According to the Annual Manufacturing Report, 2018, four in five manufacturers believe that smart factory technologies will improve their supply chain relationships. The proposed benefits of data collection from smart sensors are huge, but some manufacturers still feel that a smart factory is out of their reach.
Here, Nick Boughton, Digital Lead at Systems Integrator Boulting Technology explains how plants with legacy equipment can retrospectively upgrade their facility to a smart factory.
Plants across a wide range of industry sectors worldwide contain an abundance of legacy equipment. Particularly in industries with high turnover of low margin products, such as many food and beverage, plant managers may not perceive themselves to have the budget to upgrade equipment, or the time to shut down a section of the production line for installation.
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