IT challenges of OEMs

September 22, 2014 5:53 pm

“Manufacturers who do not evolve and keep up with the pace of technology, risk finding themselves out of the market in a short time”
 Faster and more precise, versatile, reliable and energy efficient machines are the future for industrial automation. They can also be the present. OEMs and machine manufacturers face a variety of technological trends in what is a revolutionary era for industrial automation based in motion control, communications and intelligent vision systems – all of which can significantly help improve room many machines and processes.
Manufacturers who do not evolve and keep up with the pace of technology, risk finding themselves out of the market in a short time. Sectors such as packaging have gone through a strong technological revolution, moving from systems based on mechanical cam to motion control and gaining the ability to offer higher performance.
As technologies evolve, the industry sees the possibility to automate more complex processes that previously were not even considered as feasible. One of the challenges is being able to stay current and understand new, fast-evolving technologies and offer new solutions to customers.Energy efficiency is an issue that is becoming more important. In addition to the usual questions about the number of pieces per hour, there will also be questions about the power consumption to manufacture them. That is why solutions such as higher efficient motors or automated stop-start systems should be used depending on the process status.
However these challenges are not only found in the production environment; other challenges include the delivery of information from the machine to higher-level systems for decision making. Any machine, even the smaller ones, must have the ability to offer communication and basic data.
We will soon be hearing a lot about smart machines, i.e., intelligent machines that can modify processes depending on the status of raw materials or environment conditions. These smart machines can report to production when a batch has been produced, send along productivity ratios, flag warnings to maintenance in case of a failure or detect an unusual consumption on a motor and report a possible fault.
This technological evolution must come with a skilled staff that can develop and apply these new technologies on machines and in facilities. That is why training is the foundation for the future of technology. Here there are also challenges to be overcome: education must go hand in hand with the company and its needs.