Smart Manufacturing Blog

Welcome to your source for all things smart manufacturing. Whether you’re looking for expert insights, hard data, or actionable tips for your plant floor, we’ve got you covered every week of the year.

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What Are We Looking At?

Plex Team September 26, 2023

Driving in conditions of low visibility is never a good idea. Like a blinding snowstorm in gusty winds, millions of flakes obscure your view until you can’t see what is in front of you. First, you lose sight of the lines in the road. Then, you lose the definition of where the road even is until an unfortunate decision due to lack of visibility leads to disaster.You wouldn’t want to drive your car…

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Cure Your Downtime Blues with Smart Platform Views

Plex Team January 24, 2023

Efficiency and downtime are two of the most recognized words in manufacturing. These two words are taught and enforced formally and informally from the executive boardroom to floor supervisors to an operator in their first week on the job.While efficiency has a lot of variables and is calculated as creating as many finished units with the least amount of resources, downtime appears to be simple…

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Production Monitoring KPIs – Greater Visibility Means Higher Production

Plex Team December 6, 2022

The U.S. military uses advanced technology to extend the capabilities of its systems. From satellite images to radar and "eye in the sky" electronic surveillance planes, the goal is to extend visibility past the horizon so troops can see whatever is coming their way. They can see a macro version of a field to view the entire picture or zoom in to look at individual buildings, vehicles, or people…

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Leverage Your Data to Unlock Hidden Capacity and Supercharge Processes

Plex Team November 29, 2022

Capital equipment is one of the most significant variables in calculating a manufacturing company’s capacity. The higher the capacity, the more business a company can take on. Optimizing that capacity means a more substantial ROI, which leads to higher profits and less new equipment in the future....

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Plex Acquires Kors Engineering to Drive Automation and Efficiency for You

Nathan Pieri February 24, 2021

I am excited to share that Plex has acquired long-time technology and solution partner, Kors Engineering. This combination will enable manufacturers to take even greater control of their plant floor, machines and business process automation, and get them closer to fully embracing the promise of Industry 4.0....

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Despite Spike in COVID-19 Cases, Global Manufacturing Production Reaches New High

Jerry Foster December 8, 2020

Although COVID-19 cases continue to surge across the world, the global manufacturing community experienced its highest jump in production levels (5% over the previous two weeks) and is now producing at a record high of 108% of pre-pandemic activity. Global manufacturing data set ...

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Global Manufacturers Close the Pandemic-Produced Production Gap

Jerry Foster November 19, 2020

Global manufacturers are now operating at 103% of pre-COVID rates of activity. This effort is steadily closing the production gap caused by the pandemic earlier this year (with this gap defined as the difference between the anticipated 2020 production volume based on historical data compared to real-time activity). As of mid-November, manufacturers are seeing a 31% cumulative production loss to…

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Manufacturers Maintain Momentum, Make Progress on Production Losses

Jerry Foster October 29, 2020

Global manufacturing data set ...

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Global Manufacturing Continues to Expand; Reaches 104% Pre-Pandemic Rates of Activity

Jerry Foster October 15, 2020

Global manufacturing data set ...

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Global Manufacturing Community at 102% of Pre-Pandemic Rates of Activity

Jerry Foster October 1, 2020

Global manufacturing data set ...

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