Announcement
Now Available!
Get your copy of the 7th Annual State of Smart Manufacturing and hear from 300+ manufacturers in this new survey report!
Aerospace
Plex Manufacturing Blog
What You Don’t Know About Manufacturing Traceability Could Hurt Your Business
You likely use some type of traceability procedure to comply with customer and market mandates and/or for service, safety, and process improvement purposes. However, if you are relying on manual processes, you are likely missing critical steps in the production process where errors may occur. ...
Read More
Why Manufacturing Traceability Is Key to Reducing Errors
Paper records are prone to errors, difficult to manage, and may be impossible to find in a timely manner, like within two hours as the FDA requires. High profile recalls have increased in recent years and culpable manufacturers have paid high costs to their businesses and their brands....
Read More
Polamer Precision Makes Innovation Its Mission
nnovation has always been at the heart of manufacturing, propelling the industry and the economy forward. Polamer Precision, an aerospace manufacturer, demonstrates this idea from its state-of-the-art, solar-powered facility in New Britain, CT, to the technology that runs the business. The organization is serious about data-driven innovation, and about changing the perception of manufacturing in…
Read More
Automotive Manufacturers See the Future in Big Data
Recently, I was thrilled to receive an invitation to participate on a panel at the recent inaugural SpeedNews AeroAuto Conference. For the past five years, SpeedNews focused its conference solely on the aerospace industry. This year, organizers brought professionals from the automotive industry together with leaders from the aerospace industry to share best practices....
Read More
Digital Transformation: Manufacturers Need a Practical Approach—Not Hype
Technologists love to learn, write, and prognosticate about new terminology, technology trends, and ideas that will impact the future. But as I once heard someone say, “innovation without practical impact is a science project,” and this holds true for digital transformation, a topic deservedly getting a lot of coverage these days....
Read More
Advanced Manufacturing Technologies Provide Endless IIoT Opportunities
The Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT) has a potential economic impact of $1.2-$3.7 trillion a year in 2015. Because of this enormous opportunity, many of metro Detroit’s technologists are talking about ways to integrate IIoT – where they can apply it, how they can benefit from it, and even how it can be used in their products and by customers....
Read More
Error-Proofing Your Manufacturing Business with a Single Source of Truth
Your production operations are likely an automated and complex choreography of people and machines working together to produce products of predictable, repeatable quality. But manufacturing is complex and all the moving parts can be difficult to keep up with, which opens the door to mistakes....
Read More
PowerPlex 2017 - Manufacturers Share Ideas, Discuss Skills Shortage and Give Back
Skills Shortage In conversations with attendees at this year’s Plex conference, the industry-wide skills shortage was a common frustration. Many businesses are using Plex to automate processes that were previously done manually, enabling some shop-floor activities to be done with fewer people, allowing reallocation of resources throughout the company. ...
Read More
PowerPlex 2017 - Innovation in Action
As PowerPlex 2017 wraps up this week, I find myself reflecting on the many great conversations I had with smart, interesting people who are working on making things. I was surrounded by innovation — businesses making innovative products, organizations with a rich history that have continuously evolved by innovating over time, and people who are doing new and unique things with Plex to…
Read More
For Plex Customers, the Future of Manufacturing is Now
At this year’s PowerPlex 2017, participants were abuzz with ideas about where new technologies and emerging market trends will take them. I attended keynotes and break-out sessions and had the opportunity to talk one-on-one with individuals who “make things.” In doing so, I identified several common themes that provide insight into where manufacturing is headed and how customers will get there....
Read More