Digital Trends In 2019
Published on : Tuesday 01-01-2019
The New Year is traditionally welcomed with celebrations and a sense of satisfaction for the year gone by; reflecting on the milestones crossed; and in anticipation that the year ahead will be full of positives and bigger achievements.
That’s human nature – to hope for a better life, something that technology has immensely helped achieve, especially automation. What is the future of automation? At a recent industry event, the global sales director of one of the top automation companies made an interesting observation. He said when he meets people in industry, they often start talking about technology – like artificial intelligence or blockchain – rather than talking about the problems they face. This is the wrong approach according to him. While technology is important, getting to the root of the problem is more important in order to find out what exactly is the problem; what is costing money due to poor efficiency or lost productivity. He had even more shocking things to say, like plants exist to make profits not products! But that is not the point for discussion here. The gist of his presentation was simple. Tell me what is the problem and I will help you find a solution with one of the tools of technology, he said. If you want to buy a smartphone first ask yourself what are the things that you want to do with it rather than asking what are the technologies it is equipped with. He has a point. Often we complicate problems rather than making them simple. So his answer to the question asked at the beginning: the future of automation is to bring the cost down and increase the value delivered. And that is what technology helps us achieve.
The Cover Story of this edition of Industrial Automation is on Digital Tends in 2019 – the usual predictions that are made while welcoming the New Year, even as technology is evolving continuously and not something invented to suit a particular year. So we invited experts from different disciplines to find out which of the trends are going to be of particular relevance over the next 12 months. The Cover Story is complemented by other articles that take the topic forward by talking about some of these technologies at length. Also a point made by more than one expert is of great relevance – technology offers a level playing field and does not discriminate between large and small industries. But for best results, it is important to identify the problem first and then look for the appropriate technology to solve it.
We at IED Communications – publishers of Industrial Automation and organisers of Automation Expo series of events – wish all our Readers, Exhibitors and Visitors a Very Happy & Prosperous New Year! This editorial is from the magazine for the month of feb 2020 to here from the experts & industry proffessionals subscribe now by visiting this link.(https://www.industrialautomationindia.in/subscription)
