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!

Innovation and Technology

Plex Manufacturing Blog

The Top Five Things to Know from IndustryWeek’s Manufacturing and Technology Show

Jerry Foster April 23, 2019

In early April I joined hundreds of manufacturing and technology professionals at the IndustryWeek Manufacturing & Technology Show in Pittsburgh both as a presenter on the role of leadership and culture in business transformation, and as an attendee....

Read More

Manufacturing and the Digital Thread to Industry 4.0

Stu Johnson January 29, 2019

Change is not a word that many people think of when it comes to the manufacturing industry. Words like precise, quality, reliability, efficiency are more commonly associated with manufacturing. But change is happening, and it’s increasing in speed. Manufacturing, as a sector, is changing dramatically and strategically. ...

Read More

CES 2019: Emerging Technology for Use in Manufacturing

Barrie Vince January 22, 2019

CES is the annual consumer electronics show held every January in Las Vegas. It is “the world's gathering place for all those who thrive on the business of consumer technologies.” This year’s event, CES 2019, took place January 8-11, 2019....

Read More

Future of Manufacturing Roundtable: The future is bright, but comes with growing pains

Kaitlin Rebella December 4, 2018

Plex Systems recently brought together industry analysts and its customers for the second Future of Manufacturing Roundtable (FoMR). This collaborative day seats manufacturing technology leaders on Plex’s customer advisory board next to experts who write about enterprise software day-in and day-out, which always leads to a lively conversation about the future of the manufacturing industry....

Read More

Wondering How to Select an MES Vendor? Consider the latest Gartner Magic Quadrant for MES

Hemant Makhija November 15, 2018

At the end of the day, your main concern is delivering on customer demands as efficiently and as cost-effectively as possible. The systems that run your business are essential to making this possible. Your investment is not trivial, and those systems need to be reliable so there are little, if any, disruptions to production. ...

Read More

Manufacturing Industry Enthusiasm Off the Charts at IMTS 2018 and Hanover Messe USA

Dave Morfas October 9, 2018

Not only did the International Manufacturing Technology Show (IMTS) and collocated Hanover Messe USA break records by setting an all-time high for exhibitors and attendees, but these events also captured something more important: a sense of unbridled global optimism in the manufacturing industry....

Read More

Breakthrough Technologies Impacting Manufacturing and the Way We Make Things

Stu Johnson September 25, 2018

Technology has seen rapid advancements in the past decade—and it only seems to be happening faster as each year passes. When it comes to breakthrough technology, manufacturing certainly has seen its share, most recently due to trends like Industry 4.0 and transformative connectivity made possible by the Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT)....

Read More

4 Things You Need in a SaaS-based Manufacturing ERP and MES Solution

Todd Weeks September 18, 2018

As more businesses move to SaaS (software-as-a-service) applications, some manufacturers still have some uncertainty about data safety and security, as well as uptime and reliability in the cloud. If moving your operations to the cloud seems foreign to you, or if you aren’t sure how to evaluate cloud versus on-premise ERP and MES systems, just remember these four things: availability,…

Read More

Fastener Manufacturers Focus on On-Time Delivery to Stand Out

Dave Morfas September 11, 2018

Metal products like screws and bolts are often seen as a commodity but if you can become a preferred supplier to large OEMs, the opportunity is ripe to take advantage of higher margins. Finding reliable suppliers is a lengthy and tedious process for large OEMs....

Read More

Disrupting Habits in Manufacturing

Anurag Garg September 5, 2018

If you’ve spent time in tech circles, or if you’ve watched the show "Silicon Valley,” the term “disruptive technology” is used to describe anything new in tech. Unfortunately, the term is overused, and like most items on the Gartner Hype Curve, a lot of today’s “disruptive technologies” will quietly die out before they truly have the chance to disrupt anything. We saw this with all the hype…

Read More