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.

Announcement
7th Annual State of Smart Manufacturing

Now Available!

Get your copy of the 7th Annual State of Smart Manufacturing and hear from 300+ manufacturers in this new survey report!

Industrial Manufacturing

Plex Manufacturing Blog

How Innovation in Manufacturing Can Help You Leverage the Benefits of the Fourth Industrial Revolution

Mike Hart May 24, 2018

As a manufacturer, you need to do more. Not only to grow, but because your customers are demanding more of you—year after year. Even if you’re focusing on continuous improvement, you may need to add in manufacturing innovation to differentiate because it is a certainty that your competitors are doing more....

Read More

PowerPlex 2018 – Back to Detroit

Jane Clabby May 18, 2018

Introduction After hosting PowerPlex 2017 in Atlanta, Georgia, PowerPlex 2018 returns to its roots in Detroit, Michigan, one of the nation’s biggest manufacturing hubs. CEO Don Clarke welcomed the audience in his Opening Keynote, “Makers Making an Impact,” recognizing the Plex community of manufacturing professionals who are positioned at the intersection of manufacturing and technology....

Read More

PowerPlex 2018 – Innovation in Manufacturing Keynote

Jane Clabby May 16, 2018

As Jerry Foster, Plex CTO, sees it, “all in on innovation today will own the competition tomorrow.” However, innovation isn’t necessarily the first thing that comes to mind when thinking about manufacturing. We tend to think more about technology companies as being innovative – or companies that have introduced new business models such as Amazon, Uber or Airbnb....

Read More

General Data Protection Regulation and Plex Customers

Plex Team May 9, 2018

The European Union’s (EU) General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) is set to take effect May 25, 2018. Now is a good time to discuss the capabilities Plex offers to help customers meet their GDPR obligations. What is GDPR?...

Read More

Auto Bolt Undergoes Digital Transformation with the Help of Cumulus and Plex

Steven Engelman April 30, 2018

Auto Bolt is a proud American cold-heading bolt manufacturer with over 65 years of experience in quality bolt-making. In 2017 the company took the leap and decided to take on the implementation of the Plex Manufacturing Cloud as the foundation for the company's digital transformation....

Read More

Industrial Automation and IIoT: What’s Next for Manufacturers?

Stu Johnson April 23, 2018

The question you probably get asked a lot by technology folks is what is your Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT) strategy? I’d like to suggest that this is the wrong question. If these technology folks really had your business requirements in mind, they should be asking: what are your business strategies to leverage the value this evolution in technology enables?...

Read More

5 Areas Every Supply Chain Leader Should Focus on to Sustain Competitiveness

Hemant Makhija April 17, 2018

As a supply chain leader, you must have a broad understanding of how your entire business flows from sales to procurement to engineering to service. You also need access to a reliable and holistic set of data or you’ll feel more like you’re fighting fires instead of delivering on customer demand. ...

Read More

How to Become a Preferred Manufacturing Supplier

Stu Johnson April 10, 2018

Becoming a preferred supplier is a status most manufacturers want to attain and keep. To achieve this, you need to keep a close eye on quality performance while managing all the work involved with proving compliance. After all, your customers use compliance as a way to weed out lower performing suppliers so the two go hand in hand—even though compliance presents a whole set of headaches for you…

Read More

Does Your Manufacturing ERP Software Do These 4 Things?

Dave Morfas March 19, 2018

Connected manufacturing is a business strategy that leverages cloud computing to harness operational and business data and promises greater visibility, efficiency, control, and customer satisfaction. Our customers have adopted this strategy —and they’ve been able to drive down costs while gaining greater visibility and control....

Read More

5 Things Manufacturers Will Take Away from a First-Time Experience at PowerPlex 2018

Kaitlin Rebella March 12, 2018

If you are a manufacturer and want to improve your operations with the help of technology, you may want to consider attending PowerPlex 2018. Why? This event is the world’s largest gathering of cloud manufacturing professionals who are driving the industry into the future. There are so many things you will take away from your experience attending for the first time, including:...

Read More