VERSE moves under EtQ Umbrella & GM adopts IIoT Technology[Roundup]

GM Harnesses the IIoT

GM’s Lake Orion manufacturing plant is known for its advanced robotics and production capabilities. While the plant works hard with its 800 robots running on the floor, there is always the concern that downtime from even one robot can stop production. That’s when FANUC, a Japanese robotics manufacturer, Cisco and Rockwell Automation stepped in.

Along with the assistance of Cisco and Rockwell Automation, GM has transformed its plant floor into a smart connected operations euphoria. The plant robots are all smart connected assets that allows big data to flow from robots to external devices in real-time. The objective of the cloud-computing operations is to avoid any unplanned down time, saving time and costs. Scott Whybrew, the director of global manufacturing engineering at GM stated, “We can put the dollar to use for some other business objective, instead of sitting there waiting for a robot to go down.” To read more about the robotic cloud-computing transformation click here.

Moving VERSE under the EtQ Umbrella

Earlier this week EtQ, a leading provider of quality, compliance, and environmental health & safety (EHS) software solutions, announced that VERSE Solutions, the previously seperate SMB brand offering quality, EHS and GMP compliance management software will be now formally part of EtQ. The realignment will take place under EtQ’s compliance management product offerings.

The VERSE Solutions products takes its place on the same platform as Reliance^TM and traqpath, which was recently acquired by EtQ. EtQ announced the merger came from the desire that compliance management software would be available to everyone. Glenn McCarthy, EtQ’s Chief Executive Office stated, “We recognized the need for developing solutions for every market segment around our Reliance^TM enterprise solution.” To read more about the merger between EtQ and VERSE Solutions click here.

IIoT: Technology Adoption

The Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania released an article focusing in on the hype around new technologies and why they may not always be the best choice for adoption or replacement. While this may stand true (que the selfie stick), some technologies are the best options for the right circumstances. Commenting on this is LNS Research Principal Analyst, Dan Miklovic.

“LNS Research believes that the Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT) is one of those new technologies where the ecosystem is already in place. So, while there will be disruption from IIoT, adoption can occur fairly smoothly. Also, given the ready economic justification, IIoT and Predictive Analytics stand to be fairly easy moves that businesses can make. This is clearly a case where the better mousetrap will win,” said Dan. To read this article click here.

#CiscoChat: The Start of the Connected Factory

Late last month Cisco hosted its #CiscoChat that brought on the conversation of how manufacturers could start digitizing factories, and why many of them have yet to begin. Cisco claims the majority of the reasons it’s heard for those who have not begun digitizing factories is due to the cost or the uncertainty of a starting point.

Cisco addressed these concerns by prompting questions in the #CiscoChat that may help others find the answers they’re looking for. Some of these questions included “How are manufacturers making factories more connected and intelligent?” and “What are the factory plant-wide security pain point or care-abouts addressed with a connected factory?” Many chimed into the #CiscoChat, including LNS Research President and Principal Analyst, Matthew Littlefield. To see his and the answers of many others, click here for the #CiscoChat recap.

NEW Research Spotlight on strategies and recommendations for minimizing risk through a migration away from monolithic, single-plant MOM architectures through exploration of Cloud and IIoT technologies that are advancing in manufacturing today.