KEY INSIGHTS

All of the areas with the highest expected levels of increased spending are for technologies closely associated with digital transformation. For example, in the batch industries, where increases in spending on data acquisition and analytics is expected by 80% of respondents, only 42% expect an increase in spending on motors, drives, and motion control technologies.

David Greenfi eld on automation investment trends in the batch manufacturing industries. awgo.to/1188.

The duo is working on delivering a complete cannabis product validation and authentication platform that links the Applied DNA molecular tracking technology with TruTrace’s software as a service platform to create a secure ecosystem for end-to-end traceability and transparency where all activity is captured and stored in a secure database.

Stephanie Neil on securing cannabis across the supply chain. awgo.to/1189.

Maestro operates as a central controller which monitors the position of all autonomous mobile robots (AMRs) on the plant fl oor via vision systems and issues commands based on their positions. Because all navigation instructions proceed from Maestro, the software intelligence and supporting hardware inside each individual AMR can be removed. This capability is said to not only drastically lower the costs of AMRs but provide more e ective and interoperable fl eet management capabilities.

David Miller on the use of artifi cial intelligence for mobile robot fl eet management. awgo.to/1190.

By removing all the upfront programming requirements, universal I/O simplifi es machine design and system building while also delivering data processing and network connectivity options not commonly associated with traditional I/O.

Natalie Craig on the benefi ts and potential drawbacks of universal I/O. awgo.to/1191.

Every MES vendor’s product will have similar capabilities. Some will work better for discrete manufacturing, others for process-focused industries. Some will be tightly coupled to automated systems, while others are good for manual operations. By internalizing and capitalizing on the concepts in the program, MES project teams will be better prepared to work with and evaluate their short list of vendors.