AI code-assist tools now write structured text more reliably than ladder rungs, which is forcing a real conversation about when object-oriented PLC code is worth the migration risk — and when it isn’t.
Read More
Shift boundaries are where downtime records get duplicated, dropped, or misattributed — quietly wrecking your OEE numbers. Here’s how to configure handoff logic correctly and audit your last 30 days for the damage already done.
Read More
A hands-on look at what low-code MES platforms like Tulip actually deliver once the pilot-phase glow wears off — and a governance framework for deciding what belongs in citizen-developer apps versus a configured MES module.
Read More
Low-code, app-based MES platforms are pitching multi-plant SMB manufacturers hard for 2026 budgets. Here’s a practical framework for weighing time-to-value against the integration debt that shows up long after go-live.
Read More
Before you run Pareto analysis or AI models on your OEE data, make sure the underlying formula is actually sound — most plants’ numbers are quietly broken by reason-code drift, micro-stop double-counting, or stale performance baselines.
Read More
Flat VPN drops into OT networks remain the single most common way attackers get into manufacturing environments. Here’s how to move to brokered, identity-aware access without losing your OEM support relationships or your next audit.
Read More
Mixed-vendor AMR fleets can now talk to each other, and Sparkplug B/UNS architectures have cleaned up shop-floor data plumbing — but the transport event a robot performs and the genealogy record MES keeps are still two disconnected worlds. Here’s a practical model for stitching them together.
Read More
The train-in-cloud, infer-on-edge pattern is becoming the default architecture for AI-based defect detection — but only if you treat the handoff, the latency budget, and drift monitoring as line-side engineering problems, not data science afterthoughts.
Read More
Feature lists make these platforms look interchangeable, but their licensing math doesn’t scale the same way. Here’s how to model true 3-year cost before you commit an edge layer to your UNS.
Read More
Energy metering is finally getting invited into the MES/UNS conversation — here’s a practitioner’s guide to modeling kWh-per-good-part as a real OEE-adjacent metric without ripping out your meters or your historian.
Read More