Automations perfect storm

World Congress on Industrial Automation

July 20-22, 2015 San Francisco, USA

Walt Boyes

Posters-Accepted Abstracts: Adv Robot Autom

Abstract :

Society at large, and automation in particular, is in the path of several major trends: Big Data, Wireless, Virtualization, the Industrial Internet of Things, Smart Manufacturing, 3D printing, Industry 4.0, the Aging Workforce and more. Each one of these trends, by themselves, would create significant change, but the automation industry and the industries served by automation, could handle them individually. But they are all hitting us at once. These trends will make large changes in the way automation is practiced in factories, utilities, and process plants. As younger workers enter the workforce and older, more experienced automation professionals retire, the manufacturing industries are looking at the most significant set of changes since electrification. In this presentation the author will discuss each trend and show how they, and the meta-effects of multiple simultaneous trends, will affect automation, manufacturing and society in the next few years.