The Reality of Agentic AI in the Smart Factory
The industrial sector is flooded with claims about fully autonomous operations, but for manufacturing executives, separating marketing from operational reality is critical. Despite the billions projected for artificial intelligence this year, the factory floor remains a…
Industry 4.0 Was Introduced 15 Years Ago. Where Are We Now?
Industry 4.0, first introduced at Hannover Messe in 2011, promised a revolution in manufacturing through the convergence of cyber-physical systems, IoT connectivity, cloud computing, and artificial intelligence. More than a decade later, the reality is nuanced:…
The AI Problem Manufacturers Keep Misdiagnosing
An OEE analytics application that took 12 weeks and a team of developers to build a year ago can now be generated in minutes. Snowflake’s Cortex AI accepts a prompt describing the industry vertical, target use…
Why More Data Creates More Waste in Manufacturing
For decades, the promise of the digital factory was simple: more data equals more efficiency. Yet, as discussed at the ARC Industry Leadership Forum 2026, many manufacturers find themselves trapped in a productivity paradox. Despite having…
How Much Should Factory AI Do on Its Own?
Agentic AI will bring thousands, potentially tens of thousands, of AI agents to the factory floor. Every one of them will need data, and not all data. Agents do not perform well when exposed to massive…
Software-Defined Automation: From PLCs to AI
Software-defined automation moves control logic from dedicated PLCs onto industrial PCs and standard server hardware, while the physical equipment, inputs/outputs, drives, and motors, stays on the shop floor. Engineering changes too, from predefined toolchains with fixed…
Why Manufacturers Get Stuck Before They Start Digitalizing
Most manufacturers face the same starting point: brownfield operations with equipment from multiple vendors and departments that work toward different objectives. The scope of what needs connecting creates enough resistance that many companies never take the…
Why AI-Ready Factories Will Win Before AI Is Fully Deployed
At an IIoT World Manufacturing Day panel on data sovereignty and industrial AI, Peter Sorowka of Cybus and leaders from MaibornWolff, SCHUNK, and Schwarz Digits outlined how competitive advantage in manufacturing is forming well before AI…
Document as Evidence vs. Data Source: Industrial AI Governance
Anthony Vigliotti, Chief Product Officer at Adlib, identifies a foundational distinction in enterprise AI that most industrial organizations have not yet fully reckoned with. In brownfield manufacturing and regulated industrial operations, the cost of that gap…
One AI Project Saves Manufacturers $5 Million a Year
GlobalLogic built procurement systems that save some clients $5 million a year by modernizing invoicing processes, and contributed to Hitachi Rail’s most digitally advanced factory worldwide, a 300,000 ft² facility in Hagerstown, Maryland. “It’s time for…