Thursday, September 27, 2018

Leveraging Cloud Services for Smart Manufacturing

This blog is MESA Peer Reviewed

By Conrad Leiva, MESA International Board Member and chair of MESA's Smart Manufacturing Working Group

Download the supplemental White Paper: Smart Manufacturing and Cloud Computing 

https://services.mesa.org/ResourceLibrary/ShowResource/a5b815c5-5210-4ab7-8b97-d0a1871cc713

Smart Manufacturing is not solely about optimizing production of goods, it is about creating positive value streams for everyone involved in the production process and creating valuable experiences and services for the end customer. Smart Manufacturing includes visibility and interoperability among systems, departments and partner companies, as well as a decentralized decision-making framework for the value chain. The endeavor encompasses suppliers and suppliers’ suppliers, as well as customers and customers’ customers.

Cloud Computing is one of the information technology (IT) stacks that are helping achieve the Smart Manufacturing goals. Organizations have access today to many combinations of technologies and software as-a-service whether they want to embrace a full or hybrid cloud infrastructure model. The availability of quality cloud component services that are easy to assemble into a custom application is even changing the shape of the IT department as it becomes easier for non-IT experts to assemble cloud services into custom apps. In many organizations, the IT department’s focus has shifted from developing, installing, and supporting software applications, to providing guidelines and a framework for assembling integrated enterprise applications. 

The question should not be whether a manufacturing system will be on the cloud, but instead figuring out how much of the manufacturing system will be on the cloud to maximize the benefits to each organization and its customers. 

Wednesday, September 19, 2018

Why Companies of All Sizes Should Consider Cloud Computing for Smart Manufacturing

This blog is MESA Peer Reviewed

By Srivats Ramaswami, Member of MESA’s Smart Manufacturing Working Group and a Member of MESA’s International Board

Download the supplemental White Paper: Smart Manufacturing and Cloud Computing https://services.mesa.org/ResourceLibrary/ShowResource/a5b815c5-5210-4ab7-8b97-d0a1871cc713


Does the size of the company matter when using Cloud Computing for Smart Manufacturing? The short answer is no. A cloud-based Smart Manufacturing strategy is very much going to be driven by business needs and technology adoption appetite. With that said, Cloud Computing offers some significant benefits for Smart Manufacturing. The following are elements of Cloud Computing to be considered whether you are a small, medium or large company.

Wednesday, August 22, 2018

The Road Less Traveled: The Journey Toward Industrie 4.0

This blog is a MESA Member Point of View

By John Clemons, International Board Member at Large, Americas Board Member, and Marketing Committee Chair of MESA International

Join MESA at Industry of Things World Berlin this September and get 35% off using code: MESAIoTDS.

By the end of last century, we thought we had lost manufacturing. It was old, smelly, and looked like a dinosaur just waiting to die. But Industrie 4.0 holds the potential to transform manufacturing back into an economic powerhouse. 

Unlike earlier technology, Industrie 4.0 is fundamentally transforming how manufacturing companies compete. These new connected technologies increase speed, agility, and flexibility throughout a company’s value chain.

With Industrie 4.0 strategies, companies gain powerful capabilities to drive competitive advantage. Factories cut costs, reduce time-to-delivery, and increase order accuracy. With the right leadership, businesses will capture market share, enter new markets, and boost margins.


The Industrie 4.0 Roadmap from MESA International provides manufacturing companies with a guide for their Industrie 4.0 journey and a framework for building detailed plans to achieve their Industrie 4.0 goals:

Tuesday, August 14, 2018

Discovering the “Analytics that Matter”

This blog is a MESA Member Point of View


By Patricia Panchak

Download the ‘Analytics that Matter’ eBook https://hubs.ly/H0d1cGZ0
Download the slides from the presentation at the 2018 North American Conference

Attendees of the MESA North American Conference got a preview of results from the latest “Analytics That Matter” survey. Conducted by MESA International in collaboration with LNS Research, the bi-annual study was originally designed over a decade ago to identify “Metrics that Matter,” but evolved in the past few years to explore the use of new technology advancements around the Internet of Things (IIoT), Cloud, Big Data Analytics, and Mobility.

