Pittsburgh was once as renowned for pollution as it was for industry and manufacturing. Decades after the Smoky City cleaned up its act and became a modern pillar of education, healthcare, technology, and finance, many people still associate Pittsburgh with a coal-gray haze.
Now manufacturing itself has undergone a millennial renaissance, yet it still carries a bad reputation as dirty and dangerous work.
But like Pittsburgh, the nature of industry has changed.
PITTSBURGH, December 23, 2015 — Control Engineering recognizes Premier Automation as a 2015 System Integrator Giant, ranking the company #19 on a list of the best system integrators in the United States. Premier Automation ranked as only one of three companies in the top twenty with less than twenty engineers, competing with companies of over 100 or 200 engineers at the same level of system integration revenue or higher.
While the automation industry expands and evolves, many manufacturing companies still haven’t touched their production lines with automation technology. Whether the hesitation comes from cost or uncertainty, their competitors are eating into their profit margins with the advantages of modern industrial solutions.
What three technology trends can manufacturers use to stay competitive?
“Learning to choose is hard. Learning to choose well is harder. And learning to choose well in a world of unlimited possibilities is harder still, perhaps too hard.”
― Barry Schwartz, The Paradox of Choice: Why More Is Less
In today’s industries, manufacturers have an entire constellation of technology solutions to consider. Factories can be digitized from beginning to end, integrated into automation systems, connected to the cloud, measured by big data, mobilized and networked into the Internet of Things.
With so much technology available, many manufacturers are paralyzed by the paradox of choice: the more industrial solutions appear, the harder it is to know what will work and what just isn’t right for your business.
How can you emerge from the swamp of indecision and implement the automation solutions that will boost your business?
Manufacturing is getting leaner, smarter, and sleeker. Integrated systems are making that possible.
As technology advances, automation systems converge to create more streamlined and efficient methods of production. These integrated systems make manufacturing infinitely more adaptable and cost effective, but require creative, highly skilled engineers.
So where are these engineers?
Many people would answer that question by pointing to experience or a particular success; some may even emphasize the type or brand of equipment their facility uses. Those elements are important, but what must every manufacturing business have to succeed?