A few months ago a steel mill in Germany suffered serious damage when their blast furnace couldn’t be shut down. On investigation, it was determined that someone had opened a phishing message and allowed hackers access to the controls. Phishing is the sending of deceitful email messages designed to get you to open an attachment… Read more »
The Internet of Things is coming from dreams and plans to reality, but some people in manufacturing are suggesting that IoT must include the Internet of Manufacturing Things, or even just the Internet of Manufacturing. Many IoT applications in other fields are about adding computers and internet capability to things that don’t currently communicate at… Read more »
The new Rexroth cartoons have music and narration that will make you think of James Bond, while industrial motion control unfolds silently and discreetly in minimalistic animation. This classic Rexroth video from 2010, however, is as far from self-effacing sophistication as you can get. Your Rexroth motion control technology is a cheetah chasing down a… Read more »
George Dickinson of IHS wrote in a column in Automation World that there’s a problem with the focus on sensors in industrial automation. More sensors, new sensors, and sensors everywhere seem to open new vistas of possibility for servos and the machinery they control. But Dickinson points out that the sensors are really just gathering… Read more »
Shadow IT is what people call systems within an organization which grow up without explicit official approval, usually outside the IT department. So often the IT department doesn’t have time to provide for all the departments, doesn’t have the expertise within a particular area to meet the real needs of all the departments, or has… Read more »
Automation by its nature has the potential to be more environmentally responsible than traditional factory set ups. The precision of motion control eliminates waste, increases productivity with the same resources, and lessens the need for human safety-related compromises on environmental choices. Rexroth has been able to win some awards for additional green processes. At the… Read more »
There’s an old business saying, “The customer is always right, ” and today retail businesses have truly taken that to heart. One of the most visible trends has been the rise of customization, allowing customers to design products themselves to suit their individual needs. While it’s in its infancy, this trend is having a major… Read more »
