Manufacturing and Automation White Papers

The Emory University Impact of Maintenance 4.0 on OEMs research study was designed to assess how digitalization will disrupt the relationship between OEMs and industrial plants. For this purpose, we interviewed Maintenance and Reliability professionals responsible for Predictive Maintenance in their organizations.

SE 8 or TS 8? Choosing the right enclosure means understanding a wide variety of issues from material selection to safety and security. Rittal designs and manufactures the industry’s most durable and innovative enclosures for companies around the world. Our enclosures are ready to scale when it's time to grow your business. And a wide selection of configurations and accessories mean that your enclosure can be customized to your exact specifications. The Large Enclosure Selector Guide will walk you through the advantages of choosing Rittal and help you select the right enclosure for your business.

Today’s manufacturing environment is all about eliminating waste and building efficiency into every area of the business – including purchasing – so you can offer a quality product at competitive prices. But if you’re still using outdated purchasing processes, it can lead to problems on the shop floor that affect workflow, customer relationships and the company’s bottom line.

Data connectivity and collection has evolved past the workarounds and silos that long-plagued industrial ecosystems. New technology is transforming data accessibility—without interrupting your vital processes or requiring new equipment.

The precondition for any industrial change is technological progress. The data-based, networked, and autonomous value creation chain in production and logistics is the culmination of recent technological innovation. We refer to these developments as the fourth industrial revolution.

As many organizations move to build their automation capabilities, recent survey results suggest that certain best practices will differentiate successful efforts from others.

The Industrial Networking Enabling IIoT Communication white paper sets the stage for the Industrial Internet Network Framework (IINF), which will complement the Industrial Internet Connectivity Framework (IICF) by detailing requirements and best available technologies for the lower three layers of the industrial internet communication stack.

In the next decade, Digital Manufacturing technologies will allow companies to connect physical assets and processes by a "digital thread" - unleashing a seamless flow of data that will link every phase of the product lifecycle.

The Emory University Future of IIoT Predictive Maintenance research study was designed to identify the gaps between the high-level strategic and business drivers of change and the reality of implementation. For this purpose, we interviewed Maintenance and Reliability professionals responsible for Predictive Maintenance in their organizations.

In SME’s second report of the series, we’ll dive into how to get started defining strategies and implementing solutions by identifying 7 essential critical technology elements (CTE) building blocks. The important topic of finding and training skilled workers is the subject of SME’s third and final Smart Manufacturing Report coming later this year.

The Smart Manufacturing Report Series helps manufacturers consider, evaluate and execute strategies to become strong entities as the industry shifts to integrated and flexible advanced manufacturing technology and tools. Upcoming reports provide a roadmap for manufacturers who want to adopt these practices, outlining the right technologies and solutions, and how to recruit and train a “smart” workforce.