Close×

Anyone with a smartphone or tablet now can connect securely in an industrial setting to access performance metrics and data analytics, according to Rockwell Automation’s mobility platform leader Kyle Reissner.

You can use any digital device to easily access performance metrics and data analytics from your plant floor and machines, he says.

That mobility is more than viewing a webpage or report on your tablet; it’s a fundamental shift.

“Now, anyone with a device can connect securely, expand their area of influence, deploy a system more quickly and achieve quicker time to value.”

To achieve this, however, things have to change, according to Reissner.

“Some people are using the latest devices to extend 20-year-old technology. That type of mobility is resulting in very small increases in productivity, in the range of one to two per cent.

“I suggest a loftier goal for mobility – 10 per cent – and for everyone in the plant, not just one or two people.”

Reissner describes this as “the fourth dimension of mobility”.

“It’s thinking outside the spherical world, to the place where we get mobile productivity to everyone with zero friction.

“When you move between devices seamlessly, and when you are more responsive, that’s how you bring productivity improvement into double digits.”

Packaging News

Orora’s Australian cans operation has delivered another year of strong growth, helping the packaging group maintain steady underlying earnings despite challenging conditions across the glass market.

Amcor’s latest financial results point to a significantly expanded global packaging operation following its acquisition of Berry Global, with Australian packaging set to benefit from the global expansion.

In an initiative led by Viva Energy in partnership with Nestlé, a limited run of KitKat chocolate bars wrapped in locally manufactured recycled PP is rolling out to stores nationwide, demonstrating the potential for locally collected soft plastics to be returned to food-grade packaging in Australia.