“Our focus now is beyond just KPIs and metrics, beyond the four walls of the plant,” said Chris Monchinski, Chair of MESA’s Analytics Working Group and VP Manufacturing Intelligence at Automated Control Concepts, Inc., Neptune, New Jersey, introducing the presentation. “Analytics and Big Data is more than just revving up our dashboards. It’s about looking at all sorts of streams of data, different types of data, and trying to glean new insight out of them.”

Monday, July 30, 2018

The Value of MES to Your Smart Manufacturing Transformation

This blog is a MESA Member Point of View

By Patricia Panchak

Click to download the slides from Virgin Orbit’s session at MESA’s 2018 North American Conference.

When Virgin Orbit launched its digital transformation journey, one of its goals was to identify and implement technologies that would help it build a digital thread. The idea was to digitize the business’ processes end-to-end—"from the launch event, which is the company’s key event, and back all the way through test, integration, manufacturing, design, and all the way to the original requirements—either engineering requirements or business customer requirements — that drove decisions such as what the vehicle should perform, how it should perform and so forth,” said Andrzej Goryca, Senior Enterprise Systems Manager of the company.

That wasn’t the end goal, of course. As a relatively young company—it’s built about half a dozen rockets, so far—the ultimate goal was to design, build and launch rockets into low-earth orbit, even as they “design, build and launch our business—to take the business to the next level,” Goryca said.

Monday, July 23, 2018

How Data Analytics Changed Profits and Culture

This blog is a MESA Member Point of View


By Patricia Panchak

Click to download the slides from Vecima’s session at MESA’s 2018 North American Conference.

You don’t have to be a large enterprise with a big IT staff, a team of data scientists and a large budget to implement culture-changing data analytics in your organization, according to Paul Little, Business Intelligence Analyst, Vecima Networks. The company conceptualizes, designs and manufactures cable network equipment and software for cable and networking vendors such as Comcast, Charter and Cox.

At the 2018 MESA North American Conference, Little described how the $71 million (Canadian) company made just such a transition.

Thursday, July 12, 2018

The Critical First Steps of a Smart Manufacturing Transformation -- Spoiler alert: It’s not About Selecting Technology

This blog is a MESA Member Point of View

By Patricia Panchak

Click to download the slides from Trelleborg’s session at MESA’s 2018 North American Conference. 


When Trelleborg Group set out on its Smart Manufacturing journey, it found technology wasn’t the problem so much as it was people’s understanding of the technology. The operations technologists (OT) in the manufacturing facilities thought they were ready to embark on a digital transformation, but the company’s information technology (IT) leaders disagreed. Bridging this gap became the first order of business, said Tomas Norbut, IT Infrastructure and IoT program manager, at MESA’s North American Conference

Norbut explained the disconnect as follows: “There’s a gap in knowledge between understanding that your processes could be very, very mature, but the abilities to digitize those processes can be very, very immature,” he said. That’s true even when the company has a well-developed, mature manufacturing program, as Trelleborg does.

Monday, July 9, 2018

New Research and Tools Help Smart Manufacturing Initiatives




This blog is a MESA Member Point of View

By Conrad Leiva, MESA International Board Member and chair of MESA's Smart Manufacturing Working Group

Join MESA's Smart Manufacturing Community and its LinkedIn Group for more research. 

I was fortunate to participate at the MESA International workshop on Smart Manufacturing this spring listening and speaking with many leaders and practitioners working on innovation initiatives for their manufacturing companies under the general theme of Smart and Digital Manufacturing transformation. 

The digital transformation trend that started a few years ago continues stronger than ever. The digital business strategy for these companies has two main goals: (i) digital business optimization with goals of improved customer experience and improved productivity, and (ii) digital business transformation with goals of new business models and increased revenue through product and service offerings that leverage new levels of digital product data in this era of IoT.  

