When it comes to technology investments, the factory floor and warehouse typically get the least attention – and yet they are critical to the operations and survival of any company.
Brendan Cuthbertson, head of Commercial, Enterprise and Regional Public Sector Sales at Cisco South Africa, points out that the Covid-19 pandemic drove home some hard lessons around the role of technology in the business.
“The big one was how technology enabled work from home,” he says. “But the focus was so much around the challenge of getting office workers connected that we possibly missed the fact that factory workers were affected too.”
See the full story here
Industry 4.0 key for business success
The manufacturing arena is often neglected when it comes to technology investments, but implementing Industry 4.0 solutions could be a key ingredient for business success.
This is the message from Brendan Cuthbertson, head of Commercial, Enterprise and Regional Public Sector Sales at Cisco South Africa, speaking at the Cisco Manufacturing Industry 4.0 webinar.
He points out that Covid-19 has driven massive changes for businesses at all levels, and that their manufacturing systems can’t be left behind.
See the full story here
Merged IT and OT drive Industry 4.0
Smart factories based on Internet of Things (IoT) are the result of merged information technology (IT) and operational technology (OT) to create manufacturing Industry 4.0.
The ideal is to put technology in place that can optimise operations, while improving worker safety and productivity, says Samar Abou Ltaif, IoT sales specialist: Middle East & Africa at Cisco, presenting at Cisco’s Manufacturing Industry 4.0 webinar.
“When we talk about IoT, it is about innovating beyond the edge,” she says. “In manufacturing, it is about realtime tracking of assets so we can do accurate forecasts. It is about allowing digital twins so engineers and designer can simulate operations and test products before going live. And it is about environmental monitoring so we reduce emissions while saving costs.
See the full story here
Lessons from Industry 4.0 projects
As companies around the world shift their manufacturing to Industry 4.0, there are some important considerations they should keep in mind.
Tilman Taubert, EMEAR IoT manufacturing lead at Cisco, shares some of the lessons he has learnt from customers moving their IoT projects beyond the pilot phase.
An important consideration that companies have to resolve is the convergence of information technology (IT) and operational technology (OT), he told delegates to the Cisco Manufacturing Industry 4.0 webinar. “A lot of organisations are going through the process now of finding the right fit: who supports what; who is driving what; and who is operating what?”
See the full story here