Smart Manufacturing - Using Automation Technology to Lower Production Costs

Smart Manufacturing combines people, technology and processes to

optimize performance and anticipate plant problems before they occur.

Automation plays an important role as an enabling technology to achieve

Smart Manufacturing goals. Intelligent field sensors not only monitor

their own health, but can apply sophisticated statistical algorithms to

detect changes in the process that indicate impending problems.

Advanced process control technology can operate processes at minimum

cost, more safely, consistently and reliably than a board operator.

This paper will use industrial examples to illustrate how companies have

used automation technology to improve their manufacturing operations and

the actual results achieved.