MESA International’s survey, performed with Industry Week, shows that among U.S. manufacturers, the preferred term for this digital transformation is Smart Manufacturing (around 50%) followed by Connected Enterprise, Digital Manufacturing, and Industry 4.0 (each around 10-15%). [1]

Tuesday, June 26, 2018

Smart Manufacturing is Now: Here’s Why

This blog is a MESA Member Point of View

By: Julie Fraser, MESA Smart Manufacturing Research Program Leader

Join MESA's Smart Manufacturing Community and its LinkedIn Group for more research. 

What is your answer to this quick question? Is Smart Manufacturing a concept to act on
    a) In the future
    b) Now

If your answer is (a) future, you face a risk. I don’t want to sound pedantic, but the best answer is: (b) the time for Smart Manufacturing is now. It may sound counter-intuitive, but it’s actually the safe answer.

Why? Because most manufacturers have at least one Smart Manufacturing project or initiative underway. Those who have not yet started on the journey risk falling behind.

MANUFACTURING IN THE CLOUD: PART XVII: CLOUD RESPONSIBILITY MATRIX

This blog is a MESA Member Point of View.

By Goran Novkovic, MESA Member, CQA, CSQE, ITIL, APM, PMP, PEng

This blog is part of a series called Manufacturing in the Cloud. This series aims to assist manufacturing organizations to evaluate how they can overcome challenges and maximize cloud computing benefits. As cloud computing services mature both commercially and technologically, this is likely to become relatively easier to achieve.

Tuesday, June 19, 2018

MANUFACTURING IN THE CLOUD: PART XVI: WHAT SERVICE LEVEL AGREEMENT MEANS FOR A MANUFACTURING ORGANIZATION

This blog is a MESA Member Point of View.

By Goran Novkovic, MESA Member, CQA, CSQE, ITIL, APM, PMP, PEng

This blog is part of a series called Manufacturing in the Cloud. This series aims to assist manufacturing organizations to evaluate how they can overcome challenges and maximize cloud computing benefits. As cloud computing services mature both commercially and technologically, this is likely to become relatively easier to achieve.

Tuesday, June 12, 2018

MANUFACTURING IN THE CLOUD: PART XV: WHO IS RESPONSIBLE FOR SOFTWARE AND DATA SECURITY AND REGULATORY COMPLIANCE IN THE CLOUD?

This blog is a MESA Member Point of View.

By Goran Novkovic, MESA Member, CQA, CSQE, ITIL, APM, PMP, PEng

This blog is part of a series called Manufacturing in the Cloud. This series aims to assist manufacturing organizations to evaluate how they can overcome challenges and maximize cloud computing benefits. As cloud computing services mature both commercially and technologically, this is likely to become relatively easier to achieve.

Friday, June 8, 2018

Smart Manufacturing Community Comes Together With MESA

This blog is a MESA Member Point of View

By: Patricia Panchak


MESA International (Manufacturing Enterprise Solutions Association) is creating a community of manufacturing professionals to explore five common Smart Manufacturing initiatives that it identified in a recent survey. The Association launched the effort at a workshop called “Seeking Common Ground for Smart Manufacturing,” held at the MESA North American Conference, in Raleigh, North Carolina.

The community is open to join for members and non-members, and will give manufacturing operations and information technology professionals a venue in which to explore opportunities and successful strategies. A focus of the groups will be sharing current state-of-the-art learning and stories about successful projects and initiatives. The community of MESA members have the opportunity to work together in a safe space to evolve their strategies and build connected Smart Manufacturing ecosystems and value chains. 

Tuesday, May 15, 2018

MANUFACTURING IN THE CLOUD: PART XIV: DEPLOYMENT MODEL RISKS

This blog is a MESA Member Point of View.

By Goran Novkovic, MESA Member, CQA, CSQE, ITIL, APM, PMP, PEng

This blog is part of a series called Manufacturing in the Cloud. This series aims to assist manufacturing organizations to evaluate how they can overcome challenges and maximize cloud computing benefits. As cloud computing services mature both commercially and technologically, this is likely to become relatively easier to achieve.

