Dashboards that disagree with the shop floor almost always trace back to OPC UA configuration issues nobody load-tested before cutover. Here’s the validation protocol to run first.
Read More
Every edge box on the market now claims to be “MES-ready,” but buffering depth, store-and-forward logic, and transformation capability differ enough that the choice isn’t cosmetic. Here’s how to actually evaluate them.
Read More
Plants keep buying digital twin fidelity they don’t need or skipping fidelity they can’t do without, because nobody asked what decision the twin is supposed to support. Here’s a framework for getting that match right.
Read More
GE Vernova has repositioned Proficy as a standalone industrial software line with a visible tilt toward electrification and grid-hardware manufacturing. Here’s what actually changed, and the due-diligence questions worth asking before your next renewal.
Read More
As low-code MES batch execution modules push e-signature configuration onto plant IT teams for the first time, here’s how to draw the line between what needs a signature and what just needs a record.
Read More
Manufacturers are writing OT recovery time objectives into insurance forms and security questionnaires without ever timing a real MES-to-PLC restore. Here’s what a tested plan actually requires.
Read More
Vendors are quietly shipping AI agents that can adjust setpoints, reschedule work orders, and approve dispositions on their own. Most plants have no policy for what that agent is actually allowed to decide.
Read More
As cobot cells multiply on a line, the question stops being whether to run safety over the same network as motion and becomes how to prove that architecture out — from black-channel validation to a commissioning checklist that scales.
Read More
A practical, configuration-level guide to building a structured shift-handoff workflow inside your MES — what fields to surface, how to force acknowledgment, and how to keep it from turning into another ignored alert feed.
Read More
As Opcenter X, Plex/Optix, and AVEVA CONNECT push plants toward cloud-connected MES, the historian layer underneath is becoming the real constraint. Here’s a practical framework for deciding whether to keep, augment, or replace it.
Read More