Industrial Transformation Blog

In April 2019 LNS attended the first annual IBM IoT Exchange event held in Orlando, FL. The company focused its three-day conference on how to achieve operational efficiency and effectiveness, and reduce costs through the application of IoT data and artificial intelligence (AI).  The conference marked the first time that users of IBM’s engineering lifecycle management (DOORS family), enterprise asset management (Maximo portfolio), facilities lifecycle management (TRIRIGA), and the Watson IoT Platform solutions all met together under the Watson IoT umbrella.

Over 4,000 people attended Epicor Insights 2019 in Las Vegas the week of April 15. As in previous years, the conference showcased new products and upgrades from a leading supplier of enterprise resource planning (ERP) solutions for the mid-market, with users across manufacturing, distribution, service, and retail companies.

Sparta Systems is an interesting firm. Well known for its on-premise TrackWise product, it had stumbled in recent years as it faced many new cloud-based competitors. Over the past year, it brought on a new leadership team and put its considerable weight behind the development of its Force.com-based TrackWise Digital cloud product. As we look at the Summer 2019 release of TrackWise Digital, has the effort paid off?

The LNS Research globetrotting team found itself in Hannover last week, excited to see what’s new in the world of Industrial Transformation (IX). The event was as full (or perhaps even busier) than the last two years, it was noticeable that the space for software companies was substantially larger, and the big guys had toned down the one-upmanship: gone were the enormous jet engines, tractors, and other boys’ toys. In their place were small booths demonstrating the latest solutions and lots of open space with tables and chairs for better interaction with show-goers and potential customers.

Hannover Messe continues to accelerate, and along with it the Industrial Transformation (IX) space. LNS Research received 46 executive briefings this year, more than any previous year. Yes, it’s an enormous show, but we’ve condensed it down to the five biggest trends you need to know.

Last week LNS attended the annual ABB Customer World held here in Houston. ACW was a successful and well delivered conference with over 10,000 customer attendees from all over the world. The LNS team was part of a larger contingent of media and analysts who were exposed to a technology tour and number of meetings that allowed us to gain a better understanding of ABB’s overall direction, new organization and strategic partnerships.

The #MondayMusings Industrial Transformation blog series provides insight and analysis for executives from the previous week’s briefings, events, and publications @LNSResearch.

Until recently, manufacturing operations management (MOM) software and Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT) platforms were two distinct solutions serving different purposes and providing separate capabilities. That’s no longer the case. MOM software vendors today embed several IIoT capabilities that enable the applications to run at any level in the operational structure. This new degree of connectivity, together with smart connected devices and inexpensive sensors have enabled manufacturers to replace older, monolithic MOM solutions with IIoT-based MOM applications in the plant.

Research analysts from LNS attended the Plex Systems Analyst Day in early November at the company’s headquarters in Troy, Michigan. In an unusual move, Plex hosted its Customer Advisory Board (CAB) concurrently, giving customers and analysts a chance to interact directly. This level of direct access is rare among software vendors and demonstrates a strong show of confidence by the Plex executive team. The Plex CAB includes representatives from companies in automotive, metal forming, food and beverage (F&B), aerospace and defense (A&D), and other discrete and batch manufacturing industries.

LNS has attended the last four Inforum events (the User Conference for Infor customers), and a consistent theme has emerged. At each event, Infor executives review what they promised at the last event, show how they fulfilled those promises (and in some cases exceeded them), and then announce what they intend to accomplish in the next year. The 2018 event held in Washington DC the last week of September followed the same script.