Monday, April 30, 2018

MANUFACTURING IN THE CLOUD: PART XIII: SERVICE MODEL, CONTROLS AND SECURITY RISKS

This blog is a MESA Member Point of View.

By Goran Novkovic, MESA Member, CQA, CSQE, ITIL, APM, PMP, PEng

This blog is part of a series called Manufacturing in the Cloud. This series aims to assist manufacturing organizations to evaluate how they can overcome challenges and maximize cloud computing benefits. As cloud computing services mature both commercially and technologically, this is likely to become relatively easier to achieve.

Thursday, April 12, 2018

The Smart Manufacturing Journey: Walk? or Quantum Leap?

By Mike Yost, President, MESA International

Some say Smart Manufacturing is a walk - a methodical progression of manufacturing capabilities, beginning with a hodgepodge of disparate systems and processes that ends in a connected enterprise of smart devices and systems and plants.  Sounds logical…

But, that implies any manufacturer in a digital/connected/smart state today had to start long ago; and, doesn’t that contradict the argument that Smart Manufacturing is new?  That it’s only possible now because of Cloud Computing, Cyber-Physical Systems, Big Data, Analytics?


Monday, April 9, 2018

Take on Smart Manufacturing

By MESA International Staff



MESA International, the global, not-for-profit community of manufacturers, producers, industry leaders, and solution providers, invites you to join the conversation around Smart Manufacturing during their 2018 North American Conference which is co-located at IndustryWeek's Manufacturing & Technology Conference and Expo.  MESA will be at booth #349 to provide unprecedented access to information, forums, peers, and domain experts in Smart Manufacturing.

One ticket gets you access to both shows! Register today with MESA discount MESA218.


Read More

Monday, March 26, 2018

MANUFACTURING IN THE CLOUD: PART XII: CLOUD SERVICE MODELS AND RESPONSIBILITIES

This blog is a MESA Member Point of View.


By Goran Novkovic, MESA Member, CQA, CSQE, ITIL, APM, PMP, PEng

This blog is part of a series called Manufacturing in the Cloud. This series aims to assist manufacturing
organizations to evaluate how they can overcome challenges and maximize cloud computing benefits.
As cloud computing services mature both commercially and technologically, this is likely to become
relatively easier to achieve.

Monday, February 26, 2018

Thursday, February 15, 2018

MANUFACTURING IN THE CLOUD: PART XI: "SECURITY OF THE CLOUD" VS. "SECURITY IN THE CLOUD"

This blog is a MESA Member Point of View.


By Goran Novkovic, MESA Member, CQA, CSQE, ITIL, APM, PMP, PEng


This blog is part of a series called Manufacturing in the Cloud. This series aims to assist manufacturing organizations to evaluate how they can overcome challenges and maximize cloud computing benefits. As cloud computing services mature both commercially and technologically, this is likely to become relatively easier to achieve.

Friday, February 2, 2018

MANUFACTURING IN THE CLOUD: PART X: THE BIGGEST FEAR OF CLOUD

This blog is a MESA Member Point of View.

By Goran Novkovic, MESA Member, CQA, CSQE, ITIL, APM, PMP, PEng

This blog is part of a series called Manufacturing in the Cloud. This series aims to assist manufacturing organizations to evaluate how they can overcome challenges and maximize cloud computing benefits. As cloud computing services mature both commercially and technologically, this is likely to become relatively easier to achieve.

Monday, January 29, 2018

Thursday, January 11, 2018

Using Quality Systems to Gain Efficiency – Is that even possible?

This blog is a MESA Member Point of View.
By Valérie Goulévitch – Head of Marketing and Communication at Siemens PLM Software, Gold Keystone Member of MESA International

Thursday, January 4, 2018

Key Requirements for Seamless Quality Processing – ERP to PLM to the Shop Floor

This blog is a MESA Member Point of View.

By Valérie Goulévitch – Head of Marketing and Communication at Siemens PLM Software,
Gold Keystone Member of MESA International.