A few weeks ago, I attended PowerPlex, Plex Systems’ (Plex) annual user conference. The event was held in the heart of Detroit, fitting given Plex’s strong presence in the automotive supply chain and discrete manufacturing. The PowerPlex event continued to grow this year, reflecting Plex’s strong year-over year growth in users (expanded usage in 294 existing customers) and customers (65 new customers). The strength of the Plex platform is a vital growth enabler and differentiator. The platform delivered 1.7 T transactions, 779M web service calls, and 99.9998% uptime in 2017, all with better than 500ms response rate on its multitenant Cloud platform.

The Smart Manufacturing Experience launched its first edition of manufacturing event on April 30, 2018 at the Boston Convention Center. The 3-day event, which focused mostly on Smart Manufacturing, the Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT), additive manufacturing, and augmented reality/virtual reality (AR/VR), witnessed several hundred presenters and attendees from an assortment of companies including IIoT Platform start-ups, industrial analytics providers, 3D printing companies, and big technology players like Microsoft, PTC, among others.

Like manufacturing, asset performance management (APM) has evolved to leverage the digital technology associated with Cloud, the Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT), mobility, Big Data, and the associated analytics. This overall industrial shift has been referred to as both Industry 4.0 (or Industrie 4.0) and Smart Manufacturing. Accordingly, LNS set forth a vision of how APM has evolved in support of these highly digital, capable manufacturing assets which we call APM 4.0.

Agility, adaptation, and innovation are prized commodities in today’s business climate. Disruption is top of mind because it is a genuine opportunity and risk. Today’s manufacturers are exposed to unprecedented external forces, but also have the potential to access unprecedented insights. These insights can lead to innovative products, achieve new levels of quality and productivity, and create innovative new customer experiences. The end effect is that highly agile, and digitalized startups have managed to topple established industries and manufacturers that have been slow to adapt.

Uptake has had a busy couple of months, and no one could argue the company is still in stealth mode. Recent notable events include:

• February 2018 - Hires Ganesh Bell as President, formerly Chief Digital Officer at GE Power
• April 2018 - Holds first annual analyst summit at HQ in Chicago
• April 2018 - Announces acquisition of Asset Performance Technologies, Inc. (APT)

Digital Transformation is a widespread trend across industry. Our research shows that about two-thirds of industrial organizations have already implemented Smart Manufacturing and Industry 4.0 technologies, or plan to soon. This trend is only accelerating. To date, most companies have focused digitalization investments on using asset- and operations-related data to improve core operational areas such as asset reliability, energy management, and production efficiency.

LNS Research recently participated in the 2018 Gensuite Conference in Lawrenceburg, Indiana. The annual gathering of the Gensuite ecosystem helped addressed a fundamental question faced by environment, health, and safety (EHS) business leaders: How can digital innovation improve EHS management? Based on the proceedings, the answer is “a lot.”

On Thursday, May 17, LNS Research hosted the webcast, “Keys to Successful New Product Introduction (NPI): Bridging the Digital Quality Divide.” The presentation explained why market dynamics force companies to rethink NPI and how leading companies drive innovation in today’s digital world. The discussion included an examination of why today’s NPI success rate is relatively low, and why market trends inhibit NPI success.

A few weeks ago, I had the opportunity to attend the OSIsoft User Conference in San Francisco. While the event overlapped with the biggest industrial trade show in the world, Hannover Messe, there was no noticeable impact on OSIsoft User Conference’s attendance. The conference has continued to grow year over the years, and this year the event expanded beyond the regular hotel contract to spread across three separate hotels.

In 2013, the concept of Industrie 4.0 was first touted at Hannover Messe, the world’s largest, and most expensive manufacturing show for exhibitors, industrial automation, and equipment. In the ensuing five years, the halls have been full of hype, everything 4.0 and grand promises of what is coming soon. Thankfully, signals from the Messe this year are aimed at delivery on a commercial scale. The Industrie 4.0 messaging spread across dozens of stands has gone, and the stand holders seem to be ready to deliver the first stage of benefits that Digital Transformation promises.