Industrial Transformation Blog

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.

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

On July 31, manufacturing ERP vendor Plex Systems announced the acquisition of DATTUS, an Indianapolis-based software company focused on collecting machine data from the factory floor and applying advanced analytics. Terms of the deal were not disclosed .

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.

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.

As the enterprise resource planning (ERP) market approaches the quarter-century mark, many manufacturers and asset-intensive industries are going through an upgrade or refresh cycle. With the growing importance of Cloud, mobility, Big Data analytics and the Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT), these firms are frequently driven by competition, or senior management’s desire to change the company's competitive position, through Digital Transformation to become a Smart Manufacturing company. LNS has numerous end-user clients that see their business environment changing, and application decisions they made one or two decades ago now leave them with a technology portfolio that inhibits their ability to pursue Digital Transformation. Data from our IIoT survey shows that of the nearly 650 respondents, 62% list enterprise application spending as the number one investment area, over Big Data analytics and knowledge management. Unfortunately, many firms struggle with choosing their next generation ERP technology. What are the most common mistakes that make it so hard?