming more affordable, the Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT) is readily becoming available to a wider industrial market. The IIoT brings lower costs and increased production capabilities as smart sensors and cloud computing technology improves and becomes adopted industry-wide.

IIoT is also driving the push towards a connected enterprise through industrial wireless networks. While wired systems are a mainstay for many companies due to their ability to sustain high traffic and speeds, the proliferation of IoT sensors and the increased cybersecurity measures present a viable (and possibly better) alternative to a wired system.

In 2016, leading automation suppliers joined to back OPC UA, a standard for machine interoperability. As machine-to-machine (M2M) communication protocols move towards interoperability, companies may no longer be tied down to a multitude of incompatible standards and the proprietary software for inter-machine communication. This new development in M2M will pave the way for the connected enterprise as software suites from across the enterprise curate data right from the floor to be used in assessment and optimization.

Cobots
Following last year's boom in the number of cobots (collaborative robots) sold, 2017 will likely see a continued increase in cobots working alongside human workers on production lines. Cobots (now being bought in the millions by countries such as China) are expected to become more widely used as their price goes down and the volume in which they are produced, sold, and implemented grows.

SCADA
Predictive analytics are increasingly being integrated into SCADA systems, key players in smart manufacturing. This integration will offer manufacturers increased control over production, data and the flexibility of the plant. Modern SCADA software packages have evolved to include options for remote mobile access.

Mobility
As technologies like SCADA are made more accessible, end users will demand mobile access to them. Plant managers, for example, could use smartphones to remotely monitor performance in real-time or even control operations miles away.
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Topics: automation in manufacturing, technology in manufacturing, automation technologies, new technology, industrial technology

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