Resilient firms and economies: Unlocking growth in emerging markets
Resilience is like a bridge spanning a turbulent river. The waters below may surge unpredictably, but the bridge’s strength lies in its design, maintenance, and ability to withstand. The Resilience Consortium brings together governments, businesses, and multilateral development banks (MDBs) to strengthen resilience in emerging markets. Drawing on insights from the […]
Apple, The First 50 Years
David Pogue tells the iconic company’s entire life story: how Apple was born, nearly died, was born again under Steve Jobs, and became, under CEO Tim Cook, the most valuable company in the world. The book features full-color photos, new facts that correct the record and illuminate its subversive culture, […]
Resilient firms and economies: Unlocking growth in emerging markets
Resilience is like a bridge spanning a turbulent river. The waters below may surge unpredictably, but the bridge’s strength lies in its design, maintenance, and ability to withstand. The Resilience Consortium brings together governments, businesses, and multilateral development banks (MDBs) to strengthen resilience in emerging markets. Drawing on insights from […]
Quantum-inspired wireless technology could tackle 6G’s biggest challenges
Researchers at Monash University and The University of Melbourne have developed a quantum-inspired approach to optical wireless communication that promises to make 6G networks faster, more reliable and energy-efficient. As the world moves toward 6G, devices and networks will need to handle more data, faster, and in smaller spaces than […]
Ruled by engineers: how China gets things done, leaving the US in the dust
Mark Beeson, Adjunct Professor, Australia-China Relations Institute, University of Technology Sydney. In modern times, the world’s most powerful and influential states have also had the largest economies. When the United States overtook Britain in the early 20th century, it was only a question of time before it assumed international political […]
European researchers develop energy-efficient machine vision inspired by human eyesight and the brain
Drawing inspiration from human eyesight, a European research project led by VTT has developed machine vision mimicking the cooperation of the eye and nervous system, implemented as edge-computing circuits. Edge computing means processing data where it is generated and where the results of computing are needed. This enables, for instance, […]
Could a ‘grey swan’ event bring down the AI revolution?
Cameron Shackwell, Sessional Academic, School of Information Systems, Queensland University of Technology The term “black swan” refers to a shocking event on nobody’s radar until it actually happens. This has become a byword in risk analysis since a book called The Black Swan by Nassim Nicholas Taleb was published in 2007. A frequently cited […]
Top tips for securing the investment your manufacturing business needs to grow
-Andrew Mamonitis, Vice President – APAC, Manufacturing Division, ECI Software Solutions It pays to optimise your processes and practices before expanding or bringing an external investor on board. Despite challenging conditions, manufacturing businesses are looking for ways to grow their share of the domestic market and pursue potentially lucrative […]
Research shows CPG leaders are investing in AI and talent to stay competitive
Rockwell Automation Report finds CPG Industry prioritising innovation over cost cutting Rockwell Automation has announced the results of the 10th annual State of Smart Manufacturing Report: Consumer Packaged Goods (CPG) Edition. The findings highlight how manufacturers are placing greater importance on innovation, workforce development, and long-term growth strategies. The CPG […]
Hands free tool changes for smarter machining
Peter Pettersson, Sandvik Coromant Imagine a factory where the lights are off, not because no one is home, but because automated systems are working around the clock to keep production lines running with minimal human intervention. These futuristic setups are quickly becoming a reality, with touchless tool changes at the […]
Beneq launches Transform XP – Redefining atomic control in ALD
Second-generation platform delivers advanced control, in-cycle annealing, and high-throughput performance for Wide Bandgap power and RF device manufacturing Beneq introduces the Beneq Transform XP, a second-generation ALD platform developed to meet the performance demands of Wide Bandgap (WBG) power and RF device technology development and manufacturing. Building on the proven […]
Jobs and the future of work
How to build the skills needed for the age of AI AI is changing how we work and what skills workers need to thrive in a world of intelligent machines and cognitive computing. Only a sliver of education initiatives are devoted to AI and these are not yet integrated into […]
Using AI to enable scalable, autonomous operations
By Troy Mahr, director – Kalypso. Kalypso – acquired by Rockwell Automation in 2020 – is a diverse team of consultants, innovators, strategists, data scientists and technologists. What we consistently hear from industry leaders is the need for real-time visibility across their global operations, which is key to ensuring their operations stay agile and scalable. However, achieving this isn’t possible without removing laggy manual data collection through the deployment of connected assets and contextualised data. By eliminating data silos and unlocking industrial data and artificial intelligence (AI) capabilities, companies can enable autonomous decision-making that optimises costs, efficiency, and production resilience. This moves their organisation closer to achieving autonomous operations. Autonomous operations are the manifestation of “self-governing” systems at every step of the manufacturing process. These systems derive their autonomy from data-led decision-making models that enable them to reliably adapt their behaviour in response to dynamic environments during operation without any manual intervention. Achieving autonomy across an enterprise requires capabilities that span the full intelligence spectrum, from observation and inference to decision-making and action. These capabilities are relevant across all operational areas, including product design, manufacturing, supply chain, distribution, direct-to-customer channels, and demand forecasting. Manufacturing operations, in particular, have seen progress through Model Predictive Control (MPC), which continuously analyses real-time and forecasted data to optimise process control within defined constraints. While MPC is a strong example within manufacturing, broader autonomy demands extending similar intelligent systems across the enterprise. This journey is captured in the industrial AI maturity pyramid, which outlines a progression from basic data integration and visualisation to predictive analytics, prescriptive decision-making, and ultimately, autonomous operations. As organisations climb this pyramid, they adopt machine learning, real-time automation, and self-learning systems. Each stage requires not just technological upgrades but also cultural and structural transformation. Asset Monitoring: Find Downtime Root Causes Looking at […]