Smart manufacturing, smart factories, heck, we call ourselves Smart Industry. But, what do those terms really mean?
Different things to different people and system vendors, in most cases. However, Hooi Tan, president of contract manufacturer Flex's operations, says there are four major building blocks to consider:
- I. Automation
- II. Connectivity
- III. Intelligence
- IV Culture
Right now, most of the industry has the first two down pretty nicely, but there's a lot of work ahead of producers to get to pillars three and four. Tan recently sat down with Smart Industry Editor-in-Chief Robert Schoenberger to discuss what smart industry really is and how to accelerate its adoption.