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Innovation and Technology
Plex Manufacturing Blog
Manufacturing Execution Systems: How MES KPIs Inform and Predict
Global manufacturing is increasing in complexity as new challenges arise, customer expectations change, and best practices evolve. This complexity makes it more challenging than ever to manage a production floor effectively. With traditional manual tracking, this process is inefficient and costly. Today, most companies turn to technology in the form of Manufacturing Execution Systems (MES) to…
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What IIoT Can Do for Manufacturers
It’s no secret that the age of smart manufacturing is here and fully underway. Most industries are already leveraging the power of data-driven insights and the adoption of smart manufacturing platforms....
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How Smart Manufacturing Platforms Empower Sustainability
There’s no denying that more and more manufacturers are embracing Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) initiatives with aims to improve both performance and accountability. Naturally, these efforts often center around sustainability. While we’re a long way from closed-loop manufacturing, sustainability efforts gain return value to companies in areas like waste, material usage, supply…
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Using a Smart Manufacturing Platform for System Consolidation
Manufacturers have a lot of pressure on their shoulders. Traditional software solutions sought to relieve that pressure by automating processes, reducing labor-intensive tasks, and optimizing performance efficiency for specific disciplines. That system of disparate software worked to improve efficiency - until one day it didn't. So, what changed? The most significant change was the technological…
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Why Cybersecurity Is Critical in Manufacturing
As more and more manufacturing companies adopt Industry 4.0 technology, cybersecurity is always at the top of the list of concerns. After all, data shows that IoT devices can be subject to attack within five minutes of being connected....
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9 Reasons for More Visibility in Your Manufacturing Plant
Imagine putting on a pair of glasses that lets you see transparent, operational measurements in real time floating across your production line. With more and more companies embracing Industry 4.0 and smart manufacturing methods, that level of visibility inside an industrial environment is now a major key to a successful operation....
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Understanding the Impact of the Overall Equipment Effectiveness (OEE) Calculation
So, you’ve decided to embark on an overall equipment effectiveness (OEE) project to increase equipment effectiveness and develop process improvements that maximize efficiencies. You’ve got your spreadsheets and clipboards ready (you don’t really need those, but more on that later). You’re ready to go. Now what?...
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Electricity, Sustainability, and Robots: Lessons from CES 2022
Last week I attended the Consumer Electronic Show (CES) in Vegas, marking the fourth time in six years that a member of R&D has attended the high-tech event. While CES is primarily a consumer-oriented show, the technologies cutting their teeth in the consumer market often end up in the enterprise, or on the shop floor, so CES is critical to our forward-thinking plans and initiatives at Plex…
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IoT Traceability Software Eliminates Surprises in Manufacturing
Many people love surprises. On birthdays, anniversaries, or holidays, they can be fun. But in manufacturing environments, not so much. Surprises here can mean missed deliveries, damaged or spoiled materials, compromised brand reputation, and even dangerous recalls. For many years, traceability within manufacturing was plagued by the same problems encountered by any analysis. Siloed data,…
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Production Monitoring Software: Turning Insight into Action
You can't fix what you can't see. Without access to and analysis of the data resulting from production, manufacturers risk higher costs, poor quality, and mysteriously low equipment utilization. And with global manufacturing competition at an all-time high due to disruption, trade wars, COVID-19, and other issues, companies just can't afford to be in the dark about what's going on in their…
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